The Fairview Ward Girls Camp 2012 was all set to go. After MONTHS of planning and work, it was FINALLY time. Our theme this year was “Daughter of a King” and we had the royal treatment ready for the girls. Unfortunately this story does not have a happy ending! Had I known what trials lay ahead I would have better documented the journey in pictures but alas… I did not!
Let me start from the beginning…
Once upon a time… (just kidding)
The night before, my mother and grandmother came to town and in our usual fashion we went to dinner. This time Applebee’s in which I ordered the Cajun Shrimp Pasta. I knew almost instantly that something was not right with it – and boy was I right! Can you say FOOD POISONING!!! Needless to say the next morning was rough. I almost didn’t make it, but I just felt that Satan was trying to stop me from being where I needed to be. As much as it hurt, I hauled myself up and got ready to go.
We met at the church at 8:30 AM, Monday, June 18 and was set to go by 9. Here are (some) of the girls, in the car and ready to go! (Back: Keara, K’Leigh T, Kaylee M Front: Maddi, Jenny, Elizabeth)
Our wonderful camp director, Sister Shelly Short, arrived with the trailer fully loaded with one minor issue (so we thought) – it needed a new tire. No problem – a quick stop at Wal-Mart and we would be on our way, right? WRONG! They had the wrong size – next stop Discount Tire! Oh man it’s all ready close to 9:30 by this time!
FINALLY on our way and on the freeway – yeah! Oh wait – we can’t go more than 55 MPH or the trailer starts to fishtail! UH – This was going to be a long, LONG drive! But – at least we were moving and heading in the direction of camp!
Camp this year was being held at Kolob Mountain which lies just north of St. George, UT. Now for those that don’t know where St. George is, it is approximately 120 miles (about 2 hours) north of Las Vegas on the I15. It did not take us 2 hours… not even close!
About 50 miles outside of Vegas we pulled off at the Logandale exit to repack the trailer. We did this hoping it would help keep it from fishtailing. Needless to say it took us about an hour to get to that point and another 30 – 45 minutes to rearrange. It is now close to noon. We kept thinking to ourselves – man, Satan just REALLY doesn’t want us at camp this year!
Back on the road we go and – hooray – doing 70 MPH! But wait – what just kicked up at us from under the trailer? Once again we pull off at the exit in Mesquite, NV to inspect the trailer. UH OH – the treading on the tire came off! QUICK – find another tire store and get a new one!
Mind you, I am still suffering from the affects of that dad-gum pasta the night before. This trip is not turning out how I had hoped it would! I was hot and dehydrated. I forced a Subway sandwich into my body for some much needed nourishment! I had time to kill while waiting the 2 hours for a new tire!
I was about to pass out when they finally gave the word to get back on the road. Please Lord, can we get there all ready? The answer to that would be NO! Just north of the gorge – BAM!
A blown tire!!!
UH – This is TOO MUCH!!! We were 16 miles from St. George!!! SIXTEEN MILES!!!
Rather than having the girls sitting on the side of the highway we shuttled ourselves over to Brother Bowman’s parent’s home in Bloomington, UT! THIS would prove to be our longest stop!
I couldn’t take it anymore and I took a nap – 2 hours later – when I woke up, the tire was not fixed! We learned that the brethren were having issues getting the tire and rim off because the lug nuts on backwards and stripped them - how that happens is beyond my comprehension of mechanics! A couple of hours later they arrive and put the new tire on – only it look flat! Off it comes and back to the tire store they went! As it turns out, the guy at the Discount Tire thought “little tire – little pressure”. He only put 25 psi in the dang thing – when it called for 90!!! There is a job opening at the tire store if anyone wants one – because that guy almost killed us!
Here’s us actually getting ready to leave! (I actually thought to get a picture of this one!)
They finally get back and we set out – yet again – and make it to St. George TEN HOURS after leaving! That has to be a record of some sort! A few months ago the youth walked to the temple – 13 miles in about 6 hours! This means that they WALKED 13 miles faster than we were able to drive it!
