Girl's Camp 2022

Another year of Girl's Camp is in the books! We have been planning and preparing since January, so it is a relief that it is finally done and everything went well. Our theme for the year was "God is our Guide." I loved the theme! I thought it was perfect for this time and these girls. I loved the focus on looking to the Savior to help us get through this life and especially in times of trouble. To add a fun element to the theme, we based some of the decorations and events on the movie "Up" since Russell volunteers to be the guide. We made cute "boyscout" sashes and lots of different buttons to earn that represented the various activities we did. We also had matching sweatshirts and yellow hats. The "Up" elements were cute, but the theme was what was really important. Every ward took the theme and made guideposts based on their interpretation of how "God is their Guide." The guide posts were so cool to see all through the camp.

 This year, I volunteered to be the cook. Last year, one of our leaders did most of the cooking on her own, and she was really burned out by the end. She was frustrated by the experience and didn't want to do it again, so I stepped up to give it a try. I have planned several large family reunions, so I felt like I had a good handle on what would need to be done. 

Immediately I decided that I would break up the leaders and girls into groups to help with the cooking and cleaning. I put a lot of effort into making sure everything was perfectly organized so that everyone would know exactly what needed to be done, and I wouldn't need to be working the whole time. The majority of my work occurred before camp even started. I created a menu for the week, individual meal documents, a huge grocery list, cooking and cleaning charts (The Grub Hub), and more. After taking a poll on what the leaders and girls liked to eat, I finally came up with a menu that I was really happy with. 

Testing the board out before camp

My biggest worry was how to keep the food cold and safe throughout the week. Mia Shalom has no electricity, so I had to figure out how to keep the food in coolers. I did a lot of research and asked other previous leaders for ideas. I finally settled on the idea of freezing milk jugs full of water and putting them in the bottom of the coolers. I collected milk jugs for several weeks leading up to camp, and then Jonathon got permission to put them in the minus 80 freezer at his work. This was the perfect solution because it would freeze the water solid, and there was enough room to store all the ice in one spot. 

I also decided that I needed to pre-cook as much food as possible and freeze it so that it would last longer in the coolers. I scheduled out time all week for Jonathon and me to work together to get everything done. The week before camp, Jonathon found out from his grad student that he needed Jonathon to go to Washington D.C. with him to attend a conference. They have been working on selling a new product for the last year, and Josh had a mini panic attack and didn't think he could do it by himself. Jonathon was super hesitant to go, but he decided that he would go for the weekend and come home Sunday night so that he could still help me pack everything up on Monday morning. It was not ideal, but I knew that it was important for the future of the company that Jonathon be there, so I encouraged him to go. That made everything so much harder for me though. Not only was I a single mom for four days, but I had to do all the cooking on my own. I had a mental breakdown on one of the days, but I held it together enough to get everything cooked... 10 pounds of chicken, 12 pounds of beef, 8 pounds of pork, 60 crepes, a quadruple batch of Spanish rice, and a quadruple batch of tortellini soup. It was so much work, but I knew that it would make life at camp easier. The hardest thing was doing all the shopping without Jonathon. I really could have used his help pushing carts because I had SOOOO much to buy. I started at Sam's Club with all of the boys, but after the fighting got annoying, I decided to do the rest on my own. I went to several different stores to get the best deals, and pushed many different carts. It was a lot of work! 

Just one of MANY carts of food and supplies

I got all of the non-perishable food purchased on Saturday and then set up a Smith's pick-up order for Monday morning. On Saturday night, I got all the black bins set up in my house and labeled them with the day they would be used. For example, I packed everything for Monday in one cooler and one bin, etc. That way we wouldn't have to dig through everything. It would all just be ready to go. This would not only make it easier to find things, but it would mean we wouldn't have to open the coolers until the day it was needed, which would hopefully, keep the ice cold longer. It was quite the process, but it worked really well, and the boys helped me get it all together.

 My plan for Monday was for Jonathon to go pick up all the ice from his lab and the grocery order from Smiths after he dropped off Christian for work. Meanwhile, I would pack up all of my stuff in the car and then work on getting all the perishable food into the correct coolers. Unfortunately, all of our plans were turned upside down on Sunday afternoon when Jonathon called and told me his flight home had been cancelled. He tried to find another flight home that day, but couldn't get home until Monday afternoon, long after I had to leave. This really made things difficult. He had the old car that I was going to take at the airport, so that meant I had to take my new car up the bumpy mountain. We also had to figure out how to get Christian to and from work. To make matters worse, Jonathon's mom and dad had covid, so they couldn't help at all. I was completely distraught! I went into my bathroom and just sobbed for a few minutes, having a mini panic attack about how I was going to be able to do it all on my own. I finally sucked it up and knew I would just have to do it. I immediately sent a text to my fellow presidency members telling them my situation and asking for help. They all agreed to come help pack up food the next morning. It was hard for me to be vulnerable, but I had no other choice.

