Sleeping arrangements at the cabin were pretty nice! We had a queen bed, a futon, and just enough space for Addie's bed.
I love getting together with all of the cousins. My kids were so entertained and well taken care of and having TONS OF FUN every minute of the day. For almost the whole week the only whining/fighting I heard was "I wanna go back to Nani's house..." And when we went, they all just played! I wish they all lived closer!
Angie and I with our naked babies. :)
Jessica brought her big box of nail polish and painted all of the girls' nails! She is in cosmetology school in Provo, and I tried to convince her to give us all much needed pedicures, but she wouldn't go for it.
Adaleigh got hers painted too. Hot pink with sparkles! I love having girls!
This just shows MOST of the people that were there. Crazy!!
The G-kids all lined up in age order to go to our outside program.
Even Addie trailed behind in her spot in line.
Papa and Mer Mer read the kids the book "
Have You Filled a Bucket Today." It is actually a book Zach first heard in preschool and once when he was being less than nice to his sisters he said "I dipped in her bucket?" I responded, "Yes, you dipped in her bucket..."(what the heck are you talking about??) But he was concerned so I went with it and later asked his preschool teacher. It is a great book about how to help your children learn to make people happy and how their actions affect others.
How we feel AND how they feel when we fill someone's bucket.
Just some pictures around the basement with all the kiddos hanging out. There was a couch facing a big t.v...
A pool table...
...And even a foosball table.
Zach's "hair ball" all blown up. I got the kids a couple dollar store toys for the 12 hr trip. They helped a bit.
We also enjoyed some of Tino's Chicken...the best bbq'd chicken marinated in a soy sauce/brown sugar/garlic/ginger marinade. SO YUMMY!!! And Tino smelled like it the rest of the day...
7 weeks old?!
Aw, the newlyweds, Cody and Jessica. Relaxing. Remember those days? Me neither. ;)
The 2012 Triplet Crippen Cousins...Cannon, Adaleigh Jane, and Aleia Jane (3 days younger than Adaleigh!) They will have so much fun growing up together!
Before we all left we had a talent show! Kate did a somersault. She kinda does a head stand, then a somersault.
Dad did the famous "pull my thumb in half" trick...this picture finally revealed to me how he really makes it happen. After all these years!!!
Kara's somersault.
Addie smiled...
Katie's girls taught everyone a Hawaiian dance.
Kate loved it and was so into it.
Zach showed us all his "karate moves." He was super shy and nervous, but I could tell he wanted to show everyone his moves, so he finally mustered enough courage and loved how everyone told him how awesome and strong he was. :) Yay for family building him up.
More moves...
The bookend boys had an arm wrestle. (Chris is the oldest in the fam, Cody's the youngest with us 4 girls sandwiched in the middle.) Chris, the big brother, finally won it.
This was probably my favorite/most memorable talent...Angie sang her own opera...from the back of a Suave bottle! Ha ha! Sing the French or Spanish instructions in french or Spanish and you have yourself a beautiful opera! Who knew? Angie did.
And this was the sweetest thing. Little Kara, who you would think was our shy one, went up and sang her favorite song...Harmony. It is on a Disney sing-a-long that we have, in Little Mermaid II or something. Anyway, she sings it every night before bed and wanted to sing it to her cousins. I was so proud of her for getting up there! She did great. She really has come out of her shell recently.
Look at that cute little singing face. Nervous fingers wringing themselves around each other.
Katie caught me being proud. I was almost tearing up a bit. Probably still the new mommy hormones kicking in. Yeah. That was it. :) It was just really cute and sweet.
I bent my first two toes...and ONLY my first two toes. Try it. I also wiggled my ears with 6 other family members.
And Justin whistled. He is the master whistler. :)
And Nani helping Kate sing the ABCs. Kate LOVES Nani. It was really neat to see the older cousins helping out the younger ones in skits and other talents. I never got to really have cousins around and I think I really missed out! I hope my kids will always be close to their cousins. That is probably the hardest thing about living so far away. My kids have 23 other cousins down in Utah and California that they get to see most of them about once a year, which is a lot. I am glad they get to see them and know who they are, but I REALLY wish we all lived closer so they could see them more. They ask me ALL the time when we are going to go back to Nani's house, or when can I play with Michael...I miss Sydney...and it makes me sad.
I cried pretty hard as we drove away from this reunion. It was crazy with all of those people, but it was SO FUN because of all of those people too! I love my family so much. I think I was mostly crying because I know that my family is growing. Growing up and growing in number meaning that Zach is starting school, the girls are going to go to preschool, and we have 4 KIDS already! All of these factors make quick trips to Cali or Utah a little less possible which means I will probably see my sisters...and brothers of course...a little less often. :( Don't get me wrong, I love my life and am so grateful for every part of it; even living in Canada. If I could change my life I probably wouldn't (but that is because I am writing this on August 18 after a week at Echo Lake in sunshine and warmth! If you were to ask me in February, I might say something different!) No, I would change one thing. One of my sisters would have married a Canadian and moved to Canada with me too. Anyway, It was an AWESOME reunion and we can't wait for the next one in 2014...when WE are in charge!!
On the way home we stopped at a hotel to break up the day. Always fun times in the pool!
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