Girls' Camp!

This week Mark and I have been at girls' camp. It was at Camp Lo-Mia in Pine, AZ. It's the same camp I went to from the time was 12 years old! Some things (but not a lot) have changed. It was a wonderful camp for the girls. However, it was a bit stressful for Mark. Monday morning started off with the busses being almost two hours late!

There was no answer at the bus company and their voice mailbox was full, so you couldn't leave a message. By the time they got to the stake center, everyone was already hot, but eager to get on the bus and get going to camp. The theme of camp was, "Once Upon a Time". The thought behind was it was that the girls are writing their own stories and how it turns out, is up to them. There were lots of princess things/fairy tale sorts of things/crowns and bling. The stake camp leaders had a different customized outfit for each day of camp.



They even had matching blinged-out jammies. So darling! The YCLs had a different personalized t-shirt for each day. They were cute, too. And they also had lots of bling. Even the Caper Queen decked out her wagon with rhinestones and fun decorations. Anyone would want to clean with those tools!




The cooks even got into the swing of the theme. The first night, they had a royal feast and all of the table decor/dishes were fit for a queen or a princess. They even named the various foods at each meal with royal names. Everyone went far and above what was expected. It rained a good little rain the first afternoon. It was so refreshing and really cooled things off nicely. Mark and I had planned on spending the nights at the Best Western in Payson. However, after we got there, Mark said he felt like he needed to stay at camp this year. So we got the luxury accommodations of the "honeymoon suite". All I can say about that is that we survived.



We hadn't planned on staying at camp, so I had to quickly run to Wal-Mart to purchase bedding, pillows, towels, wash cloths and some bar soap. The worst part of camp was that a couple of girls had to be sent home, and Mark was the one who got to deal with them and their mothers. That wasn't his favorite time of all. But he did what needed to be done and tried to make it as painless as possible. There was lots of wildlife at camp. We saw several deer, a squirrel or two, several robins, 3-4 rattlesnakes (yes, they were alive!), a coral snake, a rat and a skunk. Personally, I saw the squirrel, robins, one of the rattlesnakes and the skunk. The first night I got up to use the restroom and when I walked toward the bathroom, Janet Frampton was on the couch reading a book. I asked her if she knew why the lodge door was open. She wondered the same thing, so I went to shut it. About halfway through the dining area of the lodge, I noticed a skunk going to town on some food under one of the tables. I quick retreated and closed an inside door that separated the skunk from the stake staff. I decided to use a different restroom and hurried to bed. The next morning, skunkie was out of the lodge, but his crumbs were all over the floor. Someone had dropped some strawberry shortcake from the night before, and he sure enjoye it! We saw the rattlesnake across from the sacred grove. He'd just eaten, so he was a bit lethargic and wasn't moving around a lot, but he sure rattled. They called the fire dept. to come get it, and he sure was mad when they picked him up. I'd estimate that he was between 4 and 5 feet long. EEK! They put him in a 5-gallon bucket and were going to relocate him away from camp. He did not like being the bucket and tried with all his might to push the lid off. The third day of camp was hike day. The first, second and third year girls went on a hike and the fourth year girls went canoeing. After the girls returned to camp, the stake staff had a Royal Spa area set up in a grassy spot by the craft cabin.



They'd set up shade awnings and three kid's blow-up pools. The pools were filled with cold water and the weary hikers could soak their tired feet, and were given neck and shoulder massages. They were also given ice cream bars to enjoy while they enjoyed their spa time. The stake leaders thought of EVERYTHING. It was a very spiritual camp and one I won't soon forget.



We had to leave on Wednesday night because Mark had to be back at work today. We left camp about 7:30 pm and were planning on being home by 10. It was raining hard when we left camp and it was beautiful. As we were coming down off the mountain and were about 15 miles east of Camp Verde, we were coming around a curve and it looked like there had been a small rock slide and there were rocks on our side of the road. There wasn't time to swerve around them, and we hit the biggest one, of course! Almost immediately the tire was flat and we limped to the side of the road. Luckily, we had cell phone service and could call AAA. But when Mark got out his AAA card, he noticed it had expired the day before. Just our luck. But he called anyway and the lady let him renew over the phone and restore our service. They sent out a tow truck and the kind man changed our tire. There was very little room on the shoulder of the road, so he was just barely off the road. Sort of scary. And it was very dark. Luckily, though, it had stopped raining.

He got the donut tire put on and we were on our way, but he told us we couldn't drive more than 50 mph on the donut. Do you know what it's like travelling on the freeway at 50 mph? You feel like you're parked and everyone else is zooming past. But we finally made it home around 12:30 am. We're grateful we made it home safely. In the daylight today, we looked at the flat tire and there was a 4"+ gash through the tire and a slight dent on the tire rim. We were lucky. It will be a memorable camp, for sure! But today was back to work and back to reality.