Back from Camp (3 weeks ago)

I'm sorry it has been so long since I updated my blog. I kept feeling like there was too much to write, so I would get overwhelmed and not write anything. I went to girl's camp the 2nd to last week in June, and it went spectacularly well! I think I was really prepared this time because I was so worried about it, so it's probably a good thing that I was worried. The leaders were so good to me because they kept commenting on how well the meals, activities, and the overall camp was planned. It made me feel really good. The first day we left at about 2:00 and got to the cabin at 3. We set up camp, and pretty much just had time to start dinner. We had haystacks that night, and the girls LOVED them. They kept commenting on how good the sauce is! I got the recipe from my sister and it consists of milk, chicken bouillon, butter, and flour. It is so yummy!!! That night we did our "indoor athletic event". All the girls got onto teams according to what color laffy taffy that they drew out of a bag. So there was the purple, green, pink, and yellow teams. This was such a fun activity because the girls had to do silly things like feed another girl 1/2 cup of water with a teaspoon the fastest, drop as many peanuts into a jar as the could, while standing on a bench, push a penny with a toothpick over a line on the floor, and throw a balloon the furthest. I'm pretty sure they had fun, because I did! I did the evening devotional that night about individual talents, and that went great!

The next day, we went on a hike to fulfill some of their certification, and we took sack lunches. We also did crafts. I actually was having a hard time coming up with a craft, but something hit me when I went to hobby lobby(my new favorite craft store). We were going to do nature frames, so when the girls went on the hike, they could pick up a bunch of things that they could put on their frame. The cheapest frames at hobby lobby were 2.99 each. Since I wanted to stay under budget, and I had to get 20 frames, it was just too much. So, I found these jewelry boxes that were unfinished wood that were 0.99 cents each! It gets better though.. They were 40% off! So I was like, "hmm, what can we do with these?" Because honestly, the best crafts that I remembered when I was at camp, were things that I actually would use, or would actually be cute enough to display. And I decided it would be fun to get some really cute scrapbook paper, and mod podge it to the wood boxes. I must say that they all turned out so cute!!! I also brought up beads for necklaces and bracelets, and they really enjoyed that too. We did a lot of games that night too, we played the candy bar game, the pillow game, the category game, and the skittles game. Fun!

The next day the big activity was the outdoor games we played. We did a water bucket relay race that turned into a water fight of course. We played steal the bacon, and we did a water balloon toss. We also had a cherry pit spitting contest, and I think that was a hit of the day! later that day, after lunch we had a scavenger hunt where the girls had to match a grid with a bunch of different items found in nature, and whoever matched it the closest won. We also did a service project for the wonderful woman named Rachel who let us borrow her cabin for girl's camp. We lined her little stream with rocks. I thought it looked great when we were done. We also did karoke. The Bishop came up that night, even though it was his daughter's birthday, and we had dinner with him. We also played "Dip 'dip dip" wow, that was so much fun, he was a RIOT to watch! We also had our final devotional(the leaders did a devotional every night, that had to do with our camp theme "We are One" (unity)) We had quite an emotional and spiritual testimony meeting. I think the thing that amazed me the most is, the group of girls that our in our ward are all VERY different. But, I was absolutely amazed how kind everyone was to everyone else. Never once did I hear anyone at camp talk bad about any of the other girls. That's why I thought it was ironic that the theme that was chosen was "unity" because I don't think they needed it, they all taught me a lesson. Anyway, after a great testimony, full of tears, we had popcorn and watched the movie "Charlie". Maybe it wasn't such a good choice because everyone was bawling by the end of it. But, truly, I thought it was a good bonding experience.

That night all the leaders stayed up making candy bar awards for the girls. We stayed up until one in the morning laughing our heads off because we were so delirious and were coming up with the dumbest things to go with the candy I had bought for the awards. We finally went to bed, and the next day we packed up. I was happy to go home because I missed my husband so much, but it was also sad, it was such a great experience. I think it was mostly sad because I gained such great relationships with the leaders and girls, and I was sad I wouldn't be working with them anymore. I am grateful that I prayed so much that I would feel better about this camp, and the preparation of it, and I was definately blessed! I didn't even want to do it at first, but I am SO glad I did!