Girls Camp 2013

Oh, remember how I had Girls Camp with my ward just a short 3 months ago? Well I'm in the thick of prepping for YW in Excellence and realized I had never done anything with my pictures from camp! So I'm doing something with them tonight.

Let me just say that camp was amazing. It was my first one as the president of our group and wow, it was a ton of work and I wasn't even the camp director! But we lucked out and had our stake property under construction during the summer so we had to find our own time and place for camp and make it happen. My girls were beyond thrilled at this prospect and begged to go back to Tanners Flat where they'd gone years before our stake owned property. I was happy to go there—25 miles away? Um, yes please. And up my beloved Little Cottonwood? Done.

We decided to make camp 3 days total (another decision I was very happy about) and just fit in all we wanted to in that time frame. We met up at the church on a Tuesday and got things rolling with an intro to our camp theme "Fear Not" based upon Isaiah 41:10 (and the 3rd verse of How Firm a Foundation, a hymn I love so much!) Then we announced the girls' tent assignment and had LeBaron reunion photo-booth items set up in another room for each tent group to use and do some pictures together. Some of my YW got way more into it than others but we all had fun (shot of the 6 leaders bottom left).

Since check-in up the canyon wasn't until noon we also had a service project for the girls to complete at the church before we left. They cut out and assembled little craft kits for children to use at Primary Children's Hospital and they were really cute. It was nice to be at the church for a bit and leave things like the photo booth props and the service project items in our YW cupboard and not have to take them camping with us. 

Here's our whole gang just before we left the church and headed up the canyon. My leaders are all young and can blend in with those teens pretty well! One night in our tent up a camp I realized I was the oldest person up there and I suddenly felt like I better have my act together! Oldest, but probably not the most mature ;)

And next thing we knew we were setting up camp and getting to it:

 A funny "Minute to Win-it" game: the girls had pedometers on their heads and had to see who "walked" the farthest in a minute

 

 My amazing crew of YCLs preparing their skit "Ghosts of Girls Camp Past." It was way funny to me as I've been at camp with them for 4 years now and knew most of their silly inside jokes.

So, we found the river which rushes all through the Tanners Flat site and was the most lovely ambient sound as we slept at night. We also learned pretty quickly that we needed to stay out of it to avoid a huge fine...so that was kind of a bummer as the girls were eager to play in it but I am just glad we didn't get in real trouble!

  

 Addie and Kylie's tent: see why girls are so fun to camp with?!

 

Getting a whole group shot: we had to try a few different themes and see which one we ending up liking the most. I choose all 3 :)

Serious models:

Mostly normal:

Or crazy/weird:

 

Roasting those marshmallows and making smores. I love how the mountains cool off so well in the summer evenings. Oh Utah...:)

The next morning we set off for a little drive up the canyon to Albion Basin to hike Cecret Lake. A swift easy hike but always stunning and a perfect place to sit and reflect for a while.

 

 

 The wildflowers were putting on quite a show:

  

 We gathered up on a huge slab of rock and had a small devotional.

Then we handed out letters from parents to each of the girls. I am so happy my camp director made that happen and had a letter for every single young woman. The girls split off alone and were able to read and think and have time to write in their journals. I had a few pages left in my trek journal so I went ahead and filled those up as we sat there. Too lovely and filling to my soul being surrounded by that beauty—in the mountains and sky and flowers and water, but also in those teenage girls I love so much. It is a unique thing in this calling of mine to know and love my young women as I do. I feel greatly blessed and humbled to have that opportunity and privilege. It's a crazy, busy calling but I'll take all the good that comes with it (thank you very much :) including building great friendships with the women who serve with me. I love them so much too.)

 

  

 

We thought it might be fun to check out another hidden waterfall that I'd discovered with my kids a few years back called Lisa Falls. After Cecret Lake we had lunch and then went down the canyon just a mile or so to the trailhead, but it suddenly all looked really different to me and I couldn't tell why. We trudged ahead to find huge, white boulders all along the bottom of the falls and even rerouting the river below. All the trees were stripped and tons of them were broken. It was so crazy to see it looking so different and I wondered what had happened and when and when I came home I Googled it to find this article which I remembered hearing a little about. Crazy! But glad we still saw the falls and some of my girls were brave enough to get an ice cold shower of sorts :)

That evening we had our bishopric join us for a big, delicious dinner and testimony meeting around the firelight. It's always funny to me how those girls sure like to wait until it is officially dark before they stand to share—guess it hides the tender emotions a little bit better and they feel more confident speaking alone. It was such a wonderful night. That is just the best part of camp and the closest we feel as a ward every year. I love it so much and was so proud of my girls for sharing their hearts and faith, even from some who struggle a ton. We heard from most of the girls but not very many beehives. They are the most fun, giggly, try everything kind of girls but when it came to that meeting they were not feeling it. I wasn't sure if they just weren't being enveloped in that beautiful spirit that hung so fully in the air, or if it was just too much for them and they worried about feeling too much. I like to think it was the latter, and they are such good girls, just young and some brand new to girls camp. I think they'll figure it out in the coming years—and learn how well their testimony grows when they share it with others.

Up to camp Tuesday and back home Thursday morning. It was a great success and I know it brought us all closer together and helped all to urge our faith forward. I love going to church the Sunday after camp and feeling all the love and goodness and friendship between all the girls that is still alive and well after camping together. It's not perfect by any means but just so much better and more cohesive. We did have an issue with one of my YW feeling especially mad about some of the silly pranks another tent pulled on her tent, so that was fun to handle :) but at least those who seemed to be drifting away and not feeling so connected to our group (at the 11th hour they were pretty much telling us they weren't coming and then somehow they came) reattached really well during camp and we've seen them often since, and I count that as a huge success. 

This was our last year with the unforgettable Kylie who will graduate in the spring (and actually turns 18 today!) She's such a fireball and loads of fun and we will miss her a lot. Luckily I only have 1 graduating this year because I hate letting those Laurels go! Next year I have 6 graduating and that will be tough.