Oh Pioneers!

On Saturday, in honor of Pioneer Day, our stake held a chili cook-off. The primary children were supposed to dress up in their pioneer costumes for a pioneer parade.

My kids put together their own costumes, and I think they did a good job.

Luke had to wear his horse costume and carry his favorite toy "bupalo". I was hot just watching him in that thing - but he was so dang cute!

There was such a great turnout! So many people came to celebrate this special day and enjoy each other and some excellent chili and cornbread. There was so much chili to choose from. I wish I could have tried them all! Lucky judges.

The cornbread wasn't judged, but I must say, my dad's sweet corn cake, in the humongous iron skillet, was absolutely the first to disappear! The folks in our stake know a good thing when they taste one.

Good food, good times, family and friends.

After dinner the primary children had a pioneer parade - indoors, of course, because it was well over 110 degrees outside. Maybe the real pioneer could have handled that kind of heat. Maybe not.

There were handcarts and horses and lots of darling costumes.

My sister's kids did a version of more modern pioneers with their bikes and very cool ward pioneer day T-shirts.

How fun to just hang out on a summer evening with our whole stake.

I love how Luke insisted in wearing the horse's stirrups on his arms.

What a fun pioneer day!

Scout Camp

Last week, 5 of the VanBuskirk men got to spend a week up at Camp Emerson Boy Scout Camp up in our local mountains in Idyllwild. Which, if you do the math, means that it was just me and the two younger ones home all week, which was not such a bad thing. I cannot believe how much quieter and cleaner my house was with only two kids! Life was so easy! I did a total of 2 loads of laundry ALL WEEK, and two loads of dishes, and spent a grand total of $40 on groceries, some of which we didn't even use. I got so much done - painted shelves, sewed curtains, organized my heart out. And of course, I got to give a lot of extra attention to and enjoy my two little ones!

That being said, I also missed my men a whole lot, so on Wednesday, Luke, Caleb, and I headed up the hill to visit everybody for family day at camp.

It was so fun to see what the boys were up to, hang out with them, and let them show us around their home away from home. We even got to eat there - lucky us! (For the low, low price of $6 each we got one of the nastiest meals I have ever eaten. I think this is what prison food must taste like. Hopefully not. Convicted criminals deserve better.)

Welcome to the neighborhood. Home sweet home for my boys were these army tents with real wood floors. Five star accommodations.

The little guys had fun hanging out and getting dirty at the campsite. Caleb took it upon himself to rescue all the pens and pencils that had fallen between the floorboards in the guys' tents.

The guys gave us a guided tour of the camp.

Yep, that sign really does say "MO SWIMING" - with just one 'M' in swimming. Hmmm. This is obviously NOT an academic camp.

But they do have classes. When we drove up they were all busy taking classes under the big parachute. Leather-work, woodcarving, and such.

Caleb just exploring and enjoying the outdoors. He wanted SO BAD to be a scout and stay all week.

There is also a shooting range at camp, and while we were there they were shooting black powder rifles with balls instead of bullets - just like they had in the civil war.

Yep, that is me shooting that rifle! Am I one cool mom, or what? It is really very fun, and there isn't much of a kick-back, which I liked.

They showed us how t measure and lead the black powder and then stuff the ball down the rifle. It took a while, and I can't imagine trying to do that with arrows and bullets coming at you! You'd better make every shot count.

My boys' cousin, Matt, was up there too, which was great! His dad, Dennis' Uncle Marty, came up for family day too.

A little time to kill before dinner.

Everyone get dressed up in their uniforms for the flag ceremony before dinner.

Then it was off to dinner. By the LONG line winding up the hill toward the mess hall, you'd think the food was fabulous. It wasn't. I think they count on the fact that boys have poorly functioning taste buds.

I just keep thinking that the food at girls camp was a million times better than this slop. When I told the boys about our fabulous salad bar at camp, they boasted that they had a salad bar too. Well, their salad bar consisted of that cheap, metallic tasting salad mix, kidney beans, wilted sprouts, and dressing. Why bother?

There were more classes after dinner. Dylan and Caleb took a hatchet safety class.

Then later, before we drove home, we attended a campfire program with some Indian dancing that the boys really enjoyed.

I was happy to kiss my fellas goodbye, and head back down the mountain to my own clean bed.

Of course, Dennis stayed there the rest of the week - living the good life just like a top notch resort. He even played golf. They made the ball out of duct tape, and the club was just some wood that had been lashed together. It was a good game until the golf club fell apart.

