My week at camp

I just got back from the best week of Girls Camp ever.  The weather wasn't fantastic, but we still had fun and I loved every minute.  My friend Karlee Jean was the camp photographer and took this shot of Aubrey and me, and also the picture below.

My job at camp was to run rafts down the river every day.  That's it.  It is the best gig of all.  Thank goodness I have rafting skills!  I give the girls a river safety lesson to teach them how to paddle and what to do (and to NOT do) if they get thrown out of the raft.  And then we go for a ride down the beautiful river.  I absolutely love commanding a raft.  My dream job would be to spend each day as a rafting guide.  It is my favorite thing to do.  I love it when I hit a hole perfectly and hear the girls scream.  Rafting at camp couldn't happen without the awesome camp dads who transport our rafts and girls up the river.  I love that they send us off with a splash!  The squealing girls make it just awesome.When I'm not on the river or scaring girls about what could happen if their foot gets stuck between rocks at the bottom of the river, I get to wander around camp and visit girls.  

 Each morning at camp a group of leaders and girls go walking or running.  I usually stay back and walk with the younger girls.  On our first morning walk this year, I spied this very odd yard decoration.

I started freaking out!  It was a tar baby!  Just like in the story my dad told me at bedtime throughout my childhood, and the story my kids always request when we visit my dad.  The girls I was with had never heard of Br'er Rabbit or Br'er Fox or the Tar Baby, so I told them the story.  They loved it, and I told them more Uncle Remus stories every morning for an hour while we took our walk.  When I ran out of Br'er Fox stories I had to move onto other stories, such as The Five Chinese Brothers and The Fisherman and His Wife.  The girls had never heard any of these, which made it very fun for me to be the first one to tell them.  Every morning after we found the Tar Baby I would make the girls say "GOOD MORNING! to it.   I'm not sure if the people who live in this house intended to have a Tar Baby decoration in their yard, but I have no idea what else they might think it is!

One thing I dread every year at camp is the night I am to be involved in a skit.  I don't do skits.  I feel totally stupid acting out anything.  I can't even play charades.  This year someone came up with a brilliant idea for the stake leaders skit.  We came up with six scenarios involving Stake leaders, and then we had girls from the audience come up and choose one of us to imitate in the skit.  We sat back and watched as the girls totally made fun of us in different situations.  When someone was acting like me it involved rafting, singing, sharing baked goods and identifying birds.  It really was the best skit ever to sit back and watch the girls pick out each of our eccentricities.  I hope it is our new tradition!


It was fun to be at camp for the week.  The kids at home survived without me once again.  I look forward to camp every year, and I can't wait to see what next summer brings.