Five Courses in the Orchard

Have I told you how much fun it is to be in the high school stage of life?!  Here is just another delightful example of why this age has been my favorite!  Two of Ella's sweet best friends, Ruth and Ansley, loooove to cook and wanted to give Ella and Ben a very special first Valentines Day together.  They asked if they could make them a gourmet meal and serve it outside in the orchard for a romantic, memorable date night.  As the girls planned, though, the idea and menu got bigger and bigger and they realized it was too much for two people, so they had the idea to include other couples too-- and we lucky parents got the invite!  I mean, come on!  How creative and generous is this?!

We were each sent a formal invitation and menu.

Our awesome kids were totally cool with going on a triple date with their parents.

The setting was idyllic!  Ruth's family farms almonds, so their home is in the middle of their blossoming orchard.  The night we did this was even the day the farmers call "Full Bloom"-- no pedals on the ground yet, ALL flowers open and still on the trees.  The pretty almond blossoms plus the gorgeous poolside and candlelit table our chefs set was all just spectacular!

Another fun detail of the night was that all the little sisters were the servers!  They were told to wear black and come early for training.  They added levity and charm to the formality of the evening!  Delia came out with this mountain of amazing herbed focaccia bread and said, "It's SO good, but don't fill up on bread!  I've seen the food and you'll want to save room!"  They checked on us over and over and made sure we were lacking for nothing! 

It was seriously one of the best meals I've ever had.  I heard the grilled salmon was to die for, but not being a big fish fan, our chefs thoughtfully served me chicken, which was also divine.  My favorite course may have been the soup course, though.  Spicy and sweet butternut squash with microgreens picked right from their garden (when they ran out, Delia had to quick go pick more!), crispy croutons, hazelnuts, and an artistically drizzled tart crème fraiche.  Yum!

Delia ate in the kitchen and, I think, had mostly dessert for dinner!  Warm Ghirardelli brownies with homemade caramel gelato and a whiskey salted caramel sauce that I could have eaten with a spoon!

Chefs and sister servers and their kitchen shenanigans!  I love how much fun guests and workers alike had all night!

There was no detail that was not thought of-- from the calligraphy place cards to the suggested wine pairings to the warm blankets, fun drinks, and homemade snacks around the fire our hosts ended the night with!  When I hugged Ella goodnight I thanked her for having such cool friends.

Sweet Memories at Winter Formal 2022

I've said before that raising high schoolers has been my favorite!  There are many reasons, but one of them is that every now and then we get to crash into their super fun lives a little bit and live vicariously through them!  This weekend was all the best stuff high school has to offer!

It started with the big Friday night Homecoming Game.  Our Homecoming Court was presented and our new king and queen were crowned.  It is the best to root for friends on the court-- the senior girl Ella leads a girls' Bible Study with, the boy who is in all the plays with my kids, the church friend we've had since the kids were babies.  Since Ben was the king last year, it was time for him to pass on his sword and crown, which was another fun thing to watch!

Saturday was all about getting ready for the big Winter Formal!  One of Delia's great loves is nail polish, so she received a gift certificate to get a fancy manicure for Christmas.  She redeemed it for Formal, getting long, sparkly, turquoise, acrylic nails and loving every minute of the pampering!

Then it was off to my friend Melinda's for hair.  What a sweet couple of hours this is as we all crowd in her bathroom and visit while she curls, braids, and twists.  Fun fact this year-- her son Jared was Delia's date! ;)  After Melinda's, Ella took off for her friend's house where she and all her girls spent the rest of the day getting ready together.

 

We all met up at the park for flower exchange and pictures.  This year our school's FFA Floriculture Team sold corsage and boutonniere packages that they created.  This was the sweetest!  All the flowers were custom made with a picture of your dress/tie that you submitted and labeled with these cute tags!

I haven't officially announced it on the blog, but I'm guessing you've probably figured it out.  Ben and Ella are together! ;)  We are thrilled. We love him and love his dear family and think their years-long friendship turned into dating relationship is so fun.

Ella's friend group.  Only one more Formal for these juniors!

Delia was happy to go to Formal with her best guy friend.  She and Jared have been close since kindergarten.  He's actually the son of our superintendent!  They have many things in common, being a PK and SK, may be one of them!  NOT dating, though, just good buddies-- something Delia hilariously clarified with Jared as they shared a slow dance.  Haha!  The picture above is one of my favorites of the night, just a little stabbing with the boutonniere needle!  There's a learning curve to it and the freshman are new to all this!

Delia's friend Cailyn made her corsage and put special little succulents in it, which she just loved!

And here are some of Delia's best girlfriends this year, Ava, Kate and Addison.

Another favorite picture of the night!  Jared was a sweet date.  He knew Delia would have a silver dress and turquoise nails, so he brought both color ties!  He showed up in the turquoise, but the friend group voted silver, which meant a quick change at the picture spot.  So, Dave helped him retie his tie.  

 I know I am biased, but I do think we had the prettiest girls at Formal this weekend. :)  I'm so happy they let us pop into their special moments like this. 

Melinda, who was at Formal on official Superintendent's Wife Duty, took this picture of Delia and Jared's table.  Formal was outside!  Some watermelon farmers from our school actually constructed an open air "building" out of their fruit crates in the lot where all their watermelon hauling semi trucks park.  It was cold, but with sickness on the rise, I'm thankful for a hopefully healthy option!  A yummy tri-tip dinner, dancing, churro truck, photo booth, and an after party back at Ben's house were the highlights of the night.  Delia came home with no voice from singing and dancing so hard.  What a fun weekend!!

Fastest Christmas Break Ever!

I must admit, after 2+ weeks at home, I am usually a little ready to get back into a routine.  To take the Christmas decorations down and get back to work.  But, something about this break was so lovely and relaxing, so full of friends and laughter, I am not ready.  It went too fast.

While our calendar squares have remained relatively empty these past 2 weeks, we filled our time with climbing, reading, game playing, and movie watching.  This is the pile of movie tickets, books, recipes, games, and iPads that naturally accumulated on my tables over break and we recommend all of it! 

The food has been fantastic over break.  We used several restaurant gift cards to eat well and enjoyed trying lots of fun new things at home-- like a ramen bar or my first time making angel food cake!

New Year Eve was spent with our nearest and dearest friends.  While Donna and I have been friends for years, we have watched our kids' lives intersecting more and more over the past 3 years and were so blessed to spend the last of 2021 and the first of 2022 with these people who we love.  

We were actually able to take one grand family outing too!  Taking advantage of a rare Sunday with no night church, we spend the sabbath in the snow!  What a phenomenal witness to God's faithfulness, as we've prayed for more precipitation for our drought-plagued state for years, this December the Lord gave us a winter storm so spectacular that snow was in abundance at not-crazy high elevations!  Our mountains and hills are laden in snow, our valley is soaked in rain.  Praise the Lord!

We couldn't find our sleds, though!  I think they probably fell victim to some wild youth group shenanigans. :)  So the girls and I had the funny idea to see what boogie boards would do in the snow!  Does it get more California than this?!  For snow ball shields we 5/5 recommend the boogie boards.  For sledding, we 0/5 do not.  

The pictures can not capture the beauty of lungs full of fresh, cold air; mountain ranges so white with snow, from a distance, they look like clouds in the sky; trees with heavy snow-topped branches; knee-deep snow fluff you sink right into; crowds of Californians braving slick roads to gleefully see what we haven't seen in years-- abundant snow in places that so desperately needed it.

A stop for coffee and a stroll around the old gold-mining town of Columbia completed our family getaway day.  I'd take another week of break if it was offered, but I guess we are ready for you, 2022.