The boys really enjoyed the different kinds of shooting they got to try during the week. It turns out that Alex is quite a good shot!

Nathan had a great time earning his canoeing merit badge.

And they all really enjoyed the archery.

Dylan took the challenge to swim a whole mile. He was the youngest and smallest, but he hung in there and swam the whole thing. Great job, Dylan!

Finally, the all four boys decided to take the Polar Bear challenge to earn the coveted Camp Emerson Polar Bear badge. They had to come to the pool at 5am, hit the cold showers, wait outside with just their bathing suits for someone to hose them with cold water. Then they had to stand in front of a huge fan for 30 seconds, then dunk their whole head in ice water, and repeat 2 times. Then they had several buckets of ice water dumped on them before jumping into the nice warm water. No, the pool wasn't heated, but after all that ice and wind, that pool felt pretty darn warm.

Crazy kids. They earned their Polar Bear badges, as well as about 5 merit badges each while they were there. I am so proud of all of them for working so hard, and I think they had a lot of fun at the same time. I know I enjoyed it!

But my visit to scout camp really got me thinking. Scout camp was just not what I expected. I guess what I expected was something closer to girls camp. The boys camp was much dirtier and dustier than girls camp. Nobody took much stock in aesthetics - but these are a bunch of boys, and that is to be expected. I know boys. Boys don't care. But the thing that was really kind of bothering me was the lack of the spirit that is felt so abundantly at girls camp. And by spirit I mean not only the Holy Spirit, but also just that spirit of unity and love that is so abundant at girls camp. Maybe they are the same thing. I just know that a lot of time and effort at girls camp goes into making sure that the girls get that spiritual experience, and they do! Lives are changed and testimonies are formed and strengthened at girls camp. I didn't see anything like this in the half day that I was up with these guys at camp. That is just not what boys camp is all about.

In the end, I felt bad for my boys that they were not getting that week of spiritual saturation that the girls get, and I felt bad for the girls that they were not getting those amazing opportunities to learn new things and gain new experiences that the boys get. But I don't see why the boys can't get a little more of that spiritual grounding at scout camp, and the girls can't get a chance to shoot and arrow or two. Having all boys, I see that I am going to have to make sure that the boys get other opportunities to get that kind of spiritual boost that they so need at this age.

This week, Alex and Nathan are at another scout camp. I hope that they are having a great time, and that they are taking a shower or two, and reading their scriptures, and making the most of every opportunity to try something new, and have all those experiences that scout camp does offer.

Big Bugs at Big Bear

Can you believe the size of those mountain bugs? They should really change the name of Big Bear to Big Bug!

A few weeks ago, I got to go to girls camp up in Big Bear. The theme was B.U.G.S. which stood for Bringing Upright Girls to the Savior. It was a fun theme to play with.

I went up on Tuesday morning, just hours before the girls arrived - and when they arrived, the party began.

I was asked to take the camp picture. I had a sneaking suspicion that I'd be the photographer since they asked me last year - so I brought my tripod. Good thing. I set up the camera, got everyone situated, then set the timer and RAN and jumped up over the railing onto the porch to the very back before the camera clicked. I did that like 4 times before someone suggested that maybe one of the first year girls in the front row could have pushed the shutter button. Duh. At least I got the girls smiling for the picture as they were giggling at Sis. V.'s antics.

My job at girls' camp was to be the crazy craft lady. The funny thing is that when the camp director asked me to do the crafts I was YW president. I was hesitant, since being YW pres is quite a big job already (understatement!) and I thought I'd be pretty busy at camp watching over all my girls. But against my better judgement I told her yes, and that very same day I was released as YW president, so I was glad that I would still get to go to camp with my girls.

I thought doing crafts would be great! Fun, easy, I'd get to sleep in a cabin on a real bed rather than in an A-frame on the floor. When it wasn't craft time, I'd have time to myself. And I'd get to be with my girls without having to deal with the drama. (Not that there is ever any drama at girls camp, right?)

