Surprise!

My first day at girl's camp I got a text from my mom. This is it word for word:

"We can't get your dishwasher to work and by the way, Deco and Kera got married!"

Imagine my surprise!

Congratulations Deco and Kera. Welcome to the family Kera, we love you!

Girl's Camp! (I love my calling!)

Last week was girl's camp. I am the Laurel Adviser so I was able to go. It was such an awesome experience. It was Lexi's first year to go to girl's camp and it was so much fun being there with her. We went the the Heber Valley Camp. What an incredible place! If you ever have the chance to go there, GO! It is mainly used for girl's camp. It cost as much as three temples to build. The church owns over 8600 acres there. President Hinckley planned the camp and you can tell it was definately inspired. It is run by couple missionaries and they are so great. I am trying to talk my mom and dad into going on a mission there someday.

Anyways, we met at the church at 7:00 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 11. We boarded busses and off we went. After we arrived and got settled into our cabins we took off to hike to the lake. Now remember, I had just done a 1/2 marathon two days before this. I was so stiff, the hike was PAINFUL! It was 1.7 miles to the lake. The girls had to get in canoes and paddle around but the leaders were given the option of using paddle boats if we wanted. Luckily they had a big paddle boat with seats in the back. I climbed in the back and two other leaders paddled me around the lake. It was so beautiful and the girls had a lot of fun. Of course a few water fights ensued. After an hour on the water we headed back to camp.

The next day we were scheduled to do a service project. The camp has it's own chipping machine and they cover all the trail with wood chips. They had a huge pile of wood chips ready for us. The girls shoveled the chips into wheel barrows and then dumped them on the trail. Then they would rake the chips into an even layer over the trail. This made it so nice while we were walking from place to place in the camp. We never got dusty and dirty like you usually do while camping. The service project was scheduled to take two hours but our awesome Young Women rocked it out in 45 minutes!
Every morning and evening we would have flag ceremony and roll call. Each ward would come up with some new cheer for roll call. It we fun seeing how creative everyone was.
One night after the flag ceremony and roll call we ended up sitting around while the stake leaders tried to figure out the schedule. Our Young Women's president has the Mormon Rap mostly memorized. She started doing it for us. Melanie (the YW sec.) and I knew a little bit of it and helped out when we could. The Stake Young Women't president heard us doing it and said she wanted us to do it for everyone. She gave all the wards 15 minutes to come up with an impromptu presentation to do for the rest of the stake. All I can say is we are pretty awesome rappers! If you ever need entertainment for an event give us a call, we're fairly inexpensive.

On Wednesday we went to the challange course. The wards were divided into four groups. Each group rotated through 7 different stations. I went with Lexi's group. The first station they did was a trust fall. We lined up in two lines facing each other, holding our hands palm up and alternating arms, called a zipper. At the end of the line was a tall tree stump probably about 4 feet tall (doesn't sound that tall until you're standing on it!). One of the young women stood on the log with her back to us. She would grasp her hands and twist them in front of her so they wouldn't flail around. Then she would stand as stiff as she could and fall straight back and we caught her. All of the girl's from our ward did it. I was really impressed because it was SCARY! I would know, because I also did it. A few of the girls from other wards who were in our group wouldn't do it and we still had a few mintues left so one of my laurels graciously offered for me to do it. I honestly think it was one of the scariest things I've ever done.

After a couple more stations we made it to another scary one. The girls got a harness around them with a couple of short ropes with carabiners on the ends. They hooked you up to a rope and you climbed a really tall tree. There were foot and hand holds like you find on rock climbing walls. When you got to the top you had to transfer your carabiners to a thick wire rope that went from the tree you were on to another tree 30-40 feet away? (the distance is a guess). Then you pulled yourself around the tree and stood on another wire rope and held on the the top one. Then you walked across the wire from one tree to the next. When you got to the next tree there was an Elder missionary who hooked you up to a rappelling rope and you rappelled down the tree. Again, all of our ward Young Women did it. I was amazed because it was a long way up and it was not easy. I was so proud of Lexi because as soon as she saw it she was pretty freaked out but she still did it. I also go to do it and after I did it I was even more proud of her. It was not easy and it was really high!

Wed. afternoon we were given a bag with some random props in it. Our girls had about two hours to come up with a skit. They did such an awesome job! It was hilarious but also had a great message. They used a lot of the values in For the Strength of Youth.
On the last day at camp there were several hikes. I went with the 1st years so I could be with Lexi. We went on a 3 mile hike. Melanie (our YW sec.) didn't think she wanted to go but I talked her into going with me. She actually ended up enjoying it. It was a beautiful hike. We were literally on top of the mountain and could see forever.

Thursday evening was the best night of the week. The bishopric and their wives came up and had dinner with us. Then we went and did singing in the trees. Each ward picked a beautiful hymn, or other song to sing. Then each ward had it's own place away from the other wards. It was dark so we couldn't see each other. When it was our turn to sing we all turned on our flashlights and sang in the dark. It was so beautiful how the music floated over the mountain and around us. After the singing in the trees we had a faith walk. Each ward walked in a big circle and stopped at different places where the Stake leaders would teach us something and then we'd listen to a beautiful song. The spirit was so strong, many of the girls were crying and it was awesome to see. After the faith walk we went back to our camp and had a testimony meeting around the campfire. We didn't get done until almost 1 o'clock in the morning but it was such an awesome night. I really love the girls in our ward. My laurels are so amazing. They took the younger girls and included them in everything and made them feel loved and accepted. As the mother of a beehive I really appreciated it. I'm even getting teary eyed writing about it. It's very humbling to teach these girls because their testimonies are so strong. I really feel like they teach me more then I ever teach them.

On Friday morning we packed up and came home. It was so bittersweet. I was excited to see my family here but we had such a great experience at camp it was hard to leave. I just hope I can have this calling for at least a couple more years so I'll be able to go to camp with Jensen also. I love you Brookside 1st ward Young Women!

1/2 Marathon

About a week and a half ago, on Sat. Aug. 9th, I did a 1/2 marathon. My neighbor, Jessican Allen, talked me into doing it with her. All I can say is when someone tells you it's an "easy" 1/2 marathon, IT'S A LIE! It was one of the hardest things I ever did. I was hurting so bad by the time I was done. Before I did it I didn't think I would ever want to do a full marathon but now I'm POSITIVE! I don't know if I'll ever do another 1/2 marathon. It's kind of like having a baby, the memories are still too fresh in my mind!

FIRE

While we were at the swim meet the mountains next to Payson were on fire. We could see the fire from the swimming pool. It was amazing to watch how fast it grew and went up the mountain. Here is a picture I took from the parking lot of the Jr. High on my way home from the swim meet.

 

County Swim Meet

Friday night was the County swim meet. Lexi and Jensen both swam. They did awesome! It was so much fun to watch them. Lexi took 1st in all of her heats. She swam the freestyle, the backstroke, and the breaststroke. She ended up taking 4th in both the freestyle and the backstroke overall. Jensen swam the freestyle and the backstroke. She took 8th in the freestyle and 9th in the backstroke but there were between 35 and 40 girls swimming in her age group so 8th and 9th is awesome. I was so proud of both of them. When you consider that this is their first year on swim team and a lot of the girls have already been doing it for 3 or 4 years they did incredible!