Clone Wars Episode VI: The Birthday Party

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• A clever invitation designed by mom (even if Cameron had no idea what the jokes meant and Dave thought Becca did it for me. Should I be insulted or grateful Becca usually does them for me?)
• A clear/sunny afternoon (thankfully... this was definitely not conducive to the indoors.)
  
• A bunch of wild young Jedi's
• 1 Star Wars Hero and 2 Evil Villans (aka Sam, Christian and Lauren)
• Guess Who I Am (Thanks Wendy ... as always such a great game!)
• Station 1: Yoda Soda, Light Sabers in Mud and making candy/pretzel Pod Racers
• Station 2: Create your Own Light Saber and Jedi Training with Annikan & Darth Sidius
• Station 3: Astroid Hunting and Planet Blasting (Thanks Lisa -- you really went above and beyond the call of friendship.)
• The Final Battle: Annikan vs. Darth Vader/Darth Sidius. Congrats Annikan for winning!!!
• Cake by Lauren (great cake!)
• Kill the Droidica (aka pinata time)

Race for the Cure... one of my favorite Mother's Day Traditions

Inspirational, touching, emotional, sad, funny ... one of my favorite Mother's Day traditions.

Happy Mother's Day Mom... Kenzi and I shed a few tears for you today along with race route. We all miss you and love you!

And Happy Mother's Day to my sisters, nieces, aunts, cousins, mom-in-law, friends and my own sweet girls! I can't imagine what life would be like without you!

The Karate Kid... Cam

A few things about Cameron and Karate.

1. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it!

2. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Master Shaun. If Master Shaun fixes his belt, Cam fixes his. If Master Shaun smiles, he smiles. Next to his dad I think Master Shaun is #2 on his top Idol list. He begs to go to class early because he loves to be the 1st one there. He loves it if for some reason he is the only kid at class that day... a day with just he and Master Shaun is heaven!

3. He is so intense and take it very seriously. He wants to be exact and precise and good. I love watching his face during class. At the end of each class Master Shaun passes out a "best in class" award to whoever worked the hardest, practiced, etc. One or all students can get it. Cam gets one nearly every time because this is very serious stuff to him.

The History Fair... is history! Good job Lolo!!!

After months of hard work, interviews, hours and hours on Dave's laptop, lots of laughing, and a some moments of great frustration, Lauren's first history fair is... well... history.

She made a documentary on Angioplasty and the Impact it Had on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Heart Disease.

She won her school, the district and made it as a finalist and got to participate at the State History Fair today! (And a funny side note. I had to check her out of school at 9:30 am. However, she refused to wear a dress to school. So she braided her hair, put some old jeans and a t-shirt and went to school. When she got in the car at 9:30 am she changed into a dress, unbraided her hair and even put a cute little bow in. As soon as the history fair was over and she was in the car, she took the dress off, rebraided her hair and was back to the Lauren she loves to be!)

There were some amazing projects at the State final today, but Lauren's was definitely unique and caught the judges attention. We had to laugh because there was one judge that was asking lots of very specific, kind of tough questions at the end of each documentary. After Lauren's she didn't ask any questions and finally said "you'll have to hold on for a minute, I need to get my composure. Medical things make me really queasy." She never did ask her a question. Not sure it was a good thing to "gross out" the judge right before lunch, but it was pretty funny. She did a great job answering their questions, even though it was a little intimidating to be in front of a room of people/kids being asked questions about Heart Disease and Angioplasty.

She didn't win the State competition, and she was ok with that. (This final round wasn't nearly as fun for her because several kids from her school and soccer team had made it to the District competition so it was a very social event. This was definitely a little more pressure and serious than the district so it was a good experience for her.) She had great composure during her presentation and the Q&A.

We ended the day with a trip to In-and-Out Burger and then to the "Sweet Tooth Fairy" for dessert.

My two biggest fears of being a mom was (1) potty training and (2) science fairs/history fairs/etc. Well, Kenzi was super easy to potty train, Lauren was ok, and Cam was as hard as I thought it would be. But so far, thanks for Lauren being a super hard worker and such a good student, science/history fairs have not been too bad.

