Cousins Camp Montana Day 7 & 8 Temple and relax

This was the final day of Cousins Camp (we thought), Kass wanted to take the kids to the Billings Temple since they haven't seen it up close yet.

After church, we quickly fed kids, then headed over before anyone could change.

The gates were closed, so we had to see it from a little distance, but it was beautiful as well as the grounds.

Cade and his Angels :)

Sammy  had gotten back the night before from Southern Utah, so Cousins Camp felt complete even though he was going to Scout Camp the next day for a week.

I pray that each of these children will be able to enter the Temple either for missions, marriages, or just to go through.  I will be there for each one.  I love them all!

Monday we thought Kass was leaving, but we decided to go to the movie "Eclipse the Twilight Saga" instead, then boating.....  one last time.

Till next year for Cousins Camp, I hope we can do this for many years to come.

Cousins Camp Montana Day 6 - Fun Town & Mo Cones

Fun Town was such a huge hit last year, the kids decided to do it again this year.  Not as many kids showed up this year, but they still had blast.

We finally made it to Mo Cones!  Sooooo yummy.

  

Cousins Camp Montana Day 5 - Horseshoe Bend, WY

Cliff jumping was the highlight for this day.  There were different levels of heights.  Jackson, Zack, Max, Cade, and Aliza jumped from the highest.  Blake, and Abby from the middle, and Brynn, and Maren from the smaller cliff.  Breezers and Brooklyn even had their own little cliff to jump off.  The picture below is of most of the kids jumping off at the same time.  To clear any questions up, NO, the kids are NOT diving in.  It may look like it, but they are NOT.

I did manage to get of clip of some of them jumping.  They were all supposed to jump at the same time, well you know how it goes.  First two to jump are Zack and Jackson.  Then Max, Maren and last Aliza.  

After cliff jumping, we did a little tubing (I won't bore you with more pictures), knee boarding, and skiing.  (the kids that tried skiing this time all got up!)

Knee boarding is old hat for Jackson, but he still loves doing it.

Doesn't he look so relaxed?

This was Aliza's first attempt at the knee board.  She did a fabulous job and got right up.  I'm so proud of her and the things she tries.

Maren was bound and determined to do this knee board thing (she had troubles earlier).  This was a big feat to be on her stomach.  She said she would try to go to her knees next time.

Once again, a great day at Cousins Camp.  Everyone accomplished what the mom's wanted them to do :)

Cousins Camp Montana Day 4 - Cooney Again

This was a little better day at Cooney.  We got a new tube, which was bigger and better.  It fits 4 people.  The kids loved it!

Jackson, Cade, Zack, Max

The nice thing about the tube holding 4 people, the kids got lots of turns on it.  

It was a huge hit.  If you look at picture 3, you can see Maren has her thumb down (slower) and the rest of the girls have their thumbs up (faster).  Maren had to get used to the tube a little bit.

(Pic 1) Zack,Brooklyn,Breezers,Jackson                    (pic 2) Jackson,Cade,Max,Zack

(Pic 3) Brynn,Maren,Abby,Aliza                       (Pic 4) Blake,Maren,Brooklynn

We saw our neighbors up there and their boys hopped on the tube with our boys.  We got them pretty good with the "Toilet"

Some of the kids tried the knee board.  Blake wanted to try it, and he popped right up.  We were all amazed at this little 5 year old boy.

Aliza, Abby and Brynn were the last to ride that evening.  Every time we slowed down they screamed nooooooo don't stop, and chanted "keep going, keep going".  I'm glad the kids had a better boating day.  They were pretty tired because we left at around 9:00 that evening, and we were going to get up and go again the next day.  

Cousins Camp Montana Day 3 - History & Golf

After my picture a day post on Aliza's 4th grade field trip to Little Bighorn Battlefield, Jim, Anny's husband, wanted his boys to go and see it as well.  So, we put it on our agenda.

Jackson, Zack and Abby went to gymnastics that morning while the rest of us were getting ready for our field trip along with dental appointments.  When we were ready, we picked them up and headed for our hour and a half drive (little longer with construction).

