I'm back! (and I stole the pictures from Betsy's blog)

I have been gone for a couple of weeks. First, I went to Girls Camp. It was my first time ever going as a leader, and the first time I've been in more than 20 years. After I was old enough to have a summer job, I gave up on going to girls camp. Money talks, as they say.

I was placed with 2 other leaders over the 4th year girls. 3 leaders, 12 girls. I thought it was going to be a little overkill, but I'm so glad it was. I didn't know Betsy or Katie before camp, and I was a little nervous. I tend to be a little on the reserved side and don't talk much around people I don't know. However, I ended up with 2 very good friends out of it. We made a pact to go back each year and be 4th-year leaders together. People all week kept asking us how long we had been friends. They were always surprised when whe said, "We just met each other." Everyone thought we were joking. We all have the same haircut, and one of our girls braided our hair the same way with little pig tails sticking out the sides.

I discovered quickly that Betsy was my showtunes soulmate. The girls couldn't believe how one thing someone said would cause both Betsy and me to break out in the same song--usually one the girls had never heard before. We sang our hearts out all week long. It was a blast. Betsy was shocked to learn that I have never seen or heard Wicked. I was shocked that she did not know any Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. We are both remedy-ing the situation so that we can sing even more songs together next year. I also want to buy a 12-string guitar to bring along for the show next year. One of my girls brought up a 6-string acoustic, which I played a little. I need to bring up some music next time, though.

Our Stake's theme was "By their fruits ye shall know them." We chose Boys-n-berries as our group name. It turned out so dang cute. The name was my suggestion (thank you Megs), but all the cuteness was Katie and Betsy. They made our camp look like a berry stand. Little crates of fake berries, and cut-out boys were on the tables. Foam berries were everywhere, and empty berry boxes in just the right places made it all look so amazingly cute. We had the "Ripe Berries" platform for the leaders, the "Fresh Berries" platform for the girls to sleep on, and then a "Berries Changing" platform for all their luggage, and a dressing room complete with a full-length mirror and table of necessary camp toilette (sunscreen, bug spray, body spray, lotion). It was all very adorable. Hoepfully next year I can help with the cuteness.

Our girls were so fun, and I loved every minute with them. Saturday's trip home turned out to be very scary, though. The bus lost its brakes coming down the narrow, steep, curvy gravel road. The girls all thought they were going to die. My friend was driving right in front of the bus, and she had to step on it as she watched the bus nearly tip over barrelling down right behind her. At the bottom of the hill where the gravel road met the busy highway, the bus would have gone through a guard rail, and down a steep bank to a river. However, the driver was able to steer the bus into an embankment on the side of the road, which was the only thing that could have stopped it. Incredibly, nobody was seriously hurt. The girls all tell about the angels who kept the bus upright when it was tipped nearly on its side. We came upon the scene after all the girls were out of the bus and sprawled out on the lawn bawling. It was a horrible feeling to come around the corner and see a mangled bus, fire engines, ambulances, sherrifs, and 60 scared girls. We hugged and talked and cried. They all learned a valuable lesson about how important they are in the work God still has for them to do on this earth. They know their lives were saved for some reason. Many of them also expressed a greater love for their families that they had thought they would never see again.

I came home from camp, handed off my camping stuff to Mark, who was leaving for Scout Camp the next day, did a week's-worth of laundry, re-packed my stuff, and packed all 7 kids for a trip to Salt Lake City to see my family. Within 24 hours of coming home from girls camp I was off again with 7 kids on our way to Salt Lake City.