Girl's Camp 2016: Olympics

We had an AWESOME 3 days of Girl's Camp! I seriously love these girls so much! I always say that it's impossible to be around them and not be happy! Our theme was the Olympics, because it's the year of the summer games, and we thought it went well with the 'Press Forward' mutual theme for the year. We stayed at a cabin in Oxford, Idaho. On the way there, we had a 3 mile torch run! It was so cool! We dropped a couple girls off every quarter mile on the 3 mile dirt road leading to the cabin. Bailey started us off, then handed off to Vanessa. Then they ran the torch together until they got to the next group. By the time they finished, they had all 21 girls running together. It was tough for some of them (it was hot and all uphill), but they did great! When they got there, they lit the camp torch that was below the olympic value rings.

Getting ready to start the torch run!

Bailey was our first torch runner!

Handing off to Vanessa. The girls had the best handoffs!

Handing off to Madi and Meg.

This was my favorite handoff of the day! 

We handed off to 21 girls in 3 miles. This was the last handoff, and they all ran the last half mile together. 

They made it!

Lighting the torch!

 Once we introduced the camp theme, the girls had some free time. They did some fun crafts, and played lots of games!

They made cute 'press forward' arrow bracelets.

They all made a steadfast arrow to match their bedrooms. 

Cute!

My favorite part of camp was watching all these girls play their crazy games. Some of them got us laughing so hard!

 That night, Jim Hopla came to camp and gave an awesome fireside! Then the girls hung out by the fire making s'mores, and singing fun camp songs.

Fireside!

 The next morning Bailey gave a great morningside devotional. It's times like this that I wonder when the heck she grew up! I feel like she was just going to her very first camp, and now she's one of the youth leaders! I'm not sure how that happened so fast!

Bailey giving her devotional.

 We had whip cream left over from our waffle bar, so we spent a few minutes playing the whip cream game. So funny!

Sammy hit her whip cream in the air, and twice it landed on Bailey!

 Then it was time for our olympic games! The 4 youth leaders were each in charge of a couple events. Emily did shooting. Madi did the triple jump. Vanessa did ping pong, and Bailey did a series of relays.

Let the games begin!

Bailey's relays were pretty funny!

 After the first round of games, the girls took a break for lunch, and another craft. They made the cutest 'steadfast' necklaces!

Showing off the necklaces they made.

 Then it was time for round two of the olympic games. Vanessa did shot put, Madi did squirt guns, and Bailey and Emily ran human battleship. Then it was time for skits.

Bailey was over the level 3 girls. Their skit was super cute!

 That night was Bishop's night. It was so good! Bishop Hall talked to them about the challenges they feel they are facing in the world. That was followed by a campfire treat and an awesome testimony meeting.

The next morning we had a great devotional by Emily Russon, cleaned the cabin, and had our awards ceremony. Then we headed to Downata Hot Springs. It was the perfect ending to camp!

We gave out medals for the olympics, and some other stuff. The youth leaders made paper plate awards for everyone. So fun! 

Emily, Madi, Bailey, and Vanessa did an amazing job planning camp, and taking care of the girls they were over! They were the best youth leaders!

The youth leaders had a fun activity planned for the girls while we were at Downata, but it was too crowded to do it. We are going to reschedule the activity, but we took this picture as a teaser. Stay tuned!

We had tons of fun swimming and going down the slides!

It was an awesome 3 days! I didn't think I could possibly love these girls more, but then camp proved me wrong!

Monument/Wind Cave Run

We were supposed to be spending the weekend hiking in Canyonlands, but Mark's work schedule was making it too hard, so we decided to stay home. Me and Bailey decided to go on a trail running adventure instead. We ran the Monument/Wind Cave trail. Bailey has hiked it before with a group from girl's camp, but I never have. It was only 5 miles round trip, so I thought it would be a piece of cake. I didn't get the memo that it was all uphill to the caves! Holy cow, it was hard! I had to stop and catch my breath a lot on the way up. That gave me a chance to take lots of pictures. The waterfall and cave made it a great destination. The run back down was so much better. We love to trail run, and Bailey is considering doing a 50K trail run for her senior project next summer. She won't want to do it alone, so it looks like I better get my butt in better shape!

The trail was beautiful!

She wasn't even tired! She was pretty patient with me and my stops along the way.

The canyon was gorgeous, and the wild flowers were in full bloom! 

We made it to the monument!

The cave is above the pretty waterfall. 

