Bishop asked me a few months ago to girls camp for 5 whole days and I immediately said yes selfishly thinking that it would be an opportunity of a life time to go with McKenna but as the date got closer and closer I started to not want to go. I told myself that was normal because I'm a baby and like sleeping in my own bed every night and that Sophia would have a hard time without me but I had faith that Heavenly Father would help me because he wanted me to go right! :o)
Well I'm so happy to report that he did...my feet didn't hurt as much as I expected them to. Our tent and air mattresses weren't very comfy the first night but when you are extremely tired anything somewhat soft feels good. I took Dr. Pepper so I wouldn't miss those but found that I didn't want them like I thought and went from drinking 3 cans per day to 1 or less per day. We had to walk uphill for everything so that helped me exercise a bit. :o)
We had a nautical theme "S.O.S." standing for "Seeking our Savoir" and each ward in our Maricopa Stake was a "ship" we were the Friendship and our color was hot pink! Bishop was a trooper with all the pink too!
What an honor it was to go with my beautiful daughter to camp and see her in action! She didn't realize many times that I was watching her from afar and seeing all of her acts and words of kindness! I was so impressed with her and so humbled to be called her Mom! Seriously I knew she was a good girl before but she is so much better than I gave her credit for....truly an amazing young lady!!!
I grew to love all of the girls at camp pretty fast. They were all very sweet and helpful. We had a couple of little incidents as do all groups of girls but they were worked out quickly.
We were so busy with so many things including: zip line, bee bee guns, archery, volleyball, basketball, tether ball, lots of fun crafts, survival training, gifts, yummy food & treats, heartfelt letters, silly skits, celebrity appearances and performances, dancing, singing, cheering, pink everything including new hair extensions, little sleep, no rain, few bugs, spiritual uplifting and tons of fun!
I'll never forget my awesome week in the wilderness with a bunch of amazing girls, my awesome daughter, good friends Tiffany, Carrie, Sandy, Pam, Heidi and Bishop! So glad I went what a testimony boost and spiritual blast in the woods! Here's a few pictures...
Our group picture on Thursday Maricopa 5th Ward
Morning role call
Kelsey and McKenna
Ashley, McKenna, Kelsey and Bailey sweet girls
Bishop was break dancing with the other ward Bishops
Introducing our amazing girls (yes I've gained weight)
Me, Sandy and Tiffany after dinner
McKenna in her messy tent (just like her room :o)
Sandy, me, Tiffany and Bishop
Skit night Bishop was Taylor Swift lol
Bailey, McKenna and Denise they took great care of Denise who has type 1 diabetes and had a few scary blood sugars.
Archery with long bows I wasn't very good with them and had a 45 lb bow that showed my whimpiness :o)
Bee Bee Guns were my favorite!! Kenna is a great shot and I wasn't too bad myself! We all loved it!!!
Bishops trying to do the YMCA dance I'd say they need to practice the letters! ha ha
Skit night we had some celebrity guest judges Christina Aguilera, J Lo, and Cee Lo with precious the girls in between are Bailey, Autumn and Kaitlyn from our ward.
Bailey, Leader and McKenna reaching the top of Mt Lemon after their very steep 3 mile hike.
Leaders impromptu skit Tiffany, Pam and I trying :o)
Me writing the girls notes telling them how wonderful they are and how much our Father in Heaven loves them.
Us getting ready for our skit....my least favorite :o)
Spiritual thoughts with Bishop in attendance wearing his pink headband and flower like a sport!
Some of the scenery so pretty
Role call each ward had to stand and do a loud cheer to determine the order of eating whoever was the loudest and best got to eat first. (This is one of the pictures that determined my diet fate....dang gina!!!)
Our theme. There was lots more decor that supported it everywhere the campsite.
A beautiful view of Tucson from our camp site :o)
Getting our pink hair put in!
