The week after school got out we had our Ward Girls Camp. I was excited to be able to go up and be with Avynlea and Kenedy, this is Kenedy's last year. Kenedy was a YCL this year and went up the day before to get things ready for the campers. The church recently changed how Girl's Camp is done, doing away with certifications (yay) and also making it so the YCL'S are completely in charge. Because of this I really did not have any responsibilities other then being an adult leader up at camp. It was nice to relax and be able to participate with out having to worry about being in charge of anything.
The theme was Harry Potter and I was excited to participate in immerse myself in all things Hogwarts. I wore my Luna Lovegood glasses and a lot of the campers had no idea what they were, which was pretty sad to me. I had Avynlea, Brooke Williams, Ally Hansen, Halsey Murray, and Lainey Olson in the car with me for the drive up and they watched the third Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
When we arrived we went through Platform 9 3/4's and then the campers were sorted into their houses. I helped decide where to put the campers and I accidentally left the list on my bathroom counter for a day. Avy came out one day and said she saw what house she was going to be in and that it was Ravenclaw. I am not sure how she came up with that because we did not put her in Ravenclaw which she found out when she got sorted into Hufflepuff.
After the girls were sorted, they were taken to their cabins so they could unpack and acclimate a bit to their new surroundings. At about 1:00 we changed into our swimsuits and headed out to go white water rafting. I have never wanted to go white water rafting and did not want to go for girls camp but I let myself be talked into it and I am glad I did because it was surprisingly fun.
The YCL's went together in one boat with Zach Shoemaker as their guide, the first timers or ones who were nervous went in the raft with Blake Hansen and the rest of us, myself included, went in the fun boat with Rod Givens. Our guides were men from our ward who owned the boats and the life jackets. It was awesome to have it be friends taking us and we also didn't have to send any budget on our rafting trip!
I had mostly Beehives in our boat and we had so much fun. Some of them got knocked out during the rapids but we were always able to get them back in. We tried doing the "circle of faith" which is where everyone in the boat stands up on the outer edge and holds hands. I was next to Rod and he was trying to get us to all lean back while we were doing this but most of the girls would not. At one point Rod let go of my hand and I lost my balance but managed to push myself forward so I would not go in. Right at the point that I felt I was safe and going to fall in the water I felt a push from Rod on my shoulder and in the water I went. My guide pushed me in! I didn't go under and was quickly pulled back into the boat. He tried denying his part in any of to but the adults in the other boats all saw what happened so we know the truth :).
Karma came back to bite him though because not too long after that we hit a pretty big rapid and we lost half the girls in our boat and also our guide. I was freaking out a little as I watched Rod and the girls floating away because they did not go over what to do when you lose your guide. The YCL's boat was able to grab all of the floaters and Blake paddled his boat up to mine and had Jeni Lindley jump in to help me row to shore where we waited for the other boat to catch up and we got our group back.
It was a fun adventure and I decided this white water rafting business was pretty fun and I would do it again.
The YCL's over the Hufflepuffs made their girls some really cute tutus to wear and Avynlea had fun posing for my camera.
The next days big adventure was to play a game of Quidditch. Each house was a team and they played against each other until someone won the final game which was Ravenclaw. The adults had to play Ravenclaw at the end and despite our best efforts I was not able to get the golden snitch before the other team did. I felt bad for not being able to get it but I did try hard.
Avynlea was the seeker on her team and it was so much fun watching her be athletic and run around the field on her "broomstick". She did so good!
Team Slytherin:
Sarah Kropf, Emily Laing, Ally Hansen, Annika Barnes, Kenedy Barnes and Lynea Ririe
Team Hufflepuff:
Halsey Murray, Tippy Steele, Olivia Moorhouse, Macey Gwilliams, Aliya Allred, Avynlea Peterson and Morgan Williams
Team Gryffindor:
Echo Walker, Averie Gunter, Shanae Ririe, Elizabeth Laing, Hope Robbins, Hope's friend, Lainey Olson and Madi Eberhard
Team Ravenclaw:
Kaitlyn Lindley, Annica Kropf, Eliza Roecker, Leah Only, Elise Linnarz, Kelsey Roberts and not pictured is Brooklyn Robbins
We had plenty of things to occupy us during the rest of the week. One day we went on a little hike that made my thighs burn. We wanted to hike to a waterfall we heard about but took the wrong trail. A smaller group went later on the right trail and it took them way longer then they were told and the waterfall was not impressive at all.
It was a great Girls Camp and I am really glad that I was able to go with my girls and be a part of it.