a sad thing happened at our house a few weeks ago. we lost about 800 pictures from the camera card before i got them loaded onto the computer. everything from october 2010 through march 2011 is gone. so, i told myself i better blog about that time or else it would really be lost. (i have some pictures from september that i haven't blogged, so i am including these now!)

so this blog should be titled - october to december 2010 recap . . . (here goes)


papa lee and grandma lady bought us a "pass of all passes". it includes an unlimited pass to both the lehi and orem trafalgas, owlz games, utah flash games, and (what we are most looking forward to) a seven peaks pass. we have already used the pass at both trafalgas and we are loving it. in fact we only got passes for kyle, isaac, reagan, and ethan because we figured i would need to stay home with the little boys, but davis is free and beck loves being outside, so we have all been and now we just ordered me a pass as well.

september - isaac, reagan, and ethan finished their soccer season. it got pretty crazy for a few weeks, when we had multiple games at the same time and a new baby. beck got used to being at soccer games. when he was only 2 weeks old he went to three soccer games and a cousins football game. welcome baby!

the kiddos did great at soccer. reagan proved herself to be quite the goalie. she took some hard shots and really loved it. her dad was the coach and said he wishes she would have played there most of the season. isaac played on a new league this year. a little more competitive and more games and more practices. he is a hustler and tries really hard. his team is short on players so most of the boys play the entire game. it is teaching him stamina. great experience so far! and ethan. well, lets just say that ethan didn't love soccer this year. he mostly just ran along side the mass of kids and never had a real desire to even kick the ball. we'll see if he plays again? (and no, i have no pictures of reagan. like i said, we had multiple games most of the time and dad was her coach, so i was at the other games.)

ethan started kindergarten. he started school a few days after beck was born, so grandma lady and aunt merritt took him to his first day of school (and quite a few days after that as well!) he loves mrs. hiatt and loves his new friends at school. he is doing so good and has turned out to be a good reader and loves reading as well. he is doing great in math and i think he likes it except when he wants to go out and play and not do his homework. we only had one little incident and all i can say is "holy cow!" it turns out that our little ethan was "bullying" a sixth grade boy and got in some trouble. but i think he has learned his lesson, and if not he has been threatened that he will be home-schooled with nobody but him and his mom. (i don't see that as a punishment at all, but apparently it is - because isaac said that would be awful!)

isaac is still playing the piano. he had a fall / halloween costume recital. he did awesome! he is playing some hard songs and has to work really hard (it just looks like a lot of black dots to me) and his mom made him a pretty cool mario costume for the recital. (don't ever forget that i love you isaac!) you can always tell which songs he loves to play - his whole body dances sitting there on the bench while playing the songs.

now to some memories without pictures . . .

october - we had a fun and busy week of halloween. it was crazy that we had a reason to dress up every day of that week. isaac wasn't going to dress up and we weren't going to force him. but the day before his costume recital we found a cute homemade mario costume and he thought that it would be really cool, so i pulled out the sewing machine and worked my magic - that and a lot of borrowing from neighbors and cousins and grandma and grandpa we put together a fun costume. reagan was a vampire (and she's not even old enough to know about twilight!). ethan was a pirate and davis was a pirate as well. beck dressed up multiple times - he was a little tin man one day, a frankenstein, a pumpkin and a soccer ball. i even made a debut this year and dressed up as a soccer player.

november - we went to burley for thanksgiving this year. the roads were less than desirable,but we braved it and went anyways! it is always so fun to be with family. we missed the olsen's, but they were represented by chelsea and greg and livie and grace and by trev and katie. mom and dad spoiled us and on friday night we stayed at the marriott right there in burley. they have a fun pool and a great continental breakfast. fun, fun memories. and so much to be grateful for!

december - was well beyond crazy. the older three kiddos and all of their christmas parties and music performances. but it was all so worth it!

we had a great time with the orton family while marty was in town (we call it marty-gra). we try to spend as much time as we possibly can with the family while marty is here. we only get to see him a couple times a year, so we make it all worth it. we ate and laughed and ate and bowled and ate and had family pictures and ate and got spoiled rotten and ate and just had a wonderful time. on friday night of orton christmas (or marty-gra) we got a phone call that grandma martin was put in the hospital in california and she wasn't doing very well. so kyle, merritt, marty, grandma and grandpa loaded up at 10 pm and drove through the night to see her and spend some time with her. when they walked into the hospital on saturday morning, the nurses said that they were like a shot in the arm and grandma made a 180 degree turn around and was out of the hospital on sunday afternoon. funny side story - kyle drove the entire trip, to cali, around cali, and back home. he turned the keys over to merritt here in pleasant grove to drive the remaining 10 miles home to cedar hills and he told her "now, i got you there and around and back safely, you go the rest of the way without any accidents." a deer ran into the side of the car, yes a deer hit them, between our house and theirs! but they had a great time. lots of laughs. i would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that trip.

