Girls Camp

Yesterday I returned from our ward (congregation) Girls Camp.  With my call as Young Women President comes the annual summer girls camp.  Last year it was a stake camp (all wards in our geographic location) and lasted for five days.  This year it was only three days, but I still came home exhausted (and a little stressed about all the school work I haven’t done).  But even with as tired as I feel, the camp was a great success!  The girls and leaders had fun, unity was forged, and many expressed feeling closer to God.

Though I came home with almost 500 pictures I can only share a few here to allow for anonymity.  Our theme was a “Survivor” theme–“Look to Me and ‘Survive.'”  Most of the usual camp activities occurred.  We did a craft, went on a hike, played games, acted silly, enjoyed the scenery and the wildlife, but it did rain both evenings which prevented us from having campfires and roasting marshmallows.  It also made it too wet to go on a snipe hunt, which was a bit of a disappointment to the older girls.  😉

Here are a few pictures that perhaps give a bit of taste of what camp was like…

Inside one of the cabins

One of the girls put my hair up into a "drill team" 'do

Appetizers for dinner

A visitor

Service project

The best part for me was being at camp with my daughter, Hoob.  She really blossomed in a leadership position AND she received the award for being the funniest.  🙂

I will take these experiences any day…whether school work gets done or not.

 

Spending Time with Long John Silver

There will be the typical camp activities such as campfires, making s’mores, and hiking.  There will be a day that we spend on a ropes challenge course and a day that we spend canoeing on the lake.  Every morning and evening there will be a flag ceremony as well as daily prayer and scripture study.

Yes, it is time for Girls Camp.  As the Young Womens President of my ward (congregation) I get to accompany 24 girls ages 12 thru 18 and 7 other adult leaders as we attend our annual Stake girls camp for five days.  Our Stake consists of 9 wards altogether, all of which will be converging on Heber Valley Camp bright and early Monday morning.  This is quite an opportunity for our girls because there is a four or five year waiting list to attend Heber Valley Camp, a camp owned by our world-wide church.

Our ward has chosen a pirate theme and so plan on daily raids of the other wards as we “conquer” and look for mascots we can kidnap and hold for ransom.  We have many little pirate flags that we will leave behind to show that we have conquered.  Each girl is choosing a pirate name that we are heat-pressing on to their individual bandana (it helps that my husband and I own t-shirt making equipment). 

The girls have gotten quite creative in their pirate names.   At camp with me will be a pirate named Pit of the penguin and one named Dirty Cho Cho Watson, there will be Zoogy o’Shark and Long Blackbeard Jack.  And we mustn’t forget Scarlet Pale Face, Pinky Winky, and Captain Snickerdoodle.

My bedroom has been the storage area for pirate banners, snack foods, craft items, and a stuffed parrot that we plan on naming up at camp.  Finally, on Monday morning Hub will be able to reclaim our bedroom as a bedroom instead of a storage facility as I haul all of the stuff to camp.   Today and tomorrow I help finalize the purchasing of food and other camp related booty.  Sunday evening 24 girls will bring all of their sleeping bags and suitcases to my house to be loaded onto trucks and then at 7:15 a.m. Monday we will all meet to drive to camp.

I consider myself lucky to be attending camp with two of my daughters, Mack and Hoob.  Camp has been a topic of conversation for quite a while in our home.  It is well-loved by us and by the other girls in the ward.  Obviously there is no internet service at camp, so blogging will be put on hold until I return sun-burned and bug-bitten and most likely dead tired.

Until then…