the following morning is "jon/waynes breakfast." the kids love this, cus they can do it themselves. it's tin can cooking. fry 2 strips of bacon. bite a whole in your bread and put it on top of the bacon. crack the egg in the whole, and spread it around on the bread. flip, and voila. a little butter and syrup on top, and breakfast is served. this sometimes can take a while, but nobody ever complains. maybe cus it's too early. my kids especially were excited for saturday cus they got to wear their reunion shirts. our family "ties" are forever! 
later we did crafts and watched heidi do some cooking demo's. the traditional craft is plates. i have all of parker's plates from when he was a small child, then his and mine that we did together, when it was just us. and now each of the kids get to do their own. it's a fun tradition that my kids and i look forward to. some of them are sloppy and illegible, but it's still a memory. they always have to include their name, age and year. whether mom helps them with that or not, is their choice. heidi showed us how to make these chocolate bowls, with fruit and custard inside, and fruit salsa with cinnamon chips. i missed the demo's but sure didn't miss the sampling. she is an amazing chef! saturday night is the talent show. each cabin had to perform a skit. ours was "echo canyon." of course cheryl pulled something together in a matter of minutes. it was short, thank goodness. and i made lance come be the "dad" for our family, since parker wasn't there. 
we close the reunion with a testimony meeting and a dessert pot luck. the testimony meeting is always good. it's rare that i get up and bare mine, but usually one or two of my kids get brave and go up. my testimony is in my heart. the burning feeling i get deep inside is sometimes all i need. i enjoy hearing those shared by others. the spirit is always so strong at this meeting. the big 5 are amazing. each one of them i look up to for different reasons. sally is so kind and giving. she would do anything for anyone, no matter the inconvenience to her. jan is so soft spoken, but can put her foot down if needs be. she always gives me the best hugs when i see her. uncle michael, i've known for years. he is a great man, who many look up to. and this year uncle milo was missing. he was recovering from an injury. we sure did miss his sweet spirit. i see milo the least of the 5, but he sure holds a special place in my heart. he is such a tender man. he sealed parker and i almost 9 years ago, in the arizona temple.
throughout the entire cabin trip, cheryl did "tickets" the kids could earn them for doing a number of things. learning a poem, memorizing the family scripture, picking up trash, doing something kind for someone, taking the garbage to the dumpster. this was such a great idea. the kids worked together to earn tickets. and at the end of the week, she had a store where they could spend them. the boys all wanted a laser pointer. it was 100 tickets. conway was just shy of 100. calee and jackson who had more than 100, gave their remaining to cons, so he could get his laser pointer too. it was so sweet. that's what cousins are for!
