LITTLE GIRL AND BOY IN AN ADVENTUROUS WORLD: The Girl's That Smile Back! AT GIRL'S CAMP!

2 Nephi 9:39

O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally-minded is Death, and to be SPIRITUALLY-MINDED IS LIFE ETERNAL.
SMILE!

This week has been very intense. Good, but intense! On Monday it was a very full day wishing two friends a Happy Birthday and then Married Friends a Happy Anniversary. It was also the death date for Joseph and Hyrum Smith. I went last minute shopping for girl's camp, and then packed and loaded vehicles to head out the next day on a very safe and fun filled trip to Camp Zarahemla!

Tuesday!!!!! We all headed out for Camp Zarahemla where we spent much of the day setting up camp and having a very fun day doing things at camp! We made sure the girls had loads of fun too! We Tie Dyed shirts and just has a blast getting to know everyone! Tuesday night was amazing! It wasn't so cold when we went to bed that we could have the windows open in the tent so, I fell asleep staring at the stars! I ended up having a pretty awesome dream about the constellations too! I really do enjoy looking up at the night sky! It is truly remarkable! We had Strawberry Shortcake for dessert (it's my favorite)!

Wednesday was another fun filled day, but this time we all (meaning all the people from the stake that were at camp) took turns going to East Canyon Reservoir! There is a huge lake there where we canoed and kayaked and just had fun being there and playing in the water and enjoying each other's time! It was one spectacular bonding experience! Hopefully, I can get more pictures from that! We also did skits that night and our girls had to do their's on sexual purity, and I am quite proud of the way they went about doing it by making a very sensitive subject for most people very very comfortable! That night we decided to invite the 1st ward over to have some fun around our campfire cause they didn't have a fire :(! They gladly accepted the invitation from the girl's and we had loads of fun playing games like "Big Booty"! This is a game I played at Girl's Camp back in Louisiana when I went, but we always played it in water! Talk about change for me playing it around a campfire! It was super fun! We had S'mores around the camp fire and smoritos (the 1st ward made those) and Candied Apples! YUMMY!

Thursday being the last full day of Camp and knowing we had loads to do! As usual it started with a devotional in the morning and then the girl's had different activities to do... such as service projects for the missionaries at the camp site, Carving soap, making bookmarks, and making at least 150 picture books for the children in Haiti! I am so proud of our girls because they went above and beyond in all that they did! We had two girls not get in the lunch line and help cut out pictures for the Haiti books when many other girls from other wards were hurrying to get in line! I must say that our girls were pretty spectacular the whole time! Thursday after lunch we had to finish those Haiti books so they had everyone working on them to get them done! We ended up making a total of a 169 books! Pretty awesome... I honestly think we could have done more, but it's still pretty cool. While we were all working on the books the Priesthood brethren were working on a quilt for the Humanitarian center, and of course.. they finished it! After all of that they had a water slide for many people to go down. I would have had I not been feeling like I needed some TUMS... that darn stomach of mine! It was still pretty fun to watch tons of crazies go down it. Including a few priesthood brethren and for their sake I won't mention names! :-D Thursday night we had our dinner as a ward with Bishop and Bro. Payne coming to eat with us. We made Hawaiian Haystacks! TALK ABOUT DELICIOUS! Then we had our own awards and testimony meeting around the camp fire! For me there is something about being outdoors that gets me truly thinking about all the Lord has provided for me! Without Him and the beauty of this earth life would not be as much fun! The Bishopric has a tradition of bringing Doughnuts for dessert! :-D

And Now... FRIDAY! One ward did their devotional and then we had awards; our girls got the award for virtue because of their skit on sexual purity! :-D Then it was time for the closing devotional which our girls were in charge of and they were really awesome! We then went inside the Lodge and had a slide show (some of the brethren had been diligently working on it all week)... and it was really good at capturing those amazing moments! Then it was time to get breakfast and head out and pack up camp... Which was crazy cause Bro. Payne had already taken down the tent for us and packed up all our shading and the badmitton that my mom and bro set up for the girl's on Tuesday! And not too much longer after that we were on the road smelly and tired ready to head home! It was such an amazing time! I had so much fun with all the crazy girls... they are all so pure and loving and kind! :-D

Here is the song our girls picked for their personal theme... they decided to be The Girls that Smile Back instead of the snack that smiles back... they had two goldfish, but one died! :-( But still... their song was Just To See You Smile By Tim McGraw: