Cousins

A couple of weeks ago we went to Salina, Utah to visit midMan's brother and his family. This is his brother Jeff, on his back is his son Kenyan. For years midMan and Jeff lived to spend each and every weekend together, in the mountains, doing the things that they love. They would plan their vacations together, which were always which deer hunt will it be this year. They didn't really need to have anyone else along as long as they had each other.



Life soon injected itself into their world and things had to change. MidMan and I moved to Cedar City, Utah and Jeff moved to Salina, Utah with his wife Lesty. The move for each of our families was a good move, for us it was having midMan home more and for Jeff it meant being closer to his kids from his first marriage. It was a sad day for all but has turned out for the best. MidMan and I are now each others best friends and Jeff gets to see his kids a whole lot more. When all of the changes and moves happened it was a sad day for our kids. They have all grown up together and would spend every weekend together, doing any number of outrageous things, including coming home completely covered in mud. I can remember tailEnd asking for a picture with his cousins because he was afraid he would forget what they looked like. I know.......Heartbreaking.

So joy is had by all when they get to spend time together. All of our youngest ones still enjoy playing together, even tailEnd at the ripe old age of 14. His cousins Mandi, who will be 14 in July, and Kenyan, who will be 12 this month also had a blast. As you can see the most fun was had while digging in the sand box. I guess our kids could care less what others think when they are together, away from all of the pressure put on them by friends.

Even more joy has been added when Haygen, Mandi and Kenyan's little brother, is added to the mix. Haygen is Jeff's 3 year old son from his current marriage. We all spoil him rotten and he is so mean but we all love him so much. He is one of the cutest kids in the world. But he is a total terror in the store if he doesn't get a toy. And we are all still trying to figure out what resign means. He cried and cried for hours, after his nightmare, that daddy resigned his pants. Any ideas? But as you can see he can hold his own.

Now we have even more fun when we can add Waydon to the mix. Waydon is Jeff's oldest son from his first marriage and Haygen thinks he is the BOMB!!! Life is so much funner when you have a 6'3" big brother to tote you around.

Fun is definitely always had when you put the cousins together. They can find wonderful things to do. It can range from digging in the sandbox to finding old bottles to start their collections. It's even more fun when it rains all weekend and all the parents are hollering because they drug mud into the house. All weekend sleep overs, rain, sand, bottles, and love. It's all you need for the perfect time to get to know each other again. Although it's seems like they haven't been apart at all, they just picked up where they left off.



Love To All,



midRae



Things To Remember.......................I can remember going bow hunting with the guys when tailEnd and Mandi were two years old. Here we are in the mountains with little kids, 7 to be exact, for a week. The older kids did pretty good about staying relatively clean while the 2 two year old's decided to play in the mud. Oh my gosh, they were so dirty. So we did the only thing we could....we stripped them down, stood them of the tailgate of the truck, and bathed them. For sure they did not like this but there was no way I was going to sleep with a muddy two year old. The next day we went down to town and payed $5 to take a shower. Oh what heavenly bliss. Now we are smarter and have a trailer with a shower. It's even better.