The Orchard Team Huddle

Christmas Eve For as long as I can remember, we have gone bowling on Christmas Eve.  But, in a year where EVERYTHING is different and unexpected, we decided to shake things up a bit.  We had lots of fun hanging out with our cousins at Top Golf.  We even got Grandpa to join us (Grandma always has to work on Christmas Eve). Jordan, Mason, Sarah, Daisy (Wilson's friend) Wilson Ben and Kelly Me, Grandpa Murry, Kelly Our entire group! Our lunch requirements were something that had french fries and someplace we could dine in.  There are still so many places that only do drive-thru service or won't seat large groups.  So, we were lucky to find these tables together in the corner of JCW's.  We had turkey sandwiches, burgers, fries and onion rings.  It was yummy! Cousins came to our house while Kelly and Ben did a little shopping.  I made potato cheese soup for dinner and prepared the cinnamon rolls and Christmas casserole for the next morning.  Stock...

There is nothing quite like that first hug in 2 years.  It is something you have to experience to completely understand.  I missed this boy so much.  Even though I got to video call with him weekly, there is nothing like being together, in person. Stockton's welcome home looked a lot different than we anticipated when he left.  Covid restrictions kept us from going inside the airport, we all wore masks and we didn't invite extended family.  But it didn't take the joy out of the moment we finally got to be with him!  It's a mom's (and a girlfriend's) dream come true. ♥️ We didn't get the best pictures because we were more concerned with video.  And, Mason was on picture duty.  He is still learning about angles and capturing that perfect moment! The day started with this middle of the night picture and message. The journey begins.  About to board the plane for a 10 hour flight to Atlanta. His already later-in-the-evening flight was delayed by a...

We have spent the last 6 months doing everything we can to avoid Covid hitting our family.  We wear masks every time we go into public, even if others aren't.  We wash our hands and use sanitizer. We have been really careful.  We decided Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Sproul's needed to be every other week and no one comes if they are sick at all.  What else could we do? On September 13th, we had a lovely dinner at my parents.  Well, it is not my favorite meal but the guys really like it.  The girls enjoyed visiting inside while the boys sat outside eating crawfish and shrimp.  My dad pulled off his annual boil. That's the event that put us in the history books.  We received a group text from my dad the following Tuesday evening and I quote: FYI:  I woke up Monday morning shaking like a dog trying to pass a peach pit.  I was coughing like crazy and I didn't get back to sleep because I knew I had just given my family COVID.  So...

We did a forced kind of quarantine in March.  It was more of a shelter in place order.  Restaurants, schools, gyms, and movie theaters were all closed.  We didn't have much of a choice.  The grocery stores and gas stations were always open and we could still go.  But, once you are considered "exposed" or test positive, you aren't supposed to go anywhere.  Once Russell got his positive results at 9:00 Monday morning, we were stuck with the supplies in our house. Supplies ran low for SO long as people panic shopped and stockpiled so I have tried not to let our stock get too low. Luckily, I had gone to Sam's Club the previous week and picked up a few things including lunchmeat, Diet Coke and milk. This is where we see if we have learned anything about being prepared!  And, where Heavenly Father sends angels in the form of neighbors who offer to help any way they can. I told one friend we could really use some mandarin oranges and some green grapes.  ...

We like to get in as much fun as we can when it comes to birthday time so it is safe to say that this was birthday week!  Cousins are Mason's favorite people in the world so we had to have a cousin celebration at Altitude Trampoline Park! Sarah, Mason, Houston, Payson, Jordan, Wilson Riza, me (Jenny), Kelly, Amelia with Mason and Jordan photo bombing in the background! Mason has a few friends that have season passes to Lagoon so we decided to make a day of it.  We had pizza Lunchables, Dot's pretzels, Mountain Dew and homemade Red Velvet oreo cookies.  Carter, Mason, Samantha, Lincoln and Ethan And now to the actual birthday day!  Our morning started off with Butterscoth Pull Aparts.  Mason's team had games in Spanish Fork so we were gone for most of the day.  I thought Taco Bell seeds might be a fun flavor for the birthday boy to try but it turns out they were disgusting 🤢. Mason requested baseball sugar cookies to share with his team. I tried to talk him...