Great job Lolo! We love you!!!

PS... And the good part of the State History Fair is that Lauren didn't even care that I stood by her!!!

I'm Just Not Ready... maybe I'll get a dog.

So have you ever not been ready to hit a new stage in life? Except for when my mom died and I was forced to start a new phase of not having a mom and not being a mom, I've always looked forward to what would happen next.

I loved High School, but had dreamed my whole life of heading off to BYU and getting an education. I loved every second of my BYU time, but after graduation I had a job that I loved, had great friends, loved my church calling and met a handsome guy who worked for me... and soon Dave and I began a new phase that I had waited for my whole life.

Like most girls, I had always dreamed of being a mom and for the next 7 years looked forward to, fasted for, prayed for, stressed over and eventually was blessed to start that next phase. (Even during the 7 years of waiting I loved my life. We spent time with my parents/mom before she died, I loved my nieces and nephews (and still do Kelli), we traveled, I had a fulfilling and challenging career and I totally loved the Young Women I worked with.)

I think it might be that I always wanted 5 or 6 kids, and that it felt like forever getting started, but my "hanging out at home" time with my kids has gone way too quickly. I loved my time with just Dave and I, and I loved my time in a professional career -- but nothing compares to the joy and fulfillment I have felt in being a mom.

Lauren is starting Jr. High and with Cam turning 6 and finishing up Kindergarten -- I'm forced to face a phase I'm just not ready for. Don't get me wrong, I love where my kids are right now. I love seeing them progress and grow. I just wanted this stage to last a little longer and to do it with a few more kiddos.

Lots of friends around me are pregnant and maybe I wish I could be in that phase too (ok... if Dave reads this he'll choke or at our age probably even have a heart attack) and two of my college roommates are even starting the Grandparent phase.

It isn't that I'm worried about filling my time next fall, it is just that I love having kids home, reading in our PJs on the couch in the morning, going to the museum, skiing on a weekday by ourselves, having a buddy to shop with or biking/running around the park together.

Cam and I went to the park today and we were the only ones there. He rode his bike around a path and played on the playground as I jogged around. He ran up to me and said something and it hit me "like a ton of bricks." I'm at the closing of what has been a wonderful stage of my life. My eyes were stinging with tears and I could hardly breath (and not from being out of shape).

I don't mean to sound like I'm feeling sorry for myself. I have a great life and I'm grateful for everything about my life. I think it is just going to take me a while to convince myself that I'm ready to be where I am.

After my mom died I had a really hard time. Dave surprised me and bought gave me a darling little puppy in an Easter Basket. Kids... I guess it is time to get a dog.

Happy Birthday Cam!

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Tomorrow is Cam's 6th Birthday... man I love this kid. (LM...little man... here are a few reasons you are so awesome.)

10. He is seriously the most sweet and tender little boy I've ever seen. He loves to hold open doors and tell me how beautiful I am. He loves to give kisses and snuggle. Today I kept telling him he had to kiss me one time for every marshmallow he ate, so he kept running to the bag, grabbing a handful and telling me he just ate 100...

9. He is super intense and takes things very seriously. If you ever want to be entertained come watch him at a karate class.

8. He doesn't give up... ever. When learning to tie his shoes or ride his big new bike (way big) he is determined to do it until he has it mastered. I should have taken a picture of his face tonight as he went around and around the cul-de-sac, trying not to fall off the big bike and learn to use hand brakes.

7. He is such a hard worker! He was a machine at the ward clean-up and spending a day with his dad in the yard is one of his favorite things to do. He also loves to get out of bed and come unload the silverware from the dishwasher without being asked.

6. He listens really well... and does what I ask him to almost the 1st time every time. (I soooo hope he does out grow that one.)

5. He loves homework. After years of watching his sisters do homework, he thinks it is super cool to sit down at the table and work. In fact, he loves school so much when I want to tease him I tell him I'm going to have him do Kindergarten again next year so I can spend more time with him. The first time I said that he got a little teary, and looked at me very seriously and said "you can't do that --- that would be illegal!"

4. He can spend hours in his own world... sometime it is karate chopping, sometimes it is star ward or transformers. Tonight he laid up in his bed acting out a total transformer world. (Don't you wish you were a kid again.)

