It has been weeks since camp and I still don't have this blog post done. I was waiting for one thing and then another, and now I can't seem to move the pictures around in the order I want. I am afraid that if I wait this will never get done. So, despite my lack of perfect in blog postings here it is.
I Wanna Be Like U!
San Francisco Stake Girls Camp 2009
Here we all are on Saturday morning. What a wonderful group of young ladies. I love them and loved girls camp. This year we took the girls up to Fawn Hill for a week of hiking, water skiing, tubing, swimming in the pool and lots and lots of fun. It was a great experience, and I loved watching the girls work hard and play hard. I always say I love to see children working! It really is an important skill to learn, and I love it when everyone chips in and does their part. These girls were great all week. No complaining, just helping and having a good time. We talked about examples - being a good example - following good examples - and recognizing a bad example. These girls were great examples to me all week.
Here is my girls camp hero! Bro. McManis came up on early with the camp supplies and stayed all week helping with everything from campfires, to boating, to putting up chairs and tables. The entire McMannis family joined us and I can't say enough about their great attitude and love and sharing everything they have with us. We could not have been successful without the wonderful family! What an example - talk about wanting to be like someone! You will notice a little twinkle in his eye as we pulls the tube and the unsuspecting victims!
Because I am totally crazy, I had the idea of making quilts for camp this year. Mom really made this idea possible, and kept me going with the project when I was more than willing to give up. The girls earned a quilt square for a variety of activities at camp - learning how to tie knots, build a fire, try water skiing, memorize the camp scripture, etc. We had solid squares and pieced squares make up and the girls got to choose their squares. Everyone got a square to start with that the Stake Young Women's Presidency made. That Square had the camp logo and a square for each value color. Some girls picked all one color or theme, and some girls made a total wild unique quilt. I love how they turned out and can't wait to present them to the girls at the camp reunion.
We spread out the quilts all over the house. It was like a quilt factory!
Here is Stina on the board. She was a natural! 
The McManis family - what amazing people. I appreciate them so much! Not only did they work hard, but they helped everyone have so much fun!
Lindsey and Sarah making their t-shirts and visors. I found the visors months ago while visiting my sister Cathy, then my sister in law Susan told me about a great website where I could get t-shirts for a steal. I made the camp logo into an iron-on and put each girls name on the logo. The girls took pens, ribbon, etc to make masterpieces!
Here I am at the river giving the first theme of the day. Wednesday was Lion Link and we talked about the opportunity to repent. We went through the movie and talked about the good examples and the bad examples and how we could learn from them. Justine (one of the leaders) made a great handout with the quote - Courage does not always a roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying I will try again tomorrow. She gave the girls a little package of play dough to remind them that they can always keep molding and re shaping themselves.
Here is Kristine - one of our great cooks - at the river finishing up lunch.
Here is Marcie with her conference Ensign. We got each girl a copy of the Ensign and put a logo - I wanna be like U sticker with their name. Our Stake Presidency has challenged everyone to read all of last conference before the October conference. Great goal. I listen to the talks on my ipod while I walk to work, and I kept listening to last conference again and again in preparation for camp. I want to pull out my print copy and read through and write down some notes too.
The best part about camp are the young women. With all of the crazy planning and last minute changes, I kept reminding myself that it is all about the girls. This picture is of me and Betsy - a new young women in our stake. It was Betsy's first year at camp, and I loved seeing her make new friends. We have a very small Young Women's program in our stake, and we ended up with 23 girls at camp this year. It is an amazing opportunity to get to know all of the girls and see them blossom in so many ways.
My dear friend Hillary is the one who got in into this camp adventure in the first place. Hillary is in the Stake Young Women's Presidency and lives down the street from me. I made a simple comment two years ago when I was teaching a group how to crochet baby hats for a service project. The next thing I knew I was at girls camp. I guess if you love girls camp it just comes out! Hillary and Roger came up to help with camp and were fantastic as usual.
Robyn is my assistant camp director and she is fantastic! The girls just love her and she is always right there when I need help. She is also a great tent mate, and did not even complain when my silly dog got left out one night and barked and barked and barked at 4am!