Well, lets just say, it really didn't turn out that way. Doing the crafts was really hard - before, during, and after camp. I worked so hard to be as prepared as possible before hand, but when I got there, I found that the schedule was not what I expected, and I had prepared completely wrong! I had prepared to have the girls come in small groups every day for 3 days - so I planned one craft a day. I thought they would come in, I would give them instructions, and then they would make the craft of the day. Instead, the schedule was such that the girls only had one craft time scheduled all week, and I had half the girls the first day, and the other half the second day. I had planned 3 different crafts, plus a card making table for free time. So the first day I had about 40 girls and leaders show up at the same time, with 4 different crafts being offered at 4 different tables. Nobody knew how to do anything, and there was just me and one assistant to try to help everyone at once. It was a nightmare! Girls were not following instructions, or they didn't know what they should be doing. They would take supplies for one craft off the designated table and use it for another craft at another table, so nobody could find anything they needed. Even though they were told that they could only make one of each item the first two days to make sure there would be enough supplies for everyone, some girls were making half a dozen of the same items, completely disregarding the rule. Then suddenly time was up and they all left - leaving me a HUGE mess that took hours to clean up.

To make matters worse, I thought the craft cabin would be that - a cabin - something with doors and a roof. The craft cabin was actually an area between 3 cabins with a tarp over it. No roof meant that the wind would pick up and little papers and supplies would fly everywhere! No door meant no lock which meant that girls were making cards and crafting whenever they felt like it. I couldn't put a "Craft Cabin Closed" sign up and lock the door. I had to stay there all the time, and if I did venture away from the Craft area, someone would come and make a big mess, and leave all my ink pads open, and then I'd have to come and clean it all up again. Kind of like at home - cleaning the same mess over and over again.

Thankfully, by the second day, I had things figured out a bit though and things ran much smoother.

Actually, the crafts themselves were really quite fun, I thought, and everyone seemed to enjoy them. I heard nothing but good things from the girls and leaders, which was very encouraging. I am so glad that the girls enjoyed them!

The fabric flowers were a big hit! I was amazed with how creative the girls got with them!

We also made some fun necklaces out of washers that were very popular. I think they just liked getting to wield a heavy hammer and pound away.

We also made fun little bug magnets - butterflies, worms, grasshoppers, dragonflies, and lady bugs. They were so cute!

There was also a card making station where the girls could make buggy cards for each other. They loved this and made a ton of cute cards!

Besides the crafts, the girls also got to do another project - a humanitarian aid project where they got to make wood toys for children who don't have toys. Every girl got to make her own animal, from start to finish. They were all very careful and did a great job.

I wasn't in charge of this one, but I did get to help.

The finished ponies, ducks, elephants and giraffes looked so cute all lined up and ready for inspection! What a wonderful service project for the girls to participate in!

Singing songs at roll call.

But camp wasn't all about the projects. There was a whole lot going on.

And I really enjoyed myself (after that first crazy day.) My favorite part, I think, was getting to spend time with all the wonderful leaders - ladies I know and love, as well as the ones I got to know and enjoy. What wonderful women and dear friends!

And, of course, I had a great time with "my girls" even if I can't officially claim them anymore. It is so great to have these darling girls giving you hugs all day and telling you how wonderful you are! Who wouldn't love that? They have a way of making this old dame feel like she is still kinda cool. I'll take it!

We also spent an afternoon at the lake where we enjoyed the popsicles and each other perhaps more than the water.

This year the cabins were divided up by years rather than by wards, which I think is a good idea, except that it meant that we didn't have a lot of ward together time. We did get a slot of time each day called DEAR time where we got to be together as a ward and have a devotional. I really enjoyed these times (when I wasn't off cleaning up a mess). Our girls gave some powerful devotionals like this very special one where we each told each other of the wonderful talents we see in each of them. These are the moments that make girls camp so memorable and wonderful!

There is just a love a girls camp that is hard to duplicate elsewhere.

One of our gals celebrated a birthday up there. How great is that?- an all day party with 80 of your closest friends!

We also did a hike up into the mountains above Big Bear Lake. The views were gorgeous, and the hikers were too!

We stopped for a sack breakfast up there.

A beautiful day!

Our ward (mostly). I love these girls and women!!! Love, love, love! I'm so glad I could share this with them!

The Youth Camp Leaders did a really good job with camp. I claim two of them as my very own!

Hanging out, relaxing, and enjoying the cool mountain air.

One campfire with our testimony lights. I tried a slow shutter speed to capture the lights. That wavy line was somebody with a tea light walking past the camera. Kinda cool, huh?

Even though it was a ton of work, I am really glad I got to go to camp and enjoy the spirit of girls camp, and to spend just a bit more time with the girls and my dear sisters, and all the bugs (which were mostly the non-biting, non-stinging, non-crawling, plastic type, by the way.)

P.S. I was officially a "Spider" up at camp and my nickname was... you guessed it...Long Legs!

Love you girls! Thanks for letting me bug you for a few days.