2015 one hundred eighty-one

Slowin' it down with a Cousins Camp Sewing Day!  
The boys and girls of all ages LOVED today.  

Thank goodness we had the sewing master, Grandma, here to help!

Just getting ready to sew takes a lot of work and patience!

 wash/dry fabric, lay it out, pin pattern, cut, and finally...sew!

A natural

Aunt Becca was the best helper since I was outnumbered 3 to 1!

 I'm so glad my kids have such awesome second Moms!

Breezers was in heaven!

The finished products!
Pajama pants in all their varieties.  Flannel, fuzzy fleece, short, long, and even glow-in-the-dark!

Three best buddies ready for some Leatherby's goodness

2015 one hundred eighty

Cousins Camp Day I've Lost Count ha ha

Part 1 was a visit to the sweet residents at the Draper Care Center to deliver cards and sing songs.

 Then, in the late afternoon after taking a more than 20 mile detour, we made it to the trailhead for the Fifth Springs Spanish Fork Canyon hike.  It was questionable hiking weather with some lightning on and off, but it cleared up and we had a fun, safe adventure after all.

Look at these babies! Take that dandelion.

Photo Op

We did a lot of physical activites this cousins camp.  
Somebody was getting tired & big bro came to the rescue.

 There were so many spectacular places to take pictures! 

 We made it!

Muscles Victory Pose is always a must

 These Three

 Natural water slides & cliff jumping!

 My Partners in Crime

Two words-Farmer Tan

For some reason the group picture below reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by a mother that Elder Neil L. Andersen shared in a recent General Conference-

“Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for."

That is quite a collection of kids that are way cuter than stamps ;) 

Max, Jackson & Caders you're growing up fast!

One last cool set of pictures from Becca's camera.  Wow.

Woo!  What a day!  Loving every minute & can't believe our time here is coming to an end.

2015 one hundred seventy-nine

We got together with our longtime friends the O'rullians and Lawrences today for dinner.  They live right by this gorgeous temple so we made a stop for another Tomany Temple picture.

The Bountiful, Utah Temple

We may or may not have sent the kids through the fence for this picture since the grounds were all locked up today.

 I remember going through the Open House for this temple before I was endowed.  It was confirmed to me then, and again today, that the church is undoubtedly TRUE.  I'm so grateful for this knowledge.  It brings much needed peace and hope in this crazy world we live in.

2015 one hundred seventy-eight

Saturday is a special day it's the day you go on a bike ride and find someone with a zebra for a pet.  
What?  I'd love to know the story here.

Isn't hanging out in your jammies all day just the best?

2015 one hundred seventy-seven

Tonight we had a dinner/slip-n-slide/football party at Zina & Frank's house.

It was great seeing the Tomanys and some long lost cousins! 

Breezers had a blast!

Splash & Surf!

Cal in his glory & taking it easy on the slip-n-slide

 The adults section watching (or not watching) the wild slip-n-sliders!

Football Mania!  My kids loved running around on real grass!

2015 one hundred seventy-six

Cousins Camp Day 4-Stay Home and Play

Anny's new uberbouncy tramp is awesome

Perfect Summer Day!

2015 one hundred seventy-five

Cousins Camp Day 3-Biking Provo Canyon

We are READY to roll & very excited our cousin, Trina, and her kids could come! 

  This trail is beyond beautiful!  Our goal...Bridal Veil Falls!

 There were a few rough moments with really hot kids, bike issues, small wheels, tired legs, & sore bums, but at the end of this excursion everyone loved it.

We made it!  Now time to explore.

 Cute Biker Gang

The Crazy Camp Counselors

Now, time for FREE snowcones!  (Thank you for getting this tip, Trina!)  Yummy & just what we needed after our work out. 

Facetiming Abby & Aliza

I miss these beautiful faces!  It's weird doing cousins camp without them, but they are having the time of their lives at EFY & clearly don't miss us at all!

 

2015 one hundred seventy-four

Today my mom accomplished her 80th birthday goal to hike to Mount Timpanogos Cave.  She invited anyone in the family 12 and up to join her and she ended up with quite the group.  One thing about my Mom...she makes up the .01 percent of people who actually reach the goals they set every year.  She is truly one of the most self-disciplined people I know.

Here we are getting some instructions from the ranger.  He was pretty patient with our overly enthusiastic group.

Several weeks ago Mom had us place orders-in a huge group text- for bagels to eat before we left the morning of the hike.  (We're pretty sure this broke the Guiness Book of World Records for longest ever group text.) 

We're all fueled up and ready to roll!

L to R Doug bil, Mom, Becca sister, Christine sil, me, Jenna sister, Gary brother, Alyssa niece who just returned from her mission to Mexico, Maren niece, Brynn niece, Zack nephew, JJ nephew, Curt brother, Rhonda sister, and Anny sister

Mom trained the hills for months to be ready for this extremely vertical hike!  She barely even broke a sweat today.  I told her maybe she should try again on her 90th when it was actually a challenge- he he 

Halfway there!

You've got this, grandkids!

The Sisters!

 We had a little time to kill at the top waiting for our turn inside the caves which ended up with victory jumps and lots of laughs.

My sister, Rhonda, has a bunch of incredible pics I need to get from inside the caves, but until then this is a little preview of the inside of a mountain packed with stalactites, stalagmites, columns, lakes, and cave bacon!  Phenomenal. And dark.  Really Really Dark.

Cade babysat the little kids and my Mom was so sweet to make him a little envelope filled with money ($30!) She gave $5 each to the other kids as well.  That was so thoughtful and wow...getting paid to not go on a hike sounds like quite the deal.

In the afternoon we hit our favorite pool-Cottonwood Heights Rec Center!  This was probably the smallest group we've ever had there, but we still loved it & the kids were brave and all tired out by the end of the day!

 Air time!

Cade Soaring

Mid flip

The 3 Amigos

 360 baby!

Warming up & cheering for Maren on the platform!

We ended the day at The Old Spaghetti Factory where Mom treated everyone to a delicious meal celebrating her accomplishment.  This will go down in the books as a fabulous summer day!