Bentley and Carson wanted a sleep over. They were just too cute sharing the bed.
Jesse is awesome and took amazing family pictures for us. Brad was her assistant in helping get smiles. He is also awesome at his job.
Olive was just too cute as she was sitting waiting her turn. I will post all the official pictures from Jesse in a separate post.
The ladies were continuing to get ready up until the very last moment.
Thank you Jesse for always taking our pictures!
After our morning of pictures, it was time to get on the war paint and have our COURAGE EXERCISE!!! This is always such a highlight for kids and adults alike because every single person is involved, and everyone gets their courage tested!
After everyone got their war pain on, we gathered in the living room and had a lesson on courage and doing hard things even when we are scared. Grandma then showed a great video that tied into the lesson, and then the kids lined up youngest to oldest. Nobody knew yet what the subject of courage was, and the kids had to come out one at a time and learn what it was when it was there turn. After their turn, they stayed to cheer on the older kids coming in line behind them. Some were super excited, some were very nervous, but everyone was anxious for their turn!
These three cuties (Cooper, London and Olive) are our 2014 triplets. They were all very excited to get their turn, but Karly first!
Karly was first to discover that the courage exercise this year was to hold a little snake. She was very nervous and had the cutest little nervous laugh. Brad said, 'here Karly. You want to hold it?" and she let out a cute nervous giggle and then "nope!" But she was very brave and ended up holding it after a little convincing.
It was so fun to watch each of the kid's reactions as they came out and discovered the snake. Some didn't hesitate for a second and picked it right up and held it. Others looked at it for a moment and then went for it. In the end, each of the kids held it, even those who were truly terrified. It was awesome.
Olive was a little timid, but she held it for a second before quickly throwing it back to Brad and exclaiming, "I did it!"
Bentley was nervous and had his tongue sticking out in concentration the whole time. He did great though and hung onto it for a bit. He was so proud and excited that he did it, even though he didn't really want to at first. Random side note - check out grandpa in the background. Who knows what was going on there ha ha.
Eden was not scared one bit, in fact she loved that little snake and we had to pry it back from her so the next kid could go. She begged to hold it as often as she could, and then begged to keep it. In most every way Eden is my twin, but not in her love for creatures. ha ha
What kind of lesson would this truly be if this was only a courage exercise for the kids?! Whether or not we want it, all the adults are participating too! Sometimes teaching our kids to have courage and do hard things can really backfire when it means we now have to hold the snake too. Now it's the adult's turn - youngest to oldest!
Check out Eden's eyes in the background. It was the adults turn, but she was still loving that snake and touching it every chance she got.
Meanwhile, as the adults are all passing this thing around, mom and Tiffany were trying to become invisible and hope nobody would notice them. Their turns came though and this was true fear. I love these pictures and how similar Tiffany and mom's facial expressions are. They were terrified, but they were courageous and held the snake. The kids get so into it and everyone is cheering and supporting each other. It's such a cool experience.
Once everyone had their turn, and the pressure of the audience was relieved, the kids ended up passing the snake around several more times. For many, the second time holding the snake was much more fun then the first.
Even grandma chose to hold it again and this time she kept her eyes open and actually looked at the snake in her hands. We even captured a little smile. Way to go grandma!!
Once the courage exercise was done, it was back to playing in the water and hanging out!
One afternoon we did tie-dye shirts! This has become a fun, but very messy tradition. The kids love their shirts.
Karly kept telling me her nose hurt which I thought was so weird. At one point I finally asked, "Karly why do you think your nose hurts?" and she said, "because there's popcorn in there." Sure enough, after some digging with tweezers, I successfully pulled a popcorn kernel out of her nose. We decided that wasn't a good place to put those anymore. That was a first and hopefully last experience of weird things up the nostril! ha ha After I pulled it she said, "ewwwww, gross."
Grandma and grandpa built a really fun obstacle course. The kids always love this and get a kick out of the small swimming pool filled with a weird substance. Last time it was full of ketchup. This year it was filled with tons of slimy water beads.
Crawling under the water ropes course was also a highlight.
Dance party!!
In the weeks leading up to the reunion, grandma also froze tons of blocks of ice with all kinds of toys and creatures frozen inside. The kids loved using the squirt guns and tools to "excavate" their treasures.
One afternoon the kids decided to put on a circus. Using the music from the movie "The Greatest Showman" the kids completely planned an amazing performance for us. They had trapeze artists, singers, hula-hoopers, little men driving cars, and lots of dancing. It was precious.
The highlight of the week for most though was the afternoon with the huge blow-up bounce house water slide. They could hardly wait. The kids were lined up, as close as they could be, anxiously waiting for the guys to get it all set up. They could hardly contain themselves.
Let the fun begin!! This water slide provided hours of fun.
Jesse captured some amazing shots of people coming out of the slide. I love all the fun expressions.
That water was COLD!!
Bentley had a very loose tooth that Brad was trying to get out. When it comes to loose teeth, he is a bit tender and way more worked up in his mind about it and will start panicking before the tooth even gets touched. Brad gave up pretty quickly because it was really stressing Bentley out.
Then grandpa got to take a peak and very patiently showed Bentley how to get it out himself by tying a string around it and then pulling. Bentley was getting way worked up about it and in the midst of his "excitement" he pulled it and out came the tooth without him even realizing it. It was pretty funny.
Grandpa set up a huge slip-n-slide with some plastic. He had hoses raining over both sides of it and the kids loved it. Multiple kids could slide at the same time, and from both ends. It was a blast.
Of course there were also lots of games played throughout the week when the sun went down and the pools closed for the night. :)
This picture of all the cousins in their new shirts is one of my favorites. We missed Jade and Camren this year because she was traveling for volleyball. It's a bummer this picture is missing her because it sure is a keeper. How Jesse managed to get them all to sit still and look her direction still blows my mind. She is a miracle worker.
I sure love all these cute babies and all my siblings and parents. It's such a blessing to be together and to make all these incredible memories. Thank you to grandma and grandpa for always putting so much time and thought into these reunions and activities for us all to enjoy. Family time is such a huge blessing. We LOVE being together.
