This year our stake did a Mormon trail Trek reenactment, which included the 12 year old's too. Because of that, they did not plan a Stake Girls Camp, which is very traditional, and done every year. I went to Girls Camp when I was 12, and every year after that for 9 years!
I was really excited for Lily to attend Girls Camp this year, and I was so disappointed when I found out that there would be no Girls Camp. I even considered flying her to Denver to go to Girls Camp there with my mom, who is serving as a Young Women's President in her ward. Then, back in January I got called to serve in Young Women's, and found out that our ward (congregation) was doing our own mini version of Girls Camp. Usually Girls Camp is 5 nights. Ours was just 2 nights.
It took tons of prep and planning, but it all came together. In fact, it went so well that we want to do our own mini camp next year, and maybe work on Personal Progress instead of camp certifications.
The mother of our Young Women's President has a home and property in the Hood River area. She was so nice to let us set up camp there, and use her home and kitchen. It was gorgeous!
Here is a somewhat brief overview of our few days along with some pictures.
The theme for our camp was DOTS - Depend On The Savior
We did LOTS of Polka Dots for everything!
Polka dots are FUN!
We got there and set up camp. It was warm, so after lunch we had a lot of fun with giant slip and slide.
In case you were wondering, I totally did go down the slip and slide, and so did the other leaders. I wasn't able to take pictures of that. Someone else did, and I don't have them yet.
After cooling off we were ready for the Hula Hoops Olympics! The girls were very excited and competitive because the prizes, made by Sister Barron were awesome!
Next was snack time, a YCL (youth camp leader) devotional, and polka dot manicures. This was so much fun! The manicures and devotional were a great introduction to our theme.
That evening we started certifications with fire building, and cooking dinner over the
fire. The foil dinners were so yummy! I think the girls all really loved them.
Campfire activities that night started with songs and skits by the YCL's. They put on a great and entertaining show. The younger girls, and leaders loved it!
After the fun, I did the evening devotional. It went really well, considering I had really been struggling all week with it. Praying for inspiration really works. It came together nicely. The fun part was that I made capes. (This was another leaders idea at one of our planning meetings. You should see us at our meetings, with all of us on our phones and i Pads scouring Pinterest.) I was gone the week before, and thought I would have so much time to finish all my camp projects the week of, but that was not reality. I seriously stayed up ALL night long the two nights in a row before camp. This was another reason why I had a hard time with the devotional. I was so tired that none of my thoughts were connecting.
All of that was worth it when, in the middle of my devotional, I told the girls that they are super heroes to me. I told them that they have the power to lift others up, and that by depending on the Savior they become more like him, and their power to do good gets stronger. I then got out the capes. You would have thought it was Christmas morning! They were SO ecstatic! There was jumping and screaming and throwing of capes all around as they fought over the patterns. It was very gratifying for me. Totally worth all that hard work. For the rest of camp they wore them all around. It was awesome.
They appear to be listening to every word. hehehe
Next was Banana Boats over the fire. (Delicious!) Scary/creepy stories around the fire. A little bit of truth or dare happened in Lily's tent. And for pillow treats Sister Barron made cute little bags of whoppers with tags that said DOTS.
With all the excitement of the day, with the heat and hard play, and lots of food we ended up having some upset tummy's. Lily, my own daughter was feeling very sick. I even asked her if she wanted to go home. She asked if she could have a Priesthood blessing. She was given one, and at the same time a lot of crazy stuff started to happen. One tent of girls couldn't get into their tent because of a huge spider and web in the branches over the walkway leading to their tent door. Another tent was covered in ants, because it had been set up on an ant hill. Keep in mind that it was about 11 pm, so the leaders were out killing spiders and moving girls from an ant covered tent into Lily's tents that had enough room for them. I had gone out to Lily's tent to get her stuff so she could sleep inside next to me, and closer to the bathroom. When I got back to the house with all her stuff, she was totally fine. She begged me to let her go back out to the tent. HAHA! It was funny, but really it was amazing how quickly the blessing helped her feel better. She was really really sick 10 minutes before this. She slept great that night, right by my side. Later in the night another girl ended up bringing her stuff inside to sleep also, because she was sick.
*Note to self - Maybe a little less junk food next time.
The next morning we had breakfast burritos and fruit. Then we started right into certifications.
Brother May, our President's husband, taught us knots. We did lots of practice knots, then we made these awesome survival bracelets. He also explained all the survival things the bracelet could be used for. We all wore them to church on Sunday to show them off.
After knots we did first aid certifications. Jason, my husband came up and did these certs with us. I was very excited to have him there. He's never been to any part of Girls Camp.
Splitting up and supposed to be doing CPR practice on each other. I don't think these girls made it.
Hahahaha
After First aid we had lunch - Taco Salad.
Now for something really fun. Jason brought up part of his insect collection and taught the girls a few things about bugs. He taught them a little bit about identification, and collecting...as much as he could in one hour. They had lots of good questions, and I think they all liked it a lot.
Next we loaded up and drove about 10 minutes into the Mt. Hood National Forest to a trail head. We then did a 4 mile round trip hike to Tanamawa Falls. It was GORGEOUS!!!! Honestly the hike was a little more difficult then I thought it was going to be, but it was very doable, and also very much worth it!
