Girl's Camp 2011

Last week the young women in our church went to girls camp and my friend Rachel and myself got to join them for four days!  I was girl's camp director and Rachel was my assistant.  We had a blast hanging out and getting to know the young women better and we also felt the frustration of all that goes in to camping and getting the young women to help out. :)  Luckily the camp site is near the John Johnson historic home in Hirum, OH and only 45 minutes away from us.  I really loved preparing for camp and working with Rachel to make some cute and meaningful gifts for our girls.  I think that unless a person does something as large scale as preparing for girl's camp, they have no idea how much work and effort goes into it.  Though planning and preparing is a ton of work, I LOVE it.  I love creating and thinking and planning...making sure I have the right food for cooking and equipment to camp.  We did have to cook our own meals this year which actually turned out great.  We only had to plan 3 meals because the other ward we camped with planned the other 3 and then we ate as a stake for a few lunches.  It was a little more work to plan and buy the food, but it was so nice to have the types of food we like to eat and ingredients that were fresh.  I was a little worried about having enough energy to go on little sleep and to walk and pick up so much stuff while being pregnant at camp, but I prayed for the energy I needed and I got it.  I did really well at camp, though I was tired and had a horrible back ache one day, I was still able to do all that was needed.  I actually think I got too much adrenaline because I had a difficult time resting and sleeping for the next two days. :)

Claire got to hang out with a sister in our ward that is pregnant, due in about a month, for two days and then Jacob took off the other two days to watch her.  I think Claire had a blast hanging out with new friends and especially her daddy and I hear she did great the whole time.  I was happy that Claire was super excited when I came home, she was screaming with delight and running around in circles.  I did miss her a bit, but it was much easier to leave her this year than last year because she is a lot older this year and I knew she would be okay.  The whole time I was preparing for camp I kept thinking that there is no way I could do this next year with two babies.  It would be harder to prepare and who would watch them for four days?  But now that girl's camp is over, I kinda already miss it and am thinking maybe I can make it work next year...I don't know, maybe they won't even call me again...we shall see!

Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera to camp so I don't have any pictures. :(  I set it out and just forgot to grab it on the way out.  Hopefully Rachel will hook me up with a couple of hers.  I do have a few pictures of the gifts we made for the girls.  I was so thankful I had Rachel as my assistant because she is very crafty and artsy and could take the ideas we had and make them adorable.  I really wanted to make some gifts that were meaningful to the girls, that were inexpensive, but not junk.  Here are a few pictures of what we came up with!

First, for Color Day and just because they are super cute we made these headbands...actually Rachel made all of them.  I just helped with the idea and helped pick out the fabric.  For the YCL's Rachel added some lime green flowers to showcase their color as well.  The girls loved them and wore them throughout camp.  We got so many compliments on them...yes! :)

Here is Claire modeling the adorable headband!

We also made these charm bracelets to put in treasure boxes that we had the girls make by covering them with fabric.  The theme of camp was "treasures in heaven" so each night we gave the girls a charm that represented a treasure we felt was important...integrity, divine knowledge, and prayer and scripture study.  We were all supposed to wear them to church on Sunday and even a few remembered!

We also gave the girls this picture in a 4x6 frame that was spray-painted white.  They really looked amazing

We also gave the girls some hand sanitizer with a quote on it.  One day we had some open ward time so I had the girls do DIY glitter toes.  The girls were a little hesitant, but once they got going they loved it and we couldn't get them to stop!  We also had lots of fun just hanging around the campfire and roasting marshmallows.  I am so glad we did camp and that the stress of it is now over.  I even have almost all the equipment put away. :)