More wonderful young women - Kate and Lindsey. This was taken at Folsom Lake. We went over to Folsom on Friday for more water skiing and tubing. The water was great for tubing and the beach was the perfect set up where we could swim and sit on the beach while watching the boats pull the girls on the tubes. We were having such a relaxing fun time that we ended up kicking it on the beach for an extra couple of hours.
This is at Lake Clementine where we spent Thursday. Hillary, Robyn and I are joined her by Bishop Lesly. The Bishop was with us pretty much all week and was just great! The girls so appreciate him and he is a great hard worker! Besides being a great priesthood for camp - the Bishop water skied all around the lake with his hat and sunglasses on! We also had Bro. Holbrook all week, and President Fletcher and President Carter, and Roger (my fantastic home teacher). These men were so generous with their time and are all great examples to the young women.
Here is the set up at Lake Clementine. We have four canopies and three beach umbrellas, so we could always get out of the sun if you needed a break. We went through an amazing amount of sunscreen! A few girls got a little toasted, but no really bad sunburns. I made several girls put on t-shirts or wear a hat, and they were very cooperative. I remember being forced to swim with a shirt on and I hated it! These girls were so great and just put on the silly hat and smiled.
More chit chat girl time.
Here we are Thursday morning, the leaders waiting at the dock. We had so many leaders at the lakes, but it was great. We had three boats going at once, so we needed boat drivers, water ski instructors, beach entertainment, lifeguards, and general adults helping out.
And here are the girls on the dock at Lake Clementine. This lake was such a part of my childhood and teenage years. I loved sharing it with the girls. It was a fun day to get away from everything else. We played and played and played. We did fit in a devotional and some time for BOOT camp after lunch. BOOT camp is build your own testimony. We divided into groups and the leader introduced a topic (like repentance) and the girls got a chance to ask questions and open a discussion. We used the scriptures, Ensign, and True to the Faith to look up the answers. Thursday was Jungle Book and we talked about good friends. Went talked about each of the people in Jungle Book and if they were good friends or bad friends. One interesting point that was brought up was about Baghera - who wanted the man cub to live up to his potential. A good friend wants you to be your best and does not worry about what is best for them. Then on Friday we talked about Peter Pan and how Wendy makes consistent good choices.
This is the waterfall that we hiked to on Wednesday morning. We were blessed with good weather, but it was still a little warm so we decided to start on the hike first thing on Wednesday. The girls were driven directly to the hike and off we went. These are called the Hidden Falls, and are at the end of a pleasant 1 1/2 mile hike.
These are steps down to the river from the waterfall where we all took off our shoes and wadded in. We sat in the shade and had a yummy lunch, devotional and BOOT camp. A few of the girls wadded a little more than others - like falling in completely!
Here is the group just before we took off. (This pictures out of order is really starting to bug me!)
This is the platform overlooking the waterfall. The girls were great hikers. We found and identified plants along the way - poison oak, California poppies, scrub oak, pine trees, and a few more wildflowers. I was a little nervous about the hike because not everyone loves to hike, but everyone was a good sport and joined in on the fun. We lots of chatting, singing and laughing. I felt that is was an important activity to include, and was so grateful that it turned out well.
Our Stake President and his fun wife Kathy (not that he has more than one wife! but that Kathy is so much fun!!) came up on Friday. They joined us at the lake and Pres. Carter was a great sport on the tubes. We did give him a better life jacket, but not before some good natured ribbing.
The girls cheered when Pres. Carter got thrown off the tube, then the swam out and rescued him. What a champ! He loves the young women so much and is a great example to them. I appreciate his support of girls camp. It was great to have he and Kathy with us.
Wednesday was the night for the girls to cook a meal over the fire, and we had the best foil pack dinners. Bro. McManis gave us tips for sucess. I think the trick was the Cambell's condensed soup. I used tomato soup in mine - and YUMMY.
Friday nigth after an amazing testimony meeting we broke out the glow sticks. The girls stayed up and played around late into the night. They must not have been all that loud, because I dropped around midnight and did not hear anything. The testimony meeting was the best I have attended at girls camp. It was a small group, so everyone who wanted to got the chance to bear their testimony. Also, the testimonys were not rambling, and they were not love fests or thanktimonies. The girls gave powerful direct witnesses of the Savior and his gospel. It was a very special evening. We had one girl that was visiting camp who is a hindu. She is a lovely girl, and shared her feelings at the testimoney meeting. She thanked everyone for including her and she said that she could see and appreciate the conviction of the girls - how much they believed in and lived true to the gospel.
