Girls Camp 2009 {Treasure Island: An Eternal Adventure}

Ahhhh! Another FABULOUS year at Camp Shadow Pines! Our Stake YW & leaders get to enjoy 4 days of fun, laughter, silliness, skits, songs, cheers, hikes, food, goodies, classes, games, team activities, crafts, certification, Prayers, Scriptures & Journal time, Spiritual growth & most importantly, Testimony building experiences all in 4 short days. I am so blessed to be a part of Girls camp and I am happy to say this is my 4th year serving at Girls Camp and I love every minute!

Camp Shadow Pines is in Heber, AZ and it is a lovely "Retreat" for us gals! We are pretty spoiled here. It isn't camping at all we have electricity, showers, cafeteria staff that feeds us 3 times a day! But we wouldn't have any other way~ :)

We are the Stake Young Women's Presidency. L-R...Eileen, Me, Katie, & Ginger. I love these ladies so much! We got to start things off with a skit about TREASURES... We focused on what treasures really matter in life, not worldly treasures but eternal treasures. Treasures that will guide your life and bring you TRUE HAPPINESS!

After a rainy BBQ lunch we were off to class rotations. Katie & I taught the dance class "Island Boogie" it was fun! We were dancing fools for 2.5 hours. The girls were great sports and everyone caught on very quickly. We danced to the song MOVE IT from the Madagascar movie. The Creator of this fun cute dance was Stori. She is one AWESOME Lady! (I taught my girls the dance when I got home from camp and will be posting a video of their performance soon!)

Other rotations included classes like...Mormonad Mural, Cruise Craft, Lost at Sea, Castaway Tag, & Firm in the Faith. What a great first day~

Evening Program is SURVIVOR NIGHT! I was lucky enough to be the Host of the Night playing the role as JEFFINA Probst. ( if you watch the TV show Survivor...you'll get it) It was a great night and VERY WELL PLANNED. It was a Game night where the YW got to participate in challenges where the girls would try to earn beads for their "immunity Necklaces." each challenge had to do with each value of the YW values. - Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice & Accountability, Good Works, Integrity & Virtue.

It was a fun and challenging night of Survivor!

The Stake Staff...Day One DONE! :) CHECK!

Day 2: started off with the COURAGE hike. It was pretty cool. since it rained so much the day before the original hiking route was was switched out to PLAN B around camp. My kind of Girls camp hike ;)

It was an interactive hike were we ended up at 7 different stations along the way. Where we learned more about COURAGE spelled out. For example, C - caring for others. O - overcoming temptation. U - united together. R -reading scriptures. A - adversity. G - gratitude. E - endure to the end. GO KARLA! it was SWEET!

PICTURE TIME with my PALS! Before Skit night :)

Me with Sarah, Katie & Melissa! AMAZING LADIES!

I love this new friend...Ashley...she was one of our Craft Queens and our Camp Photographer. She is the reason I have AWESOME pictures to share! Thanks Ashley!

More Friends... Sarah, Shelly, Amber & Janeen

Eileen, Annalee, Kathleen, & Donna

Ron & Eileen...what a cute couple

Karla, Erica, Crissie, Ginger & Maquel

I can't forget our great Priesthood leaders...Bro. Asbury, Pres. Petersen, Bro. Brown, & Bro. Barker :)

Oh and there is me, Mindy, Mirna, Stori, Katie

Now on to SKIT NIGHT. The theme was Surf's UP and the Stake Staff went first. We did a sequel to Eternal Queen. a skit we performed at camp kick off was revamped and added too. It was a HOOT!

A little glimpse to the fun of skit night!

The priesthood loves to try to top them all with a silly skit of their own. it was a dance off and we all laughed and cheered! what great sports they all are :)

Well this is quite the story! We will call girls camp 2009 the Year of the RAT!!!

