christmas eve at grandma and grandpa's is exactly the same as it was when i was a small child. the only thing that changes is the who gets to sit at the grown up table and who sits at the cousins table! it always begins with a prayer and big christmas eve dinner, buffet style, with a grown up table and a kid table.

here is grandpa calvin being himself and trying to dump water on peoples heads

it is also a tradition in the spratling family to eat until your are sick.

then everyone shuffles into the nice living room for the reading of the christmas story out of the bible as the grandkids do their part to make the christmas story as entertaining as possible in bath robes and towles on their heads.

after which we sing silent night and then a few more christmas songs. Melanie reads us a christmas story(we missed her this year as she was on her honeymoon in Italy) and cousins share their musical talents. It is then back into the kitchen for christmas candy and cookies.

wrestling match always preceeds the opening of christmas jammies from grandma Carla

since joining the family 4 years ago, devin has gladly

accepted the role as christmas donkey

.

after opening of grandma and granpa's gifts we all head home, this year the snow was so bad that jay and julie were snowed in out north and kept a bunch of others from making the trip so the crowd was very small...we missed everyone. and the weather also sent us home early before the ice set in. when we get home, cookies and milk are set out and it's off to bed, but only for a few hours. this year i was awoken at 4am, but the boys had been up since 2:30...playing with the contents of their stockings.

this year was a special christmas being that it was Naomi and Savannah's first christmas. naomi is in the antlers and Savannah is with the bow.

....Christmas Day....

we have a rule that at least part of the gifts we give eachother has to be home made. devin and I had big plans when we drew sam's name this year to make something cool in my dad's workshop, but weather kicked in and flying, so we ended up with the "home made part" being a snow man, or actually a 'snow sam." the snow sam was wearing a new snow beanie with a bow. this is Sam looking just like his snow sam.

Cache and Claire were so cute palling around all week. and showing eachother up at bedtime with who could scream the loudest and test their parents patience. oh man we love these two.

santa brought the much wanted "white sabers" and much fun was had.

For Bruce and Nat

the wedding day...

this is for you guys who couldn't make because of the snow. we missed you a ton, but never the less the wedding went on and here is the proof. today my uncle Andy married sweet Kari Dallas in a 100 something year old, little one room, no electricity, country chapel in the middle of wheat fields. it was beautiful. the chapel was only big enough to fit family, close friends and a wood stove. there was lots of snow and slush and so some neighbors only option was horse back, because they couldn't get their cars out of their driveway. they had an advantage though, they were able to to just ride right up to the door instead of us who had to park on the dirt roads and then walk through all the slush and mud in our nice clothes to get in the chapel. well anway, kari graduated from high school with me and her dad is a neighboring wheat farmer to our family wheat farm, so these was a special occasion for many people in the area.
congrats Andy and Kari!





this is little Handy, i just think he is so stinkin cute

here is this one again in color, just because i like it so much. they are so happy.

so sorry natalie, i didn't get any of the ceremony, i couldn't find my camera card until the wedding was over, so as soon as it was over I went a bit "annoying camera lady" mode, because i was just so excited to find my camera card and it was just such a pretty setting, and i knew my aunt natalie wasn't there to take all the pictures for everyone to copy from this time. oh by the way natalie, the next family function i will happily had that title back over to you.

i just really think they are going to have a happy life together these two.

**i don't know why but when i posting these pictures today, blogger is
un- sharpening them and making them appear not as clear as
they are on my computer, sorry if that is bugging your eyes like it is mine.

tagged by ashley green

• I am. a country kid
  
• I want to be healthy
  
• I have to fold laundry and pack for our trip home
  
• I wish I didn't die my hair black
  
• I hate Clutter!
  
• I fear that someone will hurt my children...
  
• I hear cache singing "in ex chelseas day ay OH" (angels we have heard on high)as he raids the fridge looking for yogurt that i said he couldn't have until supper.
  
