The Orchard Team Huddle

This year the kids had 2 full weeks off of school.  Russell took the time off as well.  It was some great family time! Tubing:   The Young Single Adults had Soldier Hollow reserved for night time sledding so we decided to accompany them.  We have never been to an "official" sledding hill and it was great fun. The tubes have a loop that you put over a pole and a rope tows you to the top of the hill while you sit on your tube.  Our rope stopped for a minute and Mason noticed his loop slipped off of the pole.  He told us it wasn't going to pull him and we told him he would be fine (not knowing his loop had slipped off).  When the rope started again, sure enough, he got left behind.  Stockton decided to be the best big brother and jumped off of his tube to save Mason.  He grabbed Mason's loop and held onto his tube but couldn't get back in. He was laying facedown in the snow being drug by his moving tube while he held that with one han...

We've had a tradition of gathering with the Orchard family on Christmas morning for breakfast.  It was a fun tradition but as the family grew and Russell's siblings became grandparents it made it hard to gather everyone on such a crazy morning.  This year we had the Orchard breakfast the Saturday before Christmas and that seemed to work out really well.  Saturday will be our new tradition.  I was so excited to get to stay home and be lazy on Christmas day.  When I asked the boys what they wanted for breakfast they picked Christmas Casserole and homemade cinnamon rolls, the very thing we have at the Orchard party!  It was fun to get to eat them twice in the same week!  Stockton spent the last 2 months with early morning basketball practice so Mason was in the habit of waking early!  Fortunately for us he managed to sleep until 7:00 on Christmas morning! Sit on the stairs so mom can take your picture before you walk in and see your presents. Th...

Christmas Eve bowling with the Sproul family is such a fun tradition.  We play a few games in the arcades, eat a lot of mini corn dogs and fries, and have tons of fun together! Payson and Riza Salena and Douglas Elyse, Cameron and Aurora Jordan, Parker, Stockton, Wilson, Charity and a blurry Bridger Charity, Aurora, Sarah and Payson So glad it is FINALLY Christmas Eve so he can bowl!  

I know this is not a milestone anniversary but I have been thinking a lot about marriage the past few months and wanted to share a few thoughts. We spent the morning at the Orchard Christmas breakfast where this picture was taken. December 21st, 2013 The afternoon was spent doing a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping.  For some reason I just was not prepared this year.  That is one of the things we certainly did not think about when we decided to get married on the 21st of December.  It is tough to get away this time of year.  The kids are busy with school programs.  Life is busy with holiday parties.  It is such a big travel time that airfare is expensive making it hard to get away.  Anyway, back to the shopping. Typically we don't buy gifts but we were at Best Buy and impulsively walked away with a Ninja Blender! It wasn't one of those husband-unromantically-buys-an-appliance sort of thing.  I really wanted one and we were o...

This has become one of our holiday favorites!  We started the evening at Temple Square, just before dinner time.  The lights were glowing but it was not crowded yet.  Next, we walked to the City Creek shopping center and had some dinner at Chick-Fil-A.  Finally, we tromped to the Gallivan Center for ice skating. Coldwell Banker sponsors a family skate night instead of having office holiday parties and our family LOVES the idea.  Free skating, donuts and hot chocolate...the perfect recipe for family fun!  It was a bitter cold night, about 15 degrees, but we were bundled up and still managed to enjoy ourselves.  Mason held hands and even got to where he could skate by himself.  Russell showed us all up by skating backwards, something he learned from working at the Cyprus ice rink when he was a teenager! Mason got a chance to make sure Santa knew exactly what he wanted for Christmas.  A REAL  magic hat and wand so he coul...

It is hard to believe that we just celebrated Douglas' 18th birthday.  He's such a great kid (adult) and I am so blessed to be his "momma" as he likes to call me. Douglas braved the crowds Thanksgiving night to get a deal on his gift, an Ipad Mini.  The going rate on this device is $299 but Walmart had a $100 gift card that came with it which brought this guy right into our birthday price range.  Unfortunately, they ran out of stock and gave out rain checks to be shipped by Christmas.  So, while this is his actual gift, he did not have it for his birthday! We had fun going out to dinner as a family.  Douglas picked Famous Dave's but it was not an easy decision to come by.  The only thing he really knew was he wanted meat.  We take turns picking lunch on Saturdays and Douglas RARELY knows where he wants to go. For some reason it is hard for him to make up his mind. The birthday treat, however, was a no brainer!  This guy would eat Pean...

While Halloween is not our most favorite holiday we did manage to have a little fun this year. There was the traditional pumpkin carving while we watched the Cardinals and The Red Sox play in the World Series.  You can tell who Stockton was cheering for.  I made caramel apples while Russell and the boys scooped and carved.  They were not pretty.  They were, however, delicious! I have decided I do not have the patience for candy making, or apple dipping. Stockton's pumpkin is the one with the Washington Nationals logo (a pro baseball team).  He also wore a Nationals shirt and hat to school on Halloween.  Apparently, some of the students at school asked why he had a Walgreens hat on.  Halloween night, a trick or treating mom asked me why we carved a Walgreens pumpkin!  Kind of a funny story, I thought. Mason had fun opening all of the candy.  We went through 200 or more pieces.  It was busy!   Mason kept saying he wa...

The first Sunday in October is a day we look forward to for months.  It all starts on Mother's Day when each cousin gets to pick out their giant pumpkin plant at Grandma and Grandpa Sproul's house.  They have until the first Sunday in October to grow the largest pumpkin they can.  It looked good for us for awhile but somehow we got passed up again this year. The biggest pumpkin weighed in at 99.4 pounds and Charity was the winner.  According to my sister, Emily, they stuck their plant in some hard piece of ground and pretty much did nothing after that!  What luck! The other results were: 2nd place:  Parker  65.8 lbs. 3rd place:  Payson 51.8 lbs. 4th place:  Douglas 45.6 lbs. 4th place:  Stockton 45.6 lbs. 5th place:  Mason  23.0 lbs. 6th place:  Wilson  10.8 lbs. 7th place:  Jordan  10.6 lbs. 8th place:  Sarah  6.0 lbs. 9th place:  Bridger (didn't quite get one to grow) Grand...