Three of our gorgeous First Year Girls.
Sister May, our Young Women's President, with her girls.
Jason lagged behind through most of it looking for insects. Lily and some of the other girls did also. I asked Jason later if it was worth bringing his collecting gear on the hike. He said it was because one of the girls caught a longhorn beetle, and he was able to give her a case for it.
I was bummed that Jason had to leave right after the hike to get home to all our little boys. (Glenn was gone at Scout Camp the same week.)
We started making dinner, which was enchilada pies in the Dutch Ovens, and a peach blackberry cobbler, also in the Dutch Oven, for dessert.
As we were making dinner we received word that there was a weather alert for our area warning of severe thunder and lightning storms. We got to work immediately. We activated all the girls. We cleaned up the area, bringing everything into the tents, making sure the tents were secure etc. We then ate dinner, which was so yummy.
Campfire activities that night were in the garage. It was slightly drizzling with quite a bit of thunder and lightning strikes in the distance. As the sun set, and reflected light through the storm clouds, it gave off the most beautiful light and colors! Especially against the back drop of the trees.
Skits that night were done by the different years of girls, First years, Second years etc. The YCL's split up and help each group. I videoed Lily's group, which was the first years. I thought their skit was awesome! I was amazed at their creativity.
One of my favorite parts of camp was to see the older girls teach and lead the younger girls and the new girls. It was so touching.
After skits and songs, Sister May, our Young Women's President, gave a great devotional.
Pillow treats that night were adorable baggies of a mix of M&M's tied with polka dot ribbon and label that read DOTS - Depend on the Savior. I am so bugged that I didn't take any pictures of the pillow treats either night.
On the schedule that night was an outdoor movie. Jason accidentally brought the movie they were going to watch, home with him. Also, with the weather we couldn't really do an outdoor movie. So we set it up in the garage with the projector and Sister May's iPad streaming a movie from Netflix. How awesome is technology? I love it!
I left as they were starting the movie, so I could be home the next morning when Jason went to work. The girls woke up the next morning, packed up and drove home.
All in all it was an awesome couple of days. We definitely could have done more. It felt short, but we accomplished much and had so much fun together.
*Note to self - Maybe a little less junk food next time.
The next morning we had breakfast burritos and fruit. Then we started right into certifications.
Brother May, our President's husband, taught us knots. We did lots of practice knots, then we made these awesome survival bracelets. He also explained all the survival things the bracelet could be used for. We all wore them to church on Sunday to show them off.
After knots we did first aid certifications. Jason, my husband came up and did these certs with us. I was very excited to have him there. He's never been to any part of Girls Camp.
Splitting up and supposed to be doing CPR practice on each other. I don't think these girls made it.
Hahahaha
After First aid we had lunch - Taco Salad.
Now for something really fun. Jason brought up part of his insect collection and taught the girls a few things about bugs. He taught them a little bit about identification, and collecting...as much as he could in one hour. They had lots of good questions, and I think they all liked it a lot.
Next we loaded up and drove about 10 minutes into the Mt. Hood National Forest to a trail head. We then did a 4 mile round trip hike to Tanamawa Falls. It was GORGEOUS!!!! Honestly the hike was a little more difficult then I thought it was going to be, but it was very doable, and also very much worth it!
Insect collecting
Jason lagged behind through most of it looking for insects. Lily and some of the other girls did also. I asked Jason later if it was worth bringing his collecting gear on the hike. He said it was because one of the girls caught a longhorn beetle, and he was able to give her a case for it.
I was bummed that Jason had to leave right after the hike to get home to all our little boys. (Glenn was gone at Scout Camp the same week.)
We started making dinner, which was enchilada pies in the Dutch Ovens, and a peach blackberry cobbler, also in the Dutch Oven, for dessert.
As we were making dinner we received word that there was a weather alert for our area warning of severe thunder and lightning storms. We got to work immediately. We activated all the girls. We cleaned up the area, bringing everything into the tents, making sure the tents were secure etc. We then ate dinner, which was so yummy.
Campfire activities that night were in the garage. It was slightly drizzling with quite a bit of thunder and lightning strikes in the distance. As the sun set, and reflected light through the storm clouds, it gave off the most beautiful light and colors! Especially against the back drop of the trees.
Skits that night were done by the different years of girls, First years, Second years etc. The YCL's split up and help each group. I videoed Lily's group, which was the first years. I thought their skit was awesome! I was amazed at their creativity.
After skits and songs, Sister May, our Young Women's President, gave a great devotional.
Pillow treats that night were adorable baggies of a mix of M&M's tied with polka dot ribbon and label that read DOTS - Depend on the Savior. I am so bugged that I didn't take any pictures of the pillow treats either night.
On the schedule that night was an outdoor movie. Jason accidentally brought the movie they were going to watch, home with him. Also, with the weather we couldn't really do an outdoor movie. So we set it up in the garage with the projector and Sister May's iPad streaming a movie from Netflix. How awesome is technology? I love it!
I left as they were starting the movie, so I could be home the next morning when Jason went to work. The girls woke up the next morning, packed up and drove home.
All in all it was an awesome couple of days. We definitely could have done more. It felt short, but we accomplished much and had so much fun together.