3. He idolizes his sisters, especially Makenzie. He absolutely adores her and would do anything in the world for her!! (So boys, watch out... when Kenzi is 16 Cam will only be 12 but I have the feeling he will be a very big 12 year old.) He also idolizes Dave. He wants to dress like him, act like him and be just like him.

2. Thanks to Brother Tangren and the mission fund tradition he started, he loves to save money. His Grandma called tonight to tell him she's sending him some money for his birthday and asked him what he wants to get with it. "Hmm... I think I'll just put it all in my mission fund." Apparently she was so impressed she said she'd send him some money for his mission and then some extra to just spend.

1. Everything! You were more than worth the stress, heart ache and trauma it took to get you here and I'd even do the years of sleepless nights, night terrors, occasional melt-downs (see pix on the deck of the cabin) and awful #2 potty training with you again!! (I have to write these things about you Cam since my blog doubles as my journal and we don't want to forget these good/bad memories.)

Ouch! I love my Durango and after a year of looking was going to be so mad if I had to find a new car!!!

A few thoughts after a not so great morning, that could have been worse.

1. Have you ever had one of those moments when time goes super slow and for 10 seconds you distinctly remember each and every moment? Not the "ooh I want to savor every second kind of moment," but the "oh my gosh that car is going to hit me and I can't do anything about it" and wait for the impact kind of moment. It is strange, because 1000s of second pass all of the time and I don't stop to think about it at all, but today for about 10-20 seconds each second went by very, very distinctly and slowly.

2. I love my Durango. I've always heard that SUVs do well in crashes. I am here to tell you that the impact of a Honda Accord is not felt super strongly on the front-driver's side of a big Durango. As I told the police officer "I was expecting a way bigger crash feeling than I felt."

3. When you drive you take so much for granted. There are all of these rules and signals and signs and you drive around under the assumption that you and everyone else will follow them. When someone doesn't, and had absolutely no idea there was a stop sign and they are going 20 mph and they hit you while going 35 mph -- something bad is going to happen. Gratefully I only have a really bad headache from the side of my head hitting the window and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a stiff neck and side in the morning. (I'm still a little worried about the 74 year woman who hit me and was still in shock not saying much 1 hour after the accident. I really hope she is ok.) How can you teach your kids (and always remember yourself) that even though 99% of the time it is safe in the car, you just can't take for granted that you and everyone around you will follow all of the rules and signs.

4. Good people are even nicer when there is a trauma -- and when people are nice to me it makes me want to cry. The policemen, the witness, the paramedics, the tow truck driver were all so kind. After she hit me and I jumped out and called 911 I was very calm. She was not getting out of her car and while not fatally injured, she was definitely in shock. I was calm, relaxed and ok... until I called Dave. As soon as I heard his voice I started crying. When the policeman came back over and starting talking to me he wasn't quite sure how to react now to the calm woman was now bawling. Again... composed until I try to call my sister. I said I was fine, it just makes me cry when I talk to someone I know... nice tow truck guy says "would it be easier if I call your sister then?" "No," I calmly said, "I just need to put on these sunglasses so no one can see my tears and I'll be ok."

5. Perfect ski days with 3 feet of new powder, perfectly sunny blue skies and temperatures in the 40s are not that hard to come by. It is ok that we were all ready to ski (lunch packed, clothes on, 10 hours of cleaning the day before done). I must admit, after I was hit and was ok and she was ok, I thought how grateful I was the kids hadn't run to the store with me, and then I just was really, really mad I was going to miss a fabulous day of skiing!!!!!! (Oh well -- maybe Cam was going to fall off the lift or something if we had gone.)

6. Wrecks, 911, and having the paramedics check your pulse and blood pressure are not the way to spend a morning. Lauren was soooooo mad when I got home and I was ok and then realized she wasn't there. I guess when you are 12 it all sounds very cool. Apparently I had neglected to tell the kids the paramedics had come and checked me out, and when they heard me tell the story to my dad they were very unhappy that I had "left out the coolest part -- I didn't know the ambulance people actually looked at you!" Lauren said later in the day "I can't wait to tell my friends we were in an accident over Spring Break and the ambulance came... oooh, well I wasn't in the accident but my mom was and we were almost with her."

