Cousin's Camp is over, but the fun goes on....

After the play on Saturday, four of the cousins left to visit their other grandma- camp was officially over. Just before they left, though, Peter and Mary got here for the family reunion. Our numbers only decreased by two, but with a better kid:adult ratio. Sunday we all went to church (our visitors even got to sing in the choir with us). Monday, Mom decided to take everyone up the canyon to play and relax.

She reserved a campsite, knowing that it would just be for the afternoon and evening- no camping involved. We brought chairs, horseshoes, and water guns, and just let the kids play. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled to be there at first- I'd had enough togetherness, I guess- but the creek and the cool breeze won me over, and it turned out to be a great way to spend the afternoon.


I'm not sure how the kids convinced Annie that it would be a good idea to lay down and be covered by gravel, but they did. She was the dirtiest kid when they were done- although she had some competition! Showers all around when we got home.

Cousin's Camp 2009, Day 5

This was the last official day of Cousin's Camp, and it was a little more relaxed than previous days. In the morning, Tim and Marian took all the kids to the park for a couple of hours, allowing Mom and I to dig out a little from the week of chaos. That helped my attitude immensely, since I no longer felt we were drowning in a sea of dirty clothes, video game controllers and sleeping bags!

In the afternoon, we all went to the Hale Center Orem performance of "Singing in the Rain". Dad reserved seats for us all around the front of the stage- only 2 of the front row seats were not related to us!



Before the performance started, the announcer told us that water would be involved, and handed out these attractive yellow ponchos. At the end of the first act, a light post rose from the middle of the floor, rain started falling from the ceiling, and the actor filling in for Gene Kelly danced his way around the room, spraying and kicking water into the audience. It was so fun, and we were so glad for those ponchos! I think the row behind us got wetter than we did (only the front row was deemed worthy of waterproofing).



The whole performance was amazing- and the kids loved it, too!

Cousin's Camp 2009, Day 4

At this point, I decided that future cousin's camps should last no more than 3 days. It wasn't that there were problems with the kids, or that we ran out of things to do, but mainly that we were all exhausted.

Luckily, we had some fresh blood- Marian got here to help, and Dad took the day off of work. They helped to buoy our flagging enthusiasm.

We started the day by going to the open house for the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was beautiful, and the kids were excited to see inside- my kids went to the Draper Temple open house, but none of the rest live close enough. This was their first time, I think.


Our coordinating outfits. Aren't we cute?


After the open house, we drove to West Jordan to play at the park and take a tour of Dad's office at City Hall. What you're not seeing in this picture are the people who had to wait to come down the stairs while we coordinated our picture. Sorry!



Playing on the fountain outside the city offices. The kids were desperate to feel the cool water- it was so incredibly hot at the playground- ugh!


Next, we made our way up Bingham Canyon to the copper mine. We were all suitably impressed with the giant hole in the ground, and the monster dump trucks.


While we were in the visitor's center (which was wonderfully cool, by the way), Emma found me and said, "Look Mom, I put on some lipstick!" I looked down, and sure enough, she had lipstick on. When I asked where it was from, she showed me: a display of household products that contain minerals. Apparently she asked Molly to lift her up so she could reach it, and helped herself to a little lip color. Oh brother. I can only hope that no one else (at least no one with a communicable disease) has had the same idea.



Our last stop of the day was at Arctic Circle for ice cream cones. I had to take this picture of Mom and Dad, since it was their 39th wedding anniversary. Not exactly a romantic day, but I hope it was fun, anyway!

Cousin's Camp 2009- Day 3

Day 3. At this point I was starting to feel a little worn out. We forged onward, though, starting out at the Bean Museum at BYU. Always a hit with the kids.

After ice cream and lunch ( in that order) we took everyone to the new pool in Lindon. With our 12 kids, 12 pool noodles and 3 adults, we made quite a scene, but it was fun, and felt wonderful on a very hot day.

Tim was able to come, which made me happy!


When we were done swimming, we picked up Grandma Shipley - she was promptly set to work combing out all the little girls' hair (she has lots of practice at that!),


and then we celebrated her 89th birthday party! No, there aren't 89 candles on that cake, but we did our best. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful grandma to show me how life ought to be lived. I love you, Grandma!

Our first Boy Scout Court of Honor

In the middle of the crazy cousin's camp, we had to take time out for Price and Josh's first court of honor. They earned their scout badges and 2nd class badges, and Josh received his 1st class- we're not sure why Price didn't get his. Guess we'll have to wait until next time. They had to pin and kiss me a bunch of times, but they didn't get too embarrassed. I did have a lot of "bling" after they were done!

Cousin's Camp 2009- Day 2

Day two started with a cousin's recital- everyone prepared a song or two on the piano before they came, and then performed them for each other. Mom book a recital hall at the music store, and it was fun to let the kids show off a little. Once again, neither of us took any pictures.

When we were done with the recital, we went to this park in Orem to burn off some energy and have a picnic.

I just liked this sign- it made me smile.

As an added bonus to the day, there was some senior citizen's event at the pavilion nearby, and they handed out the balloons to all the kids in the park. Score!

The next stop was Chuck E. Cheese. Not surprisingly, this was pretty much the unanimous favorite activity of the week. It was fun, though- and the kids who had never been there were especially excited.

It was at this point of cousin's camp that I was suddenly really, really tired. 12 kids and nonstop activities really wears me out!

Cousin's Camp 2009- Day 1

This year was our first ever Steele cousin's camp. Everyone who was old enough to be away from parents for a week came- so we had 13 kids there, ages 4-13. Rebekah was actually only there the first evening and the last day, because of girl's camp, but the rest of us spent 5 days doing all kinds of fun stuff.

Day one involved hiking to the Timpanogos Cave in American Fork Canyon. To get to the cave entrance, you have to hike 1 1/2 miles, pretty much straight up- there is a 1600 foot elevation gain. We took our time with all those kids, but everyone made it the whole way walking under their own power- even Annie! They did great, there was a minimum of complaining, and the reward was a beautiful, cold cave tour at the end.


Almost there- getting worn out!


At the top- waiting for our tour. That's a long way down!


In the cave- the cold air felt wonderful after our long hike.


Hiking back down- not nearly so hard, although our toes were sore when we got to the bottom!

After our hike, we went swimming at a friend's pool- but I forgot the camera. Oh well.

Electric Lake

We took a quick camping/fishing trip with Tim's parents last weekend. They introduced us to the Manti/LaSal range, where there is an abundance of scenery and lots of beautiful lakes. We saw a bear, ground squirrels, and a ton of deer, and even caught a few fish.

Next time, I need to remember that even when it's 98 degrees down here, it will be cold at night in the mountains. I know that intellectually, of course, but it's always hard to pack extra blankets and clothes when it is sweltering here. I was pretty cold that night, at least until Annie came and crawled into my sleeping bag. Then I was nice and warm!

If you look closely at this picture, you will see that the hillside is covered with sheep. They were across the lake from us, but were making such a huge racket! We were kind of glad when they wandered out of hearing range.

Yet another trip to the zoo

Yes, it's true- we're trying to get as much value as possible out of our zoo membership. This trip was a little different, though, since we bought our pass in October, and this trip was the first to have everything open at the same time. So finally, we got to see the elephant show and the bird show, ride the carousel and the train, and see the new Madagascar exhibit. Don't go just for that- the foosa is kinda cool, but other than that it was less than scintillating.

Apparently, we were sitting in a good place for the bird show- the kids swore they could feel feathers when some of the birds flew over our heads!

We're planning at least one more trip before our membership expires: a new baby elephant is due sometime in the next month. Can't miss that one!