Thursday, July 28, 2011

Cruise to Eternity - Bears in Camp

"Life wouldn't be memorable, without a little excitement along the way." ~ Me

My cute Beehives ~ they keep me laughing!  I love them, they are so much FUN!
Our YW Girls Camp was at Payson Lakes this year. We had 26 beautiful YW, plus leaders and priesthood~ Our theme was "Cruise to Eternity".  We had a beautiful campsite not far from the lake, with plenty of shade, lots of tables and room to cook, and all the tent sites were a little on the sloping side.
The girls made some great t-shirts.  With colored permanent markers, you draw dots or designs and drip alcohol over it - it makes the colors bleed and gives a fun designed, tie-dye look.

We had a "Captains Dinner" and everyone dressed up ~ it was strictly a black and white tie affair ~ the girls' ensembles were made from trashbags and duct tape ~ they came up with some ingenous designs and even made some tuxes for the priesthood leaders!
 
 Early the first morning, two of my little Beehives went down to the WC and came back screaming.  They had just seen a bear across the parking lot, scattering garbage everywhere.  We had followed the camp hosts many warnings, and had put all of our food away, taken treats, toothpaste, deodorant, etc and locked them all in the Scout Trailer in the parking lot, etc . . . but the camp host later told us that he had forgotten to come back and lock the garbage down and the bears were having a great time . . .but not to worry, someone would come  up with dogs and chase that bear away. . .


So, we went on a beautiful 5 mile hike - the wildflowers were lovely and the weather pretty near perfect.
 Later that day, we cooled off in the lake. While we were at the lake a lady from the campground next to ours told us she had just seen a bear in our camp!

After that, things started happening fairly quickly.  The camp host came and asked us about the bear, then said we had two choices, we could pack up and go home ~ or pack up and move up to Blackhawk, if there was room for us up there.  The girls did NOT want to go home, ("We're having TOO much fun!") so the host drove up to Blackhawk, procured us a new site and when he came back we were, as instructed, packed up and ready to go.  Thank goodness for our great Priesthood leaders who were there to help us ~ Apparently it was in the news several nights running!  Apparently, we had not one bear, but two . . .
 
 Our new site was much smaller, but we stilll had a great time.  We had a spirit filled "Faith Walk," made necklaces, played games, had some great food, funny skits and finished our last night with a wonderful testimony meeting. I so love these YW ~ they are so much fun to be around, and are filled with love, laughter and life!  This IS and has always been, my FAVORITE calling, I love to be serving in YW. 

3 comments:

Colleen/Grandma/Mom said...

None of you will forget girls' camp this year! I'm glad you had such a happy ending! They are blessed to have you as a leader!!

Pollyanna said...

Wow Sandy, Amazing girl's camp and what lucky girls you have!! That week was my first week to Payson Lakes, but I will go back. I can't believe I have lived here that long and have never been. Silly me!!

Judy said...

Sandy, thank you for posting our camp adventure! I am still so sad I couldn't come.