Girl's Camp

Wednesday July 8th-Saturday July 11th was girls camp. We left Wednesday morning. Soon after getting to camp, we were informed that there had been a black bear shot and killed less than 2 miles from our camp the night before. The bear was shot because it ripped through a tent to get some candy that had not even been opened. Two other bears ran off. Due to the high bear alert, each camper was given a whistle that we were required to wear at all times. We were to blow three distinct whistles if we saw a bear. We were also required to put all of our deodorant, lotion, hair spray, food, etc (anything with any type of scent) in a car or locked trailer. This posed to get in the way at times, but we didn't want to take any chances.

Thursday night, Jenie, our president, was dishing up dessert and thought she heard a bear. The rest of us stopped and couldn't hear anything. It happened a second time. A few thought they might have heard it too. The third time, Brighton (our camp director) and the visiting Priesthood holder heard it too. The camp Priesthood were notified and they came to investigate the area. The main guy is named Brother Bollander, but has since been nicknamed Brother Bear. It was determined that there had not been any animals in the area. Jenie and Brighton were still freaked out, so we slept with the car keys in hand so we could set off the car alarm and the ax near our heads so we could "come up swingin" if a bear tried to attack.

We found out later the next day, that it was the priesthood holder from the next ward over that had been making the sounds. I thought it was pretty good, but probably not appropriate given the realness of the bear attack that had happened just two days prior.

Friday night we had our bishoprics come up. We had dinner and a testimony meeting with them. It's amazing what kind of testimonies can be developed by spending a few days in the mountains with a purpose of drawing closer together.

Saturday we were up and out. First one's gone. Got home, cleaned up the equipment and were home before 11 am.

We combined with another ward who also has a small amount of girls. Combined, there were 4 leaders and 6 girls in attendance. A few more came up the last days. Overall, our girls are great. One of the 12 year olds proved to be a challenge for all of us, but it also helped us develop patience and find new reasons to embrace this girl and help her learn new things.

We had the farthest camp from the bathrooms. 3 of the 4 leaders were pregnant, so needless to say, we made plenty of walks. It was the equivalent of probably about 2 neighborhood blocks. My feet and ankles were already swollen before we went and my feet won't fit in any shoes besides flip flops. By the time we had made all those trips back and forth and I was just wearing flip-flops, my feet were kind of sore. They were SILLY swollen by the time we got home. Of course I had my camera there all week and it never left my bag.

The highlight of the week though was when some of the girls were trying to double dutch jump rope. They couldn't figure out how to jump into the ropes. I told them to watch and jumped right in. I jumped about 8 times before I had to quit....for two reason...1) my legs are weak and not strong enough to hold up my heavy body and 2) I was headed to the bathroom BEFORE I started jumping. But I was pretty proud to say that I was able to double dutch at 30 weeks pregnant!