Girls Camp!

I was called to be an Assistant Girls Camp Director in early June. Girls camp was scheduled for the last week of July. The other Assistant Girls Camp Director was pregnant, so she wasn't allowed to go to camp (insurance reasons…it's kinda far from any hospitals, and such). And the best part, we didn't have a Girls Camp Director yet. The Director was called 3 weeks before camp. Luckily the Stake took care of almost everything and the only thing we had to plan was meals, and crafts, and some certifications, and a skit. Luckily we had lots of help and were able to pull everything off. If you want, here's the link to Jennie's (the Girls Camp Director) blog post about Girls Camp.

Here's a picture of us at the Singing around the Lake activity (below), where they floated a fire (above) around on a raft (pulled by a canoe).

What's that you say!? Yes, it is a small world. Sean and Jennie Petersen are in our ward. It was a lot of fun getting to know Jennie at camp. Poor Jennie just got married in May and hadn't been away from Sean that long in…well…ever. But she made it through.

On Tuesday we arrived, brought all our stuff from the cabins, and did our Skits. We planned out our skits the Saturday before camp after we did some food prep. The Camp Theme was "Heavenly Heroes" so we decided to be the "Value Ninjas!"

Yes, those bad values better watch out, we're pretty scary value ninjas…ahem…I believe this is the end of a "Hi-YA!" Pretty fierce!

Rashelle was the "Dancing Ninja". I was definitely dancing too close to my drawing-boy.

Keri was the "Language Ninja". Jennie and I were using some pretty *#@&$ bad words, and &#%^ really bad words.

Then we went shopping for prom and got some pretty immodest cut out dresses to try on. Good thing Keri saved us again as the "Modesty Ninja".

Yolanda as the "Media Ninja" saved me from watching a really bad show full of bloody violence.

As you have probably noticed, our ward had a whopping 3 girls (out of the 4 total) at camp this year.

This is Yolanda, who tried to pretend she wasn't really sweet, but don't be fooled. She just likes to "roll with the flow".

This is Rashelle who got a little homesick sometimes, but we enjoyed having her there. She moved about a week after camp, and we're all sad.

This is Keri who cracked us up almost as often as we cracked her up.

We had fun trying to learn how to cook on a fire every day. Boy am I glad for modern technology (microwaves, stoves, dishwashers, showers, etc.)! Luckily I already know how to make a mean fire, without cheating, so we didn't have to struggle that way too. Only one of our meals flopped! (The mountain man casserole wasn't done in time, and then we cooked it too long, and it got burned to a brick.)

On Wednesday we slept while the girls did certification and stuff. I slept about 1 hour on Tuesday night because I was freezing and had to pee all night. I think we did some crafts as well on Wednesday but I don't remember it all. I think Sing around the lake was on Wednesday night.

On Thursday we went on hikes. Yolanda and Keri were second years, so Jennie went on their super long hike with them. I went with Rashelle on her 3^rd year hike which was only very long. We did a service project at the end of the hike. We "grubbed" a trail (basically you weed it and stomp the dirt down).

We hiked through this amazing meadow, and took pictures. (see other meadow pictures above. We were at about 11,000 feet or something. Surprisingly I didn't die from not having exercised in…well, a long time.

On Friday we had a fun afternoon of games and canoeing.

We did a few things in the confidence course. With this one we had to put the "logs" across "stumps" to get across the "acid river" without anyone falling off. It reminded me of when I used to play "hot lava" with Alex using all the couch pillows, only the ground seems a lot farther away these days.

Then we got to go paddle around in the canoes a bit. Jennie and I got out in time for the big water fight to start, and we watched everyone try to capsize the stake presidency from the shore.

That night the stake presidency had a surprise demonstration. They had asked all of us to write our heroes on a small slip of paper, which they then taped to...

a mega huge rocket. They had to clear the launch with FAA because it would go so high, and it DID! And FAST! ZOOM! It was gone! Best model rocket I've ever seen (and yes, I was in rocket club in elementary school).

By the end we were just about camped out. I know I was ready to go home and take a shower. It was a very fun experience. It was very different than the YW camp I went to growing up. I'd change some things, if I were in charge, but I wasn't, and it was still a great week.