Summer's Last Gasp...

The lake, Cherry Hill, Lagoon (for a few rides and for Cameron to spend his "finish workbook incentive $$ and learn about budgeting and playing games), playing with friends, Kenzi's birthday party, too many late night Monopoly Deal games, a great 2-day visit with Nat and Jacqueline and lots of late night memory sharing/laughing... oh how sad I was to see summer end!!!

Back to School!

8th, 6th and 2nd... how can they be getting so old? All 3 had a first great couple of days of school.

Cameron is so excited about walking home... despite the fact we have had to drag (literally) Zoe home in the heat. Kenzi loves her teacher and being a big 6th grader, and Lauren has picked up right where she left off last spring.

I'm soooo grateful that as of today, all 3 Hess kids love school!!!

Happy Early 12th Kenzi

Kenzi had her "early" 12th bday bash last night. She was dying to do a drive-in movie so we just had to do the "luck of the draw" on what movie we would see and headed to the drive-in.

We had custom treat bags, made bags and bags of popcorn, played some games, did the spanking machine (not one girl had heard of it) and enjoyed a really cheesy Spy Kids 4 movie. Nice Kev & Val helped transport kids -- that is above and beyond the call of neighbor duty.

There is just something fun about sitting on lawn chairs on a warm summer night watching a movie. (And I'm amazed at how much junk a dozen kids can consume in 2 hours.)

Wish we could have stayed for the double feature... just too many girls there to keep track of them until 1:00 am.

Happy Birthday next week Kenzi!

Happy Birthday Scott!!!

My big brother Scott turned 50 this month... wow... that was the age of our parents when I was a teenager!

He happened to be in Utah for a few days the week of his Birthday so we had a little Cafe Rio take-out party for him.

Scott has always been so... well... Scott. He is just him. He has always been fun, caring, hard working and just him. Scott is the perfect big brother -- and I can honestly say making it relatively calmly through my teenage years has a lot to do with him.

* He and his friends thought I was "Fox Lady." Scott always made me feel good about myself even when I was a teenage stick that was 6 inches taller than all of the boys. In 7th grade my best friend made cheerleader and I didn't. I was devasated. When I came home from school Scott and his friends (all cool High school boys) gave me a plaque that said "Foxy Lady." As sad as I was about not making cheerleader having five 17-year old boys tell me I was foxy did a whole lot for my self esteem. I kept that in my room all growing up and whenever I was convinced I was a "loser" or feeling bad about myself I would remember Scott and his friends.

* We fought (physically) a lot. I don't remember yelling or calling each other stupid names. He would just try to tackle or wrestle Jenn and I and we would just scratch him back. (He still has the scars to prove it.) When he would babysit Jenn and I would spend 1/2 of the night locked up in the bathroom or bedroom to stay away from him. Of course we will all best friends again by the time my parents got home. One night he convinced me and Lezlee there was a burglar in the house and he had a butcher knife out ready to stab whoever it was. I'm still not sure if he really believed it himself or if he was trying to scare us.

* He was super, super, super (and one more) super protective. In 5th grade he over heard me talking on the phone about going skating and meeting some friends there. He went to my mom and told her it wasn't someplace I should be hanging out. By the time I went to ask my mom she said "No, Scott said it isn't a good place to be." In high school I met someone he knew and thought I shouldn't date him. It took me almost 6 months of convincing my mom to let me go out with him because of Scott's concerns. He told my mom what I should be doing, who I should be doing it with and probably kept me out of a lot of trouble!

* I loved skiing with him. I couldn't keep up well but it was with Scott I did the cornice at Mammoth, about died in powder and rolled through the moguls.

* After Becki died we would watch "Midnight Videos" on TV and chat about the videos -- Cherish the Love reminded me of him and Becki. He would be at his apartment and I would be home and we'd talk on the phone. I remember one night I could tell he was very sad so I went over to his condo and took him Dr. Pepper and Apple Pies.

* Tipping me and my friends over on the trampoline when they were headed to California, him getting shot in the leg with an arrow by Mike Pope, Scott breaking everything -- his bones, his teeth, moms china and lots of hearts -- he always had girls who loved him.

* My kids all idolize him. He and his rascally sons have convinced Cameron to be a U fan. When he was in town he called to see if he could take Cameron with him for the day. Of course he came home in a U shirt and was torn all evening between Christopher and the Y and Scott and his boys and the U.

Seriously, I couldn't have asked for two better older brothers!

The Summer Tea Party

Some things never change for kids in the summer: lemonade stands, running through the sprinklers and tea parties.

