Utah or Bust!

Watch Out Utah, the VanBuskirks are a-comin'! We'd have made great pioneers, I think. Hey boys, go collect some buffalo chips, will ya?

Well, the first leg of our trip has begun. We have made it to Utah and are ready for the fun to start. We left a little later that we had hoped on Tuesday night, and made it to St. George at about 3:30 am where we stayed, thankfully, at Dennis' Aunt Marlyn's second home. Our suburban is completely packed with eight people, all of our stuff for a long road trip, and camping gear. It's cozy!

Wednesday morning we headed north. We stopped once at Cove Fort. The boys and I really love that old fort. I am so impressed with how well the church keeps it up.

Dennis entertained the 2 little guys on the lawn...

while the four older boys and I took a tour.

I love to think what life was like back in those pioneer days. Brushing with hog's hair toothbrushes, and sleeping on rope beds. I am always fascinated by the kitchen at a place like that. The 5lb. bread pan was huge. Mother Hinkley would bake 15 of them every day! There was so much work to do back then. They would have never had time to have a blog.

The boys try their hands at rolling barrel hoops.

It was a great rest stop for everyone!

Later, down the road, Dennis insisted at stopping at Cabela's, a huge, two story, outdoorsman's hunting, fishing, camping store housed in a gigantic log lodge. It was amazing, and quite impressive. 

There was a walk-through aquarium filled with freshwater fish like trout and catfish. Luke loved it and kept trying to find Nemo.

In the middle of the store is a two story Matterhorn-like mountain covered with animals- deer, bears, moose, elk, and other smaller animals, posing in "natural" stances. The kids thought it was amazing, but the whole place gave me the creeps. There were literally hundreds of shot and stuffed animals there. Now I know it is practically heretical to say such a thing in these parts, but the whole sport-hunting thing just seems wrong to me. They were supposedly celebrating these beautiful animals and putting them on display so we could "appreciate" them, while at the same time stocking their shelves with a plethora of stuff you need to kill them with. Animals displays like this don't bother me in a museum setting, but in a hunting store, it struck me as ironic and prideful (yes, I know there is great pride to be had in killing an unarmed animal with a big ol' gun. Do it with your bare hands and you have every right to boast.) Now, anyone who knows me well knows that I am NOT an animal lover (drill in Anwar, please!), but I just think those animals would be much lovelier out roaming their native habitats than frozen in a pounce, on display, gathering dust. I'll prefer to see them, breathing and protected, in Yellowstone next week.

With great effort, Nathan manages to lift the lid off this gigantic Dutch Oven. Grandpa would love that to feed the whole Signs gang, but it is definitely NOT for backpacking!

We made it to Salt Lake by early evening, and I had time to check into my convention. I'm so excited to get started in the morning. What fun!

Christmas in July!!!

I am one happy mama.  Yesterday my sweet hubby surprised me with a new computer - a MacBook just for me!!!  I have always shared the computer with my kids, and recently this arrangement just wasn't working - too many people wanting to use one computer (the older they get, the more they need to use it), the computer kept running out of memory, and was packed with who-knows-what that the boys accidentally, or purposefully uploaded, kids messing with stuff they shouldn't touch.  I was having some real problems and getting very frustrated.  So my good man sensed my need and took action (HERO!).   Surprise!  He told me it is my early Christmas present, and even my birthday present too (I hope he means a late birthday present, not an early one!).  Needless to say  am completely thrilled and feel like a kid on Christmas morning.  I am having a ball playing with my new toy when I should be packing for our trip tomorrow.  Oh well.  Dennis, you've done it again!  Thanks Santa!

H2O Polo

What do you do to keep cool on hot summer afternoons? Play water polo of course!

My four older boys do a water polo camp at the La Quinta High School pool for the first six weeks of summer. They love it!

Nathan is ready to make his move

Alex ready for action.

Go for it Dylan.

Dylan takes a break.

Goal for Derek!

Chicken fighting is an important part of the sport of water polo. Derek vs. Dylan

The best part is popsicles...

...and being on the same team.

Eat My Wake, Mister!

Sometimes I am so bad, I surprise myself.

I swim most mornings. I usually go around 5:30 and am often the only one in the pool at that hour. But in the summer I take the luxury of sleeping in a bit and this morning I didn't get there until almost 7:00. There were already a couple guys using the good middle lanes, so I had to take a side lane. The guy next to me was about 40 years old, a solid swimmer, good form, nice flip turn. He was busy doing his thing. I jumped in and started my workout. I usually start with 50 laps straight of freestyle. So I was swimming along when the guy noticed that I was almost at his side and he suddenly kicked it in. He was pushing hard - not going to let me pass him. So I pushed it too and soon I was right beside him. He kept pushing hard for a few laps, straining to keep up with me. But then the wall was there, and flip, in a flash I shot out ahead of him. (I love a good flip turn!) Soon I was out of his reach. About a dozen laps later I was at his heels again. Once again I saw him punch up his pace. I kept my pace steady (you have to when your swimming distance) but made my strokes longer and stronger and within 2 laps I had passed him again. When I was on about lap 46 I caught the guy again and he, not to be outdone, pushed it HARD for the next two laps and kept up with me pretty good, but at the wall, I flipped and shot off the wall again, and he stood up. He had had it. I still had two laps to go, and was pretty tired, but even if I was on my last lap, I know I would have keep swimming until I had a good solid lead on him.