7. I've said 1000s of prayers in my life and prayed we'd be safe driving or skiing or doing whatever. When I got home this morning and everything really was OK because she hit the front end and not the driver's door, neither of us were seriously hurt and the kids weren't in the car, I was so grateful that I really did "get home safely" today.

8. Bizarre last thought (but it is late and Cam has been up screaming with a leg ache). I wonder what my "sideways" world would look like if I had been 20 seconds earlier or later or hadn't gone to the store at all? (Ok... so a little obsessed with LOST as of late, but it is a good question.)

My Handsome Little Man and Handsome Big Man too!

Cameron has been wanting a suit -- mostly so he can be just like his Dad! About a month ago he asked if he could get a suit if he would sleep in his own bed for 2 weeks. His sisters just laughed at him... they thought it was very funny he wanted a suit and was willing to work for it. Usually he earns All-A-Dollar trips for staying in bed.

Well he did it, he loves it and he looks way too grown-up in it!

(Funny side story... we bought it the morning before we left for California. We had already packed some other church clothes but when he saw Dave had his suit he insisted he take his.)

It's only 8:00 am and I Hate April Fool's Day with Lauren... and that is no joke!

Ok... so it is only 8:00 am and I so far this morning I have discovered the following:

1. Plastic wrap over the toilets.
2. Shower heads messed up.
3. Water turned off on the toilets so when you try to flush they don't work.
4. Elastic band on water tap to shoot water out when it is turned on.
5. Food coloring in the milk.
6. Food coloring in the bottom of all of front 5 glasses in the cupboard so our water would turn green.
7. Salt in the bottom of the paper cups -- so that when I was finally so frustrated about all of the dye in the glasses I filled up a paper cup with water only to discover it was full of salt. (And I did laugh pretty hard at that one since she knew me well enough to know I would resort to the paper.)
8. A frozen plastic bug in the ice in the freezer.

Lauren is smart and won't let me make her lunch today (I guess that is the one benefit of April Fool's Day here.)

I'm afraid to see what is going to happen when she gets to school. She wanted to go and get my nephew's neck brace and old cast and wear them to school, but somehow I think she will be disruptive enough without that. Let's hope she doesn't get expelled by the time the day is over... because if I find too many more things she is going to be kicked out of the house!

(Jenn -- you know this is your fault!!!)

Update: 8:15am -- Lauren turns off water to sinks and toilets@#*$@*#$ and then turns off the power breaker to whole house. Ok... so I'm getting a little tired of this and let her know.

8:20 am -- Mom slips a tampon into Lauren's lunchable (since she wouldn't take a homemade lunch). Good one mom! My guilt takes over and I decide to move it and she catches me.

11:00 am -- Found she moved my toothpaste and put sunblock there instead -- hoping I wouldn't notice. Too bad dear -- I noticed!

1:10 pm -- Dave and I are going to take her door off and take out all of the lightbulbs in her room.

6:00 pm -- My good friend Misty Mayfield helps get revenge on Lauren by making salt-laden cookies and bringing them under the "Haley is doing Faith in God" pretext. Unfortunately for Dave, he is home and I am not so he and Lauren both eat a cookie and about barf. Now all future potential Hess/Mayfield marriages are off (Dave even called Mike to make that clear). We send the rest home with Emily Hardman to pass along more April Fools evil to her home.

7:45 pm -- My good friend Misty Mayfield shows up at the door with a bag of chocolate chip cookies and eats one. Dave insists she has been eating massive amounts of salt for weeks to build up a salt immunity, but finally gives in and eats a delicious cookie!!!! Thanks Misty -- getting Dave and Lauren and yummy cookies can't be beat!! I guess a Mayfield/Hess marriage might be in the future afterall.

How Do I Know Lauren is Almost a Teen!!

It's not that we just attended maturation again. (And can I say it was much, much more detailed and open and descriptive than last year.. and nothing like what we saw at Elementary School).

