I loved Girls' Camp as a kid. Having so few opportunities to be around girls who believed the same as I did made it an event to look forward to. I met my best friend/eventual college roommate, Dorothy, at our first Stake Camp Activity when I was just 11. And we had so much fun together. Some of my best girls' camp memories were also the craziest. Like the year we camped in what must have been Tick-a-palooza, and we had to look through each others' hair every night after dinner during our stake devotionals for ticks. We found a lot. So many, in fact, that Mere-tick and Jen-tick rightfully earned those nicknames. And the year we had showers with no ceiling and every time a gust of wind came through (Ummm, hello. We lived in South Dakota. It happened a lot.), and our shower curtains blew out, we yelled, "EXPOSED!!" and everyone else turned their backs to the showers so the shower-ers had their privacy. And the year we had such bad thunderstorms that they brought us up to the indoor pavillion to sleep so no one got struck by lightening. And the year we didn't really know where we were going on our overnight hike, and we ended up having to cross a river with our packs over our heads, with reeds and cattails so thick on the other side that we came out with our legs cut to shreds. Yeah. Good times. (Our saintly YW leaders put up with so much to give us those experiences. Thank you, saintly YW leaders!)
So I was excited when I was called to be an assistant Camp Leader this year. I was especially excited because it was Lucy's first year at camp. And I was triply excited that we got to camp at what is known as the Heber Valley Hilton. They have cabins. (I didn't know people used cabins for Girls' Camp until I moved to Utah.) And although I loved camping in tents as a YW and we had fun cooking all our breakfasts and lunches over a fire, it seems that as a leader, cabins and bunk beds and running water and flushing toilets and showers with doors and gas grills are pretty much awesome.
Very little sleep, lots of hiking and eating (our "lunch ladies" were the best ever), some amazing firesides, a spectacular testimony meeting (where I might have accidentally almost let the 4th years start our campsite on fire--apparently Heber Valley gets some pretty good gusts, too), and being with my ah-MAZ-ing Lucy made for some great memories.
Other highlights were when the 1st years pranked the 4th years and YCLs after the infamous snipe hunt. They got them good. Also loved Lucy and co's Shoulder Angel skit, playing the jelly bean game, cups and the amazing race, the miracle of the garbage, and feeling the Spirit testify of truth as we had devotionals. Good times were had by all.
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