Christmas in July!

Girls camp this year was really special. I was only there for a few days because I needed to be home with Camille's family and do some things to get ready for the Luau....but the time I was there was so fun! I have really grown to love this group of girls and the women I serve with too.

We all arrived at the church at 7:00 loaded up our stuff in Becky and Jenny's trucks. I rode the bus with the girls...CrazYYYY! Lots of singing at the top of their lungs (Rise and shine and give God his glory glory!!) the bus windows all down so that added to the noise and blew all our hair till we looked like we had all been in a hurricane. It was great to feel the excitement and anticipation of the girls. I got to sit with Faith and enjoyed talking with her...she is really more like one of the leaders. This is her last year at camp as she will turn 18 in a few months. Man we will miss her in YW! She is a special girl. We have a good bunch of girls in the stake and they seem to genuinely love each other.

Driving into Heber Valley camp is kind of like entering a different world. There is a feeling there like no other place. Sacred...set apart. I was thinking how great it was the President Hinkley had the inspiration to make this beautiful place for the Young Women to enjoy. It's so peaceful and beautiful there...the cabins, bathrooms, and kitchen areas blend right in with the scenery around them, but make it so convenient and comfortable to be there.

There is a wonderful lake for the girls to go canoeing on and volley ball areas around to play on. I remember when they were building this place, President Hinkley saying he wanted have a place for the girls to have fun!... And be able to do it in a setting where they could feel Heavenly Father's love for them. I think he has succeeded in this amazing place!

There are deer all over the place, just walking right through your camp with no fear, and lots of squirrels and chipmunks. It got to be commonplace for them to walk right up next to you and just stand there on their back feet and look at you! They would eat right out of your hand ...but the missionaries there discouraged us from doing that...said they were getting too fat!

Becky did a great job as camp director this year. She was kind of worried at first...hadn't been to girls camp or had anything to do with it since she was a YW herself! But once she got going, well there was no stopping her! She would come over about every other day all excited about some new ideas she had for camp. (She fell and broke her hand a few weeks before camp, but considered it a blessing because then she had the rest of the summer off work and was able to do a lot of the things she didn't think she would have time for...what a trooper!)

We were given the value of gratitude for our theme and decided we were all very thankful for Jesus Christ, so we would celebrate Christmas at camp!

We had a Christmas tree and a manger (Kelley made...very cute!) and made Jesus ornaments for the tree. The girls decorated the cabin really cute!

We had them put their secret sister gifts in the manger, then when they opened them, they told something they were grateful for. It was pretty sweet to hear what was in their hearts.

The stake put on a great family home evening for the girls Monday night, then we got a fire going and made s'mores.

We went on our hike Tuesday morning. There were a lot of different hikes you could take, we picked the one down to the lake...about a mile and a half. I was so glad all the girls decided to go...even both Emily's who were pregnant went. It was great going down, but then we walked around the lake and headed back up and it got pretty tough. We just went slow and stopped a lot to rest and everyone made it ok. There was lots of cool stuff to look at along the trail anyway, so there was no need to rush. I was really proud of the girls for doing so well with great attitudes!

It was different this year because we didn't have Priesthood in our camp all the time. They really limit the number of men that come to camp because there is no place for them to stay, and they think the missionaries running the camp will be there to help if you need it. Bishop came up Monday afternoon for a while, then on Tuesday afternoon to go on the overnight camp with the 4th year girls. Kelley came up Tuesday after work. I was sure glad to see him. We were in charge of the dinner for the stake Tuesday night and were having trouble getting the enchiladas cooked. We took them down to the big stake kitchen in plenty of time to cook them, but when we went back to check on them, one of the stoves had gone out. We got the missionaries to look at it and they worked on it for quite a while, then told us it was going to need a new part. So now we were in panic mode. Had 6 pans of enchiladas that needed to be cooked by 5:30!

So we started asking around and found that several people had brought roaster ovens up there. So we borrowed those and got things cooking! The girls all jumped in to help set up and serve. We had green salad, chips and salsa and the chicken enchiladas. I think it turned out pretty good....can't go wrong with that menu!

I was glad Kelley was there to help out too...He has a calming effect on people and even though it was like madness there when a hundred fifty people came to eat, he helped everything run smoothly. After everyone left, it looked like a tornado had gone through there. Lots of clean up, but everyone pitched in and it went pretty fast.

We hung around for a while after dinner, then after hugs for all the girls, drove home with Kelley. So glad I could spend a few days there. Wish we could go to Heber Valley Camp EVERY YEAR! ( I left my camera at moms, so I only got these two lame pictures with my phone, but Becky took a ton and said she would share with us so I will post more later!)