What a calling and consuming past 6 months of my life that has been involved with planning girls camp, but it was SO worth it. Stake Girl's Camp had finally arrived and I was actually there carrying out the plans we had been laying out over the last few months. It was an interesting experience planning and carrying out camp on the Stake level because you weren't able to attach as closely with the girls as you would have been able to when you attend on the ward level.
Back in November when we began planning, we briefly through out needing to find someone to lead the overnight 4th year hike. Knowing this was something Blake and I loved to do, I willingly volunteered us for this job. I didn't know I'd be 26 weeks pregnant at the time, but I'm glad I stuck with it. The over night hike with the group of girls we took was so fun. I got to know them and work with them on a level I wouldn't have had if I didn't go on the hike.
We had 28 girls that ended coming with us on our 7 mile round trip hike
I was really really nervous about the girl's being wimps, getting injured, heat exhaustion, something crazy; but they were troopers; I didn't have a single complaint the whole way in
Traversing a few rocks along the way with a back pack in tow was a little tricky
Once we made it 3.5 miles into camp, Blake got out fly fishing gear to show the girls the ropes of fly fishing
Once a few started, he drew in a crowd. It was so nice to hike and be settled along a river; it kept us all cool
Here were a few of the fun girls I got to hang out with
Monday night we broke them into cooking groups for dinner; everyone waiting for hot water so they could eat
What a beautiful place we had settled into
For a treat that night we made Jiffy Pop on our stoves. Here are the girls from my ward on round 2 of popcorn. I luckily brought an extra popcorn which came in handy because these girls burned their first batch of popcorn
Tuesday morning we packed out and headed back to the cars so we could drive to Pinetop and meet up with all the other girls and leaders who were arriving that morning.
The other stake leaders had come up Monday while I was hiking to decorate for camp. Our theme was Olympics 2012-Light Your Torch
Here was the torch one of our amazing stake leaders made; each girl ended up signing the torch during the week as they pledged to "Light their Torch"
I was the "craft" lady at camp. The first day we made frosted glass lanterns. One of the wards arrived for crafts and I had to snap a picture of these cute bags their leaders made; their camp manual fit perfectly inside
Our first night we appropriately had the "opening ceremonies." Each ward was a country and had to create their flag to display during the ceremonies
My cute ward-Gingercreek- was Candyland for the week
After opening ceremonies we had the official Olympic Games. My favorite game was the three legged basketball games that took place
We also had tug-of-war
Water Balloon Volleyball and Shaving Cream Baseball
One fun thing about camp was it was the 100th anniversary of Girl's Camp. We decided to do a service activity around the number "100" so the girls could appreciate and remember this special 100th year. Since we had over 100 girls, we had them each bring a pair of shoes and they each cleaned and polished up their shoes to donate
We also celebrated with birthday cake. These are the amazing ladies I got to work with. We were all so busy the whole week, this might be the only picture I have of them
After cake, we had a team building activity. Each ward was given a bag of marshmallow and a box of spaghetti. The goal was to see who could build the tallest structure out of these two items. People got pretty creative and thought outside of the box
Wednesday morning we headed out on a hike. We ended up cutting down the distance we were going because of the heat. Camp was so stinking hot; up to 100 degrees and we were in the mountains
We had games, crafts, and certification Wednesday afternoon. That evening we hauled up my friends popcorn machine and popped away bags to hand out as we sat back and enjoyed skit night. Each ward was given a bag of props and had 30 minutes to pull together their 5 minute skit. These are the hilarious leaders from my ward getting ready to go on for "commercial break"
Thursday morning my amazing sister in law and friend arrived to camp at 7 am to teach some Zumba and Kick Boxing to the girls that we could drag out of bed
Following our work out, we broke up into groups and worked on certification for a few hours. I again got to work with the 4th year girls. We worked on our fire building skills and then the best part was enjoying our treats
We had to participate in an environmental project that afternoon....these amazing girls were trying to dig a trench for the camp. Seriously, I don't know why they didn't save this project for the boy scouts, it was tough work
It was so flipping hot out, these girls were exhausted. We impromptu changed our mid afternoon plans and everyone just relaxed, swam, and took a breather
My favorite activity we had was the Bishops Float. Each ward was given one sheet of Visqueen, a roll of duck tape, and unlimited supply of cardboard. The goal was to design, with their bishops, a structure that could float their bishop across the water. It was so amazing to see what they came up with and the races themselves were hilarious. We have some pretty awesome bishops who were such good sports
Seriously....not to brag but my ward is amazing and so is my bishop. They were the official winners, not only getting our bishop across the water without him sinking, but he had the fastest time
Friday morning we had closing ceremonies and everyone was gone by 11 am. Here is the final torch standing covered in all the names of the amazing girls. So glad I had this chance to serve with such amazing leaders and girls and so glad I got to get home to my sweet family.