I will try to retell this hilarious story. it probably won;t seem funny to anyone who wasn't there to witness the madness, but for journaling purposes. I Must retell it. Basically there was a HUGE Rat in the stake staff cabin and the ladies were FREAKING OUT Scared. When I got to the cabin I saw everyone on chairs screaming. it was like a movie almost. I wasn't afraid of a Rat and went to save the day. The men showed up to see what all the fuss was about and sure enough it was true, there was a HUGE RAT and all madness happened as we tried to catch the rat and KILL IT! It was all a Blur, but yes that HUGE RAT was killed ( i thought we were gonna catch it and throw it outside ) BUT instead the guys stabbed it with a wooden stake and in the craziness of it all, Pres Petersen waved the Dead Rat in the Screaming Ladies face and 5 ladies came crashing down off the chairs to the floor, table & sofa! I was in AWE! I couldn't believe the mayhem. Everyone was OK just got a bit bruised. We were able to laugh about it for hours afterward. in fact we put together a morning cheer/song about the incident so everyone would get the story straight from us and not the MEN. Who we were sure would be making fun of us all. We had to get them first and we did and it was SWEET!!!

SOME ONE ( the men) mysteriously taped this to the floor of our cabin in memory of the HUGE DEAD RAT. If you look closely you can see drops of blood from that sucker...EEEEEW!!!

I had to include the words to our most AWESOME Song we created to remember this fateful night. We performed it at morning flag ceremony with brooms and stakes and I even wore my headlamp to make it more realistic :). it is written to the tune "Thiller" from Michael Jackson.

"It's close to midnight,

scary rat is lurking by the chair.

stake staff cabin

we see it, start to scream, quite a scare.

we scream & scream - NOT ME!

Priesthood hears that there's a crisis brewing

They come to see.

Muscles, courage, brooms are flying

We're Paralyzed!!!!

It's a Thriller, Thriller night

The Miners chased the rat and the leaders were a fright.

Kill, Kill the Rat.

Leaders falling down, We're shouting

Get it, Get it, GOT IT!!

Crazy Ladies in the cabin! This couch was a pain in the rear! REALLY! We felt like munchkins in this worn our sofa. The BUM HOLE SOFA we named it. As we sat on it our bums actually SUNK way down in the hole or worn out cushion. AHHHH Good Times! Hee hee hee~

And may I say Maquel is the funniest lady ever. She always has us laughing. She was teasing that she is like GIGANTOR to the rest of us as we sit on this sorry sofa. She is 6 feet tall and she is AWESOME! Love you Maquel :)

After that fun moment at flag ceremony, things got more serious as we got together for our service project. This year we wrote letters of encouragement and hope and THANK YOU's to the Brave Men & Women who serve our country in the military. We were all reminded of the freedoms we get to enjoy and all because of American hero's who give all they have and even their lives for protecting our freedom! I love the USA and may GOD BLESS all those brave men and women. I hope we were able to bring them a smile and hope.

After the Service project we had rotations again with 3 great "classes". The YW got to go on a "Treasure Hunt" and that involved games and ended up receive a treasure from home. Each YW got a letter from their parents expressing their love to their sweet daughters. The Stake Presidency also taught a class "Treasure Virtue" on 3 YW values, Virtue, Individual Worth, & Choice & Accountability. It was a great class. These men are inspired leaders and I was glad I got to attend.

The other rotation was "Words to Treasure" Vinyl Lettering sign the YW made! They are cute! I was happy to help out! you know me I LOVE CRAFTS :)

I forgot to mention that each ward was representing a gem stone and color of the YW value. Like Diamonds of Faith, Red Ruby's of Individual Worth, Golden Girls of Virtue etc. Anyway the stake staff were the Pink Pearls and I love the logo on the back of our shirts. GIRLS DIG PEARLS :)

My Presidency. I still love these ladies!!!

The 3 in charge :) Melissa ( in the middle) is our FANTASTIC Camp Director and her assistants are Stori and Sarah are Fantastic too! They are such hard working ladies! It was a pleasure serving with them!

