Young Women's Camp!

 Young Women's camp came quickly after school let out. I spent a week with the YCLs (Youth Camp Leaders) and my assistant getting everything prepped and ready. On Wednesday, June 7, we took the 4th year girls and YCLs to Red Rocks Open Space for some rock climbing adventure. I was so proud of them. Some of them were really terrified to repel down the mountain, but they did it! PC helped with a repel station. We are slowly acquiring our own climbing equipment and hope to take our own kids out soon. I used my left elbow to boost myself up on the rock when I couldn't find any hand holds and scraped it pretty well. But it was fun.
We then took them down to camp which we had at Lathrop State Park. When we arrived, we found tents already set up in our tent site! There was a communication mix-up with another group and they ended up moving down to the group site next to us, but we had to wait a couple hours for them to move. I had a huge, long snake go across the road as I drove in to welcome me! Yes, I totally screamed. I only saw one other little snake the rest of the time, though, so it was okay.

The YCLs did a great job planning everything. They picked "themes" for their outfits for every day. Wednesday was superheroes, Thursday was patriotic, Friday was Disney, and Saturday was luau.

Tink was in charge of Destiny, which is a time where they teach gospel principles and apply them in a fun way. Here they are talking about putting on the armor of God and staying together to cover all sides from the enemy. They had a lot of fun spraying them with water guns and silly string.
We woke the girls early on Friday morning for a sunrise devotional and then headed out on our 3-mile hike.

We had an absolutely stunning view for our hike around the lake Friday morning. About halfway through the hike, we had another Destiny time where they blindfolded the girls with "faith" blindfolds and led them through some obstacles, comparing them to life's trials. It was really powerful. At one point, they had them stop at a rope and wait. They let go of the girl they were leading and just waited next to her, just like sometimes in life it feels like we are left alone to go through trials, but our Savior is always there for us, even if we can't see Him. At another section, they each were sprayed with water. This represented how trials are sometimes surprises but can also be seen as blessings (it was a hot day).

 Friday afternoon we went down to the lake for some boating and crafts. The girls all had a blast. PC had the kids down there playing so it was fun to see them for a little while before they headed home. The two little girls LOVED playing in the water. I had a lot of fun being pulled on the raft behind the boat, but boy were my arms sore the next day! I held on for my life and my hands felt like they were going to fall off when I finished. I really felt my age that day. But, oh so fun!

 We finished off the day with a testimony meeting around the campfire. It was great! These girls are amazing. I had to leave after that to get home. I ended up driving the trailer home, but put all the empty boxes and coolers inside the Suburban, so the trailer and the cartop carrier were both empty. I thought that would make it easier, but if I would go over 70 mph, the cartop would start to vibrate and bounce on the hood of the car. I guess it was good because it helped keep me awake, but scared me to death the first time, that I had to pull over and make sure everything was okay. I finally made it home at 12:30 a.m., was in bed by 1:00 a.m. after a much needed shower, and back up at 3:00 a.m. to get to the airport in time to fly to Salt Lake City. What a night!!