Girls Camp. No drama. Just a good spirit and fun.

19 girls and no drama. I am serious. I expected to come home exhausted (and I did), but I didn't expect to be so blown away by these awesome girls. How is it possible that this many teenage girls can spend 4 days in the wilderness and not have any problems. It was a truly wonderful experience to be a part of.
I was asked to be the assistant girls camp leader this year. I was very nervous and a bit overwhelmed. I have never been to girls camp in this capacity or for this length of time. Heck, before this, I wasn't even sure how to set up our tent! I think it's safe to say that I'm not a wilderness girl, but I rose to the occasion and the reward was big. The oldest girls are asked to be YCL's (youth camp leaders) and ours were leaders in every sense of the word. They are given a huge amount of responsibility; certification, devotionals, tent leaders, songs, skits, you name it they did it. I was over the food and crafts along with two of the YCL's. I was a bit stressed thinking about food for 25 people. I must admit that my YCL was probably much more calm in approaching this than I was. The devotionals they put together were so well thought out. Most impressive is how they took ownership for the girls in their tents. The girls are mixed up...no separation of ages. I think this contributed greatly to the unity that was felt. It was such a wonderful sight to see the fears and anxiety of the younger girls soften as they were accepted and included by the older girls.
Our theme was a nauctical one: Camp S.O.S. With the meaning of s.o.s. changing each day. Strengthening Our-Selves. Serving Our Savior. Showing Our Standards. It was so fun to see the theme evolve. One of the YCL's changed the lyrics to the ABBA song S.O.S. It was perfect and the girls couldn't stop singing it. We had plenty of lighthouse and life preserver references, too. We kicked off camp with a walk to the temple and a devotional. The talk was wonderful and it was beautiful to be next to "our lighthouse on hill," the temple.
It was funny to see how the songs and games have changed since my camp days. What happened to clapping along to the songs? Nooo, these girls are a moving and shaking. It was hard to keep up! They had a song for everything and they had so many fun games. Not to mention the creativity of the songs, skits and raps they made up! It was fun to join in...Chad even joined in the night he was there. Other highlights were:
1. The Snowbird activities; I did the zip line, bungee tramp and bull riding all for the first time. Yes, bull riding. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.
2. The hike up Bell Canyon; Harder and longer than any of us expected. The girls were troopers and didn't complain. If you look at the photo, notice the steep, rocky creek bed we hiked up. Apparently it's called the "stairmaster" and my glutes can certainly attest to that!
3. The leaders I worked with; each one brought something different, but equally necessary to contribute to the needs and success of camp.
3. Seeing Chad be more crazy than I care to remember. He didn't hesitate to jump in on the games and the girls repaid him by throwing him in the pool.