WHO WOULDA THOUGHT ...?

Oh ... My ... GOSH! Who would've thought teenage girls could be so much FUN?!!!!!! Hah. Did I ever get my eyes opened last Wednesday. It was Relief Society night at Girl's Camp. Whee!

I'm Enrichment Counselor in our Ward Relief Society presidency, which means I got to go. Only Donna (our president) and I were able to go up ... unfortunately our Education counselor (Linda) couldn't join in because she works for the county and they're now on the new 10-hour-day/4-day work week plan (she's not happy about it). Our secretary (Jennifer) couldn't go either because she is very, very pregnant! We missed them both :-( and they missed a good time!

I've only gone to Girl's Camp just once in my life: last year when our stake was scheduled for early June and there was a terrible amount of snow. They were confined to the cabin and a very cold pavilion and though it was fun, I don't think they had the same freedom to do all the stuff they'd planned on. This year it rained on and off but never during the important parts, so it was a whole different experience. The first two years of our Relief Society presidency I didn't get to go (yes it's true: we HAVE been in now for over 3-1/2 years! I suspect that's heading towards a record; sounds like very few presidencies go past 3 years, if even that). Seems like everyone is familiar with Camp Shalom but me ... but I've never had a calling in Young Women's (yet) and when I was a teeny-bopper (oh yeah, that's an "age-me" word!) Girl's Camp was NOTHING like it is now. And I grew up in California so I went to places like Joshua Tree Monument out in the desert - hah! (Remember Camp, Debbie?) I have to say that Camp Shalom is gorgeous.

And, as I said it was tons of fun. It was really neat to see so many moms there too, as advisors. They were having as good a time as the girls I think, tho the girls look kinda bored in this picture, don't they?! :->. Hah! When we first arrived they'd all been painting and designing pet rocks, and were just finishing up. Our ward's theme this year was "We Will Rock You" (as in the Savior is the Rock of our Salvation). After we arrived Jenie gathered us all together in the "meeting cabin". Jenie (Connors) is our ward's Camp Director ... Jenie is one of my heroes ... I want to be just like her (and several other women I deeply admire in our ward) when I grow up. She did a leadership and team-building test on us, based on whether the image of a square, a triangle, a circle or a squiggly line were most prevalent in our minds. Each symbol connected to certain personality strengths -- such as the fact that triangle people like all the rules to be defined and are good at being decisive. Squiggles on the other hand have a difficult time making decisions and often start (and don't finish) a whole bunch of projects. Hah! THAT part is definitely me (yep, I was a Squiggle, and so were a lot of the girls and sisters). All types have strengths and a good team is often made up of combinations of the four types.

That was an interesting exercise and it also served as a way to divide everyone up for the big event later on: the girl's annual toilet paper fashion show! In the meantime we got to watch the girls practice their skit (to be presented to the whole stake later on during evening devotional).

And while dinner was being prepared by the leaders and girls Donna, Valene and I put together the special treat WE brought for the girls: BTS (Better Than Sex) cakes! Or, also called BTA (Better Than Anything) cakes. I'm deprived: I'd never even heard of this cake before last year's girl's camp.



Donna (on the left) and Valene (on the right) look very blue because they are under an ingenious food tent designed by Mel Cossey. He created it using PVC pipe and blue tarp pieces and it was long, low and excellent for keeping dry from the rain. They used it mostly as a kitchen and a craft area, I think. The cakes were pretty easy to make: start with a 9x13 basic chocolate cake -- poke holes (evenly) all over the cake, (the handle part of a spoon works great, I learned) -- pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the cake, being sure to hit all the holes -- then pour caramel topping over that (fill EVERY hole) -- THEN pour chocolate topping over THAT (and ... you guessed it! Hit every hole) -- then frost the cake with Cool Whip and (if you don't forget to bring it) sprinkle crushed Skor candy bars over the whipped topping. Talk about RICH and MMMMM GOOD. Whew! Everyone was severely sugared out after dessert.

The girls and leaders made Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner -- a Mormon staple for bigger families and gatherings, I think! But how can you go wrong? Here's a link to one of the many recipe variations: http://www.mormonchic.com/recipe/recipebox/pages/missionaries.asp. There are a ton of recipes out there in Cyberspace but I like this particular link -- I thought it was kinda cool. And she has some other interesting recipes for you to see too. Line down a little ways to get to the Hawaiian Haystacks. Ours had rice, the sauce, chow mein noodles, chopped red & yellow bell peppers, pineapple tidbits, shredded coconut, apple pieces ... and hmm ... seems like I'm forgetting something, but I can't remember what!

