Orien Family News

We had a whirlwind of fun over Christmas this year. We had four of our six children here along with their spouses so it was almost enough to fill up the house. Caroline, Jason’s wife, posted a blog entitled “Vacation in a Winter Wonderland - Top 13 Events over the Holiday” (http://jcorien.blogspot.com/). I can ditto their list plus I added a bunch more photos in the photo section of this website. We had a great time and wished it could have gone on for a while longer…like a couple of months! We love it when our kids come to visit and wished they lived closer so we could see them more often. We missed out on being with our little granddaughters this year but Erin posted a blog about their Christmas so we lived it vicariously that way plus they sent us a great video photo album which brought them into the living room Christmas morning. Those little girls are so cute!!! (http://twobooksthreesongs.blogspot.com/).

Following the Swiss tradition of the Bailey family, Caroline made their famous family cookies (see her blog and photo). They were delicious. In addition and following the tradition of my family going back several generations I made “Pop Bellied Cookies”. They are raisin filled cookies made with sugar cookie dough and we LOVE them. I posted a picture of them in the photos section. As I said, these cookies have been favorites for years going back to my grandma, then my mother and now myself and siblings. I am pretty sure any weight gain I have had over the years can be blamed entirely on these cookies. They are so delicious! I make a quadruple batch and then we eat them as fast as we can before they are all gone.

One of the things I hoped for while the kids were all home was lots of snow so we could ride the sleds and explore the trails around the lake. It is so much fun. We got the snow all right but shortly after we also got hit with a huge low pressure system of cold, no…. more than cold… it was frigid weather. It was the coldest we ever remember in the last 30+ years here. On New Year’s Eve it was negative 30 at the cabin. Brrrr shiver shiver. We had some good snow machine rides before the cold hit but once it did we were pretty much stuck inside. That was okay too though as we had plenty to do and kept ourselves well entertained.

Just as soon as Jason and Caroline left Alaska to head home the “Pineapple Express” came through Alaska and our temperatures shot up 80 degrees to +50. While the warm weather is nice, there went the snow…gone in a couple of days. Jason reports that the frigid weather followed them to Iowa City where it was negative 40 the other day. It’s a good thing they have nice warm coats and don’t live outside.

We had a good time with the kids, miss them a lot and look forward to the next get together. We have a plan for that…..next blog.