Girls Camp!

I had such a blast being a stake leader this year at Girls Camp.  I really loved getting to know lots of new people, and sharing my love of all things outdoor with them and the girls.  I loved getting to know Darcy, April, Melissa, Monica, Chad, Brad, Aimee, Teddy, Pam, Julie the crazy craft ladies, and all the ward camp leaders I got to work with.  I was put in charge of all the paperwork for camp.  Which is huge job, before camp, but not so much once camp got going.  Which was nice to be able to just helo where I was needed, and play alot with the girls.

These two were just trying to chop out all the roots that posed tripping hazards.  I may have laughed so hard I cried that day.

 It doesn't hurt that our camp is in such a perfect place.  I really think Ragged Mountain is one of the most beautiful places in Colorado, (and I have been lucky to have visited a lot of beautiful places).  It reminds me of the Swiss Alps.

One of the perks of being a stake leader, is getting to come up a day ahead of the girls, to get things set up.  We worked hard all day to get the stake camp set up, the amphitheatre covered, and all the supplies ready for welcoming all the wards to camp.  At the end of the day, we took a short stroll and the camp missionaries offered to let us zipline for a bit.  It was a blast, and I was glad to give them practice catching, and prepping gear for the girls.

It was so dun when all the girls started to arriv ethe next morning.  We greated them with in our 80's exercise sweats, with cheers, and signs, and a few instructions.  Then directed them to their camps, and let the fun begin.  

The girls enthusiasm is contageous, and we loved it when they visited our stake camp ground.  We also visited them a lot, but also tried to respect their ward time together.  

Luckily our ward was right next door to our camp, so I got lots of time to share with them.  Maren ended up breaking her foot just before camp, and was a bit of a liability of crutches (she is a bit fast!), so I hung out a lot with her.  It was fun to share this week with her.  I took her to the lake almost every day, and helped her get in and out of boats. 

Amberly was the ward cook for our ward, so it was fun to spend the week with her. And I love me some Naomi time, such a great Young Woman.  It is hard to believe she is about done with these girls camp years.

I helped out with the long hike, and loved every minute of it.  We had the girls choose what hike they wanted to do, and everyone one of the girls on this hike wanted the challenge.  It is always fun to hike with motivated girls.  We 

We had a pretty big crew.

And Amberly and I ahd fun goofing out while doing some bushwacking with a few of the more adventurous girls, while the others took a little break before hiking back to camp.

You just never get tired of this view...

I got to do another zip line run while Maren was playing in the lake below one afternoon.

One afternoon Amberly and I went for a little stroll down to another lake.  It isn't on our stake property, so it isn't an area the girls are allowed to wander to, but the views there are stunning, so I wanted to show Amberly.  On the way, we came across this cute little elk fawn.  It was so still, we thought at first it was dead.  But it turn out that this is what they are trained by their moms to do while they are very young.  They just stay put all day while mom looks for food, and then in the evening she returns for them.  Such a sweet little thing.

One ward raced little rubber duckies down the little stream that goes through camp.  It was so fun to watch.  They do it every year, and the girls love it.

The amphitheatre that we met at every night is one of the best parts.  Lots of fun girls camp songs, spiritual mesages, spirit through song, and just awesome energy going on.  And it is really nice that the priesthood leaders that come up help us to get it covered.  Lots of afternoon thunderstorms up here, so it is nice to not have to worry about  getting soaked.

One of the last nights at camp was spent doing a stake dinner and skits down at the camps main cabin.  The girls do an amazing job, and we followed that up with a fun minute to win game.  Once all the wards headed back up to their camp grounds, we leaders cleaned up and finished up the night with a dance party.  Such a great time.  I was really lucky to get to work with these amazing people, and to get to experience camp with our stake.  I couldn't have asked for a better week.