I've always heard a lot about the wind cave, but it's a lot bigger than I was expecting!

It was really cold inside! Next time we'll bring sweatshirts and headlamps and do a little more exploring.

Backyard Campout

Bailey and I had our annual backyard campout with the dogs. As soon as Reeses and Oreo realize we're setting up the tent, they get so excited. It's pretty funny! We wanted it to be like real camping, so we cooked tin foil dinner and roasted marshmallows in our fire pit. We played Yahtzee in our tent until it got dark, then we watched a scary movie (When a Stranger Calls). The movie was even scarier outside in the dark! This is the best the dogs have done sleeping in the tent. They usually drive us crazy all night. Reeses curled up at the foot of my sleeping bag, and slept all night. Oreo likes to cuddle, so she wasn't quite as good, but still better than previous years. 

Happy campers!

Yahtzee wasn't easy with Oreo. She wasn't the center of attention, so she tried to sit on our game!

She eventually left our game alone, and was comfy lying there with her paw on Bailey's butt! 

We love this crazy puppy of ours!

Oreo doesn't understand that we set up beds for us, and separate beds for them. She just tries to share with Bailey all night. 

Gotta love her outfit and hair!

This is one of our favorite traditions of summer. We've had some crazy experiences doing it. Bailey got the flu in the tent one year, we were outside in a HUGE rainstorm once, the dogs destroyed the tent and ate a sleeping bag one year. Hahaha, good times! Sad to think my camping buddy will be leaving home in 2 years!

Personal Progress Color Run

Andrea planned a Personal Progress Color Run for the Young Women. So fun! I'm so proud of these girls! Running doesn't come easily for a lot of them, but they were willing to give it a try. They pushed themselves, but still managed to have lots of fun in the process. They kicked it off with a pre race color party, where they danced around and threw chalk at each other. Then they ran a 5K through the neighborhood. There was a value color station every couple blocks. There was a poster the girls had to read that represented a value, and then people throwing chalk (that matched the value color) on the girls as they went by. There were also neighbors out cheering for the girls as they ran by. So fun! When they finished, they had ice cream sundaes. Bailey is working on the last few hours of her Honor Bee for Personal Progress, so she helped a lot with the activity. She made all the posters for the stations. On the run, she would make it to the value station, and then circle back and encourage all the girls. She probably ran 5 miles, but she was determined to make everyone love running! Hahaha! She didn't quite accomplish that, but they all finished and did great!

Before... 

Pre-race color party! Take a minute to enjoy Bailey's outfit! I asked her if she was going to be embarrassed if she was the only one that dressed crazy. She said, "No, everyone else should be embarrassed!" Hahaha, at least she's sure of herself!

The posters along the way were cute! They had scriptures, quotes, or pictures that represented that value.

Mark, Sawyer, and Mason did the color station by our house.

After! I love these girls!
Ashtyn, Meg, Shauri, Vanessa, Bailey, Emily, Dacee, Joneichea, Nicole, Sophie, Hannah, Brooklyn, Esther, Sammi, Andrea,  Izzy, Tricia, Elle, Regan

Cross Country Tablerock Hike

We took the cross country team on the Tablerock hike. We had 21 runners, and 8 adults. Everyone did so awesome! I usually do this hike with the young women for camp, and it's always a challenge to get everyone to the top. It was a totally different experience doing it with a group of runners! The hike was 10 miles round trip. we went up Face, and down Huckelberry, so the first 4 miles were straight up the side of the mountain. It's a really hard hike, but they made it look easy! They blazed up the trail! Such an awesome group of kids! They're fun, helpful, happy, positive, hard working, encouraging, and so many other great things! I would hike with this group anytime!

Ready to start!

Going up Face. 

We were only 2 miles up at this point, and had already climbed so much!
Spencer, Matt, Kai, Ethan, Kyle, Dallas, Alex, Gabby, Megan, Bailey, Mason, Parker, Dillon, Hannah, Natalie,
Rachel, Easton, Holly, Zack, Austin, and Ezri

It was cold and windy on top, but you can't beat the view!

On the top! 

Mason and Bailey

Mark and Tricia 

I'm so glad he's always willing to take time off work, or do whatever it takes to help me with all my crazy ideas!

Taking a break while we filter water. 

I love hiking with Bailey because she makes the best sound effects along the way. The water crossings are especially great!

They're the cutest!
We saw a mamma moose with twins right in this area! 

We made it!

I love coaching these kids over the summer! I can't wait to see what adventure we come up with next!