Girls Camp 2008

*Pictures will be coming soon!!!!!!*

I survived a wonderful week at Heber Valley Girls Camp! I have to admit up front that I wasn’t really thrilled about spending a week at Girls Camp with a bunch of teenagers with attitude! Well I was 100% wrong I had an amazing week and every hour that I spent in preparation for this camp totally paid off and then some.

First off we went to the Heber Valley Camp that is owned by the church and was dedicated by President Hinckley. The Camp is often referred to as ‘The Temple on the Mountain’ and it really does feel that way. The spirit is so strong up there; it was amazing to be there for an entire week. The first day we were up there Russell M. Nielsen, one of the Apostles, came up and dedicated our camp site. He put a special blessing over our Stake. WOW, it was amazing to witness! Our girls were amazing all week, no complaining and so much unity. Almost all of our girls bore their testimony, even those that NEVER have! It was amazing to be a part of such a special week.

As a youth I only attended one girl’s camp and I wasn’t even a member then so I can’t even tell you much about my experience. So when I go this calling to be the camp Director I can’t tell you how scared I was! But we pulled it off and it was a very successful camp for all of the girls and leaders!

We got to stay in cabins and we had showers and flushing toilets. It definitely wasn’t camping but President Hinckley said that girls don’t need to learn how to pitch tents and cook over fire; they need to learn the Gospel! So true, I love the idea of staying in cabins and focusing on other things than learning to rough it in the woods! Plus, I am not much of a camper myself! We got to do challenge courses, canoeing, hiking, and wonderful camp activities!

Some of the highlights were our ‘campfire’ events! One of the nights we had a Pajama Party Fashion show. This was a HUGE hit. The girls totally got into it and had so much fun getting dressed up in funny attire. We leaders even participated in our “nerd” pajama wear! It was funny! Then after the fashion show we had a pie eating contest, and played fun games! Of course we ended up around the campfire singing songs and eating banana boats! Another night we had a ‘Wacky Wednesday Night’ where the girls got to enter a crazy hair contest! The girls LOVED this night and it was so funny to watch what these girls could come up with! After that we put them into groups for a WACKY talent show where they did synchronized swimming, singing MOTAB style, dancing, and more! Our theme for this night was to let the girls know that even though we are all a little ‘wacky’ we are still daughters of the same Heavenly Father!

A funny thing happened to me and the other Camp Director! We were on our canoe just relaxing at this beautiful lake, enjoying the beauty! After awhile we started to get a little antsy so we paddled over to some of our older girls and gave them a little splash with our ores. Well it didn’t end there! We were in for a real treat, all the girls wanted to get us wet. Our water fight continued for a bit. All of a sudden another group of our girls started splashing us and Roz replied, “Oh girls you have messed with the wrong boat…” all of a sudden Roz and I were both in the water and our canoe had sunk! We were laughing our heads off. We had a great time and a great story to tell. The fun part was walking back to camp in our wet jeans and tennis shoes!!!

It was a fabulous week that I will never forget! I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to learn from our 25 young women, they are truly amazing girls! It is amazing to hear the sweet testimonies of these young girls. It's hard to imagine that at their age they have such strong spirits about them! I have to say that I am having withdrawals from all the leaders. Spending so much time planning and then a week with them 24-7 it’s hard to come back to normal life and not have them around to laugh with! I miss ya girls and can't wait for our CAMP REUNION!!!!!!

Are you SERIOUS?!

There’s nothing liking waking up during your R.E.M. cycle to quivering voices on the other line of a telephone! It’s like a bad dream that I don’t want to face!

At four o’clock this morning I had two missed calls and text message from both of our duplex renters. The message said that somebody had hit their car into our house but the damage wasn’t too bad. I woke Phil up and we decided since we do in fact own the house we better go up there and talk to the Police. The front end of the car was completely CRUNCHED into the front of the house, air bags deployed and all. I was expecting to see an ambulance or an EMT at the very least, or maybe a couple of intoxicated teenagers. But that wasn’t the case; just the police and our renters! The driver had taken off without the car, without their cell phone, and without several other personal items. Duh, like the police can’t track you down! It was a little strange standing around not knowing how did and wondering if they were going to jump out of the bushes and go POSTAL on us! I took several pictures and gave the policeman our information and headed back home.

Phil went this morning to check out the damage and it’s pretty bad. The entire basement wall is cracking and it’s the only barrier to seeing completely to the outside. Thankfully we have insurance and hope that this ‘car’ also has insurance to pay for the damage. Phil thinks it will be a nightmare to fix because the entire outside foundation is cracked with a big hole in it.

Our duplex is seriously impossible to crash into unless you are driving on a DIFFERENT planet and seeing STARS! I will post the juicy details as soon as we get the full police report!