Mother's Day

This picture is all I wanted for Mother's Day. (Except all those other things...)
Thanks kids.

DISNEYLAND!

DISNEYLAND - Ben and me at California Disney.
But first:

Sara and Alison were having a 'moment' last week and tried on their bridesmaids dresses... Aren't they lovely. I think Alison has plans for the purple one (Stephanie's, out of raw silk,
and Janae's.)

Sara and I went to Utah last month for my nephew Nick's wedding.
This is my sister-in-law and brother at the temple. I love them. They are great people. Doug will be released from his calling as Branch President at the MTC this month. He is the kind of man Heavenly Father has used for great things throughout his life. Not to leave out the rest of my family who are of the same caliber. I am very lucky.

Luckily the wedding, lunch and reception were the day AFTER the blizzard!
Provo, April 15, 2009

Nick and Emily

Sara and I- at the SLC Temple.

We went to Disneyland yesterday. Hurray! Cory has quit his job with CBIZ - his dad's CPA firm.. and took a week off before he starts his new job with A & P Growers (the Almond and Pistachio Co. - one of CBIZ's client's) So we took advantage and went to Disneyland.
Here are Cory, Caleb, Jesus and Patrick at the Hotel pool.

Higher daddy! Higher!

Bad catch Jesus. Guess Cory will have to do it...

"I'll race you to the other side with one foot behind my back."

Breakfast.
It ain't the Ritz - but it will do.

"Room Service!! - if you're not up here in 5 minutes with my extra pillow there will be trouble!"

"Ah, the hotel life. What time are our massages?"

"I promise if we sit right here Ariel will come by this very spot!"

"Gee dad, it's not that bad..."

With my girls.

And my boys.

It's the real BUZZ LIGHT YEAR!
Wouldn't it great if we all had masks with permanent smiles painted on them. He was so happy even though it was probably *110 inside his suit.

While everyone else went to Pirates and the Jungle Ride Ben talked me into going to California Disney - I'd never been there before - to ride Soaring over California. Let me just say that it was breathtaking! even emotional at times. I loved it. And on our way back to Disneyland I saw Mater and Lightening McQueen - so sad Caleb and Patrick weren't with us.
(See picture above that I accidentally deleted here.)

Janae's uncle owns a Hotel across the street and got three of us in for free! We love Uncle Brandon!

Doesn't Mickie look as young as the first day Disneyland opened. I wonder if he's had work done.

Disney was a smart man, right Sara.

Let there be blogging!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I came into the garage after Caleb went home one day and saw that he had parked his 'bike' in between Grandpa's 'bikes'. We have two for he and Patrick that look exactly they same but Caleb knows the difference and prefers 'his'.
Sara has been hanging out in the kitchen again. Her next project was a cheesecake.

She is an evil woman.

And more of Sara's creations.

Sara and I went to hear Ben and Janae's concert last month. We spent a glorious weekend with them and at Huntington Beach. The concert was fabulous. (The shopping was pretty good too.)
We had dinner at B. J.'s and finished off with a Chocolate on chocolate with chocolate Pazooki.

Janae's mom is in the choir too, and Ben is in the orchestra, of course.
ps Next pic: Sara licking the Pazooki pan...

"Hey everybody, it's my birthday and I'm THREE!"
Yes Caleb is three. And we had a party.

Amanda Pitts helped Stephanie make this darling Bob The Builder Cake.

I can't believe Caleb is three. Time does fly when you're having fun and grandkids are so much fun.

Yes these are cinnamon rolls. And they were horrible - each one of them that I ate.

Stop the madness!!!

Always a party when Sara is here.

The day the diploma arrived!!

This is random I know but I found these stockings this week when I was cleaning out a closet and wanted to take a picture before I gave them to Goodwill. I made them for the Noriega House when we decorated it for Christmas with my good friends Audrey Horlacher, Heidi Pfeffer, Varlene Turner and Bettie Taylor. Anyway I loved the gorgeous lace I found to put on them and thought I should have a picture. (F & M's ladies)

I have two silly grandsons. They get so excited when they see each other at church or at their apartment or my house. I love it now that they can say 'oh hi gwama', tell me secrets (Patrick), or say 'doin grama, doin?' 'where Hannah is?' (Caleb) and I love to watch them when they don't know it. They are in such wonder of everything.

See.

And then I have the two sweetest granddaughters. I think it feeds me in some way to hold them and touch their soft warm faces. I hope I appreciated that with my own children but probably didn't think of it very often like most busy mothers.

The 'sling' babies.

So Sara - she has moved home for awhile and it has been so fun (for us). It probably won't last too long - as soon as she studies, takes and passes her test to be a certified lab tech she will be off to a job somewhere near the ocean.
But while she is here we have parties - and most of them involve cooking.
We found out one day that it was Chinese New Year so... she told Alison to make red a velvet cake, and she made spring rolls, lettuce wraps and other treats, and found a pattern for a paper sack dragon we helped the boys make.

Another day she made red cupcakes.

Then for Valentines she made red sugar cookies and spent half a day decorating them.
They were awesome!

Tonight she made homemade donuts.

I can't wait to see what comes next.

Christmas, New Years, Heaven

These pictures are mixed up...so I'll just label them as they are.

Won't that be fun!

This is biscuits and gravy on Christmas morning. The Moreno's were in Utah so Alison got to make them for Jesus' family. She said they were almost as good as dad's.

I went to Utah to see my family and then help Sara move home. This is our four generation picture at the Orton Christmas Party.

New Year's Eve at the Petroleum Club - Sara and Stephanie share a dessert. They were just a little bit excited.

We got a babysitter for the boys which made it nice for the mom's and dad's. We love you Laura Mayberry!

Happy 2009! Ben and Janae got stranded on the Grapevine...so we didn't see them until the next morning.

Utah: playing the bells - an Orton Family Tradition. So fun to be there.
It snowed while we were there. . . Don't miss that very much.

Christmas morning. Cory and Caleb playing with the new train.

So, Heaven... We just got back from San Diego. Jerry had a conference and invited Sara and I. It was glorious. The weather, the food, the shopping, the view...

This is Sara sitting in the window sill picking out her condo when she gets a job here...

Jerry and I at the USS Midway where they built this statue of Bop Hope who entertained the troops through several wars. Thanks for the memories!

And last; Sara and I at the Hotel Coronado.The end.