Girls Camp 2012

I had such a wonderful week at girls camp. I was nervous, like any Mom, about leaving the kids for a whole 5 days....even though Sam took the week off to stay with them.  They were spoiled rotten on their "Daddy fun week". They went to the the pool twice, the zoo and the movies. They had so much fun I think they secretly wished I stayed gone one more day. :)

Our girls were lucky in that our whole presidency was at camp!!  Tara and Sammy went with the Stake and I was at our ward camp with Nadine. Aren't our girls lucky to have such fun leaders???  :)  And then we throw Melissa Blau in the mix and we have ourselves a party!!!  I seriously could not have asked for better leaders to spend the week with. I learned so much more about them and got to learn so much from them!  They are amazing women and I love them! One of my favorite moments was when I shared with them that I had a dream the night before that Nadine and Melissa got into a fight. Now for those of you who know both Melissa and Nadine know how stinking hilarious this is. Their responses to this dream were exact representations of themselves.  Nadine said, "I want to know who won!" and Melissa said, "I would have just gone into a closet to cry!".  We laughed so hard over this. Poor Sammy's pregnant bladder had a hard time with our hilarious moments at camp and this was definitely a gut buster.  :)

The girls were amazing. They were so kind a nice and helpful and fun and silly and reverent and just perfect. They loved playing silly games and singing camp songs and trying to make each other laugh. They were attentive during devotionals and got along so well with each other. One of the highlights was playing pterodactyl. You can't show your teeth in this game and you have to the say "pterodactyl" to try to make the other person laugh. Savannah Blau was THE BEST at this game. That girl had us all rolling. Loved seeing Savannah lead the pack with Michaela Housel this year. They were definitely the leaders of the bunch! Savannah and Michaela would lead us in songs every night and teach us new songs and games. We also played Big Booty, which Michaela is a BEAST at. That girl has got some moves!!!  That was one of my favorite things to watch at camp this year was Michaela being "Big Booty".  She also had some rockin' hair after getting a ton of mud in it at the caves. Every time I turned around she had a new "do". It was awesome.  Speaking of the caves.....one of my favorite things all camp. Sammy, Nadine and I headed down to the cave with a group of second years.  Cedara was their JC (I can not tell you how much I love this girl).  It was awesome in the cave. At one point there was a small pool of really cold water!  We all got in....it took some peer pressure to get me in, but once I got use to the cold water it was very refreshing. We had a great time hanging out talking. The girls were COVERED in mud.  We leaders managed to steer clear of getting muddy, but the girls were all about it. Some were even rolling around in it! Too funny.  It was definitely one of my favorite things.

There were lots of fun moments at camp, and for me....this year camp was about those small unplanned moments.  I have to say, I didn't have any "ah ha" moments when we were in large groups or doing big group activities or anything like that. It was the small individual moments. I feel, for St Robert, at least, these girls came home with a stronger testimony of the priesthood. I know I did.  They saw worthy priesthood holders in action this week. Blessings were given and the girls saw the priesthood heal and comfort.  They saw the love Bro Stribling and Bro Albrect had for them. The heard Bro Stribling testify of the power of the priesthood and heard him bare testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel and that God loved them.  It was such a powerful moment. Every single girl felt it.  I believe it's a moment those girls will never forget.  Some of them don't have strong examples of the priesthood in their lives, and I know how important it was for them to get to see Bro Stribling and Bro Albrect worthily doing their priesthood duties and know that one day, they can have that too.  We, as leaders, stressed how important the priesthood was in our lives and how they don't want to go through life with out it. To be sure the man they marry holds and honors it and is worthy.

The last night the girls set off lit lanterns, like in the movie Tangled, to go with our theme "Arise and shine forth".  This really was cool, as we sang our theme song, "Happily ever after" and watched the lanterns float up in the night sky and turn into stars.  It was really a special moment.

Camp really was wonderful this year. I had so much fun and learned so much.  I love these girls. I love them so much they've turned me into a crier.  :)  I can't stop and think about them too long or I get all weepy. They have softened my heart in a way no one else could have. They have taught me things no one else could have. They are such light and wonderful examples to me. I am so blessed to get to be with them every week. My heart aches thinking about leaving next summer........can't hardly bear it.