President Carter getting ready for the ride of his life. Justine was the boat driver. She is getting ready to put in her misson papers, and asked if maybe she should not have her interview before she threw Pres. Carter off the tube.
Caroline and her Young Women President Erika on the "taco". Caroline is a new behive and it was her first year at camp. She was a fantastic waterskiier - just popped up and skiied around the lake!
Thursday night we did skits that Roger and Hillary planned. Very cute game - based on the board game Who What Where. The girls were very creative, but the funniest part was sitting just in front of a few leaders who were laughing their heads off and saying - we don't get it - what are they talking about?!
Julie, Pryam and Brianne. Three of our second year girls. Julie is one of the top 10 funniest people I have met! Wonderful girls who were so helpful and enjoyable to have at camp.
Breakfast on the back deck. We had very yummy food everyday. Sharman was our cook and did an amazing job. We even changed the meal times on her and she still pulled out fantastic food everyday. The kitchen ran so smoothly it felt like it was no work at all, of course that just means that others were working so hard!
Saturday moring we woke up and went straight to the back lawn for President Carter's devotional. We had some hot chocolate and pasteries while Pres. Carter shared a great message. It was perfect and fit in with the message we had been working on all week. He played a song from Wicked - For Good. Now, I have a strickt no Wizard of Oz policy so I have not seen Wicked. I had heard a lot of the songs before, but not this one. I loved it. The idea that someone has been a part of your life for good - to seek out those that will be a part of your life for good - and to appreaciate those that are a part of your life for good. It was a beautiful message. President Carter also talked to the girls about seeking out their passions and developing those talents. I am excited to see what the girls want to develop and experience. Pres. Carter and Kathy gave the girls a gift - to choose an activity where they could learn more about those passions - like going to the ballet, or an art museaum, or cooking class. What an opportunity!
The girls camped down on the flat (the meadow) (the crocquet field) all depending on your point of view. I did not get a good picture of this - because Bro. McManis had already taken down his tent. This tent is slightly larger than my studio appartment. The tents worked great. Everyone fit with plenty of room to spare. We set up a table for washing faces and brushing teeth, then hung some clothes line. We also brought in two port-a-potties and a sink. It was a great little camp ground. Mom called our neighboor after it was over and said she hoped we had not bothered them. She said - oh that was the funniest thing I had ever seen!
Caroline and Rakel at Lake Folsom.
The leaders kicking back in the shade at Lake Folsom. There was a lot of shooting the breeze on Friday afternoon! When the Carters arrived at the lake they brought a cooler full of ice cream bars. When we broke them open and started eating we discovered a large number of coffe flavored ice cream bars! I tried, but failed to stop myself from making fun of our Stake President! It is possible that at one time I called him coffe boy.
Bro. McManis and Bishop Lesley in the Zodiac. This little boat is great! It can pull a waterskiier, and we pulled girls on the tube for hours!
Julie at Lake Clementine. She really did not want to wear the hat. She kept explaining to me that she could not dunk people if she had the hat on. Julie knows how to have fun!
Stina on the raft, and that is Sandi behind her. I think these girls stayed in the water 95% of the time.
Lindsey and Sarah making their t-shirts and visors. I found the visors months ago while visiting my sister Cathy, then my sister in law Susan told me about a great website where I could get t-shirts for a steal. I made the camp logo into an iron-on and put each girls name on the logo. The girls took pens, ribbon, etc to make masterpieces!
Here I am at the river giving the first theme of the day. Wednesday was Lion Link and we talked about the opportunity to repent. We went through the movie and talked about the good examples and the bad examples and how we could learn from them. Justine (one of the leaders) made a great handout with the quote - Courage does not always a roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying I will try again tomorrow. She gave the girls a little package of play dough to remind them that they can always keep molding and re shaping themselves.
Here is Kristine - one of our great cooks - at the river finishing up lunch.
