when 217 girls go camping

 I have a luh-hot to blog today. Buckle UP. 

Remember when I told you that we (I) am not the happiest of camping campers because of bugs aka creepy bugs aka bugs who want to snuggle in your sleeping bag? Well...bugs be darned I went camping. Are you still on the edge of your seat? I knew it.

Well, sit back and relax. I survived. Barely after hearing this stat, be it myth or a terrifying truth. 

At church I get to work the the 12-18 year old girls and every year all the local congregations get all the girls together for a 4 day camp fest. 

I was actually very excited to go because a. I love love love these girls and b. I was excited to get a little time from my bouncing boys. Here's the thing. 12-18 year old girls bounce just has much as toddlers. They be cray cray in nature. Too much fresh air? Possibly. 

We call it Girl's Camp (duh) and it's an amazing combination of fun and spiritual. Lots of singing and chanting ridiculous songs* (form the orange, form form the orange!), dance parties, skit night, games, hikes, incredible food (really!) and lots of midnight laughing. 

On the more spiritual side the theme for this year was securely anchored in Christ, our covenants and our testimonies. I felt incredibly blessed to have some personal sweet moments where I remembered how much I need and love the Savior. It's good to be reminded that without Him I'm nothing, but with Him I can be everything I know God wants me to be. 

And my guilt complex is telling me that I should admit we were in cabins with electricity, running water, real toilets and I brought my blow dryer and straightener. Saying I "survived" seems a little ludicrous.

But! 

This blurry, grainy picture of some horrible form of beetle shows that we did have to deal with some terrifying situations. Like when one crawls into your toilet stall mid potty break. 

And a few videos. 

So in conclusion, I adore these girls, I love the spirit of unadulterated fun at Girl's Camp, I like camping, but I hate the bugs. 

(And I think we got maybe 15 hours of sleep over 3 nights. Chubby bunny and initiating people to the Ooga Booga club takes time and can only be done at midnight. Camp rules.)

*I'm seriously tempted to record my 2 favorite cheers/songs so that we can all have them stuck in our heads. Yes? No? We'll see. 

**That skunk was totally dead and taxidermied but it had all 217 of us fooled and heading for the hills. For like 15 minutes. OK 30.