Favorite things at Girls Camp

1. Dinner time- we had to sing for our food. The loudest group usually ate first... we were not the loudest group. We usually had a lot of extra time to spend decorating our table... here is how I spent my time.


2. YCLs- the Youth Camp Leaders were incredible. Not only were they great leaders, but they were also hysterical. One night they dressed up like the camp directors and did a skit. It was really really funny. I am missing them each night now that I am back... their jokes were such a great way to end the day.


3. PJS Investigators- "PJS" stands for "Prayer, Journal, Scriptures." The girls were encouraged to do all three things each day while at camp.


The "PJS Investigators" reminded them about these 3 things each night at campfire. The little skits/devotionals and dancing were all very entertaining and and insightful. I won't forget to pray, read my scriptures, or write in my journal any time soon. Here is their little song that they sang each night.

4. Polar Bear Swim- I did this 2 of the days at camp. We woke up at around 5:30am and then joined several other campers/leaders at 6am to swim across the lake. Considering that I am deathly afraid of large bodies of water... I was proud of myself. I tried not to think of the living creatures swimming underneath me. The added bonus was that waking up that early ensured a hot shower each day!

The lake was so beautiful and serene in the early morning.



Here we are finishing the swim... I was too cold to stand up!

5. Hiking- the first year girls go on a 3 mile hike. We hiked up to a beautiful lake. The trail was hilly, but not very hard.

I loved having some time to spend enjoying the beautiful views.
I hated all the mosquito bites that I got!

6. Star gazing- for all of you that might remember my previous posts about sleeping outside... here is a little peak at where we slept at camp. The cabin held our stuff. It was pretty nasty inside. The views as we slept were amazing. I loved looking up at the stars... although I only took quick peeks because I didn't want to get devoured by the mosquitoes.

Here is our little campsite outside. We slept in a big wheel shape with all our heads facing inward. We kept plastic over our beds during the day to attempt to keep the bugs out. I got over my fear of bugs pretty quickly since I had six scared girls to take care of. I just tried to pretend that there weren't bugs in my sleeping bag... that was the only way I was able to get myself to sleep.

As a leader I got to be woken up if the girls had to go to the bathroom at night. After being woken up over 4 times the first night (12am, 1:30am. 3am, 5am), I basically cut the girls off from having any beverages after dinner. It seemed to solve the problem... although all my girls were early risers! I think I was awake before 6am each day.


7. BB Guns- I typically am not a fan of guns. I actually discovered that I am a pretty good BB gun shooter though. I loved hitting the tin cans and water balloons. Several of my girls liked BB gun shooting too. It was pretty funny when one of them accidently shot the other one in the arm with a BB gun. Fortunately, no one was hurt badly.... just another reason why I wonder sometimes why parents would trust me to be responsible for their daughters?


All in all, camp was a spectacular experience. I met so many incredible women and girls. I was amazed at how many remarkable people there were to learn from. I hope that I can grow up to be like some of these great women. My 1st year group was very sweet and thoughtful too. One of them even made me a necklace at crafts that said "Kristina, U R My Hero." It was fun to have a little fan club all week (except when I made them clean the toilets).


Ahhh.... so sad camp is over, and yet I am SO HAPPY to be home too! Hopefully I'll find a way to catch up on some of the lost sleep sometime soon!