garrard christmas was wonderful as well. we went to idaho on the 23rd and made it just in time for the beck christmas party and beck bingo!!! we were big winners as always! so fun to see all the cousins and their kiddos and aunts and uncles and grandma bernice. such a fun place to be. love that kyle and the kids look forward to it as much as i do. we spent christmas eve at mom and dad's house and everyone was there except the olsens (darn-it!). mom and dad always have a theme for christmas. this year was JOY. and they shared how we find true joy when we are serving. serving for J-Jesus, O-others, and Y-yourself. and they had a little gift or reminder for each of the letters. Y - a trip to hawaii for us six kids and our spouses (more of that story to come!).

christmas day was wonderful as well. the kiddos were full of excitement and i was so proud of each of them. they were just as excited to see their gifts that they gave be opened as they were to open their own. beck's first christmas was special as well. he was so sweet and just loved watching all the activity going on around him. let's see if i can remember (without pictures) what they each got. isaac got a wii game that he has wanted for almost 2 years and when we tried to play it - mrs. claus had bought the "european" version of the game. yes mrs. claus had no idea that there was even a "european" version out there. oops, so papa lee and grandma lady saved that day and got him a i-touch. reagan just wanted a box, so she got a box. she got some zhu-zhu pets and some art supplies as well. ethan got iron man dress ups. davis got a new buzz lightyear and beck got diapers.

over all 2010, was wonderful! we welcomed a new baby, traveled to california and idaho, and spent lots of time visiting and spending time with family. christmas was especially wonderful - i can't think of a better way to remember and celebrate our savior's birth and life than with family. each family member blesses our lives with their examples of service and love and testimony. we are so grateful for our savior, jesus christ, and his life of love and service and his sacrifice for each of us. we are so grateful for the gospel in our lives and the blessing it is to know the plan of salvation and have the knowledge that families are forever.

beck was given a beautiful blessing by his daddy on sunday, october 12, 2010. he looked so handsome in his new blessing outfit from grandpa bill and grandma chick and he was cuddled in his beautiful white blanket from grandpa lee and grandma lady.

we are so blessed to have beck as a part of our little family. he has brought such a sweet spirit into our home. he is so patient with me and puts up with a lot from his big brothers (especially davis) and his big sister.

grandma lady and grandma chick are proud grandmas! we are so blessed to have such a loving and supportive family. the garrard and orton families love to get together, we have a great time sharing memories and making new ones. brenda and allen and their whole family, alan and josee and three of their kids, nat and dennie and all of their kids, merritt and darin and their whole family, cousin stephanie and kylee, cousin nicki and her family, cousin kassie and her family . . . it was a full chapel and a full house . . . full of family and loved ones and full of love and support.

beck . . . always remember you have so many people that love you and want the best for you. look to them for support and examples. and know that your daddy and i love you so much too. we are so lucky to be your parents!

beck lincoln orton

born on saturday, august 28, 2010 at 7:54 am. he weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 19 inches long (or as his daddy says, "19 inches tall"). he is loved by his brothers and sister. sometimes i think he loved too much by davis, but better loved than not!


yes, he was born on 8-28 . . . on the day of glenn beck's big restoring honor rally at the lincoln memorial. but no matter what anybody says i did not choose beck because of glenn beck. beck was named after his great grandparents . . . beck is my mom's maiden name, his great-grandparents last name.

and lincoln, well, kyle wanted to name ethan - lincoln, and he wanted to name davis - lincoln, and he wanted to name beck - lincoln. i made a deal that we could use lincoln as his middle name, if we could name him beck. so that is how he got his name.

but the other side of the story is . . . it didn't hurt that beck was born on 8-28. kyle wanted to be at the restoring honor rally (so glad that it didn't work out, i am so grateful that kyle was with me in the delivery room and not in washington dc). he is a glenn beck supporter and so it didn't hurt my cause to get him to agree to the name beck!

another funny story . . . our kids go to a new school this year - lincoln academy. so the other day, ethan called beck "glenn beck program - lincoln academy - orton". we've had a good laugh about that one!


this is beck's first bath. kyle went with him to the nursery and got this picture. so cute, and he still hates his baths.

beck is now three weeks old and i can't imagine our family or our home without him. he is such patient and sweet little guy. we are so blessed to have him here!