I think the girls have had this tea set since Lauren was 2 or 3. Cam is a great sport and happy to join in with Makenzie in just about anything... Cam and Kenzi have spent most of the summer playing together ... and for Cam an added bonus if the beverage is hot chocolate.

Be Honest with Me... is there anything about me that resembles a garbage can?

I know moms are a lot of things... maids, cooks, taxi drivers, referees and more, but if I had to call myself one thing based on my kids actions it would be a garbage can.

I kid you not, we could be at Lagoon or any public place and there would be a garbage can one step away, and I could be sitting 10 steps away waiting for them, and my kids would come and hand their garbage to me rather than putting in the can right next to them.

My pants pockets, purse and car are always full of little wrappers and garbage.

I asked Lauren today and she was passing off a paper plate with leftover bread crumbs to me... yes she is almost 14 and no I wasn't remotely near a garbage can ... what part of my face resembles a garbage can! She and my niece just laughed... only I wasn't joking!

I'm Just Exercising Dad... at 12:30 am

Last night about 12:30 am Dave and I could hear something in Cam's room. Dave went in there to see what was going on.

Dave: Lights are off. "Cam, what are you doing?"

Cam: "Just exercising."

When he woke up this morning I asked him what he was doing last night at 12:30 am.

Cam: "Oh just doing push-ups and wrapping my leg around my neck. Dad came in and told me to go to bed but I just kept exercising."

Not even sure what to say. Seriously Cam, will you ever be a normal sleeper?

How can you tell he's a Bevan?

Bevans are known for waterfighting... and I definitely can tell Cameron hung out with Grandpa Bevan before he came to earth. Since he was about 2 he has loved to pour water on people... and doesn't even care if he gets drenched back.

I had a great time squirting him for about 1/2 hour the other day -- and he just laughed and laughed.

Boy Cousins... and Cam

Josh is down for a week golfing with Toph -- so we've had a chance to have a Mueller Park night and some lunches with him and Grandpa. And Josh even went out on a hot date!!!

I've always thought Cam looked like Scott and his boys and Cam loves being around boy cousins (even if they are 10+ years older) so he has loved seeing Josh (and Jordan who just came into town last night). On the Wall side Cam is definitely outnumbered with girl cousins and I'm coming to realize how much he admires his older boy cousins. Adam was one of the few people beside Dave and I that Cameron wasn't shy around and he loved Gavin the minute he met him.

Last weekend shopping he saw a "Doug" shirt and wanted to buy it. When he got home Lauren and I had also bought him some "Doug" shoes. (Ihadn't realized how much Cameron noticed everything about Doug.) He then put on some "Doug" pants and was so excited because he looked just like Doug.

Yesterday at lunch Josh had convinced him ... with very little effort... that the U was better than BYU. He just smiled and said that was right.

Scott, Jordan and Josh called him on Friday morning to see if he would go to the U of U bookstore with them and he spent the day with them. When I got to grandpas that night my sweet little guy was in a U of U shirt and proud of it. Toph then convinced him to put on a BYU jacket. (I was afraid he was going to start crying trying to decide who to have allegiance to.)

Fortunately Cam's older boy cousins are all pretty fabulous so if you turn out 1/2 as handsome as Doug and Josh and Jordan and Adam and Scott and Toph and Gavin you'll be ok Cam -- even if you become a U fan.

Camo if you end up 1/2 as handsome and nice as Josh and Jordan you'll be great!!!

End of School... Just a Little Late

In an attempt to get caught up before I print my annual Birthday present, a few end of school pictures. It seems like between all the kids end of school parties there was a two-week long celebration. Cam had a big end of school bash this year rather than a b-day party and that kind of kicked off the whole summer fun.

They then enjoyed the first lazy days of summer with night games, finding a bird and trying to nurse it back to health, Lagoon, Jacob' baptism, new summer haircuts, lemonade stands, Kenzi's cooking lessons and Cameron discovering it is ok for boys to sleep without a shirt and wander around the house with just PJ bottoms on. (Gratefully when he has asked Dave to walk around without a shirt too he declines!)

It was then quickly off to swimming lessons for Cam, voice lessons and gymnastics for Kenzi, Girls' Camp for Lauren, Space Camp for Lauren and Kenzi, a week long visit/party with Mandy, tennis lessons for me with Misty, and late night Perry Mason-I Love Lucy-My 3 Sons. (Can I just say I love that they love watching those... just wish they weren't so late.)

I guess that is why summer seems to have flown by...