• I search for a binkie or burp rag all day. they are always gone.
  
• I wonder how babies KNOW when you sit down vs. standing up.
  
• I always see pictures .. like all day long, think. that would be the best picture if only i could blink my eyes and take a picture like that. i've even caught myself tilting my head to see the better picture.. sometimes this worries me that i do this..
  
• I’m usually a people person who loves company.
  
• I’m not happy unless i work out
  
• I dance with cache on a daily basis. usually "rock star dance" which means playing the air guitar and running in circles.
  
• I sing primary songs with cache.. through out the day.
• I never have tasted alcohol
  
• I rarely swear unless i am almost in a wreck or something
  
• I cry when i think about children in a bad home or homeless
  
• I’m not always the most positive person when it comes to Devin's dreams and aspirations. I'm working on it though.
  
• I lose my sunglasses every other day. And then I find them in the car, my coat pocket or the diaper bag.
• I’m confused about omega 3 fatty acids and omega 6 fatty acids. both good, i think, some come in fish, or in flax seed, .. i can't keep it straight. And while we are talking about being confused, the types of dietary fiber, soluble vs. insoluble, both good, but which kind is more important, which comes in cereal vs. oatmeal. vs bean and veggies.. aaah frustrating.. I give up.
  
• I need to eat less sugar.
• I should get off the computer
  
• I dream about living a simple, clean life in the country, with my family,good friends, a great dane, a couple horses, a cherry tree, hard wood floors, big windows, GIANT garden and an amazing tree house. And sometimes there is a teepee and warm summer nights the smell of bbq and children laughing, Oh and awesome neighbors. Oh and there are no mosquitos. I dream a lot.
  
• I tag Cindy, cher, MOM, sarah orton, sarah Leonard, Ashley spratling.

Devin's done with Finals...

devin finished his last final at 7:30 this morning! i have been waiting and waiting for him to be done so we can play and shop and do all things christmas, devin however is a bit brain dead after a tri mester of 39 credits, a new baby born in the middle and a working the 5am shift at the YMCA before class each day. so this is what he is doing as we speak. playing cache's gameboy and putting up his feet. the antlers are his attempt to appease my demand for him joining in on the christmas spirit. he did help me wrap all the presents i bought for myself for christmas(at least i know i'll like them right?) yay! bring on christmas and a much needed break for Devin! job well done devin. thank you for working so hard for our future.

OH
the new blog

heading is my christmas
card, Merry Christmas! this is as
close as i will get to sending out christmas cards.
i admire all those who are put together enough to stamp
and address envelopes every christmas. i LOVE
receiving them and sorry i'm too much of a slacker to
send you or anyone one. someday, someday. It is so exciting to
check the mail every day and see all your beautiful families
and how 2008 has treated you.
merry christmas

*oh i did the christmas card on photobuckets scrapblog thingy. its supa easy, if you were wondering. i don't own photoshop and always wondered how people did such cool things on their blogs. so i'm sharing how i did it incase you are now the one wondering.

day 4 Thanksgiving Day

i was about to apologize for posting so many pictures, but i stopped myself for two reasons. first of all anytime anyone apologizes for posting too many pictures i find my self always thinking, no you should apologize for not posting ENOUGH! My second reason i stopped myself was because, you know what, this is my blog i can do whatever i want too. kapeesh? so there is a little attitude for you and here is a LOT of pictures.
Mt. Vernon is the homestead of George Washington. it was our favorite day so i'm glad we visited it on thanksgiving. perfect. just so beautiful and right on the Potomac river. insanely gorgeous. we all felt such a love for our country and its founding fathers especially old boy George on this day. he truly was a great man. i kept thinking: i wish he could come back alive and be our president right now. i also thought about my grandma carla quite a bit. she is so patriotic and would just love this place.
**thank you to my sis in law sara for being my model whenever i wanted a picture of a pretty place and needed a pretty face in it to make the picture more fun to look at.

flirting with danger. i wish he could say he got this from his daddy
but this he got from me. poor boy will have a lot of hard lessons.

i can't decide which i like better. color or b&w

oh man we love you Cache!

