Girls Camp

This past week I had the opportunity to attend girls camp with the young women from our ward. When I was a young woman I always looked forward to girls camp but then I looked forward to doing anything that got me out of housework. Well this trip was a little different from the trips I took years ago. This time I was one of the leaders. I was really nervous about going, wondering if I was the right person for the job, wondering if I could set a good example for the girls, wondering if I could set up all of our camping equipment by myself, worrying about cooking in the dutch ovens and not burn the food and worrying about driving the truck with all this precious cargo (the girls) by myself. We took many practice runs in the truck so that I could feel comfortable driving it, I even drove home for a trip to Ironside with a trailer on behind and after that trip I was feeling pretty confident.

So on Tuesday at about 8:00am we headed out for Idaho City. Once we got there we hurried and unloaded and ate, then it was off to start all of our camp activities. On Wednesday we all got to go on a hike, some went 3 miles while others went 5 and some were in charge of setting up a nature hike. I was going to go on the 5 mile, but our girl that was supposed to do the 5 mile got hurt and decided to do one of the other hikes, so off I went on the 3 mile hike. It was so much fun to get out and see the area up there and some of the views were really pretty while other views were kind of scary!!

Thursday was the last day the girls had to get all of their certification done and after they were finished they were allowed some free time which they all enjoyed. This was also the day that my cooking abilities were put to the test, we had the bishop and his wife coming for dinner so we decided to have a turkey with dutch oven potatoes and a black forest cobler. So here is where my nerves started kicking in, I knew it would take about an hour and a half to cook the turkey so at about 4:00 I injected it full of some very good fluid and got it started, then I started the charcoals for the dutch oven and had the girls start slicing potatoes. While the girls were doing the potatoes I put the cobler together and by the time I got that done the potatoes were pretty close to ready so we seasoned those and put everything on the coals to cook. So now I'm feeling a bit relieved because the cooking was underway and I didn't have any major problems. Also about this time I could start smelling the turkey (which by the way was the best turkey I've cooked yet) so I got to checking the thermometer on it and it was all but done, so I gave it a few more minutes and decided to turn it off so it could cool a little so we would be able to cut it up. About a half hour after that I could smell the cobler so I checked it and it was done and smelled really good. So now we are waiting on the potatoes which took just a little longer (note to self next year put the potatoes on the bottom and the cobler on top). When the bishop arrived dinner was almost done and we were getting ready to eat, however I had sent the girls out to find some geocaches I set up around camp so we ended up starting dinner with only a few girls and the rest got back shortly after. So now one of my biggest worries is out of the way I was able to get dinner cooked and it tasted really good!! The rest of the evening was spent visiting and listening to the bishop give a little devotional which was very inspiring to me and makes me want to do better in the things I do and strive to learn more to help others in the future.

 Now onto my last worry of the trip, packing the truck. I always worry when I pack the truck that I'm not going to get something in the bed very good and it is going to fly out, well I did it I packed the whole truck and didn't lose anything on the way home!!

The best part of the trip was being able to have the spirit with me the whole time. I didn't have to worry about my family because I knew they were safe. And to have the spirit with you all the time like that is just a wonderful feeling. I have noticed since I have been home that the spirit isn't near as strong and I am trying to keep it with me, but it is hard. So now that is my goal to try and keep the spirit with me at all times. So in order to do that I better just go live in the mountains!! I could go on and on about what a wonderful experience I had to go and get to know the girls and even get to know the leaders better, but I'm sure that would just bore you to death so I won't, but I am so grateful I had the chance to go on this trip and I am looking forward to next year.

Candy on our hike!!

Just a view from our hike.

The cooks getting the egg shell out of the bowl!!

The girls standing on their tripod.