More catch up: Gabriel's 5th birthday

Since we were out in Ohio at Cousin's Camp for Gabriel's birthday, I wanted his birthday to be fun, special for him, and educational too. I called up the local fire department and scheduled a tour for 13 kids under the age of 1o and 4-6 adults. I didn't expect much. After all, this was McConneslville we were talking about. As Zechariah said about how to get to Nanner and Grumpa's, "Just drive forever and ever in the middle of nowhere until you see the yellow house on the hill". He is pretty much right!
Was I ever surprised! The fire department was HUGE!!! And it was GORGEOUS!!! They had every single truck our books ever told us a department may have. What was most amazing about it was that every fireman there was a volunteer. Chivalry is not dead folks! These brave men do it all. They cover over 400 miles including farms, woods, swamps, hills, and a major river. We had a fabulous time touring their facilities, learning what they do, exploring their fire engines, and trying on their gear.

After the tour, we came home for some fire engine cake decorated beautifully thanks to the ever so talented, Emily Griesmyer. The cake was made out of Rice Krispies. We had celebrated David's birthday the day before and Emily had made him a lovely red, white, and blu cake so I wanted something a little different. The kids LOVED it! Yay me! :)

Gabriel is truly "my very special boy". I call him my angel. He makes me smile. He makes me laugh. He is tender hearted and so funny. I look forward to seeing more of his own personality emerge as he comes out from Zechariah's shadow. This past year was good for him since Zech went to school and he went to half day PreK. The played together and are still the best of friends, however, having time away really helped Gabriel to develop his own confidence. He is discovering his own voice and sometimes he uses it, LOUDLY! :) I love him with all of my heart and soul. He is my angel.

Cousin camp 2010

I got the idea from a friend in our ward after a Relief Society lesson she gave.

Cousin Camp. I had seen things in Family Fun magazine about Grandma Camp, sibling camp, and cousin's camp, but it wan't until I talked with Monica that the desire set in. I dubbed myself planner extrordiaire and got the whole Griesmyer family on board. Who could refuse an opportunity for the children to get together, have planned activities, learn from the incredible and diverse talents of their aunts, uncles, and grandparents who they do not see very often, and grow together in love and an understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My goal was to help, aid, and assist the children develop testimonies of Jesus Christ through family unity and support. And to have fun!

Every morning we gathered as a family for Devotional. Nanner and Grumpa shared a new story and introduced a value or character trait for the day. Scriptures were read and prayer was given and shared. It was a powerful and spiritual time for all. Sure it was frustrating to encourage children to sit down and be quiet but it was worth the effort and struggle. They know now that they have a huge family support system that believes the same things they do and will help them along their path of righteousness.

We had many classes at cousin camp that featured all of our talents and skills. Nanner and Aunt Sarah Linn were in charge of Nature Study. Nanner took the children around her garden introducing new flowers, vegetables, and herbs to them. They ate rhubarb and fried day lilies! How cool is that?!

Aunt Sarah Linn took the children on hikes and taught them about what lived in the beautiful surrounding woods. She invented the "imagination tree" a place where you sit when your behavior is poor to imagine all the fun you could be having! Love it! She madew awesomme googly masks for their exploration and even shared her many bones, fossils, and artifacts with the children. She adores the children and they adore her. Sarah can also make a mean lego creation!

Emilaylay held our crafty corner. She made fun treasure boxes with the kids as well as many other crafts and treasures they got to keep and take pride in. Emily was also the calm force in camp. She is low key and lovely. She loves everyone, kisses booboos, talks out and resolves fights, and shows an amzing level of patience. I want to be more like Emily.

Sarah Beth was our camp cook and had quite a big responsibility! She had to come up with menu plans for the masses, delegate responsibilities so that the job was shared, and also held a daily cooking class for the children. There were many fun kid friendly lunches that they enjoyed making and eating. My favorite were the tuna boats. How fun!

As well as dubbing myself camp director, I taught a musical theater class (of course). We had fun playing drama games and learning a short musical number to "It's Possible" from Seussical the musical. Only draw back: too late in the day and the patio was HOT!!!

Grumpa: Poor Grumpa. He was probably the most stressed out person at camp. He was the handyman. He laid floors in the bunkhouse before we arrived so that the children could stay out there and lessen the stress on the farm house. But the farmhouse only has 2 toilets. 2 toilets and 20 people is not such a good combination. There's a reason why the Duggars have 9! The toilets kept stopping up adn poor Grumpa was beyond frustrated. I truly appreciate him though. He works like a dog and is such a wonderful man. Praise and love is his only payment for all that he does and I hope hope that he knows just how much we do love and appreciate him. Don't worry, he did make time to take us on some awesome tractor rides through the fields and one especially for Nanner up to the top of Helaman Hill! She had never been and was so pleased to make it up there. Thank you Grumpa!

David was our creative genius. While he was supposed to teach firearms safety to the kids, he instead won them over with their very own wooden guns that he specially made for each person. David also designed (with the help of our kiddos) and air brushed our camp t-shirts and somehow found that fairies live in Nanner and Grumpa's forest and even leave imprints of their wings on bark and rocks surrounding the farm house. David is amazing and SO much fun!

A special treat: DeDe, Rob, Tanner, Jordyn, Maddie, and Jackson "Griesmyer" drove all the way from American Fork, UT to spend cousin camp with us. We had never met Rob or their kids and so this was such a special opportunity for us to meet more of our family, play with them, and grow lasting friendships and love with and for each of them. We miss you guys! You can move out here whenever you'd like! :)

On the last day we had a award ceremony where everyone received awards such as "Most Energetic" Hannah, "Future Performer" Gabriel, and "Happy Feet" Jackson. Each child enjoyed their certificate and award. Afterwards, we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows and of course told camp stories and sang camp songs!

I cannot wait for the next cousin camp and many cousin camps to follow!