Camp Day Three...The End & The Beginning

It was a little harder to get girls up on the last day because of the lateness of the activities the night before. As I returned from my morning ablutions, I went to each tent singing a wake up song "Good Morning To You!"....most of the girls stirred but Lauren H. was the sleepiest. We finally all gathered in her tent and Janna Adams sang "Up, up in the sky"which she told Lauren was always followed by cold water. Lauren was up pretty quick after that and with a smile. :) The girls all got a head start on getting bags and bedding packed up.

Breakfast was a yummy dutch oven hash but had to be pushed back a little bit for cook time. We went to the morning Flag Ceremony and then back to camp to eat. I think most of the girls really enjoyed this breakfast. Sister Miguel and Sister Dewey surprised us with a morning devotional.

After cleanup, which again went so quickly thanks to many helpful hands, we had our 4th year girls take charge of some fun activities. Lauren taught the girls a fun game called "Dippity, Dippity, Dip" and Aspen had a fun gift exchange game. She brought each girl and leader a bandana filled with fun prizes like sunglasses, nail polish, and other fun cute stuff and as she read a story with the girls name in it the gifts had to be passed around the circle, one space for each year of camp attended. So cute and fun! Yay Aspen for taking the time to prepare for this great activity! Finally, Tori taught all of us the Cup Clap game. She was a terrific teacher. It was a little complex and she was teaching a large group, but she broke it down and took it slow and eventually we all got the rhythm and had a great time! These girls were great examples of 4th year campers!!

Next up was Friendship Bracelets. We had cording, beads and an easy pattern to follow from Annette's younger years and the girls picked these up so quickly. The bracelets turned out super cute too. We had some fun lampwork beads that I ordered ahead of time--bugs, snakes, frogs, flowers, and pony beads. Many girls made more than one to give to friends, moms, sisters, etc. (I actually wanted to make one for my Shaylie, but then decided that they were so easy that I would let her make her own once we got home. She picked it up so quickly that she has decided that she wants to sell them at an upcoming yard sale...she's my entrepreneur...always looking for something to sell. I bought her some supplies and she's already made about 4 of them and sold one! You go, girl!!!) An exciting moment came during this activity when someone noticed that Ashlea had a bug in her hair and the more girls that noticed and made scared noises, the more Ashlea started to panic. I hurried over and saw that she had a big (quite big) beetle in with long antennae kind of tucked under her hair. I just grabbed it and threw it as far as I could. Poor Ashlea...the first rule in this situation is Do Not Freak Out The Girl With The Bug In Her Hair...but these are teenage girls we're talking about, not to mention a few leaders!! ;)

Because we had a later breakfast, we also pushed lunch back until after the closing flag ceremony. Brother Staheli was already heading up the effort to break camp! Boy did we love having Brother Staheli with us this week! He was so enthusiastic about everything, even doing the Toot-a-tot dance, and he got us packed up and ready to go in record time!

We were heading down the mountain by about 3:30. Kasey had asked if I could drop her off at her grandparents in Cedar City and I was happy to do that. All the girls piled in and we said goodbye to camp!

By the time I caught up to everyone else at the church in St. George, parents had already arrived to pick up girls. We had a few forget stuff and some things with unidentified owners, but I'm sure we'll get that all sorted out by the next activity we have at the church.

Well, I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of the details...but it was an amazing few days at camp! Better than I dreamed it would be! I'm sure this will be an experience that will stay in my heart and mind forever!

A FEW MISCELLANEOUS CAMP THOUGHTS

• I want to express my deep, undying gratitude for all the help, support, great ideas, leadership, and laughter that I received from my official camp helpers: Annette Belnap and Janna Adams. Both of these ladies made my job so much easier and so much more fun! Thank you, thank you, thank you!



• My thanks, again, to the YW leadership! What beautiful, amazing women you are!!! I am so glad my daughter has you in her life to help guide her and help her learn what kind of woman to be when she is grown.



• Another heartfelt thanks to our Bishopric! You all helped make our Testimony night so special! Thank you for letting yourselves be guided by the Spirit and for touching us all with your wisdom and wonderfulness.



• My apologies to Josie Robison!!! We didn't get to do your bedtime story on Thursday night and I was so looking forward to it! Please let's do it at some activity...maybe Camp Awards night! I am sorry we ran out of time and I forgot to remember it on Friday! Thanks for your willingness to help with it! Thanks to Sister Reid for her story, as well!!!



• Extra special thanks to all the Stake leaders from our ward! Brother Neil Bennett, who spent a lot of time in our camp and really added something with his experience and great advice! Sister Cheryl Cozzens, who was so encouraging and supportive to me! And Sister Rosie Miguel, who is always so wonderful, and who delivered a wonderful devotional to us on Friday morning. I saw a plaque with the Mother Teresa poem you read to us at the mall this weekend and I was so tempted to buy it...I loved it so much!



• Thanks to our YCLs, especially Katelynn Neumeier! We were very well looked after thanks to their planning and good efforts. We loved the morning devotionals and handouts.



• To all the wonderful Young Women of the Washington Fields 5th Ward...you are incredible, amazing, talented, fun, beautiful, kind, generous, clever, creative, responsible, and all things superlative!!! Thanks for letting me be a part of your Camp experience! Know that you were in exactly the right place, for exactly the right time! Thanks for giving so much of yourselves to all of us! I love you all!!!!

And, I'm happy to say that the Camp Experience has not quite yet come to an end. We will have our awards night in a week from Tuesday at which time the girls will get a DVD with all our camp pictures and memories on it....provided I can get it done by then. Which I'm sure I will!

So though it's the end, I hope it will just be the beginning of great friendships, many more new memories, and great faith and testimonies for everyone who participated!!!