Girls Camp, part 1

I've been thinking about girls camp and superheroes and super powers for the last couple of weeks. I even got asked to speak at the last minute in sacrament today about my experience (last minute being yesterday at 2pm).

But for some reason I have had the hardest time sitting down to try and convey my thoughts about those four days. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've had in a long time and I guess it's just hard to transfer what was felt and heard and thought into words on paper. It's a hard thing to describe to someone who never quite grasps what the Holy Ghost feels like or what it's like to have the spirit touch your heart.

I do know that it is one of the most wonderful feelings that I always want to feel, and I just wanted to bottle them up and bring them home with me so that when I needed a little boost, I could dab some behind my ears or put a few drops in my bath water or throw a little in my family's dinner to share with them.

Well, for one, being in nature where there is little cell service, no ipods, no to-do-lists, no ringing phones or beeping text messages, no social media plays a big part in allowing the spirit closer to our hearts. The spirit is quiet and gentle and still. He won't shout like my mother used to do when we wouldn't listen. I realized one morning as I went for a run at 5:45 that that is a perfect time to be awake to be able to hear the voice of the Lord. It's quiet. It's still. It's rather uninterrupted. The spirit is real.

For a few weeks I've been thinking about what I can do to have the spirit stronger in my overall life and also in my day-to-day life.

Here goes the first of several girls camp posts . . .

In March I was asked to be the Assistant Camp Director for our ward. I was a little nervous. It'd been 20 years since I'd been and I knew things were different. WAY DIFFERENT! (I'm the one playing peek-a-boo)

  B. R. A. V. E.
Being Righteous Adventurous Virtuous Examples

with a little Superhero twist to it.

Our ward chose
Ironwomen: Guardians of Virtue

as our superhero

Here are some highlights:

--snowball fights and snowmen

--water fights

--painting the bishop's fingernails

--bubble soccer

--firesides

--morningsides

--flag ceremonies

--good food with homemade donuts

--secret sisters

--cold toes and fingers

--testimony meetings

--camp set up and take down

--junior leaders

--certification 

--guest speakers

--camp fires and roasted Starburst

--singing and dancing

--camp cheers

--a bishops pie eating contest and pie fight

--release of balloons

--awesome video

--camp crafts

--minute to win it games

--star gazing

--lots of pictures

--beautiful sunsets and sunrises

--waterfall hike

--snipe hunts

--camp awards

--fun stake leaders

--and LOTS of HOT CHOCOLATE!

Personal Progress - Scripture project for Knowledge

Awhile ago in our family scripture reading, we hit that great stumbling block called Isaiah. And we chipped away at it until we finally broke through and felt a little free-er. At the time I was reading a book by John Bytheway to help me understand it a little more so my youngins wouldn't get bogged down.

 

I highly recommend reading this book if you want to understand any part of Isaiah a little more. I wrote notes in my scriptures

and used post-its to write notes

and prepared glue-ins.

This little project took several months and I know the next time I roll through this particular section of scripture, I'll be a little more prepared and my understanding will increase.

End of school happenings

Birthdays: Kiersten's and Erik's both land at a crazy time of the year.


Kiersten's birthday landed on a Saturday and to celebrate, a couple of her friends came over for a sunrise morning hike and crepes for breakfast. Tyson had to leave and the girls stayed to curl Kiersten's hair. Our goal is to learn to curl hair. Neither of us is very good at it.

Erik always requests Breakfast Rolls for his birthday breakfast. And there are no complaints at our house since we all love them.

Notice the shirt? Oh. My. Word. It's not a t-shirt.

He actually agreed to let me take him shopping for some decent clothes . . . and he wears them. His friend Carl told him he was "swagalicious" in that shirt. Yeppers, I picked it out.

Awards assemblies: Much to my delight, the elementary did not hold any award assemblies. That was kind of nice. I was invited to Erik's where he received an award for getting a 4.0 all through junior high. He was one of 15 kids and only 1 of 3 boys to get it.

6th grade graduation: Yep. Nate's movin' on. I managed to get a picture of him with his friend Noah Lynes. I also got one of the two of them at kindergarten graduation. 

Soccer came to an end: Both Nate and Ash played this spring and even scored. I'm keepin' my fingers crossed that our fall Saturdays will be clear and free (even though soccer spans two seasons, we only allow our kids to play one sport a year/season).

Job application: I applied for a part-time job with the elementary school. So far nothing.

Fathers and sons camp out: This was Alex's first and boy was he excited. He's pretty much decided he's big. Except he would rather potty at home and held it the entire time. Reminded me of Son #2 who went off the cub scout camp and could not use the porta-potties or even go out in the woods. His wonderful scout leader, Paige, Lerdahl, packed him up in her car and took him down the canyon to a gas station for him to use.

After that I told Tyler his job was to teach his boys to use the great outdoors. Apparently Al's got some learnin' to do.

Friends: Ash has a friend from her class who is moving to Arizona. After Nate's graduation I was lucky enough to see them on the playground and get a picture on the last day of school.

We added a few more to our photo:

Well, no girl wants to be left out. Here come a few more:

At last. I think we have everyone. Ash needs to grow another foot at least. She doesn't quite "fit in" with that group.

EFY

 

Sometimes I wonder why we make summer bucket lists. It kind of makes me tired. However, a majority of stuff on there is stuff we already have scheduled.

Like EFY. I wasn't supposed to take Kiersten to EFY; she was getting a ride with friends. But last minute changes Monday morning left me the driver. And I was kind of excited. I wanted a few pictures.

 

 I also got to meet her roommate whom she does not know. Just our brief little introduction before I headed out left me feeling like Kiersten and Fiona were going to get along just fine.

I also shipped Erik off the scout camp for a few days. It's been kind of a quiet start to our summer. Quiet but busy as girls camp is looming even closer.

Singing by the seat of my pants

I'm wondering if changes are coming. I only wonder because I feel SO comfortable in my calling, maybe too comfortable, and when that starts to happen is usually when I get taken out of my comfort zone.

Today I showed up at Primary to do my usual singing portion only to find out that there was a mix up with sharing time and nobody was prepared. This was seriously a minute before the sharing time lesson was to begin. I volunteered to take the entire time, ON THE FLY. And, you know what, it went just fine. I wouldn't say it was spectacular but I managed to use all the time and we had fun playing Red Rover.

Red Rover?

In Primary?

We divided the room in half and had two teams. After singing the song (or a part of the song we were learning) I decided which team did the best and they got to steal a singer from the other team by saying, "Red Rover, Red Rover, send . . . right over." It was a hit and even the junior primary loved playing it.

I seriously love my calling.