Bottled Water, Camp Lehi 2009

"What can make a hippopotamus smile? What can make him walk for more than a mile?
It’s not a party with a paper hat, Or a bag of candy that will make him fat,

That’s not what hippos do.

They ooze through the gooze without any shoes, They wade through the water ‘till their lips turn blue,That’s what hippos do!

Shhh...What can make a hippopotamus smile? What can make him run for more than a mile?

It’s not a tune on the old violin, Or listening to the sound of the whistling wind,

That’s not what hippos do.

They ooze through the gooze without any shoes, They wade through the water ‘till their lips turn blue, That’s what hippos do! Woo, Woo!"

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So, I got home from girls' camp yesterday afternoon and this song has been in my head ever since. Yay. It was a great week though. Whitney and I drove up Sunday night and pitched my tent in the dark. Good times trying to figure out how the rain fly was supposed to work. I had to do some minor adjustments the next morning. Then we headed up to the dining hall to help out the staff that were there. On the way Whitney decided to get up close and personal with the asphalt and has some decent road rash to show from it. Her story stands that we didn't have a flashlight and she tripped over a speedbump, not that we had a flashlight, but were jogging to get there faster so we wouldn't be eaten by a forest critter and her ankle gave out. Fortunately my flashlight was the lone casualty of the incident.

Monday morning we got up and set up Whitney's stuff on the other side of camp (much easier in the daylight) and then hung out until the girls started arriving at about 11. Day one is pretty chaotic with girls setting up tents and adjusting to camp life. At campfire that night each group did an introductory skit, so each of my girls picked a brand of bottled water and introduced themselves as that (since our group name was Bottled Water - our theme this year was Ripples: The Power of Your Example, and each group name had to be a body of water that could have ripples in it). It ended up being pretty cute.

My AWESOME group of girls

Our group flag

Tuesday was our big certification day. As third-years, the assigned meal we had to cook in our campsite was dutch oven chicken and rice, corn, and cobbler. It was definitely a meal to remember. The cobbler finished first, so we ate that and then the corn since it just had to cook on the coals from the cobbler. The chicken didn't get done for quite a while longer, but we had some good times down at the campsite while we waited. That morning we had a shining moment (devotional) about being lady-like, and then got to campfire that night where the staff did a skit called "Fountains" and spit water the entire time, but in sync with instrumental music. It was so funny. The theme for the night was "Girls' Camp Through the Ages" so my girls demonstrated what girls' camp might have been like in the Stone Age, the mid 1800's, the 1960's and today.

My girls doing their skit

"Fountains"

Wednesday was hike day, so we got up and packed lunches, put on our ponchos (it rained on and off all week) and headed out. The first half was all down the mountain, so it was no big deal. At the bottom we stopped for a bit next to "The Wall" and Papa Johns (our guide) talked to the girls for a little bit about the importance of teamwork. They then had to each get over the 10 foot wall with the help of the other girls, and once they got down, they had to watch and offer only moral support. It took just about 35 minutes to get all 22 girls over, but once the last one finished (took a good 10-15 minutes for her alone) it was a great feeling. It was so cool to watch all the girls work together and figure out how to get everyone over in the most logical way. Afterwards we had lunch and the girls completed the orienteering part of their certification. The final leg of the hike was all back up the mountain, and boy was it killer at some parts. The weather was perfect though, in the high 60's and overcast most of the day. It was definitely an experience to remember, and something I'm sure the girls won't soon forget.

The start of "The Wall"

Thursday was beach day! Unofficially, this was also known as Cell Phone Reception Day. All week the landline at camp had been down, so no one could make any phone calls home. I couldn't wait to be able to call a certain someone, and judging by the number of voicemails I had from him he was looking forward to it too ;) That morning we had shining moments again, but this time the girls were split up by year group and went to two differnent ones. The night before I had been asked by the Stake Relief Society President to help with hers (she had the 3rd years and JC's). A friend of mine was also asked to help out, and we were given the assignment to speak about what we do in our daily lives to live by the Spirit and become closer to Christ. Denise and I sat down and talked for a while about what each of us wanted to discuss. She spoke about music (having a song in your heart all day) and working hard, and I discussed prayer and scripture study. The first time around I was totally flustered and felt like I wasn't getting everything across the way I wanted to, but the second time (when I had my own girls) went so much better. Right as we were finishing the sun came out and warmed us all up and got us in the beach mood :) It was a fantastic day.

Friday was our last full day at camp, and all of the counselors spent most of the morning hanging out in the dining hall while the girls finished up their certification. This year there were a few couches in the dining hall, and many naps were taken by leaders during that short time :) The sun was out almost all day, so Whitney and I decided to hit up all of the dangerous free time activities that afternoon. First we hit up tomahawks and we both did pretty well. We then moved on to archery, where Whitney totally kicked my trash. I seemed to get progressively worse as I went on, but it was a fun experience. At one point I felt like Robin Hood from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and imagined myself shooting a flaming arrow at the target. Oh, silly me. Our last activity for the day was bb guns. It was my turn to kick trash. I got a good amount of my shots near the center target, and a few right in the middle. Maybe a new calling in life? Haha. Just kidding. It was fun though. Campfire that night was testimony meeting, and it was so nice to hear the sweet testimonies of all of my girls and many more throughout the camp.

Yup, I did that

My bb gun target

Saturday we went home! I went around to wake up my girls at 7, and to my surprise they were all already awake. Even after staying up until midnight and all of them sleeping in the same tent. We were miraculously all packed up and ready to go before flag at 8:15. How? I have no clue. Whitney and I were out of there at 10:45, and home by 2:30 after a stop at In-N-Out for lunch. It was so nice to take a warm shower and throw all of my clothes in the wash after one wet, cold and dirty week. After it all, I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to go. It's nice to get away from everything, and have a major spiritual uplift every day for a whole week. In a few weeks we have a joint Relief Society/Young Women Enrichment Night and it will be fun to see my girls again. I definitely learned something from each of them over the course of the week and I am amazed at the strength some of them have at their young age. All in all, it was a great week.