Monday was complete chaos, but we did it! I took Christian to help me pick up the ice, got the Smith's food order, dropped Christian off at work, and got home just in time to have my friends help me pack coolers. As soon as the coolers were all packed, I quickly got all of my stuff loaded just in time to leave. I felt like everything was crazy, but my previous organization was good enough that everything actually went fairly smoothly. 

On the way to Mia Shalom, Kym met me at the turnoff to pick up Andrew and Hyrum. She took them for the whole week and totally saved the day. I am so grateful to her! As I was leaving, I got the news that Jonathon's flight was delayed again, so I had no idea when he would actually get home. I lost cell phone reception shortly after that. It was not the ideal start to a week of Girl's Camp.

When we got up to camp, I took the afternoon to get everything set up. Once the kitchen area was ready to go things settled down a lot. From then on, everyone helped out and the food situation pretty much took care of itself. I pitched in on every meal, but only because I wanted to help out. Everyone pulled their weight and helped cook and clean when it was their turn. It was such an awesome method and worked so much better than the previous year. While at camp I never once felt overwhelmed, frustrated, or overworked. That was a huge win!

The leaders and girls seemed to love all the food! The crepes for breakfast were a huge hit. They also really liked the grilled cheese sandwiches and tortellini soup, pulled pork, and spaghetti dinner. Everyone was so appreciative and thanked me time and time again. Overall, the food was a tremendous success, and the ice lasted all week, so all my planning and researching paid off.

The first day we were up at camp was freezing cold! The high temperature was 58 degrees, but the low got down to 28 degrees. After dinner, it was actually hailing at our campsite. The girls were crazy and started dancing and playing in the hail. That night, we bundled up and got deep down in our sleeping bags, but it was still really cold! I didn't sleep very well that first night. 

The next day, the rest of the stake came up. It was still really cold and windy, so the soup and sandwiches really hit the spot. We had hot chocolate in the morning and evening to keep everyone warm. By Wednesday, the weather started to cooperate, and it was much more pleasant, even getting quite warm by the end of the week.

We had so many fun activities throughout the week. When I wasn't helping with meals, I got to spend some time painting, canoeing, chatting with my home ward leaders, archery, and more. My week at camp was so much better than last year because I felt like I had a purpose and reason for being there. I loved being in charge of something, and I was still able to interact with the girls.

 

On Wednesday night, I was in charge of a hot chocolate bar for the entire stake. It turned out so cute! I made a banner, little tags for all the toppings, and got everything imaginable to put in it including: white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, toffee bits, mint fudge chips, peppermint sticks, pirouline cookies, caramel syrup, vanilla syrup, whipped cream, sprinkles, and a variety of cookies. Obviously, the idea was to just choose a few toppings, but some of the girls wanted it all! Haha! I'm not sure how good those hot chocolates tasted, but they loved it. 

Friday was the last full day of camp. We got to go to archery (which is my favorite part of camp!), do skits, and then have the bishoprics come up for dinner. I am not really into skits, but I just had a small role this year, so it wasn't too stressful. Jonathon came up with the bishopric and brought us dinner. It was amazing! He smoked a brisket, brought baked potatoes, a salad, homemade sour dough bread, and brownie cheesecake. It was a huge hit amongst the leaders! He was so so nice, and I felt so loved. 

One of the hardest things for me was the testimony meeting on Friday night. I have been to a lot of camp testimony meetings, and most of them have been really good. This one was kind of a disaster. It became more of a therapy session with the girls going into long life stories that had very little to do with the gospel. It was hard to sit through them talking for 20+ minutes about how hard their lives were and how their boyfriends saved them. I understand that it was a safe place to talk about their trials and experiences, but I just wish that the name of Jesus would have been mentioned. I was sad that prayer, fasting, church attendance, and blessings weren't at the forefront. After an hour and a half of this, I finally stood up and bore my testimony of scriptures, prophets, and the atonement of Christ. I tried to keep it short, sincere, and focused on the Gospel so that the girls could see an example. I don't know how well it worked, but it made me realize that we need to do better as leaders to teach these girls how to find answers and where they can turn in times of trial. I left shortly after to go help Jonathon get to the men's cabin, and then went to bed. The meeting didn't end until 11:30pm, and I think most of the leaders were really disappointed about how it went. I hope that we can do a little better about teaching and preparing next year. 

Saturday morning was full of packing and cleaning so we could get home. We were all exhausted, stinky, and ready to go have a nice hot shower. Overall, I had a great year at camp. I felt much more confident in my purpose and my ability to help the girls. I loved having the job as cook, and I loved the activities I got to participate in. There was some drama as usual. We had one girl who was seeking attention through an injury, which was a difficult situation to know how to handle, and one leader who was feeling left out and unappreciated, which was unfortunate, but none of those things changed the way I felt about the week. Mia Shalom is always such a beautiful place to be. It is hard to be sad when everything around you is so gorgeous. I soaked it all in whenever I had some spare time. I was really happy the whole week, and even more happy that it is done for another year :)