GIRLS'CAMP

Monday, June 4, 2018
This morning I did a last load of laundry for last-minute parking. I took a last allergy shot, too. I won't take another until after camp. My allergist said not to worry about it. It's too much of a hassle, especially since I have to refrigerate the vials.

The ward girls all met at the church at 12:15 and we left at 12:30 for camp. I've never gone such a short distance for girls' camp. It was a little over 30 minutes away!

Most of today - what there was - was settling in, decorating the cabin,

introducing the theme, and picture-taking. The theme is "Strong"

with the scripture coming from Philippians, The song they used came from the church youth theme this year.

I'm in the fourth year cabin with Analiese. We have twenty-one girls, plus the YLees (youth leaders) and five adults. Plus, we're sharing the cabin with the third-years and their leaders, who don't have too many girls.

NOTE: These girls are eating CONSTANTLY. They have brought big containers full of snacks and beauty products. Silly girls!

Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Last night was awful! My neck and back were not happy; the air mattress wasn't as comfortable as I'd hoped it would be. It didn't help that a couple of giggly girls kept whispering for hours after lights out. I tossed and turned and this morning I ache all over!

The girls had a workshop after morning clean up. Talking about "strong," two sisters used rocks to represent strength of faith. Then everyone painted rocks with inspiring messages on them

. The YLees had the girls next, with an intense scripture study of Matthew 26 and the Savior in Gethsemane. They were to read and write down feelings, testimonies, and impressions in their journals.

By noon, I was really feeling it in my back and neck. I got stiffer and the agony grew through KP, fire cooking, and the service project. Finally the YW president said she could see the misery in my eyes and sent me home. I wasn't thrilled, but didn't see how I could continue. I went home, took a nap, cried in the bathtub (pain & sadness) and Ken came home with a burrito and moral support for me. My bed never looked so good!

Wednesday, June 6, 2018
I was up a little before seven. Besides a shower and breakfast, I decided to take my allergy shots since I was home to do it. I didn't want to take everything back with me, but I assembled what I thought I'd need for today. After Jonathan and I chatted for a bit, I drove off back to camp.

My back was still touch-and-go, but I was careful. All the girls in camp were bussed to Elevation - a trampoline, rock-climbing, obstacle course place. The fourth-years told me it was my job to take pictures; I got tired just watching them have fun!

There was more fun tonight as each year presented skits they had created based on the camp theme. I had brought face paint for the fourth-years to use with our skit. They enjoyed figuring out what to do with it.

All of the skits were highly amusing. One of our girls had a blow-up sumo suit that she brings every year and brought down the house!

Another girl acted as an EMT in the skit and had fun making ambulance noises and dragging girls off the stage!

I don't care for driving on country roads in the dark. I am paranoid some deer is going to jump out in front of me. The roads are narrow, too, and have no lighting beyond my headlights. Oh, and the headlights coming from the opposite way. Some of those vehicles were big rigs and huge trucks. The road didn't seem large enough to the both of us. Nerve-wracking! The best thing of the drive was the lightning bugs.

Thursday, June 7, 2018
I was so tired this morning.  I didn't want to get up and dragged my way to camp with a Dr. Pepper step in between. The Elixir of Life was called for today.

It was a damp-ish morning with off-and-on rain and thunder. For the most part, they kept all of the girls in the cabins, the mess hall, and the pavilion in order to keep them dry. The big activity for the morning was a self-defense workshop. The girls were particularly interested to know what to do should someone grab their hair.

Analiese models my bee hat.

After that, the rain began in earnest, marked with lots of lightning and thunder. They ended up keeping all the girls in the mess hall after lunch to do crafts

My hat was very popular!

Cute 4th year!

together until the rain let up...around three p.m. I had to guard the doors to keep them from going out into the wet. Heaven knows I could visualize myself getting struck by lightning and lying in the gravel and mud.

This evening was bishop's night

President Gerlach swinging the girls on the tire swing.

and testimony meeting. Poor Analiese - at one point she left the meeting to go the bathroom, slipped on a muddy floor and coated her shoes, legs and shorts in red, sticky mud. She didn't hurt herself, didn't seem terribly embarrassed, and took it all in stride.

Friday, June 8, 2018
I took Jonathan with me this morning to pick up the ward girls from camp. We got there a little after nine, which didn't please Analiese. She wanted us there earlier; but they didn't even dismiss everyone until after ten. The nice thing was, the drive was very short, and even though everyone was very tired (they last night of camp they all stay up late), they all stayed awake on the way home. I got home to start laundry and assemble a small grocery list for the weekend. However, I found myself nodding off over my notepad!

I did my shopping and managed to stay awake. Analiese went in to work for a couple of hours herself. I didn't want her doing more than that because of camp fatigue. She didn't want my frozen lasagna, though, and came home with a TB burrito. That's okay, Jonathan finished off her portion.

Saturday, June 9, 2018
Ken needed me to go to the bank to get change for TB this morning. He had to wait, though, until the rabbit cages were cleaned. Analiese cleans them, but I have to bunny-sit while she does.

Analiese was supposed to babysit a four-year-old boy while his father went to a stake meeting, but Ken was desperate to have her work. So I watched the boy myself instead. He colored, played with my yoga ball, and smashed potato chips for me for dinner. Luckily, Jonathan came home from work and tossed a ball around with him as I finished putting dinner together. He wasn't sure what to think of Jonathan at first, but when they became playmates, he was fine. Alice, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with an energetic little boy who kept dashing about. I'd brought her out for him to see (Pom's too nervous) but she just spent the entire time hiding under the sofa.

Sunday, June 10, 2018
Jonathan was going to take the Honda to work, but found a rear tire flat.  He ended up taking the van. This meant Analiese and I had to go with Ken to church and wait while he attended his branch presidency meeting.

We had stake conference, but didn't have to go to Norman. The stake broadcasted the session to the other church buildings, which meant we could watch it in Chickasha.

I had my little buddy from yesterday sit next to me. He colored and played on my tablet quietly. But I didn't last the whole time. I'd been sick last night and my stomach started misbehaving during conference. After three trips to the bathroom, I had to have Ken take me home to get medicine and go to bed. I had thought I just had a problem with something I ate yesterday. Do I actually have a stomach bug instead?