Here is Marcie with her conference Ensign. We got each girl a copy of the Ensign and put a logo - I wanna be like U sticker with their name. Our Stake Presidency has challenged everyone to read all of last conference before the October conference. Great goal. I listen to the talks on my ipod while I walk to work, and I kept listening to last conference again and again in preparation for camp. I want to pull out my print copy and read through and write down some notes too. The best part about camp are the young women. With all of the crazy planning and last minute changes, I kept reminding myself that it is all about the girls. This picture is of me and Betsy - a new young women in our stake. It was Betsy's first year at camp, and I loved seeing her make new friends. We have a very small Young Women's program in our stake, and we ended up with 23 girls at camp this year. It is an amazing opportunity to get to know all of the girls and see them blossom in so many ways.
My dear friend Hillary is the one who got in into this camp adventure in the first place. Hillary is in the Stake Young Women's Presidency and lives down the street from me. I made a simple comment two years ago when I was teaching a group how to crochet baby hats for a service project. The next thing I knew I was at girls camp. I guess if you love girls camp it just comes out! Hillary and Roger came up to help with camp and were fantastic as usual.
Robyn is my assistant camp director and she is fantastic! The girls just love her and she is always right there when I need help. She is also a great tent mate, and did not even complain when my silly dog got left out one night and barked and barked and barked at 4am!
More wonderful young women - Kate and Lindsey. This was taken at Folsom Lake. We went over to Folsom on Friday for more water skiing and tubing. The water was great for tubing and the beach was the perfect set up where we could swim and sit on the beach while watching the boats pull the girls on the tubes. We were having such a relaxing fun time that we ended up kicking it on the beach for an extra couple of hours.
This is at Lake Clementine where we spent Thursday. Hillary, Robyn and I are joined her by Bishop Lesly. The Bishop was with us pretty much all week and was just great! The girls so appreciate him and he is a great hard worker! Besides being a great priesthood for camp - the Bishop water skied all around the lake with his hat and sunglasses on! We also had Bro. Holbrook all week, and President Fletcher and President Carter, and Roger (my fantastic home teacher). These men were so generous with their time and are all great examples to the young women. Here is the set up at Lake Clementine. We have four canopies and three beach umbrellas, so we could always get out of the sun if you needed a break. We went through an amazing amount of sunscreen! A few girls got a little toasted, but no really bad sunburns. I made several girls put on t-shirts or wear a hat, and they were very cooperative. I remember being forced to swim with a shirt on and I hated it! These girls were so great and just put on the silly hat and smiled.
More chit chat girl time.
Here we are Thursday morning, the leaders waiting at the dock. We had so many leaders at the lakes, but it was great. We had three boats going at once, so we needed boat drivers, water ski instructors, beach entertainment, lifeguards, and general adults helping out.
And here are the girls on the dock at Lake Clementine. This lake was such a part of my childhood and teenage years. I loved sharing it with the girls. It was a fun day to get away from everything else. We played and played and played. We did fit in a devotional and some time for BOOT camp after lunch. BOOT camp is build your own testimony. We divided into groups and the leader introduced a topic (like repentance) and the girls got a chance to ask questions and open a discussion. We used the scriptures, Ensign, and True to the Faith to look up the answers. Thursday was Jungle Book and we talked about good friends. Went talked about each of the people in Jungle Book and if they were good friends or bad friends. One interesting point that was brought up was about Baghera - who wanted the man cub to live up to his potential. A good friend wants you to be your best and does not worry about what is best for them. Then on Friday we talked about Peter Pan and how Wendy makes consistent good choices.
This is the waterfall that we hiked to on Wednesday morning. We were blessed with good weather, but it was still a little warm so we decided to start on the hike first thing on Wednesday. The girls were driven directly to the hike and off we went. These are called the Hidden Falls, and are at the end of a pleasant 1 1/2 mile hike.
These are steps down to the river from the waterfall where we all took off our shoes and wadded in. We sat in the shade and had a yummy lunch, devotional and BOOT camp. A few of the girls wadded a little more than others - like falling in completely! Here is the group just before we took off. (This pictures out of order is really starting to bug me!)
This is the platform overlooking the waterfall. The girls were great hikers. We found and identified plants along the way - poison oak, California poppies, scrub oak, pine trees, and a few more wildflowers. I was a little nervous about the hike because not everyone loves to hike, but everyone was a good sport and joined in on the fun. We lots of chatting, singing and laughing. I felt that is was an important activity to include, and was so grateful that it turned out well.Our Stake President and his fun wife Kathy (not that he has more than one wife! but that Kathy is so much fun!!) came up on Friday. They joined us at the lake and Pres. Carter was a great sport on the tubes. We did give him a better life jacket, but not before some good natured ribbing.
