Girls Camp 2015

I've been a young women's leader for a few months now and I've been loving it. (the youth group in our church for the girls.) And this last week we girls camp! The camp was Monday-Friday but I could only go Wednesday-Friday. Buck stayed home with the girls though, which made it easier on my heart to leave. And for those who appreciate this info- it was stake camp this year.

We camped at Heber Valley, which is owned by the church and pretty impressive. We even had cabins, so kind of camping, kind of "glamping."

 The view was beautiful driving up!

Once I got there I was immediately initiated into rounds of the "cup game." I'm glad to see that most traditions don't die out through the years (and decades....)

It was a super hero theme this year.

One of the first things we did once I got there was go on a big hike to a lake. It was kind of crazy with all those girls but I enjoyed picking some flowers.

I was proud of my bouquet!

The lake!

It's all fun and games until... you have to hike all the way back to camp!

We were first for dinner so we won a trophy. And got our food first.

That evening the stake president came up. He didn't do the normal spiritual devotional, instead he got his electric guitar and played a bunch of rock songs from the 60's and 70's. Totally unexpected and totally cool. Totally. Apparently he toured Europe in the 70's when he was in high school. We pretty much had a rock concert and he even played some Taylor Swift songs for the girls to sing along to.

The sunset that night was perfect.

And then it was night time, the time everyone gets crazy...

We took the first year girls on a "snipe hunt" and it was hilarious!

And lets just say that sleeping on a hard wood bunk didn't provide me with the best night's sleep of my life.

The next morning we went to devotional and for the flag raising ceremony.

And then everyone left on huge hikes that I and one girl didn't have to go on so we went on our own nature walk

 

Once everyone was back we got to have a ton of down time in our cabin. Whenever this happened there was a lot of ukulele playing- I'm glad I brought mine! There was also a lot of hair braiding and a few people ate two pounds of Skittles for a game.

Dinner time. We practiced our fish faces to know if we'll be good kissers or not. Didn't you know that's how you can tell?

The bishop from our old ward, now the bishop of the new ward since we split, was there all week. He even let the girls make his hair all crazy and it was hilarious. 

Speaking of hair, here are some of the many braids. Those three blonde ones are my hair and I wish I knew how to do them myself! 

Walking back to our cabin

That night was the fireside testimony meeting. We played songs and then bore our souls to each other and testified of Christ. The bishopric came up for this as well and one member made everyone these little pancake things. Good times.

Then the crazy moon rose up

And we had a glow stick dance party in the cabin. ;)

The next morning we had to wake up and clean up and leave, so you know, no photos of that. 

I am so grateful that I was able to go to girls camp. What a great thing to do as one of the last things before I turn 30 this year! I re-learned a lot about myself, remembered a little of who I am and what I have to offer. And the girls in our ward are amazing. They go through a lot of crap in this world but they are strong and beautiful. And we have nothing to fear.