We finally made it to Kolob sometime between 10 and 11! Needless to say we slept in the cabin that night (yeah I know – totally roughin'’ it!) I went straight to bed while the girls stayed up and ate “dinner”.
Morning came (and feeling 100% better) we get to work with breakfast and camp set up! Since we all thought our struggles were behind up I was more liberal with the camera!
Our AWESOME YW President, Sis Crum, with Sis Sneed and Bro Palmer setting up the tarp that will act as a shade for us.
The girls looking for a good place to set up the tents.
Jenny and Keara relaxing!
Time for lunch
We wanted to make camp seem a little Renaissance-ish – so we called it Camp-A-Lot (as in Camelot) and banner!
We used each of the YW Values to create themed banners. Each was a word with “a lot” at the end. For Faith – Hope A Lot, Divine Nature – Pray A Lot, Individual Worth – Worth A Lot, Knowledge – Know A Lot, Choice and Accountability – Choose A Lot, Good Works – Serve A Lot, Integrity – Truth A Lot, and (my personal favorite) Virtue – No No A Lot! (hehehe)
Panoramic view of Camp-A-Lot
We decided to get the certifications out of the way to we can get onto the fun stuff. Each girl has things they must learn about and must have signed off.
Each year the girls get to create a skit to perform for camp. This year was no different! The girls were split up and given a bag of random camp items (that they must incorporate into their skit) and a theme to go by.
Craft Time!
Camp Fun!!!
We couldn’t have a fire due to restrictions so THIS was our fire!
Kaylee painting Sister Crum’s face (channeling Captain Jack Sparrow)
This was totally trippy!
Kaylee and K’Leigh goofing off!
Sydney and Dorian swinging and singing Disney songs!
On with the skits!
Group 1: Jenny, K’Leigh and Skylar doing Wild West
Group 2: Keara, Kaylee and Maddi doing Disney
Group 3: Elizabeth, Dorian and Sydney doing High School Musical
Bishop Rickey doing Teenage girls with Boy trouble! (hilarious)
And thus ended the fun – and began…
Now I know that this looks like an innocent back massage – it’s not! Sister Sneed said she had a headache and Sister Crum offered a massage to try to ease the tension. It would prove to be ineffective because in a few short hours the entire camp will be SICK! By morning Sister Sneed will be joined by 3 girls in the run to the bathroom or the closest pot to puke in. And that’s not the end of it! Before we finally decide to break camp 7 out of the 9 girls, 2 of the 4 leaders and 1 Priesthood leader will become sick with some kind of bug or food poisoning.
We went from Camp-A-Lot to…
Welcome to Camp Barf-A-Lot!
Regardless of the feelings at camp we went on our “hike” well some of us did. Just on the other side of the camp site is the cliffs so a few of us went to see.
This is probably my favorite picture: Dorian with her grandpa Brother Palmer!
Yes we went in our pj’s and yes… we are “puking”
By 3 o’clock on Wednesday, June 20th, the decision was made to break camp and head home. So those that were not sick – Jenny, K’Leigh, Sister Short, myself, Sister Sneed (who was sick but recovering by this point) and Bro Palmer (also a sickie) broke camp, loaded the vehicles with gear and girls and headed down the mountain, arriving safely at home around midnight.
I think it is important to note that through all of these trials and struggles to get to camp, we didn’t hear a single murmur from the girls. They were full of life and their spirits were high. In the end the only request that came was to go home and it was much anticipated. These are amazing girls and I love them all so much!
One final story – Our banner for Individual Worth that said “Worth A Lot” – well a huge gust of wind picked up out of no where, knocking all but 2 letters off… coincidence – I think not!
I think, for me anyways, the so to speak “moral” of the story is learning to better recognize a voice of warning from a loving Heavenly Father. The whole time we presumed the trials, and struggle to get to camp, to be interference from Satan. A ploy to keep us from doing what we knew the Lord would have us do – I now believe it to have been a, not-so-subtle, prompting from Heavenly Father. I thank Him for that lesson and for getting us all home safely.
May next year’s camp be GREAT!
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