~I'm Back~

I survived Girl's Camp.  I didn't think I'd be able to say that.  But, now that I'm home and had a good shower and some sleep on a nice soft bed, I'm so glad I went.  We had 8 girls camping with us, and 2 YCL'S (Youth Camp Leaders) camping with the stake leaders.  They were all really good, and well behaved and really sweet with one another.  There was even a Special Needs girl there, and all my girls talked with her and helped her when needed.  We had one 4th year, four 3rd years, and three 1st years.  Our Stake's theme was "'Bee' Steadfast and Immovable".  Then each ward was to pick their own unit name.  Ours was "Beauty and the 'Bee'st."  Each ward got to decorate a Biffy.   (Actually, they were MUCH better than biffy's.  There was a cement/cinder block building with a roof, and a toilet with a huge drop in it, and a nice thick door.  They never got smelling too bad and were much better than I was expecting.)  Anyway, our ward won 2nd place for decorating our biffy one day, and then the next we won for best smelling.  Yeah!!  Oh, and our campground won best decorated.  The girls were so excited.  We used a princess theme and pictures of Belle, pink and yellow crepe paper to decorate our camp and biffy, and silk roses.  The girls did an awesome job.

The best part (maybe most memorable is a better choice of words) of the whole week was Tuesday night.  Around 11:00pm, the other leader and I were taking our showers when 2 of our girls came in FREAKING out about a bear.  We didn't hear anything so we told them they could hang out and wait for us.  About 5 minutes later we heard it!!  We hurried and finished our shower and ran back to our tent.  (According to the rules, girls and leaders are not supposed to sleep in the same tent, but because of the current circumstances, we allowed them to sleep with us.)  After about 15-20 more minutes of what sounded like bear growling/yelling, we heard a pack of coyotes howling!!  I'm not joking!!  It was even starting to scare me.  More bear; more coyotes.  Then it stopped.  We finally went to sleep.  The next morning, the stake leaders all said it was just a cow.  Really!?!?!  Do you think you could actually fool a bunch of 1st years, and their leaders into thinking all that awful noise was just a COW?!?!?!  Anyway, I was able to hear through our craft lady "Sis. Amy" Taylor  who was told by our resident nurse "Eagle One", who also happens to be a huge nature buff, the true theory.  So this is the story, and I'm sticking to it!!

*****

"Eagle One" said that she thinks it was a moose.  I've never heard a moose in real life, so I can't dispute it.  She said it sounded like the moose was in distress.  She thinks this because of the continued calls.  If it was something going to attack someone, or trying to find all the food that was at camp, it wouldn't have kept growling.  She said, then because of the coyote howling, she thinks that they found the moose's baby.  She feels that the moose was in distress trying to find her baby.  And, evidently, coyotes howl as a pack when they get a kill.  Anyway, it was definately evenful!!

***

I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted.  But I hope you enjoy these:

*****

This is a shot of us preparing our skit.  It shows all but one girl.  That one girl is the very last picture.

One of our three first years - Oceana (sounds like O-she-ana).  Oh, and that's me going into one of the biffy's in the background.  Thanks girls.

I'm helping to prepare dinner

Kiyana (sounds like Key-yawn-a) - our only 4th year.  She's actually not like this at all, just practicing for the skit.

Another shot of the girls getting ready for the skit.  Actually, the girl in the green shirt is NOT one of the girls.  She just turned 18, was was the Assistant Craft Lady, but was the daughter of the other adult leader in our ward, so slept in our camp.

This is Katelynn.  She was one of the sweetest girls.  Always helpful, and happy.  This picture shows her like I remember her :)

Again, I'm glad I went and got to know the girls and other people in the stake, but I'm SOOOO glad to be home!!!!