By mlblogssfgiants1

Last night, with the new contract signed and delivered, I celebrated at the House of Prime Rib with Jalynne, my mom, my agents Joel Wolfe, Josh Persell, Rich Aude and Joel’s wife and daughter. (My dad had to work.) No champagne. Nothing extravagant. For me, the most important thing — whether it’s work or a night out — is the people I’m with.

That’s why this contract extension means so much. The money is great, don’t get me wrong. But now I know for the next six years I’ll be around the best guys in baseball — Buster, Joe, Matt, Bum, Hunter, the list goes on. Hopefully Belt will work out an extension, too. The no-trade clause was a big deal for me. I wanted to know I wouldn’t be going anywhere. By the end of the six years, Buster and I will have played ten years together. I can’t imagine a better guy to go through a career with.

We have something really special going on here, and the front office — namely Bobby Evans and Brian Sabean — is making sure this core group stays together to win more World Series Championships.

I said this in the press conference today: I’m living a dream beyond my imagination. It’s not only that I’m playing for my hometown team. But I have the two things I think everyone wants in whatever career they’re in: You’re around great people, and you have the opportunity to do great work.

Part of that work is giving back to the community. When you’re as fortunate as I am, I feel strongly there’s a responsibility to give back. So I’ll be getting more involved in the Giants Community Fund and Junior Giants. I’ll help to build or rebuild a field here in the Bay Area so kids will have a safe, clean place to play. I’m going to buy season tickets that will go to kids who otherwise couldn’t attend a Giants game. As a father myself, my focus is on helping kids, though I’ll continue the Craw Claw that helps Casa Colina, a brain-injury rehabilitation hospital.

We’ll also start looking to buy a house in the East Bay now that we know we’ll be here. We’ve always rented apartments or houses.

I have to say this week has been the most amazing week of my life career-wise. It began when Jalynne and I flew to New York last Monday. On Tuesday, we attended the Major League Baseball Alumni Association gala where they present Heart & Hustle Awards. The alumni association chooses a player from each team then vote on an overall winner, which was Anthony Rizzo this year. Brooks Robinson is the president of the association, so it was really cool to meet him.

On Wednesday we went to dinner with Joe Panik and his fiance, Brittany, to a great steakhouse called Quality Meats. Joe had never been, so I felt good about showing him a new spot in his own backyard. We went afterward to see Aladdin on Broadway. The movie was better, or at least I thought so. It was one of my favorite Disney movies as a kid. Then we went for frozen yogurt in Times Square.

Thursday we walked around Central Park, bought the girls some gifts in Times Square and had dinner with my agent.

Friday there was a lunch for the Gold Glove winners, the Rawlings guys, the award presenters and past winners and George Lopez, the host for the awards dinner later in the night. I sat next to Greg Maddux, who is a great guy.

The awards dinner was at The Plaza, where we were staying. Ozzie Smith presented my award. Jalynne and I sat with Salvador Perez and his family and Alceides Escobar and his family. The whole experience was pretty amazing.

And it got better: Right around that same time, I found out the contract extension was about to be finalized.

Now here I am on a Wednesday afternoon in November, a week before Thanksgiving, with so much to be grateful for. Jalynne and I are flying back home to Arizona today. Jalynne’s parents had been watching the girls and drove them yesterday to Arizona, so they’ll be there when we arrive.

Then we’ll be driving next week to Big Bear in SoCal to celebrate Thanksgiving with Jalynne’s family. We’ll go home for a bit then drive to Los Angeles, where we’ll celebrate Braylyn’s birthday on December 18, there, drive back up here to the Bay Area for Christmas with my family.

We’ll be driving everywhere because by then Jalynne won’t be able to fly. She’s due in late January. We already know it’s a boy. We’re naming him Braxton. I came up with the name. Jalynne and I chose the babies’ names while were still in college.

So happy I’ll be spending the next six years with all of you. Thank you for everything you do during the season. You make being a Giants player the best job in the world.

Happy Early Thanksgiving!