My Big Big Loud American Family Part Two.

The Cousins.

I have thirteen first cousins on my mom's side and almost that many on my dad's side. Today I will be discussing only the cousins that were at Stoney creek because that is who I have pics of and what I'm wanting. I mean I'm wanting you all to feel like you were in there in the midst of the crazy love that is the Kempton family (for the most part there were quite a lot of awesome Lawheads and some others mixed in too. If your there you get sucked in and become one of us, like a good not scary version of the Borg, or the Blob or a fruit salad of people... you get the picture.)

Ok now I want you to imagine some kind of Charlie's Angles/ The A-team music in your head and when you see a picture of one of my cousins imagine that voice that like tell's you who they are and why they're a valuable member of the spy team. I would even try to include music and fancy graphics but I have no idea how to do that and my husband is at work.

Casey: My youngest girl cousin who was so little at my wedding she pranced around in my veil. Her dad used to tell her stories about me entitled "Princess golden hair". She is brilliant and beautiful and as a Jr. in High school runs a bakery out of her house!!!! She makes me feel old and a little lazy.

Jennifer: Jen does not make me feel old because she is exactly four months older then me. She has three wonderful sweet children who are really nice to Super H. We grew up together, spent the night at each other's houses, and went swimming every day in the summer.  We drifted apart after I moved to the U.P. but now her and her husband are super Christians devoted to their church and we have more in common then ever. Being with Jen made me feel like a young girl again and that is a great feeling.

Kendra and Spencer: Obviously brother and sister I mean look at that hair. I'm one of the older cousins and getting to know these two as adults was amazing. Spencer is so quiet that his sense of humor really sneaks up on you and Kendra is so sweet and her hair is so to-die-for that you feel like your experiencing disney royalty come to life when you hang out with them.

Josh: Oh man, this is Jen's younger brother and he used to be such a pain in our necks! Now look at him he like is wearing a uniform and is all tough... except when he requested a song so he could dance with his mom then he was all sweet and teary eyed. Who doesn't love the tough guy with a smooshy poet inside?

KatieBeth: I know Katie and her brother probably better then any of the other cousins because my mom watched them five days a week while we were little, so she's sort of like a sister.  Plus when I was in high school I spent a summer as their nanny making them cinnamon toast and reading them stories. Now she's all grown up with her own house, and super amazing ministry to women coming out of prison and is such a talented photographer (she does my kids photos and they're amazing).  Also KatieB. knows how to boogie.

Kenton: Oh my, where do I even begin? He is KatieB's brother and is Heather's age and went from being the tiniest little thing with a deep man voice to a super tall handsome thing with a deep man voice. He is loving, sensitive, intelligent and loves my kids.  Well he loves all kids. Is there anything more wonderful then a full grown man who will wrestle with your four year old super hero for hours? If there is I don't know what it is. I now semi-intentionally dress Super H like Kenton use to dress because he was the cutest thing ever.

Robert and Jacob: Apparently the only photos they managed to not escape from was the family photo. Yes they are the most beautiful family ever but try to just focus on the boys for now. Robert aka Robby grew up so fast I almost had an stroke! Seriously he was always this cute blond kid who was such a good big brother you would think "If I have kids I hope they love their siblings this much". Now he's a grown up!! He is so kind and gentle and funny.  On top of that he is about to leave on some kind of crazy missionary thing that involves countries I can't talk about and a new cutting edge type of ministry.  How AMAZING!!!!

Jacob is still in high school but since I've seen him last he's grown three feet and his voice has dropped and in keeping with all younger brothers he is really funny, I mean mom-pees-her-pants-laughing-so-hard funny.  I'm not sure what the future has in store for him but I'm guessing it's along the lines of being really successful. 

So that's it, the cousins that I re-connected with at mom's vow thing. And let me just say it was wonderfully strange. Strange because I was in the older tier of cousins and now all these younger ones are grown. Strange because it makes me feel old, really old. But wonderful because they've turned into people I really enjoy being around. So unique and individual but all blindingly wonderful. They are part of my childhood in a way no one except my sisters are. We ran around got dirty stayed up late and tortured our parents together. I baby sat some of them and even snuggled some of them as babies.  Now they're big, grown, have children of their own.  It's so cool to see all these lives connected to mine.  At one point the Big House was alive with so much noise and laughter I just stepped back and took it all in. I just want to remember what that warmth was like in that one moment.  I also found that I was able to be really silly with them in a way that I can't with anybody else except Courtney, Heather and Megan. So maybe when you've known someone your entire life and they've known you it's just more natural; being who you are.  That's why I love them and why I love that Grammy and Papa had six kids. Growing up with that many cousins really is the best way to grow up (which means my sisters better start pumping out lots more babies pronto.)