It's not just that she is starting to email boys, chatting about boys and walking to Keva with all of her friends after taking the honors tests at Millcreek.

It's not that her skinny little muscly body is actually starting to take in some new curves and Bethany cut and styled her hair in today and she looks absolutely gorgeous!

The answer... quote from Lauren at District History Fair on Thursday. "Mom, you don't need to stand so close to me. I can do this on my own. You don't have to stay."

Don't get me wrong -- I want an independent daughter that can do things on her own and be independent. I guess I'm just not ready to not be needed like I have always been.

When I left the history fair (the kids had all planned a lunch party after so she was going home with friends) I got in the car and realized she is getting older, she needs to show her independence and doesn't need/want me in the same way anymore. (Sniffle, sniffle.)

I know our relationship will go back and forth, up and down and be different all of the time, especially since 12 hours after she let me know she doesn't need me she is at the front door with me after book club chatting and asking me to hold her. She jumps in my arms like a baby and sits there talking with me and friends for a long time and then asking me to come and snuggle with her in bed.

After I teased her and told my friends her story she told me she does still need me, but unfortunately I know she is a pre-teen because it is on her terms.

It is time for me to start to parent Lauren in a different kind of way -- it is just going to take some getting used to from both of us.

Great Sappy Movie... The Ultimate Gift

So last night Kenzi and I re-watched a movie we got for Christmas. It is sappy, and sweet, and has a great moral, and made me cry (not hard to do I realize), and clean, and is pretty funny in parts as well. (Great movie to watch with your kids... (we watched it at the cabin at Christmas and Grandpa and the teenagers both liked it... pretty hard to find a movie that we can all watch together.)

Crush the Turtle, Cowabungo Cameron and the Bra

We spent the day at California Adventure and loved it. Although 'Soaring Over California' was amazing, the Toy Story 4-D was totally cool, we all loved the Bugs Life 3-D movie, and Lauren Dave and Kenz couldn't get enough of California Screamer -- the highlight of the day had to be Cameron's interactive discussion with Crush the Turtle from Nemo.

They have a small theatre where Crush the Turtle has live interactive discussion with the audience while he is in the bottom of the ocean. It is a combination of improve comedy and virtual digital animation.

Crush called on Cameron when the audience was able to ask Crush questions:

Crush: "What is your name dude?"

Cameron: "Cameron."

Crush: "Cowabunga Cameron dude. What's your question?"

Cameron: "What are all of your kids names?" (Crush said he had 65 kids earlier.)

Crush: "Roshell, Mishell, Toshell, Shelldon... " and then he goes off on a hilarious improve of 65 names with funny jokes about the Beetles, the Jackson brothers, etc.

Crush to Cameron: "Can you help me for a minute?" Crush swims away and comes back with a bikini top. "We found this at the beach and we don't know what it is. Can you tell me what this is?"

Cameron: A little embarrassed... "It's a bra!"

Audience: Laughing hysterically.

Crush and Show Narrator: Silence. Not expecting bra as the answer.

Crush: Laughing... "Hey bro, hey bra! Is that how you use it?"

Cameron: "No!"

Crush: "Then what is it for?"

Steph and Cathy: Sitting in the back and laughing hysterically, tears streaming down my cheeks thinking "Please don't let him answer this question out loud. I shouldn't have let him sit in front by himself."

Show Narrator: Taking the microphone away from Cameron so he doesn't answer -- this is a kids show after all. "It's what girls use to go swimming Crush." Whew... I'm pretty sure that is not what Cameron was about to say and I'm pretty sure how he would have answered.

Audience: Laughing, laughing, laughing!

Crush puts on bikini top.

Crush to Cameron: "Does it make me look fat?"

Cameron: "No it doesn't."

Crush: "I'm going to go put this back and let's all pretend we are Dory and say this never happened!"

Crush to Audience: "If you promise to keep this a secret say CHAW!"

Show ends a few couple of minutes later and Steph, Cathy, Lauren and Kenzi are still laughing... and tears still streaming down my eyes.

I realize this is one of those things "you have to be there to appreciate" but Cathy and I laughed all day about this. It was obvious by the silence after "bra" that Cameron had not given the right answer and the narrator was a little concerned about what he would say next.

