Girls Camp 2013

Oh Boy!  What a week!  I hope your girls all had as much fun as the leaders did :)  Sister Skanchy, Sister Tyler and Sister Cook joined the girls on our girls' camp adventure at Camp Wildwood this year.  The YCL's (older girls 16 and up) were assigned to head up groups of younger girls in their activities for the week.  All the YCL's went up a day early (on Monday) to prepare the camp and get ready for their groups to arrive.  Also leaving early were the 4th year hikers (Allie Dean and Lindsay Ward).  The 4th year hike is a serious hike - I believe it was 10 miles total!  They hiked with their sleeping bag, food and belongings for the night in their big backpack - amazing accomplishment for those two girls. 

We all joined together on Tuesday as the rest of the girls in the ward arrived at the Camp.  The YCL's slept in their own cabin (all of them in one giant room) while the rest of us (leaders and girls) all shared a cabin down the road.  The camp has a pool, with a slide and a deep end, volleyball nets, soccer field, tether ball, swings and shuffleboard.   For our free time, the leaders of our ward were assigned "pool duty".  LUCKY! 

Tuesday was a day for getting to know the other girls in your group, and getting the layout of the campground, as well as eating some delicious food (that was a common theme for each day).  We realized our cabin was the farthest from the main area of the camp (and 8-9 minute walk).  We drove the girls up on occasion but mostly they just made the walk up and back over and over.  They were great sports.

The evening of Tuesday was the "ward mascot" night.   We presented our mascot, the "Del Norte Darling Dork" .   Don't worry, DORK stands for not only "Daughters of a Risen King" but also "Divine, Obedient, Reliable, Kind, and Spiritual."  The girls hammed it up and got a good laugh out of the rest of the stake.   The girls watched a video that the boys in the stake had made for them put to the song of "You're Beautiful just the way you are".  I am not exaggerating when I say the girls were going crazy!  They were laughing and screaming, then laughing some more.  After they calmed down, camp songs were sung, and Jennifer Sabin Sattley presented a nice devotional to the girls following the camp theme of "Homerun to Heaven".

On Wednesday we went on a short hike first thing in the morning.  It was .8 of a mile up hill, which I know felt like 5 miles to some of the girls, but they all did it!  We had a nice devotional at the top, where the girls were told about Graphine - the world's strongest substance, and were challenged to be "Mormon Strong." 

The rest of the day was a certification day where the girls learned about all sorts of outdoorsy things, like cooking in solar ovens, first aid, basic CPR, bedrolls etc.  The YCL's actually even taught some of these classes, as well as the afternoon devotionals each day with their groups.   The pool was very popular this day since we had some free time after the pool was open so the girls knew they would have time to "get ready" so they would look good for the evening :)   We sang camp songs for a long time this night, and the girls were rocking out!  Sister Monroe shared a devotional emphasizing making the temple a priority and getting there as often as possible.  Guess who won the cleanest cabin award (they called it the "Grand Slam").  That's right - our cabin!  So proud - it was all downhill from there, though :)

Thursday was adventure day.  The girls either started with a crafting morning or an activity morning and then switched for the afternoon.  Hopefully you've seen some of the crafts the girls brought home, they worked on some hair ties, some candle holders with the Young Women logo on it and some painted plaques with fun sayings on them.  For the Activities, they had a great variety to choose from: archery, rifle shooting, a giant bounce house, slacklining (thanks to Evan Hartzell in our ward!) , a "Unity" activity, and a Zip Line (the Zip Line broke part way through the afternoon so not all the girls had a chance to ride this one).  I know Christie was a sharp shooter on the rifle range and I think all of the girls tried the archery and raced through the bounce house.   I heard the slacklining was a pretty big hit, especially because there was a teenage boy on hand!  More free time for volleyball/swimming/reading/chatting this afternoon, followed by more camp songs and a devotional by President Clyde.  

Friday morning was a cleanup and get home sort of morning - it was a little rough for some of the girls to get up and get going after a late night, but once they (or WE) dragged their tired bodies out of bed, they got that cabin all neat and tidy!

Sister Cook will be updating more high quality pictures later but until then, there you go!

Can't wait until next year!