Anny wanted to have a little fun with the lunches, so this is what we did.  We tried to make it a little authentic, like what they might eat back then.  We had hard boiled eggs, jerky, long carrots, no bake cookies (looks like cow pies), saltine crackers, gogurt (OK, not so much authentic, but fun), and the old fashioned root beer bottles. 

We also brought some whip cream to shake and made butter to put on the crackers.  That took a little long, but it finally was done, and the kids loved the buttery crackers.

We also found Indian names on the Internet and what they meant, then named each child what fit them best.

I think the names of my kids fit them well.  Jackson "Kills in woods", Aliza, "Singing voice", Maren "Motherly", and me "Guardian of the people" (I did not pick that)

After a great lunch, we watched a movie on the battle, who was where and who did what, then headed up the hill where Custer fought his last battle.  All those white markers are where soldiers fell and died.  Not one was left alive.

Just to the right of Maren, you can see a black head stone.  That would be Custer's place of death.  It was a very sad story, and sad to see what happened to the American Indians after that battle.

As you can imagine, it was a bit crazy with all those kids.  So when we got in the vans and headed home, we were looking forward to a little R & R..... playing a little golf.  This has become a must with the three of us.  I think we have as much fun taking pictures than we do golfing.  We were the last ones on the course, so I didn't worry about being pushed.

Don't we look like pros?  I actually think the ball is still there behind Kass's shoe.   

We were going a little faster this time, because we played best ball.  So, whoever hit the furthest, the rest of us picked up our ball and put it by theirs.  I think we were all equal at being best ball.

Anny had to sit a couple of holes out, due to her foot hurting.  She needed to keep it elevated.  She took some great pictures of us while waiting.

It was evening, with the sun going down, so we had some great shadows to work with in our pictures.  I'm sure whomever was watching thought we were crazy.

Here we are at the last hole.  We of course had to take our traditional picture of us on our bench.  We made it in a little before 9, then had a very yummy dinner at the club house.  I love golfing with my sisters.  I'm just glad we weren't in the trees this time.

Cousins Camp Montana Day 2 - Skating

I sort of missed out on this great day.

We had a little sewer problem in our basement furnace room, so I had to stay home and wait for the plumber to do his thing.

Thanks to Anny and Kass for taking the pictures, or giving these pictures to me.

Last year's skating day was a hit, so the kids wanted to do it again.

The Roller Rink is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon, so this was our chance to go.

I can't believe the girls got these kids all lined up and to stay there.  It is a great picture.

It doesn't look too crowded, I'm sure they liked that.

Amy met Anny and Kass at the rink with her kids.  I believe Anny rented skates and went out with the gang.

The kids enjoy the Limbo.  Jackson looks like a pro.

I'm glad the kids had fun!  I wish I could have been there.  I did, however, get a little cleaning done while the house was empty :)

Cousins Camp Montana Day 1 - Cooney

The kids couldn't wait to go boating, so, we started the week off at Cooney Reservoir.

The weather wasn't quite working with us.  When we got there in the afternoon, there were dark clouds, threatening rains, and it was 58 degrees.

I looked at the other camp councilors and they said "lets go for it!"

The water was warm, so while the kids were in the water they were fine, but when they got out, they were pretty cold.

Here are Cade, Maren, and Brynn.  We told them if they jumped in they would get Mo Cones.

 By the end of the day, about 8:45, the kids were cold and tired.  They did have a fun time, even though some of their faces don't show it.

Happy 4th of July!

This was a pretty low key 4th of July.

It first of all was the Sabbath, therefore, we didn't go to the parade or the crowded area to watch the fireworks.

We did however,

Have a little get together at our home for a BBQ.  Jim and Anny's family were in town, and Jim's brother-in-law came up with his daughter and her friend from Lovell.  Clint and Amy came over (Amy and Randon came later, Randon wasn't feeling well), and we had a fabulous time.

Of course we had to get a good picture of the day, so we had these girls do this pyramid about 15 times to get it just right.  They were pretty good sports about it. :)

We then went over to Clint and Amy's to watch the fireworks from their home.  They had a great view.  We could somewhat hear the music, which was fun.  Kass got there just in time for the show. (She was driving all day) 

Hence, Cousins Camp in Montana begins!

I am so thankful for this great country and the freedoms that we have.  I'm thankful for our families that we could share this day with.