Camp Shadow Pines-Girls Camp 2009

This year, I had the awesome experience of going to Girls Camp. About 150 Young Women (ages 12-17) from church attended this year. It was so much fun being there with Cassie.

I served on the Stake Staff as a YCL leader. We have been planning and preparing for camp since January. This was my first year going to girls camp as a leader. I have to tell you that I was scared to death about it all. But I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to grow and learn through it all. I was simply amazed to see the amount of work that goes into preparing girls camp. Wow! So many people who unselfishly give of their time to prepare an amazing experience for the Young Women. I felt honored to be a part of it all.


I have to say that Camp Shadow Pines is definitely the way to go. Camp was never this good when I went as a youth (many, many, years ago). There's no roughin' it at Camp Shadow Pines, which was definitely fine by me!! The "cabins" that the girls stayed in were more like dorms, and the Stake Staff Cabins were even better-equipped with a kitchen, living area, bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms. I can handle this kind of "camping"!!



The theme of camp was "Treasure Island-An Eternal Adventure". All of the activities were geared towards this theme. The girls were taught to look for Eternal Treasures rather than Worldy Treasures.

Cassie (in yellow to right) doing a little line dancing.

Some of the girls from our ward singing a song as they wait for lunch. We didn't have to cook a single meal during our stay. The Shadow Pines staff cooked breakfast lunch and dinner for us each day. Now that's my kind of camping!!


Some of the YCL's leading the girls in some girls camp songs. We had 30 YCL's this year.

Cassie with her friend Katie.

One of the activities on the hike-putting on "The Whole Armor of God".

I was in charge of knife certification for the 2nd year girls.

The Skits are one of the highlights of camp.

The Priesthood staff was hilarious at Girls Camp. Their skit was the hit of the night.

Bro. Ray getting into his dance moves.

How fun it was to see the Stake Presidency join in on the silliness of camp. They really had us laughing!

The girls from our ward did a great job on their skit.

The Stake Staff skit-seriously we made fools out of ourselves but had fun doing it.:) We laughed the whole way through it.

I'm sure that most of you have heard The Rat Story, but if not you'll have to check out Loree's or Sarah's blog to read the very entertaining account. This is a story that will be talked and laughed about for years!!! I wish I was there to see the chaos of a bunch of screaming ladies jumping on couches, tables, and countertops after discovering a huge rat! I was in the YCL cabin at the time, and when we heard all the screaming coming from the walkie talkies, we just assumed that the stake staff was having some crazy party. :) Luckily, the big and buff and manly men from the Priesthood staff heard their cries and came to save the day.

Needless to say, the rat didn't make it that night. Here is the chalk outline and blood drops on the floor to prove it. Poor thing. He had no idea what was coming.

Well, the guys thought they would give the ladies a hard time, and at lunch time the following day they recreated the rat story for all to see. So hilarious!!

These are the 3 amazing ladies that made it all happen. Melissa (in the middle) was our Camp Director. Stori (left) and Sarah (right) were her assistants. Great job ladies!!

YCL leaders-These are the ladies that I worked most with and whom I really grew to love. I'm so thrilled to have such amazing new friends. (myself, Karla, Erica, Angie, and Stori)

Here's a picture of all the Stake Staff. It was such a privilege to work with so many fabulous ladies. What a great time it was!