The Orchard Team Huddle

It's kind of crazy to think that this is the last year Douglas will be posing for my first-day-of-school shots.  It is also the first year that Mason was officially in school.  The one and only year all three of my boys are in grade school.  They just happen to be at three different schools!  I seriously have my large, medium and small boys and I love them all and the stages they are in! Senior Year at Cottonwood High School 8th grade year at Bennion Jr. High.  He had to wear his student government shirt since he is a Senator. Wishing he was off to school this day but would have to wait a week! Kindergarten started a week after the other grades.  The day before Mason "officially" attended school we got to go explore the classroom.  He, of course, loved it!   The first day of school was pretty much the longest morning of our lives!  It was a hard day to have afternoon kindergarten. His REAL pose in the flowers...

The countdown to Mason's 5th birthday was a long one!  He likes to track time in "sleeps"...how many sleeps until the event he is anticipating.  We talked about his birthday forever but I believe we started counting sleeps somewhere around 15. Skylanders was Mason's birthday obsession.  That is all he wanted, all he talked about.  It is a video game with collectible action figures that sit on a portal and interact with you during the game.  There are Fire Skylanders, Wind Skylanders, Magic Skylanders, Earth Skylanders.....and more.  As far as I can tell the concept is similar to Pokemon which the two older boys were always into.  The Sunday before his Wednesday birthday Mason had a party with his Sproul cousins.  He got some Skylanders but didn't have the actual video game.  Waiting 2 days for his gifts from Mom and Dad was torture! He also got some really cool super hero things and a wallet, another thing he was dying to have!...

Instead of pajamas the boys got Christmas Eve Snuggies.  They were SO excited.  I'm not even kidding.  Douglas said something like, "YES!  I have been wanting one of these FOREVER!"  Rare excitement, indeed. We started the morning with the traditional wait on the stairs picture. Douglas had no idea what he was getting for Christmas.  He can barely think of suggestions for his birthday so it was all up to me.  He was happy with his camo pants, watch and new car stereo. Stockton had a bazillion ideas but said he would be happy with  whatever.  He got NBA 2K13, 12 months of Xbox Live, and an adapter for his Ipod he bought months ago so he can play it in his IHome. Oh yeah, and some shoes...these don't really count in his gift total but Santa knew he would be excited. Stockton had picked them out for his new school shoes and grew out of them in all of 2 months.  Now he can enjoy them all over again! Mason was a ...

As I recap this year's Christmas season it is difficult to process it all.  We went about our normal traditions and activities with the knowledge that Grandma Mary was finishing her journey here on earth.  It was the morning of December 21st that I got a text from my dad saying that Grandma was unresponsive.  My sister, Kelly, and I hurried up to the VA nursing home to say our last goodbyes.  We knew this day would come and we have been hoping it would sooner rather than later.  Grandma has not been herself.  She needed to move on.  Still, the thought of her not being around was a heavy sadness mixed with disbelief and happiness for her to be free from her frail body and mind.  It was my 22nd wedding anniversary and Russell and I had plans.  I wanted to be with Grandma as she passed but I also wanted to celebrate with the love of my life.  It was not a hard decision for me to make.  I would spend time with Russell but Grandma was on...

Most of the fun about Christmas comes from all of the little magical things that lead up to the big day!  I LOVE the festive stuff. I can't talk about FESTIVE without starting with my big tree.  I have really been in love with it.  I started with a smaller version 13 years ago in my old house.  When I moved to my current house I started crying the day we put up our tree.  I have a giant window in my living room and a tall vaulted ceiling.  My little 7 foot tree just wasn't cutting it.  We ran out and got a 10 foot tree but it wasn't pre-lit.  I spent years winding lights onto that thing and buying decorations on after-Christmas clearance so I had enough to make it full and elegant.  Then I got my beautiful pre-lit and I was so happy for many years.  Until...the lights started going out in sections and it developed a bit of a lean.  This year I added a few strands of lights to fix the dark spots.  Russell propped a few books u...