Day three! I'm on a roll here,, a sloow roll

Grandma and Grandpa did an amazing job at keeping all 16 of them busy and happy and safe, while all the parents were in the temple. A rare break for all the parents and a neat opportunity to be in the temple all together as siblings. I stayed on the bus with the baby, she is not quite old enough to be left alone long, but i'm glad I did so I could snap a few of these pictures. One of my favorite things about the temple is watching the parents come out, they're is always an extra dose of peace as they are walking out of the temple, holding hands smiling and just can't wait to hug their children. I love that effect the temple has on people. But who wouldn't be full of joy when returning to these angelic faces? OH I just love these kids. Notice Cache, out of the 10 shots I took of the grandkids THIS was the only one where he was almost looking at the camera,, but not really..OH gotta love that boy.

After the Temple, everyone changed on the bus or wherever. I was most impressed with our brother in law Cameron changing in the bus bathroom..all 6foot 7inches(right?) of him! We then headed back downtown D.C and spent the afternoon touring all the smithsonians.

I wish I had started earlier in the trip taking pictures of all the wierd things we saw.. They're were MANY! Here are a couple that Devin and I thought were particularly fun or weird.. And I am sorry if you are a fan but I just almost get angry looking at modern art, that someone would waste so much time and effort trying to just be wierd and different. Same thing goes for modern dance. (Sorry Ash!) Well the spaghetti one though that actually made me happy! I don't think anyone can say spaghetti! Without smiling.. it's just funny. Oh the elephant is NOT a wierd pic. Look at that building! This museum made me feel just like I was in "Night of the museum."

THE END of day 3

DAY TWO continued...

OH BOY did the little boys have some karate fights after seeing "Kung FU Panda" at the zoo.
I was kicked in the shin at karate chopped at least several times, I don't know about anyone else!

Phew, that was a big long day.... i'm tired just remembering it!

DAY TWO

This is Devin's cute sister Julie and her family, minus their two babies.
We also went to the National zoo,but I'm tired of posting so maybe another day!

Orton Family D.C trip day #1

(for those of you who are curious, this trip consisted of Devin's parents plus their 6 grown children and their spouses and children)

We're back! Our little family got up at 5am to catch our flight, originally feeling sorry for ourselves that we didn't get to spend the rest of the day with the family who was flying out all together Sunday afternoon, but we ended up really being the lucky ones. Our flight left just as the snow storms were rolling in, so we were home napping by noon, while the rest of the family made it to Chicago, and rerouted to all over the country, California, Minnesota and are still there 36 hours later! Poor Grandma and Grandpa got the worst end of the deal, staying in the airport over night because there wasn't enough room in the hotel shuttle so they spent rhe night in the airport and then not enough room on the next morning flight outta there. Pat and Karli rented a car and are driving nine hours home from California.. and I think Darin and Laura are still in Minnesota....I feel for you guys.
Well it was truly the trip of a lifetime and because there is so much to post, I will try to do one day of the trip per day this week. So lets start with Monday!

Monday: The entire day was spent with everyone flying into Baltimore, getting settled into our Hotel and waiting for cousins to show up.

A LOT of preparations went into this trip. Aunt Karli made us all matching sweatshirts and all 16 grand kids got a bag filled with goodies and their names embroidered on them.

Our Hotel was beautiful, and although Janie kept apologizing all week for giving us only one bed (and two cribs), there could have been ten beds in that room but by morning it still would've resulted in this:

Devin even moved to the couch one night but Cache awoke to find him missing and joined Devin on the couch, so Devin gave up and figured at least in the bed he wouldn't have Cache laying ON TOP of him. We were just so grateful for a kingsize bed

**i'm kinda proud of this picture because
i didn't have to edit it at all!**