The Lovely YCL Leaders...(youth camp leaders)

Crissie, Karla, Erica, Angie & Stori

Our Cute CRAFT QUEENS

Ashley, Amber, Sarah & Eileen (ps those pink scissors are still missing that Eileen has in her hand)

The Complete Stake Staff in our Pink Pearl shirts and the priesthood too A.K.A. - The Miners

Oh and here we are making our RAT Faces! :)

It's dinner time in the "Tropical Cafe" and we were waiting for the Priesthood comeback about the "Rat incident". It was quite funny. The guys reenacted the "Rat" story as told by Pres. Petersen's Journal Entry about that fateful night and it has to be true cuz it is in a journal right? it was funny~ but I did feel jipped cuz they FAILED to recognize ME as being a brave lady already on the hunt for the rat before they got there and getting a few swats at the little critter too. it's ok I forgive them. We all know what really happened ;)

Ashley caught me on the dance floor! I am doing the move..."WHAT UP" and then my favorite part of the dance is the 4 steps back doing a WOO WOOO!

To begin Friday Evening program we were all "aboard" the S.S. Skyline cruise ship. Our entertainment for the night was by these 3 crazy guys. Our Stake Presidency. I loved their funky moves. They were the Tres Amigo's Judges for the game show - Our Bishop has Talent. I was impressed at the skillz of all these great men~ :)

These are our Bishops. They know how to get funky and WoW - they do have Talent!

Our night of luxury was cut short with a BAD storm and we had to abandon our ship.

We wrecked on Destiny Island where were got to visit important people from the past and present. They shared with us Eternal Treasures we need to have in our life to make it through the storms of life. The Eternal treasures they spoke to us was about was... Family, Faith, Scriptures, Word of Wisdom, Prayer, Obedience & the Temple. As we trekked across the wilderness we saw lanterns lighting the path we should take to find these eternal treasures that will lead us back to eternal life. These "Treasures" were written on flags which were tied to a rope. The YW were then blindfolded and lead by their bishop and each of them held on to the rope which the eternal treasures were tied to. As they journeyed back to the "ship". They thought about how these eternal treasures are what we need to cling to and hang on tight to so we can make it thorough life's storms and obstacles.

Once safely back to the ship we were reminded that they only way to recieve eternal life is through our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the reason we are here! He loves us, he know us personally, he wants to help us be happy, truly happy. He wants us to come to him. Jesus Christ has paid the price for each of one us. He wants to lead and guide us. His hands are reached out just waiting for us to take hold and live as He did. To follow his example and return home to him one day.

We watched a beautful slide show of Christ with a beautiful spiritual song accompaning it testifiying the truth that Our Savior Jesus Christ does Live and he Loves us. My testimony was strenghthen. I was able to sit and ponder what this life if all about. Put things into perspective and decided to make changes in my life for good. Changes about my own spritual growth, changes on how I want to teach my children and show more love to them. Changes that I am so excited about. But I will take them step by step and pray for strength.

After this spiritul evening, each ward had their own testimony meeting. Our ward meeting was so wonderful. I loved hearing the YW share their testimonies with us and to feel their sweet spirits. We were all strengthened. My spiritual bucket is full and over flowing. I just love girls camp. This is what it is all about. Helping each YW realize their divine potential and help them Come Unto Christ.

The Last Group Pic of the AMAZING ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE! I was overjoyed to serve with these amazing ladies! I love each one of them! Friends for Life right??? :)

Jessica, Me, Sarah, Janeen, Maquel, Katie & Shelly

Girls Camp 2009 was a HUGE SUCCESS! Thanks to all of you hard working, spiritual, fun ladies! Can't wait for next year!

P.S. we are wearing black because we are in MOURNIG that camp is already over. Months and Months of planning, meetings, praying, preparing and it is over in a blink!