Girl's Camp

 Girls Camp was a success this year! It was definitely different being on the stake level. There were some pros and some cons. I missed being with the girls and friends in my ward all day for sure. That part was sad for me. The pros were staying in a room in the pavilion instead of a tent, and being able to go to sleep at night instead of having to worry about getting the girls all settled into their tents. I definitely slept better this year! 

I loved anytime I got to see Tessa. I ran into her at the lake party, and the girls had all drawn all over each other. She showed me all the things and told me who had written what. Haha.

We make a soda and cookie bar for the leaders. They can come into the kitchen at the pavilion anytime and make themselves a drink and get a cookie. The leaders love it!!

Lisa, Karna, and Lissa volunteered to take the flamingos out to the middle of the lake for part of the relay race at the lake party. As soon as they all got settled into the canoe, they tipped over and fell out. I was stationed on the dock for the relay race, and so I got a front row seat to watch them tip, and to take pictures. It was so funny! My favorite part was that Lisa had just filled up a drink and asked Karna to hold it for her so she could get into her seat. Karna kept her priorities straight and saved the drink. Haha. We love this picture of Karna holding Lisa's soda out of the water while she's floating in it. 

They tried to blame President Jones for tipping them. Lisa laughed so hard at President Jones in this picture, trying to look all innocent. Haha.

The lake party was really fun, and 3rd ward was so excited that they won the relay race again. Our ward is so competitive! It's fun.

We ate dinner on the tables near the lake, and a moose came!

Tuesday is Stake Day, and it was nonstop from 7:00 am - 10:30 pm. We did a Faith Walk in the Wilderness Area. Jackie started each ward out by talking about Jesus' creations, and how we can use all of our senses to appreciate them. The girls were blindfolded and walked up a hill while their leaders and some YCLs helped guide them. There were four stations that they rotated through, each talking about one of Jesus' creations.

Lisa and Lissa started with trees, relating them to family history and connection.

Karna and Hillary were next with water, and Christ being the living water.

Susie and Shauntell taught about light, and sharing God's light with others. 

Then Nikki and I finished with God's children and the magnificence of our bodies and how important they are in making covenants and coming unto Christ. We talked a lot about how much Heavenly Father loves His children and how much He wants each of us to return to live with Him. 

As soon as we were finished with the Faith Walk, I went to run the rock wall for two hours. One of the wards was 3rd Ward so it was really fun to get to spend an hour with them.

Then it was time to start preparing the dinner. The whole stake eats dinner together in the pavilion Tuesday night. We had made the chicken and rice before camp, and thawed it all on Monday, so we just needed to heat those up. We needed to wash and cut lettuce, tomatoes, olives, watermelon, heat up black beans, and set up the pavilion for 300 people. It took hours, but we did it. The Stake Presidency and their wives come and help us serve everyone. 

After dinner, we do a panel where the Stake Presidency and their wives answer questions the girls have submitted. The girls absolutely loved it this year! This is a new presidency, and they didn't shy away from anything the girls wanted to know. They were funny, and sweet, and bore their testimonies, and it really went over well.

Then we went out to the lake and did a Lake Sing. We sang Daughter of Light and then 8 more songs together. Each ward submitted a song they wanted to sing. This was really cool and we got a lot of positive feedback from it.

They gathered everyone from 3rd Ward for a picture before the Searle family went home. Tessa was sad BB and Meg weren't there for the last two days.

We had left all the dishes and all the cleaning until after the panel and lake sing. By the time we had everything all cleaned up, I was completely exhausted!! Lisa really wanted to play a game with everyone and somehow convinced us all to go out to the lawn at 10:30 and play a mystery game. It ended up being really fun and gave us all a second wind and then we stayed up super late laughing and talking. 

We did skits Wednesday morning. Each ward chose a primary song for their skit. Stake leaders chose Give Said the Little Stream. Susie was Dora again, Nikki was the Map, and President Jones was Swiper. The rest of us were the stream and we threw swedish fish and fake fish at everyone while we sang, and also sprayed them with water. I always enjoy watching the skits.

I spent a couple more hours belaying at the rock wall that afternoon, and then luckily I was back at the pavilion during the giant thunderstorm.

We join our wards Wednesday night for dinner and testimony meeting. I love testimony meeting, and I love hearing Tessa bear her testimony!

There was some time between dinner and testimony meeting and I got to spend that time with the girls at the lake by their campsite. That was one of my favorite things from camp. I miss those girls, and I loved getting to talk with them and laugh and play with them again.

I really enjoyed spending time with the stake leaders too. They're good, good women and it's been fun to make new friends in them. 

We all laughed so hard when Tessa brought home her award from the Camp Awards night. The Sleep Slapper Award! So funny!!! Poor Scout was on the receiving end of her slaps.