I don't know what it is, but I LOVE lapping guys in the pool. I never feel that way with women. I hardly pay any attention to what the gal swimming next to me is doing. But I HAVE TO out-swim the guys. Isn't that bad? I'm not a man-hating feninista or anything, but when a man is swimming next to me I just feel this competitive fire. (Dennis will tell you that he beat me in a race. But that was one length of a backyard pool. Come on. One hard push off the wall and you're on the other side. He's yet to take me up on my challenge for, say, 50 laps, or even 20, in a real lap pool.)

Usually the guys never say anything afterwards. They'll act cool, pretending that they always swim that fast, weren't trying very hard, and that they didn't notice me lapping them time and time again. But today it was different. This guy pulled off his goggles in disgust and watched at me as I moved myself to the now vacant other middle lane. He was not happy! He was breathing heavy, his shoulders were slumped in defeat. "Man, you swim FAST!" ( But I'm NOT a man, that's the point.)

"Thanks," I say, trying not to sound too winded.

He just shook his head, clearly upset with himself. "I just can't believe I got my pants beat off by a woman."

"Your Speedos actually," I said. OK well, I didn't really say that, but I wanted to. I really just smiled.

"How do you do it?" he asked.

"Well, I have to do something to have enough energy up to keep up with my six kids," I replied.

His jaw dropped, and then his shoulders drooped even more when he realized that he had just been blown out of the water by the mom from Brady Bunch. Poor guy.

He climbed out of the water, deflated.

"See ya tomorrow, " I said as I readjusted my goggles.

"Yah, right," he said.

Then, just for good measure, while he was drying off, I did several laps of butterfly, shoulders nice and high out of the water. (That really was next on my workout - I promise.)

Poor guy. I think I ruined his day. .. but he sure made mine!

Oceanside Getaway

We spent Friday and Saturday in Oceanside, just to get out of the heat and have some fun together for a few days. The fun began before we even got to our destination when the guys did a little geocaching. Something they wanted to do "real quick" ended up taking hours. It is treasure hunting and can be rather addicting. They had had enough when the last cache, down in a ravine, was a lot tougher to get to than they planned and they finally returned to the car sweaty and out of breath, scratched up from climbing through the brush, burrs stuck to their clothes. The boys (including the really big one), just love this stuff!
We looked for a long time before we found this cache suspended in an irrigation drain.
This is the smallest cache we have ever seen! It was a tiny magnet stuck to a fencepost. The narrow strip of paper is scrolled up inside.

We finally made it to the beach and spent the afternoon there. It was cool and grey, but perfect.The boys built Luke his own kiddie pool right on the beach.

Caleb, having mastered the bicycle, was ready to learn how to boogie board. He loved it.

Dylan and Dad played a game with the dragon kite where Dennis would try to dive bomb Dylan with the kite and , Dylan, rather that try to run away, would try to get right under the attack.

Friday night we went to Claim Jumper for dinner. Luke has suddenly hit that age - they all do- when you realize it will be a long time before you bring that kid into a restaurant again. He was out of control!

Alex found the ribs finger lickin' good.

We all had a great time, and I got to actually read a book (a rare treat for me.) Then we loaded all of our sandy wet bodies and stuff into the van (so glad we're driving a rental right now, even if it only seats 7) for the trip home.

Kimmie's Baptism

Last Sunday we drove to LA to attend the baptism of Dennis' cousin Kym. She is such a wonderful gal, and brings so much love and fun to the family. We were all so excited when she decided to get baptized. I have never been to a baptism like hers. The spirit was really strong and love was in abundance! There were about 120 people in attendance and it pretty much filled the chapel. I think there were fewer people in sacrament meeting earlier that day. A big chunk of the crowd was Dennis' family who had come from all over to be there for Kym's special day, and to show her their support and love. She must feel pretty special about that. It was practically a family reunion. We got to visit loved ones we haven't seen for years! Happily, the members there were kind enough to feed all of us, and we had time to visit and catch up. Kimmie, freshly baptized, with Grandpa and Grandma Webster.

Caleb and cousin Morgan forget its the sabbath for a few moments on the church lawn.
Grandma Webster squeezes Dylan and Nate! Did you notice Mikey poking his head into the shot? Dennis and his uncle, and good buddy, Jeffery!

Luke and flowers.

Congratulations Kimmie! We're so glad we came and we'll be there for your temple wedding, baby blessings, kids' baptisms, missionary farewells, etc. We are so happy for you and your decision!

Having a High Time Together!

Last week we had such a great time when the whole Signs Family (except for Mindy and her crew in Oregon) got together to make a splash at the beautiful Marriott pool where we have our time-share.

It took some arranging to get Ricky and his family here from San Diego... before Natalee and her family left to go back home to Texas. But after that, the party planned itself. A whole ton of nachos, some burgers and hot dogs, a watermelon, a few floaties for the non-swimmers, and we were ready. Marriott kindly provided the kiddie pool, the towels, the ice, the water slide,...

and the pool-side movie.

Of course the dads provided the upward thrust for flying...

the moms provided the hugs and kisses... and the kids provided the entertainment!

What a joy it was to all be together again! We really missed the Willaimsons! We are so sad to see the Bradshaws leave after their fun stay in the desert. We wish them good luck on their new life in a new town.
Is anything better than cousins?