Arizona Gold

My grandparents home sits on a lot that once was part of a large orange grove. Though most of that grove is no more, there are still 12 beautiful citrus trees in my grandparents backyard. You should be there when those orange blossoms bloom in early spring! Big citrus trees with tiny white flowers all over them. And they all smell so good! This is one of my favorite places to be. I would like to hang a hammock between the branches and curl up under those trees with a good book. I could spend all of spring this way.

But before the orange blossoms of spring comes the big orange pick at the end of every winter.

Behold!

Twelve trees, all with limbs hanging heavy from the weight of their fruit. Every year our little family descends upon those trees for our annual orange pick. And so it is that our Saturday was spent out of doors, in the tree tops, enjoying the sights and smells and tastes that beautiful Arizona citrus has to offer.

We started at sunrise and didn't stop until the task of picking all the oranges was finished. This years helpers included:

Nathan. My hard working and not to mention handsome husband. He was an orange picking machine. And he wouldn't stop, not even when the rain started to come down.

Auden. Though I'm not sure helping is the right word. He spent most of his afternoon throwing oranges in the pool, eating oranges off the ground, and picking up oranges out of the already full boxes and putting them back on the floor. Doesn't matter that he's not super helpful, because he is super cute.

Me. I spent less time picking oranges and more time chasing the baby. Also, don't I look awesome this early in the morning?

Robert. My little brother. Little as in younger, He is actually much, much taller than I am. Robert was only there maybe 10 minutes before launching an orange attack on Nathan. Pretty soon, it was orange war. Nathan in one tree, Robert in the next. They threw oranges back and forth at each other, taking cover in their respective tree tops (see photo above).

I hope your weekend was delicious too! Also, if you are in the neighborhood and you would like some Arizona gold of your own please let me know. We have oranges and lemons and tangelos and grapefruit for days!