The girls cheered when Pres. Carter got thrown off the tube, then the swam out and rescued him. What a champ! He loves the young women so much and is a great example to them. I appreciate his support of girls camp. It was great to have he and Kathy with us.
Wednesday was the night for the girls to cook a meal over the fire, and we had the best foil pack dinners. Bro. McManis gave us tips for sucess. I think the trick was the Cambell's condensed soup. I used tomato soup in mine - and YUMMY.
Friday nigth after an amazing testimony meeting we broke out the glow sticks. The girls stayed up and played around late into the night. They must not have been all that loud, because I dropped around midnight and did not hear anything. The testimony meeting was the best I have attended at girls camp. It was a small group, so everyone who wanted to got the chance to bear their testimony. Also, the testimonys were not rambling, and they were not love fests or thanktimonies. The girls gave powerful direct witnesses of the Savior and his gospel. It was a very special evening. We had one girl that was visiting camp who is a hindu. She is a lovely girl, and shared her feelings at the testimoney meeting. She thanked everyone for including her and she said that she could see and appreciate the conviction of the girls - how much they believed in and lived true to the gospel.
President Carter getting ready for the ride of his life. Justine was the boat driver. She is getting ready to put in her misson papers, and asked if maybe she should not have her interview before she threw Pres. Carter off the tube.
Caroline and her Young Women President Erika on the "taco". Caroline is a new behive and it was her first year at camp. She was a fantastic waterskiier - just popped up and skiied around the lake!
Thursday night we did skits that Roger and Hillary planned. Very cute game - based on the board game Who What Where. The girls were very creative, but the funniest part was sitting just in front of a few leaders who were laughing their heads off and saying - we don't get it - what are they talking about?!
Julie, Pryam and Brianne. Three of our second year girls. Julie is one of the top 10 funniest people I have met! Wonderful girls who were so helpful and enjoyable to have at camp.
Breakfast on the back deck. We had very yummy food everyday. Sharman was our cook and did an amazing job. We even changed the meal times on her and she still pulled out fantastic food everyday. The kitchen ran so smoothly it felt like it was no work at all, of course that just means that others were working so hard!
Saturday moring we woke up and went straight to the back lawn for President Carter's devotional. We had some hot chocolate and pasteries while Pres. Carter shared a great message. It was perfect and fit in with the message we had been working on all week. He played a song from Wicked - For Good. Now, I have a strickt no Wizard of Oz policy so I have not seen Wicked. I had heard a lot of the songs before, but not this one. I loved it. The idea that someone has been a part of your life for good - to seek out those that will be a part of your life for good - and to appreaciate those that are a part of your life for good. It was a beautiful message. President Carter also talked to the girls about seeking out their passions and developing those talents. I am excited to see what the girls want to develop and experience. Pres. Carter and Kathy gave the girls a gift - to choose an activity where they could learn more about those passions - like going to the ballet, or an art museaum, or cooking class. What an opportunity!
The girls camped down on the flat (the meadow) (the crocquet field) all depending on your point of view. I did not get a good picture of this - because Bro. McManis had already taken down his tent. This tent is slightly larger than my studio appartment. The tents worked great. Everyone fit with plenty of room to spare. We set up a table for washing faces and brushing teeth, then hung some clothes line. We also brought in two port-a-potties and a sink. It was a great little camp ground. Mom called our neighboor after it was over and said she hoped we had not bothered them. She said - oh that was the funniest thing I had ever seen!
Caroline and Rakel at Lake Folsom.
The leaders kicking back in the shade at Lake Folsom. There was a lot of shooting the breeze on Friday afternoon! When the Carters arrived at the lake they brought a cooler full of ice cream bars. When we broke them open and started eating we discovered a large number of coffe flavored ice cream bars! I tried, but failed to stop myself from making fun of our Stake President! It is possible that at one time I called him coffe boy.
Bro. McManis and Bishop Lesley in the Zodiac. This little boat is great! It can pull a waterskiier, and we pulled girls on the tube for hours!
Julie at Lake Clementine. She really did not want to wear the hat. She kept explaining to me that she could not dunk people if she had the hat on. Julie knows how to have fun! 
Posts
