Cousin Fun

To keep the kids busy, we decided to go to the Discovery Center. We spent hours there. Some of the favorites were the grocery store center, the pet care center and the rope chair lift.

While we were there, they had a special presentation. Catie Jo and Treyson were selected to assist the "mad sceintist".

4th of July Fun

The 4th of July was a fun-filled, busy day. Our Olsen cousins, from Utah, had come to celebrate with us. First on the agenda was our neighborhood pancake breakfast and little parade. The kids got busy that morning and decorated their scooters...red, white and blue.




The neighborhood parade was so cute. There were scooters, bikes, trikes, wagons, etc. all patriotically decorated. Someone even had patriotic music playing as we walked/rode down the streets and sidewalks.
We all ended up at the central grass area for pancakes, juice and milk. It was a fun relaxing morning.
Next on the agenda was swimming. We all got suited up and went swimming in our neighborhood pool.


Abree decided to do a little sunbathing after her swim.
Next we went to a family/friend BBQ. Some participated in tag football.
Some did the SUPER slide. We attached a sprinkler at the top of the slide and made it really slippery, then put a tarp at the end to splash in.
Splashing in the wading pool.
A little more slippery fun.
Yummy picnic.
You gotta have watermelon at a 4th of July picnic, right?
And finally, fireworks.
It was a long day...but a fun day. Happy 4th of July!

It ain't over 'til...

It ain't over 'til the last feather's GONE!
We're still livin' in remembrance of our cousin party. I'm still finding bits of feather boa here and there. I also keep forgetting the star garland that decorated our front door. (Our door is TALL and I can't reach it without a ladder.)Wonder if I'll EVER get all the feathers cleaned up... it seems to be a never-ending task. I find them in the front landscaping, in the grass of the back yard, under my chair in my bedroom, in the corner of the guest bathroom...EVERYWHERE! --Gee, I wonder if it was really an "accident", that they were left behind. I think.... NOT! :o)

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.