I guess they didn't realize this 5 year old sweet little boy from Utah would have no idea what a bikini top would be!

April 2010 Update: So we were cleaning the cabin after spending a few days there and I found a bra that one of Kelli's friends had left. I threw it in the garbage and later asked Cam to take out the garbage. As he was emptying the trash he saw the bra and "Hmmm... a girls bikini top... I know what that is." Poor guy, he is now more confused than ever.

There is nothing worse than being a woman who has no ability to control tears and tender emotions... unless you are a male with that same problem

Ok Cam, I've said this before... I am so sorry you got so much of me in you... especially the Bevan cry face and totally lack of ability to control tears.

I've dealt with this my whole life. In Kindergarten when they sang Happy Birthday to me and I cried to whole time, watching movies and sobbing at the end, teaching lessons when no one can understand me because of crying, sitting in R.S. on Sunday just hearing the words to a favorite song and wiping away tears. I even cry in happy times. Jenn and I played a duet in a R.S. thing when we were teenagers and we messed up and started laughing so hard we both had tears streaming down our faces and just sat at the piano and laughed and cried for 5 minutes. I looked at my mom and she just sat there shaking her head.

Today I dropped off Kindergarten carpool, watched them all run in and drove away and ran a quick errand. When I got home a few minutes later there was a message, I thought it was Makenzie's voice but I had just been at her school and I knew it couldn't have been her. The message said, "adsjlf;aiasfd ja;ldsfjaiofhaf adsjf;adfka" and there was gasping and tears and more "aoidhfadf adsfopadhis." I assumed it was Cameron but had no idea what he had said. I knew he wasn't hurt or they wouldn't have let him call me, so I called back the school.

Just like on LOST (thank you Dave) I'll share in a flashback.

After dropping the kids off, apparently Cam realized he didn't have his backpack. Which is not the end of the world, unless it is LIBRARY DAY and you are supposed to see Mr. Weadon. I guess he came running after my car, through the parking lot screaming. I drove away and didn't see the 5 year old screaming at the top of his lungs chasing me as fast as he could go!!!! Those in the parking lot that watch it said he was absolutely devastated and tried so hard to get to me.

His teacher said when he got to class he was just sobbing and so upset... he had forgotten to bring back his library book.

When I brought it up to the school they were all walking down to an assembly. When the teacher saw me we both did our best to not burst out into laughter and I handed her the backpack. I look in line and there is cute little Cam, shaggy hair, Bevan cry face, trying his very best not to burst into tears again.

I gave him a high five, told him to have fun and walked away as his teacher told him she'd keep his backpack until after the assembly and then they'd all go to library together. I could hear gasps for breath as I walked away... Cam still trying to hold it together.

Hating to ever mess up, wanting to never disappoint others, being a little intense and being very senstive are personality characteristics that only make the tears come faster and longer.

Someone told me once they believed no one should ever cry alone... and I guess I believe that too because I'm the first the join in on any kind of tear fest.

So... sorry Cam, I feel your pain. Having me as a mom and Kenzi as a sister will probably only make this issue worse. You may get punched a few times growing up for your sensitivity, but I'm hoping someday your wife and daughters will appreciate the tender little man you are!

#1 Reason I'd Seriously Consider Home Schooling my Kids

Cam Ski Lessons Week 2 -- I could really get used to this!

We did our reading on the way up the lift: "Not Yet. Do not raise the bar until you reach the net."

We definitely got in our P.E.

Physics was thrown in as well as we watch the helicopter take off and land dropping off the helicopter skiers above us.

Math was taken care of as we counted the number of "farm animals gates" Cameron skiied around on the mini downhill course.

Health and Nutrition was completed as we ate our candy bar on the lift and talked about why chocolate bar snacks are good for you on while you are skiing, and then why we were going to eat carrots, string cheese and nuts on the way home.

Political Science got a "check" while we listened to Limbaugh on the way up, and Music class was covered at a high volume on the way home!

Next week we'll discuss how Big & Little Cottonwood Canyon's were formed and look at the cloud formations on the drive and we can pass off Geology/Geography too!