I was able to go up to Girls Camp!!! Thankful once again for Joel's new calling that let's me get away with things that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. It was really fun. I almost broke into tears as we drove into camp. I love Camp Little Thunder up on Cedar Mountain. It is the best! I have been going up there since 2004. Way before Shayne was even old enough to go. It has been a home away from home. We pulled up to the stake camp site and said hello to everyone and then made our rounds to all of the campsites. This year we were finally on the upper campsite which is much nicer but much hillier and spaced further out from each other. So, it was quite a hike. We made it around to almost every ward until we found ours. Sister Gummow is an awesome Girls Camp leader and she said that she had Sophie write a letter to the girls this year but we didn't get to hear it. She just kept saying how much she loves her and how wonderful she is. We headed back down to the stake where they had dinner waiting for us and Sister Robinson was the stake cook. She fed us some yummy chicken quesadillas. Then we got ready for the Stake Presidency fireside. When we left Washington the thermometer in the van said it was 113 degrees. When we got to camp at 5pm it had dropped to 72. PERFECT! By the time we left at 9:30. It was 56 degrees. I could have stayed there all night!!!
Girls camp theme this year was Learn of ME and LISTEN to my words. So, the Stake Presidency talked about different ways to listen. It was great. Joel started it all off by asking where his Laurels were. A bunch of girls raised their hands. Then he said that those who didn't raise their hands must have been Yanny's. And then proceeded to talk about the internet phenomenon Laurel/Yanny and how some people hear it one way and some people hear it the other. It was great. Brother Jackson did a FHE Game Show on listening and Pres. Carnavale got up there and talked about our reactions to things we hear and how we need to react when we hear the spirit. He also told how he was having a really bad day that day and how much he really appreciated being invited to girls camp to feel the spirit. He and I were walking up the graveled path to the amphitheater and he complained how hard it was to walk in all the gravel. I was happy that they had put so much new gravel in the amphitheater because last time I was there it was muddy. But he said that his calves were going to cramp up. I thought he was kidding but apparently he really was having a bad day because when we got to the top we both turned around and he looked at this signed that we had passed under and he just stopped. His whole day washed away and he realized how blessed he was to be where he was at the very moment.
The girls camp song this year is Peace in Christ. And of course, it is a tear jerker. Emerson and Joel were both bawling. And this was before any of them had to even talk. It was a wonderful evening full of fun camp cheers, songs, talks and testimonies. We did however, end it with a code of silence and then did the stupid singing trees that I was so incredibly glad that the last Stake YW Presidency had done away with. But apparently this new presidency likes the OLD tradition and brought it back. And when I say old I mean OLD!!! So, we went and stood by the stake and sang very last with them. It was good but would have been better without that. Anyway, we left after that. It was getting late so we didn't stay around for smores. I'm just glad to know that even if I don't get back into YW any time soon, that I have a open invite to girls camp for Stake night for the next 8 years!
Girls camp theme this year was Learn of ME and LISTEN to my words. So, the Stake Presidency talked about different ways to listen. It was great. Joel started it all off by asking where his Laurels were. A bunch of girls raised their hands. Then he said that those who didn't raise their hands must have been Yanny's. And then proceeded to talk about the internet phenomenon Laurel/Yanny and how some people hear it one way and some people hear it the other. It was great. Brother Jackson did a FHE Game Show on listening and Pres. Carnavale got up there and talked about our reactions to things we hear and how we need to react when we hear the spirit. He also told how he was having a really bad day that day and how much he really appreciated being invited to girls camp to feel the spirit. He and I were walking up the graveled path to the amphitheater and he complained how hard it was to walk in all the gravel. I was happy that they had put so much new gravel in the amphitheater because last time I was there it was muddy. But he said that his calves were going to cramp up. I thought he was kidding but apparently he really was having a bad day because when we got to the top we both turned around and he looked at this signed that we had passed under and he just stopped. His whole day washed away and he realized how blessed he was to be where he was at the very moment.
Maggie Lee in the red sweatshirt. Brooke Schimbeck and Jessie Alldredge.
I didn't get any picture's of Joel. I didn't think about taking any picture's until Brother Jackson called down some girls from the crowd. I didn't think of taking picture's of the men, just the girls.
Emerson had Jeanne help him with his talk for a second with a gong he had brought.
11th Ward's darling banner. "We care so much It's Scary!"
The singing trees. This tradition has gotten better with technology. When we just used our flashlights it was pretty pathetic in the past. But now with the new LED lights that everyone has, those trees really do light up and you can actually see the other trees now. This year they had everyone do trees reasonably close to each other, not by their own camp site. Instead of other years where we were standing there in the silent darkness, freezing, straining to listen to hear if it is your wards turn or not. I remember one year we just did our and went to bed and we had no idea if anyone else even did there's or not. This was the best one I had ever seen. But you still had a hard time hearing people sing and one group would be loud and have a ukulele and another would be reverent. I just don't like it. It's not my cup of hot cocoa.
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