It was a really good dinner. And soon afterwards all the wards gathered at the pavilion for the Stake evening devotional. I think some of the Relief Society presidencies went home at that point, but I'm so glad our ward's main activity was later on so we got to stay! I thoroughly enjoyed the devotional.

I caught Patrice Cossey, one of our Stake Leaders, REALLY roughing it at the devotional (can't see completely, but she's on a nice comfy lounge chair):

And here are some of the girls leading everyone in singing -- the girls assigned to help with this were Super Heroes and dressed accordingly. :-)


The Spanish branch Young Women did a skit, and one of the stake leaders (Jen Erickson) gave a really great devotional thought. I was touched and impressed by how quickly she brought the Spirit into the evening, and how inspired I was by what she had to say, even though I was a "visitor" and not a Young Woman. The girls also had a pie eating contest, tho I can't remember if it was before or after the devotional thought. Hah, I expected to see full pies but they were the itty-bitty 4" sized ones! Hahahaha. McCall Connors represented our ward and she won! We were hollering our heads off. In the photo (see next paragraph), McCall is in the yellow jacket and purple tutu ... that's Shayla Wyatt covering her mouth like she's going to gag. Hehe. You can't see her very well, but Dolly (darn! I forgot her last name) is holding the pie tin.

Finally after the flag was taken down and a closing prayer was said, everyone scattered back to their cabins and evening activities. And THAT's when we (Donna and I) had the chance to participate in the girls' "Third Annual Toilet Paper Fashion Show"! funfunfunfunfun. WE were the judges (ack!). This year Jenie added more criteria to the show: each team (formed earlier through the triangle/square/circle/squiggle exercise) had to create a dress from toilet paper AND they had to use 5 pre-selected items chosen from around the camp site = one of the girls had to model the dress = another girl had to emcee and describe the dress = the "model" had to do a talent = and then the team had to create and perform a commercial. The pre-selected items were things like oven mitts, a fly swatter (or was it a spatula?), a potato peeler ... crazy stuff like that. While the teams went about plotting their performance Donna and I hung out and talked with Jenie. She told us about the Spirit Walk they had planned for the girls on Friday; it actually brought tears to my eyes as she described it because it sounded WONDERFUL and I just knew it would impact the girls. I am ever impressed with Jenie's soul -- she is cool and hip and creative and deeply, deeply spiritual at the same time. She reminds me of my sisters. Like I said -- one of my heroes.

It was dark before the fashion show was under way, but that just added to the mystery and magic of it. We had to gather in the main A-frame cabin due to more rain but I'm glad we did -- the atmosphere was cozy and more intimate and since there were no inside lights we used flashlights and lanterns and THAT added to the atmosphere even more. Some of the Stake Leaders joined us and they were wearing jewelry made out of glow sticks. It was sooo cool ... all you could see was their giant glowing hoop hearings, necklaces and bracelets. I do love a good atmosphere. And the show was hilarious. The girls were all truly funny and clever and I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants (oops, that's sort of crass -- sorry). Donna and I were so entertained we kept forgetting who we had awarded what. Doggone it, we should've written it all down. It was extremely hard choosing winners in the first place and even harder remembering what we had decided -- but then, she and I ARE both squiggles! hehe. I worried a little that we didn't get it completely right and that some of the girls might have felt left out of the awarding ... we tried to get them all because they were ALL so GOOD! Below are each of the four dresses.

The girls had built up Demi's bust nice and high on their team's dress ... again, my picture doesn't do it justice. We all had a good laugh. Let's see if I can get their names ... Kiera Bretschneider, Berkleigh Allen, Demi Allen, and ... oh gosh (forgive me!), I think that's Haley Sorensen.

And sorry -- I just can't seem to get these pictures put in here right! Well, I had a fabulous time and we didn't leave until around 10:00 p.m., which meant we were driving through the canyon in the pitch dark (catching some deer in our headlights, but thankfully they were on the side of the road). Donna did a good job though and we made it back home safely by about 11:30 p.m. or so. And it didn't even rain on us during the drive home!

You know ... I had a small, bad experience with some Young Men and Young Women when Nate and I were married and living in Las Vegas years ago ... and though small it scarred my sensitive ego pretty badly. I've been afraid of the Young Women ever since. But these girls were so friendly and kind to us, I felt comfortable for the first time in many years. If I could think of the right words to say without sounding dumb I'd thank them, because they did me a great service -- performed a "healing," you might say. :-)