Cousin Party 2008

It all started 5 summers ago... Jason's brother Jeff was living with us in Twin Falls. He and his wife had recently been divorced, but he was getting his girls for the week/weekend of Father's Day. Jeff was concerned that no one in his family would travel to come see his girls, while they were visiting. I said, "Hey, if we have a party they'll want to come!" So I sent invitations to all the cousins to come see us for a "Cousin Party". Everyone came and it was a success! Then Jason's sister Cathy said she'd like to volunteer to do the next year's party and a tradition was born.

We have pinatas, sleep in tents, do crafts, play games, enjoy one another's company and eat yummy food. As time goes on, themes have developed. We've had a Hawaiian party, a Western Round-up and this year a Red Carpet Event.

Everyone recieved a ticket to the Red Carpet Event, along with the CONFIDENTIAL script for their movie. Each person had an important part in one of our two moives; "Slurping Beauty" or "Spiderella". Everyone was to practice their lines, bring a costume and be ready to become a star.

Welcome! You're in Hollywood, Idaho.

A few of the celebreties that came to our event; Hannah Montana & Superman...
R2D2, C3PO and Cinderella.
Each person could be found on a Hollywood Walk-of-Fame Star.
This is our movie camera pinata that we enjoyed in the park.
Some of our decorations.

As everyone gathered we started with a Meet-n-Greet pizza party.


Everyone put on their sunglasses and feather boas to officially start the evening. Then everyone took turns walking down the red carpet and posing for the papparazzi (sp?).


Then everyone got dressed up and walked down the red carpet for a Fashion Show. Uncle Jason was the MC who announced the participants. Our Fashion Show canopy played runway music and lit up as the models walked down the runway.




That evening, when it got dark enough, we watched a movie on a big screen in our back yard. The movie of choice was a video Grandpa Smullin had created from last year's Western Round-Up, Cousin Party. The kids called out their names as their cute faces popped up on the screen. They loved seeing each other and remembering the fun times from last year.

When the movies was over, everyone got their pjs on and TRIED to settle down in the tents. Yeah, right. We had a fairly quiet Boy tent and a chit-chatty Girl tent.
Saturday morning we ate a continential breakfast of eggs, muffins, fruit and juice. Then we started on our Hollywood handprints.

As lunch time was approaching, we got our bathing suits, towels and sunscreen and headed to the park. We ate hoagie sandwiches, chips, cookies and soda.
--I had purchased 2 six foot sandwiches being promised that it would feed 40 people. We had 26 kids and 13 adults totaling 39 people. Let me tell you that 12 feet of sandwich feeds 24 kids and 13 adults for 3 meals, not just one. Sadly, we still have 1 foot left in our fridge, that I think will go in the garbage tomorrow.--After playing in the water and on the equipment we broke open the pinata filled with candy and prizes.

After the park, we headed home. The kids got their costumes on (Wow, what a production!) and prepared to become a star.

The first movie filmed was "Slurping Beauty". Everyone did a good job. My favorite part was watching "Director Cathy" giving forgotten lines to the actors, from underneath the table.

Next, "Spiderella" was filmed. This movie was a bit longer and took much more time. Some lines were cut, so that we could finish production in time for dinner. --Whew, filming a movie is hard work...especially with so many young actors!-- With each take Cathy would yell, "Quiet on the set!... Action!" Then when the scene was over she would yell, "Cut!" And when all was finished,... "That's a wrap!"
Here's a ballroom scene from "Spiderella". Trinity is a bee at the ball.

When dinner was over, kids got their pjs on and laid out their sleeping bags in the upstairs movie room. They watched, "The Muppets Go To Hollywood" as they drifted off to sleep...some before others.

The next morning was a hustle and bustle of finding, packing and loading everything into cars. By 1:15pm everyone was gone and our "5-star Hotel" was quiet and nearly empty. We relaxed and remembered the fun times during the weekend. Then sat down to watch the un-cut, un-edited version of our movies.

Uncle Jason is in the process of editing the movies and will hopefully have a release date in a week or so.

***Please forgive the mis-spellings, disjointed thoughts and grammar errors.***

And the winner is...

You can't have a red carpet event without some sort of award, right? So I sat down and attempted to come up with an "Oscar" for our upcoming Cousin Party. A Dum-dum sucker for the head (cut the stick off), Smarties for the body, a pipe cleaner for the arms and a Starbust for the base of the statue. Then we wrapped it all in foil.



Our version of the Oscar...ok, so it looks a little alien-like. The more we did, the better they looked...less alien-like.

Six, Seven, Eight or 6/7/08

Amber and Brinton were married on June 7, 2008 in the Boise, Id temple. It was a neat experience to have all of us in the temple together. I think it may have been the first time that we were all there. All siblings plus mom and dad.
Mr. and Mrs. Brinton Croff!



