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Cousin Camp 2024

Our son and daughter-in-law who live in Texas decided to come near the beginning of June this year so we had cousin camp early this summer! We missed the two cousins in Latvia but everyone else came at some point.

Since we had just gotten back from our big trip, we didn't have a lot of time to plan, but it worked out. Our theme was Power=Work Over Time with the idea that the longer you work at something, the stronger you get. Scott said it was a physics equation (he used it in a talk about families) and it sounded good to me.

The first thing we did was go camping and we invited the dads to come stay overnight. We went up to a campsite called Timpooneke which is really beautiful. It is at about 7500 feet elevation and it was pleasantly cool despite some hot weather in the valley. We picked a Thursday night to camp which meant there were some open campsites and we got a nice double site which allowed us to have the space we needed. It was close to a fast-moving river but the river was down the hill and we strongly encouraged the children not to go close to it.

But first, some cute dress-up pictures. Dress-ups are very popular at our house.




For dinner we had taco salad and MiCayla and Sallie with the youngest two cousins joined us. After dinner we made the obligatory s'mores and then it was time to go to bed. Breakfast in the morning was scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausages, and hot chocolate.

The view from our campsite:



Everett and Caroline showed up at the end of their morning run to say hi. After breakfast we packed up and played some hide and seek. Then we went on a hike doing the first part of the Mt. Timpanogos trail. Afterwards we headed home. I think we have to keep our van just for these occasions.
We came home and had some hot dogs for lunch, then had some quiet time. I was feeling exhausted since I had slept quite poorly. After the quiet time, we did a craft making monsters, then Scott took the kids to the splash pad. It was a little chilly because the day turned cloudy but the kids still had a great time.



We had pizza for dinner (all the fave's) then watched a movie--Moana--and put everyone in bed. Everyone went to sleep pretty quickly and early. For breakfast, we had waffles with strawberries from our garden and whipped cream. It was delicious!

Afterwards we cleaned up and headed to This is the Place State Park. I bought an inexpensive annual pass that allows us to bring up to six grandchildren.



We talked a little bit about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young who had the vision of where to come then we headed into the main park.

After going around the park on the train, we did pony rides followed by the petting zoo.






We checked out the splash zone, followed by the schoolhouse where a teacher taught them the Deseret Alphabet.




We took a ride on the mini-train and then went to the gold-panning area which was probably the most popular part of the park, although Katie really wanted to go in the hospital which she said was her favorite.








Before we left, we participated in a Virginia reel and had some ice cream.

After that, we dropped the kids off at their houses. It was a packed couple of days and a little more free time would have been good, but I think everyone had fun together. Scott and I loved spending time with our grandchildren!

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