this beautiful sunday afternoon is going something like this...

isaac: please davis

isaac: davis please

isaac: davis please don't do that

isaac: please davis don't do that

davis: no!

and all i have to say is that i am so grateful for my patient, loving little isaac. there are days when i have tried everything to settle davis down. i give him what he is screaming for which leads to more screaming. i cuddle with him and play with him and read to him, and nothing seems to work. and then isaac shows up and gives davis a "back" (piggy back ride) or takes him to his room to play legos and davis is the happiest thing ever.

thank you, thank you, thank you isaac.

just a few things about my isaac...

he doesn't know how good he is... we are reading the new testament this year as a family (almost done so we can read and try to finish the book of mormon too) and he is continually making comparisons between the new testament and the book of mormon. he catches things that i couldn't even imagine. he does his chores without being asked. he makes davis happy. he does what ky and i ask him too and doesn't expect anything in return. we have rules at our house, and i know that he won't break them (he has a tv in his bedroom and he has never even turned it on without asking us).
he loves his little brother... and his little brother loves him! he has so much patience for davis and he really loves him. he hates to hear him cry or be upset at all. he hates when i have to punish him. he gives him his own treats. i don't think he has ever told him "no".


he doesn't have as much patience for reagan and ethan as he does for davis... they just love isaac so much that they always want to be playing what he is playing with and doing whatever he is doing. reagan loves to be in "isaac's bubble".

he turned 10 in march... i can't believe it has really been 10 years since he was born. he is a good 10 year old. i don't know how that works exactly, but he is a good 10 year old! he is cruising through webelos. he should have his webelo by september and his arrow of light soon after. he is driven by "getting done". either way, he loves it, he does it and he is working hard to finish it.

he loves soccer... doesn't love to go out and play / practice by himself. but loves it enough to play at every recess. he is playing on a new league this year - a fall / spring league. hopefully this will give him some fun new opportunities to learn, get better, and make new friends.

he is awesome on the piano... he again doesn't love to practice, but he loves to sit at the piano and go through his books and just play and play and play. he is flying through his lesson books. he is driven by learning all the songs in the hymn book, so he can quit piano lessons.

he is a bit of a pessimist... he gets nervous about "real world" topics (money, politics, etc.). we have to be careful what we talk about with him and around him. he probably gets this from me!

he loves playing with friends... but is more comfortable playing ticket to ride with mom and dad. he gets nervous calling his friends and would much rather they call him!

he loves learning... he took a summer math class from one of our neighbors and loved every minute of it. he is looking forward to going back to school. he especially loves science, math, and history. but does good in all of his classes!

he is just a good kid...

i love you isaac. thank you for being you. thank you for being such a good kid. thank you for being such a good example to your little sister and brothers. thank you for loving your mom!

i love you is!

day three - green day! again the adults didn't exactly get the memo. day three was all about getting in all of our favorites as many times as we could.

we started off the day at california adventure. the "big kids" ran to tower of terror. reagan went with them this time. and loved it or at least survived it. when she gets in her mind to do something she does it 110%.

and this is why kyle didn't have a smile on his face for a while. reagan was so excited to go to pixie hollow and see tinker bell. she isn't really into princesses and stuff but she does love fairies. so we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but we waited in line for an hour just to see three fairies. kyle was not happy - the "big kids" were over riding thunder mountain and he was stuck waiting with us to get two pictures! what a good daddy!

we are so blessed to have such a fun, loving and selfless family. grandma lady and papa lee spoiled us rotten. the whole week was such a fun experience. the weather was beautiful, the company was fun and the surroundings were great. thank you grandma and papa - we will cherish these memories forever!

day two was blue day (i will admit that i fought this color day idea until i heard it from the third person - it was so nice to be able to block out every other color and it made finding our eight kiddos so much easier!)

we are so spoiled. grandma lady and papa lee gave us a trip to disneyland. we had such a wonderful time. the kids were all so good and loved every minute of the happiest place on earth.

these pictures are from "red day" or day one at disneyland. we were able to get into the park and hour early because we had a three day park hopper pass. i can't even put everything into words, so be prepared...there are lots of pictures! let me just say that not only are we spoiled to be here, but between aunt merritt and her wheelchair because of her torn achilles and grandma lady and her wheelchair, well...let's just say that this orton family doesn't know how to wait in line. we were spoiled to get to use the handicapped entrance on almost every ride. between that and the fast passes, we literally ran the whole day from one ride to the next.

dad, uncle marty, uncle darin and all the kiddos (minus james - he got to be a jedi at the star wars activity) waiting in line for the roller coaster at toon town. they all said it was not worth the wait.