Why I don’t work from home

There’s a reason I don’t work from home.  How can work possibly compete with this little girl?!  I wish I captured more moments like this.

Cousin Camp Videos

We just had our first Jewkes Cousin Camp in Georgia.  What a blast!  We had 19 little cousins.  We had a summer cousin camp patterned after the one we’ve been doing for years on my side of the family.  For this one, Jess and I combined to play the part of Monica, my sister-in-law who organizes and directs the camp.  It was a lot of work, but it was so fun and fulfilling.  I loved getting to know better these nieces and nephews and seeing our kids build stronger relationships with the rest of their cousins.  The setting was perfect … Jess’ parents home at Hickory Hill Farm.  All of the aunts and uncles did a great job with devotionals, crafts, meals, activities, and support.  Brian took a ton of photos that I’m sure he’ll share soon and I took some video.  I just put all the videos together here for all the little cousins to watch themselves in action.  The main section of the video is individual interviews of the kids talking about what they learned and loved about camp… there’s some audio loss afterwards.

Getting Excited for Cousins’ Camp!!!

Ammon can barely contain his excitement…that’s how awesome our Sedgwick Cousin’s camp is!

30 Seconds of Fame

So you thought Dave was in the nursing home industry, right?

Don’t worry, he didn’t quit his job, he’s just trying to break into the film industry as well.  And with the right crew (actors), I think he’s got a decent chance. :)  Dave is now the Executive Producer and Director of a legit TV commercial that will air this Sunday (and every Sunday) in Idaho during the LDS program “Music and the Spoken Word.”  The commercial is for Dave’s company, which owns Horizon Home Health and Hospice.  Horizon is run by Dave’s friend, Danny Walker.  Danny asked Dave to produce a commercial, and Dave’s response was “you get what you pay for.”  I think Danny got a steal.

Check out the little girl in the commercial…she’s definitely got a future in acting.  The grandma is a natural, too.  The nurse?  Well, she probably isn’t going to make big bucks or anything, but at least she’s enjoying herself.  :)

For those of you with a little more time, here’s a long version…

Inspire

Nothing fires me up quite like seeing an ‘underdog’ overcome.  MikeD sent me this video a couple days ago and it sucked me (and Jess) in and brought tears to her eyes.  You know I’m a cry baby.  Jess isn’t as emotionally unstable as me, but this one got to her.  Maybe it has something to do with the cast on her leg :(

On a related note, tomorrow is the Ironman world championship at Kona, Hawaii.  Can’t wait to see who wins.  I’m rooting for Crowie (Craig Alexander) to be the 3rd man ever to 3-peat.

A broken heart …

This morning I stayed home from work for a couple hours so Jess could take a nap after being up with Ammon.  I made the mistake of stumbling upon this video with Ammon asleep on my chest.  It brought me to weeping.  Not tears.  Not teary eyed.  Not emotional.  But weeping.

For several reasons it had a powerful, moving impact on me.  Mainly … our dear friends the Walkers preparing to go through a similar experience with their Andrew in a couple weeks (being so close to friends going through that brings on a type of ‘survivors guilt’ mixed with profound gratitude for the health of your own kids).  I project them and me and Jess in that situation and I lose it.

I’m reminded how fragile and short life can be.  It reminds me of my once-oft-recited mantra: No Regrets.

Be sure to expand to full-screen mode

Secret Service

Lucy took over FHE this week and taught us why SHE thinks service should be done in secret.  She explains and then demonstrates in the latest KFHE video:

By the way … little Ammon is still totally rockin our world in a good way.  He’s sleeping great and all of the kids adore him (for now :)

Dave's current computer desktop image

“The Elephants are sooo happy”

Last night I took Madi, Caleb, and Lucy to the circus.  Barnum & Bailey.  I wasn’t much of a circus guy before last night.  I can’t remember the last one I went to (probably close to 30 years ago … which just saying that makes me hate circuses even more since that’s the first time I think I’ve ever said ’30 years ago’ in reference to my own life!)

I didn’t have the heart to burst Lucy’s bubble.  You hear her on the video talking about how she can tell that these elephants are soooo happy to be in the circus.  She can tell b/c of the smiles on their faces.  Oh to be a young child again!!

I had a very different perspective.

I couldn’t help but remember the elephants Jess and I encountered in Africa last summer.  They are the kings of their wilderness.  Everyone, especially our guides in Botswana, feared them.  They shaped their environments (creating roads, plowing over trees).  It was awe-inspiring.  Truly.  Check out some of our photos from that trip here.

I’m not an animal rights type of a guy.  We don’t have pets.  But, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for those giants of the animal kingdom.  Don’t worry … I let Lucy keep her innocence.

Zoos?  Ok.  Circuses?  Not so much.

Jedi Mind Tricks

One of the few Ted Talks that made me actually say ‘wow’ outloud.  Watch out Luke Skywalker!

Introducing KFHE

KFHE - Kids Family Home Evening

So, here’s how this evolved (within 24 hours) …

Caleb’s been dying to do FHE.  (Our kids take turns with me and Jess in preparing a lesson each week.)  He’s been complaining that we skipped over his turn to do the lesson several times [true].  For some reason, he knew he wanted to do it on Obedience, but he wasn’t sure what he was going to say.

Yesterday, we planned it.  As we were looking up scripture stories about Obedience, he said, ‘Hey how about I do a powerpoint?!’ (His older sister, Madi, did a powerpoint project for school that was very cool about the mission in San Juan Capistrano so that wet his appetite).  So, we started pounding out a powerpoint presentation for FHE the next day (tonight).  Later that evening (after church and dinner) we reconvened to go over the powerpoint again.  Then … lighting struck!

Let’s do a video to go along with the presentation!  Right on!

So, we used the built in camera/mic on the macbook and started recording.  Thus was born the original KFHE video …

I say original because there will certainly be more to come.  AND … drum roll … the big idea (don’t steal it) is to create a web site where kids can upload their KFHE videos from around the world.  I see this starting with the cousins.  From there … going global.  KFHE (Kids’ Family Home Evening).

Click to go to KFHE

Here’s the legalese/copyright info on the video …

KFHE is a non-profit broadcast venture wholly owned and operated by the Sedgwick Family Foundation, if such a foundation were to exist.

KFHE’s mission is to broadcast kid-driven Family Home Evening (FHE) videos on gospel topics in order to entertain, educate, and inspire everyone (their cousins in particular) to be good. Check out mormon.org for more information …

Copy, distribution, or reproduction of any KFHE video is strictly prohibited, unless you really want to. In that case, totally go for it. :)

Made anybody laugh today?

I’ve posted about the improveverywhere guys before.  Check out a couple of their latest ‘missions’ to lighten us all up a bit.  Try not to smile …

The Global ‘Gap’

Below is a video of Hans Rosling illustrating the incredible progress made in the last 200 years globally in terms of health and wealth.  It’s amazing to see how quickly China and others have been closing the ‘gap’ between the them and the US.  Check it out …

Madi’s 1st Piano Competition

Proud of Madi in her first piano competition up in Cypress College.  Although she didn’t place, it was a good experience for her and she learned a lot.  It was fun for her to see other kids rock the ivories.  She played Kabalevsky’s 7 Cheerful Variations on a Slovakian Folk Song … in case you were trying to place that oh-so familiar tune :)