WARNING: super long
Oh man where do I even start!!!
July 7-10th we went to Stake Girls Camp. I had the awesome privilege of being in charge and having these amazing ladies to work with (Julie, Jen, Heidi, and Karlie). I couldn't of done it without them. I could count on them completely and with out any reservations. They were simply amazing!!
We started meeting last December and it was surreal to have the time upon us. We went to Oakley Ranch Camp which is south of us and had a fabulous time. It was hot, dusty, dramafied, but oh so fun!!
Our theme was "Be Brave and OYM". All the YCLs and stake leaders went up early, early Monday morning to get everything ready for the rest of the 110 girls coming.
All the younger girls slept in tents and the leaders and YCLs slept upstairs in the lodge. It was great. I love the ability this gives us to get to know them and really bond.
Some of our 4th years. They are so fun and great girls (Anika--front, Madie, McKayla, Miranda, and Hunter)
Our days were filled with lots of fun. We had most of the certification done before hand so we had lots of time for activities and always free time in the afternoon. One of the favorites was "Tank" in the open field.
One of the others was "Missionary Olympics". It was a blast watching the girls camp compete and have so much fun together.
We used the boys bathroom because we simply needed more than one bathroom for 130 women and girls (you know us and bathrooms). The girls thought it was hilarious to have urinals in their but hey I'll do whatever so I don't have to stand in line.
The hike was a blast. We literally went tromping through the fields and paved our own path.
The girls were troopers and complained little and just enjoyed the beautiful scenes and vistas we had as we climbed higher and higher.
At one point on the way down the hike leaders could not find a path through all the trees and under growth. After trying several different ways and nothing working they said a prayer at the front and then proceeded to find another way. 10 feet and boom! There was a path and we immediately went through and found the way we had went up. It was so amazing!!
Me, Heidi, Julie, Jill (the best gluten free cookie maker in the world!!), and Jen
The fun girls I hiked with.
After the hike we had a pampering session. The girls painted nails, put facial masks on, gave each massages, and just hung out in the shade.
One of the highlights of that afternoon was the "Armed and Awesome" water fight. Only the leaders knew about it. We all brought up water guns and buckets. I got all the girls to come to the gathering area on the pretense of making an announcement and then everyone else who was hiding came running out with a blood curdling yell and spraying them all. After convincing them all that this truly is was a water fight and yes they could get us back, we had a great time getting completely soaked. It was awesome!! Especially since it ended with me getting a trash can (thank heavens it was clean!!) of water dumped all over me. Haha...
3 of the cooks in the kitchen (who were the best!!!) and Kate and Cindy helping them out with dinner.
One of the highlights of Bishopric night was this scene. Upstairs, the flooring was wooden planks. In some places knots had fallen out so the YCLs would roll up things on strings and send them down to whoever was downstairs. They did this particular scene for a solid half hour. They sent half eaten meat balls, tootsie rolls, pens, notes. It was so fun to watch!!
Some of the leaders watching all the festivities. This was our main gathering spot which was nice and shaded most of the time and a great area to meet.
Another activity we did was making t-shirts into scarves, bracelets, or head bands. The girls LOVED it.
They were so creative and it was so fun to see all the fun things they came up with.
This was the cooks area. Can you see a similarity there. Haha...I love it. That little boy was a riot. He got to come to camp with his parents (some medical issues) and he was a trooper in the kitchen. He helped there everyday and was a riot with the girls.
Our amazing YCLs decorated and welcomed all the girls showing up for camp. They sang them a song as they came down and got them all excited to be there.
Monday night we had a huge FHE with everyone. Jen plays the guitar and is amazing. She accompanied us on all of our songs and was so cool to hear all of us sing our theme song "Brave" with her.
Two members of our brand new Stake Presidency were able to come that night as well. It was so good to have them with us for a little bit.
All of the girls got missionary badges when they came and they got quite creative with how they wore them.
Our YCLs were amazing with their girls. Can you see how much they adored them. We like to have those girls be in charge of everything the girls do. They give them devotionals, they make sure they get places, they make sure they are taken care of, they eat with them, do everything with them and it is so neat to see the bond that develops because of this.
More of my cute 4th years.
That little megaphone right there saved our lives. My throat hurt so bad by the time camp was over so I can't imagine what it would of been with not having that thing. So much talking!!!
Each year had a different color. Above is our 1st years. They were so excited to be at camp and I loved their energy.
The 2nd years. So cool!
3rd years. At home with everything. They were our 1st years last time at camp and it was so fun to see how much they have grown.
Those wild and crazy 4th years. Haha...love it.
Our YCLs. So many of them and so amazing. These girls were so on top of life. It makes so excited to know that they are our future generation. They are so on top of the gospel. So many nights as we laid in our beds trying to go to sleep (because it was like 1 in the morning) we could hear them whispering about gospel questions or who needed help tomorrow or what girl was struggling in their group or why they were going to get married in the temple. So, so, amazing!!
Yep that's most of us.
3 of our cooks. I can't say how wonderful they were. Chris (far left) was our head cook for the 2nd time also. He is amazing with food and with being so low key. They were always having a blast in their and it was always my safe place to be when I needed to escape. He always had cold diet coke stocked in the fridge and I loved it. What an great group of guys.
The Stake Young Women's Presidency. They were released the Sunday after camp and I will always be so grateful for all their help, their personalities (so fun to be with), and their willingness to let me run with camp. They were so hands off and I so appreciated it.
Another major highlight of Bishopric night was the skits. Each ward had to involve a banana, a book of mormon, a broom, and a bishop in their skit. Each ward was amazing. My cheeks hurt so bad from the laughing. The two I loved the most were 8th wards Wizard of Oz (oh my they were great. so creative and oh so hilarious) and the cooks P meeting (they used words with P and then spit chewed up food all over each other--it was so gross and downright funny the whole time).
My committee doing our chant rapper chant. So hard to get our of your comfort zones sometimes!!
Some other fun things we did was an early morning work out class--whew were my thighs so sore after that).
A sunrise devotional--that night was only about 3 hours of sleep.
A chocolate fountain the last night of camp for the YCLs. So delicious!!!
The YCLs also present a "Trail of Courage" Tuesday night and it was amazing. It was so neat to watch these older girls tell their stories of the Book of Mormon or their testimonies or sing or what touches them about the gospel and watch how the younger girls respond. They so look up to those older girls and you can see how the Spirit touches their hearts when they talk to them.
What an amazing year of camp. Done but so wish I could do it again!!
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