Girls Camp 2009

What can I say about Girls Camp 2009, except it was AWESOME!!! I hadn't signed up, because with Jared being unemployed I wasn't sure if we were going to still be here or not. But since we were, I mentioned to the camp director I would be available to go if they needed, and they called me Friday and said I could go. I was sooo excited.

A special thanks to Jared, who not only watched Xander all week (except one night he sent him to my moms. Thanks mom!), but he updated the blog too!

Anyhow, here is our ward getting ready to load the buses!

Our welcome speaker, President Spackman, our stake president.

Our AMAZING camp hosts. Brother and Sister Bills, and Brother and Sister Herron. Funny side note. Brother Bills was on the stake high council of my ward in Rexburg. Small world.

My cabin girls doing crafts.

Lindsey playing camp games.

Natalie, being Natalie.

My most awesome cabin mate Suzy. Love ya Suz!

Four of my girls. (We were called the Astonishing Angels, and we had THE BEST cabin! They didn't even mind me singing them the good morning song every morning bright and early!)

Our LONG three mile hike with the first years. It ended up being closer to 4 or 5 miles.

Proof that ALL the girls made it to the top!

My cabin girls again at a devotional.

Taylor, Lindsey and Taylor.

My ward and cabin girls at the evening speaker.

Then the best picture of my cabin and my cabin girls!

My personal favorite part of the entire camp was the lake time. I was able to go out with Suzy, who, as I mentioned earlier, was my favorite special cabin girl.

Here are some other leaders, Mel and Jill.

Here is Lindsey and Taylor getting ready to go out.

Suzy and I. She DID NOT want to get into the water. I almost had to drag her onto the pier and into the water. She was shaking soooo bad!!!

But once we got out there, I couldn't get her to quit smiling. She had SOOO much fun! She said it was "just like riding a bike." She LOVED it. And because I got to spend one hour of such a fun activity with this amazing girl, it is my FAVORITE part of camp.

Here is the only picture I could get of our amazing camp directors. Cara and Paula did an AMAZING job. We couldn't have asked for better camp directors.

Here are my cabin girls at the challenge course.

Then the scariest part of the challenge course was climbing the pole to the zip line. It was probably 20-30 feet in the air, then you had to walk across a long log to get to the other side where the zip line was.

Here is Melanie going down.

Here is me getting all harnessed up and asking, "You want me to go how high?"

But I made it (barely), and here I am going down.

Then our fearless leader Mindi. She made it to the top.

And down the zip line.

And so did Christy.

Then our ward camp director Jill, who I was so excited to get to know better.

Our ward had crazy hair for our skit.

That night it started thundering and lightening. Suzy was REALLY afraid of the thunder and lightening, so my cabin girls did the MOST amazing thing EVER. They threw Suzy a party in her bunk. Suzy was SOOO excited. She ran over to me and gave me a big hug, and said with the biggest smile on her face "I get to go to a party". The girls spent the rest of the night asking her about boys, her mom, her siblings, her hobbies, etc. I was soo touched by the girls generosity that I sat in my bunk and cried (I'm such a cry baby).

Here is the party in Suzy's bunk.

The next day our ward had a soda chuggin/burping contest.

And, of course, fluffy bunny (where you see how many marshmallows you can put in your mouth). The record for the girls was 19, and our priesthood leaders got 21.

It was such an AMAZING experience. One last story, for our stake testimony meeting, our stake camp director Haley (who couldn't come because she was 9 months pregnant) had made a testimony video of some of the girls testimonies. She recorded Suzy's testimony. It was so touching I was in tears. Suzy mentioned how since her mom died, her mom watches her from heaven, and how she comes to her room and talks to her at night. She mentioned how she can't wait to see her mom again. It was such a great testimony. Suzy, I sure love you, and I am soo glad you got to be in my cabin with me.

I loved every minute of camp! I came home EXHAUSTED, and slept for 11 hours last night (from 9:00 pm to 8:00 am). Then today I took a little nap too! But if I could go back, I wouldn't change a thing. It was AWESOME!

Go camp! Yeah camp! Everybody say Wahoo camp! Wahoo camp!!