Getting all of the little ones together for a picture is nearly impossible... especially around nap time. We tried though.



The reception was held in Tim and Karen's back yard. We cleared out the last bay of their garage, put down a runner, set up some tables for gifts and the guest book and put a few pictures on the wall. Amber was pretty relaxed about the whole thing, so she was easy to please.
Guests greeted the parents and new couple under a canopy, then we had tables set up in the grass for brownie sundae enjoyment. (Amber and Brinton decided they didn't really want to serve cake and thought that a brownie sundae would be good on a warm June day.) Brinton's sisters, mom and aunts made the brownie topping table look beautiful...so many choices and pretty decorations.
The weather was great. It was overcast for nice pictures, but no rain. By the evening, it had warmed up, but there was a little breeze to keep things just right. (I wasn't loving the wind when we were tryting to get tableclothes on the tables though. Nothing that a little tape didn't fix!)

Hi, I'm Amber's cousin Chanel.
More cousins, Ciarran and Collin.
The lovely reception host's Tim and Karen.
Distinguished guests, Candice and Nan. Kitchen worker Micaela.
The new couple before the reception events begin.

The contraversial cake. Amber and Brinton didn't really want a cake. I thought every wedding reception needed a cake. So here's the result.
The guest sign-in book. Amber made it as a little scrapbook. It was really cute. It had facts,dates and pictures from their dating/engagement time. It was fun to see the comparison of their first kiss according to Brinton and first kiss according to Amber... way different dates. Also the interesting fact about the first "I love You". Brinton was the first to say it and Amber followed about a month behind. It was a really clever way to combine your guests at the reception and fun facts. How many of you ever get out your reception guest book and look at the names? I'm guessing rarely. Amber and Brinton can put theirs on the coffee table and enjoy it all the time. Great idea Amber!

Happy Honeymoon!
The car looked cute until the whipcream started melting down the windows.

Abree 3 yrs old, going on 13...or should I say 30!

Abree LOVES to act big. She's always saying things like, "Mom, I'll be the mom and you can be the kid." She also loves to boss her older siblings around, especially Treyson. I think she thinks he needs a second mom.

Abree and I hang out a lot. We're buddies. She runs errands, shops, cleans, emails and blogs with me. I have to admit, I'm not a very good, "get on the floor and play with my kid" mom. (I actually feel a little guilty as I'm typing this...but will that change my behavior?...I don't know.) So she's created her own way to "play" with me. She sets up her Barbies, babies or office, next to me and interacts, asks questions and non-stop talks to me, while I'm on the computer or going about my business. She's always telling me what to say to her babies or Barbies. Like, "Mom, tell them I'm going to the store and I'll be right back." So I'll say my line and she'll continue play. Then she'll say, "Mom say, 'The kids were good for me, while you were gone.' " And so on and so forth.

Recently, she's set up her "office" next to my computer. She'll find some sort of surface and some sort of chair and do her "work". She likes using the calculator for her computer and usually has her camera and cell phone close by. She also LOVES to draw, color or write. She shows me all the letters she knows how to write and how she spells Abree. The letters I can decode usually are; A, e, e. She hasn't gotten the b or r down yet. She also LOVES any type of little paper scrap. If I'm doing a project, she's always asking if she can have the scraps. Then she creates cute little masterpieces for me and daddy.

She's generally a sweet, content little girl and usually doesn't mind "playing" my way. Thanks for being my buddy Abree! I love you!

PS-She likes to do her own hair and sometimes doesn't allow me to have a turn. This is one of those days. :o)

Here is Abree on her "computer". I think she's typing an email to grandma.

Memorial Day Fun

On Memorial Day, Jason took the day off work and wanted to BBQ. Then we got a flyer on our front door announcing a FREE commuinity BBQ and carnival. It was put on by a Christian radio station (I think) and was held in a nearby park. It was great. There was live music, a family photo booth, a cupcake walk, children's art booth, volleyball, several big bouncy houses, ring-toss and more. For the BBQ they offered hotdogs, chips, corn and soda. We partook in all that was offered and had a nice family day.

It took several rounds, but Abree finally was a winner.

Here's the art tent where the kids could choose from 3-4 different art projects. One of the favorites was the marble art. They put a clean sheet of paper in a shoe size box, dipped some marbles in paint and rolled the marbles around in the box creating a masterpiece. Treyson has a basketball, with flames coming out of it. Taylee a pink horse on one side and twirly-flurries (I don't know what to call them) on the other side. Abree chose a pink vine of flowers and Rylee has a very large creeping vine of orange flowers on one side and again twirly-flurries on the other. You really can't tell by the picture, but this face painter was one of the best I've seen. She really did a good job and the kids loved it!