My Trip to Girl's Camp

This week I had the opportunity to go to Girl's Camp with the Young Women in our Ward. For the most part, there were ten Young Women and three leaders(me, Melinda, and Tara) there. We had some memorable times. Here are ten of them:

1. The first day, the Stake leaders gave us a bag of props you would find in your average grandma's attic: wigs, drapes, old snorkeling gear, big funky hats, etc. We had to come up with a five minute skit using all of our props. The girls decided to do a skit based on the movie "Hairspray" with dancing, singing, "the works." I just had to pretend to turn on a TV and start dancing because my favorite show was on. The girls had me laughing so hard I almost peed my pants.

2. The first night as we are sitting around the campfire, I started getting the "ants in my pants" feeling. By the time we went to our tent, I was dying. So, I had to tell all of the other leaders in our tent that I had some kind of itchy rash on my bum and that I was about to go scoot on the gravel. They promptly went and found me some hydra cortisone after laughing hysterically. The next morning, I felt better. But, as soon as I put on my lone pair of blue jeans the horrible sensation started again. I changed into my yoga pants, put more cream on, and hoped that would be the end of it. Later that day, I sat down on the propane tank by the bathrooms and immediately the sensation began again. We eventually figured out that there was something in the sap on everything that did not agree with my tush. So, I resorted to wearing Jeff's pajama bottoms-that I just happened to throw into my bag at the last minute-and had to sit on at least 3 layers every time I sat down.

3. We had little critters all around our campsite. The girls called them "pot-guts," so I don't know what they are officially called. They look like a mix between a chipmunk and a prairie dog. They were really cute and liked to come visit us when food was present. We named a few of them: Chubbies, Jeffrey(I did not name it), and Chompers. The girls rigged a box and tried to catch them. Once they caught one, it scared them by digging out under the box.

4. This is a picture of most of us on the two-year hike. The hike was supposed to be 4 miles, but the Stake leader that was in charge of it thought she could "clock" the distance by time on her watch. We wound up hiking 5.6 miles up and down a rocky mountainous road. It seriously felt like 10!
5. After our hike, we had Ward time. So, we decided to pamper the girls with oatmeal facials and a cold water foot soaking. We painted our nails after. Here are my beautiful very blue toes:
6. After the "catching the pot-gut" incident. One of our girls Morgan was covered head to toe in dirt. We all made fun of her, so she kept getting dirtier. I wish I had a picture...she seriously looked like a little black girl with bright blue eyes. We dared her to go to another campsite and ask for a bar of soap. She went down and came back about a half hour later with a bar of soap. Then, the girls dared her to run through all of the other Ward campsites and act like a monster. She did!! Later that night, we did a cheer when the Stake did the roll call and had her run through the stadium. Morgan was a hoot!
7. When our Bishopric came up for dinner Thursday night, we had them paint their pinkie nails with our beautiful blue nail polish. Then we had them do a "Wiggle Dance" as part of our cheer. They were hilarious!

8. During our testimony meeting the last night, we heard a large animal up on the gravel by our cars. It started snorting, so we paused our meeting for a little while to make sure that we were safe. We had some Stake Priesthood leaders come up and scope out the area and they only found a couple of badgers. We later concluded it was more than likely the mother moose of the baby that had been spotted earlier that day. Later that night, the leaders slept in the tents with the girls to help calm them. We heard purring and had an animal pace between our tents and rub up against them for a good hour that night. When we checked out the tracks in the morning, it was a large mountain lion that visited us that night. We were so grateful that we were heading home that morning!!

9. One of the mornings, while the girls were down at the stadium for the flag ceremony, Melinda and I stayed at camp and cleaned up after breakfast. She came up to me when we were almost through and whispered: "Don't freak out but I think there is a bear by our cars." She wanted to take off hysterically and as we were halfway down the mountain, I turned and said: "Let me go make sure before we upset everyone." I went back up and cautiously looked by our cars. It was a deer with two babies. We started laughing...she had only seen furry ears and had freaked out. The fawns were really cute!!

10. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go. There is something about being out in the wilderness and teaching the Young Women that is humbling and faith provoking. I feel like I got that spiritual boost that I have been needing for a long time. The Young Women in our Ward are amazing girls and I learned from them!

I would do it again tomorrow....well, maybe in a month or two...the rash is still clearing up...and I missed my family!