Chuck and I had the opportunity at the end of July to help out as leaders for a Young Men/Young Women Super Activity camping trip. Chuck was recruited as a Scout leader since the mid-week activity fell on his days off and I . . . well, I invited myself :). It was relatively soon after Chuck's appendectomy so I figured I should tag along and helpfully remind him not to do too much. And since I've been in Primary/Cub Scouts since we moved into our ward three years ago, I was excited to hang out with the youth a bit and you know, learn their names :).
Here we are rolling into the campground near Stanley. The drive up was pretty fun, minus the guilt we felt about the Otto boys having NO leg room in the backseat of the station wagon. It's all good, it only took them a few minutes to be able to walk again :). We listened to one of the 'Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites' audio books on the way up, which was pretty good once you acclimated to the ridiculous cheesiness.
Our excellent accommodations, complete with . . .
a little welcome mat area that Chuck created!
The YW leaders had some team building activities for the kids to participate in, which was awesome. This was an activity where (without speaking or stepping off the log) they have to put themselves in birthdate order. We laughed soooo hard watching them and their various strategies. I'd done this activity quite a bit in Peer Mediation training back in high school, so it was extra hilarious to them get sooo close and then have to start over when someone fell :).
One of the best aspects of the two days was definitely the food. Chuck, Bishop Fleshman, and Brother Van Vleet had been in charge of the grocery shopping and they took care of it one afternoon while they were a) hungry and b) without a list or plan or menu. The result was an abundance of really good food. It was fun to see all of the kids help out with food prep and dishes, (mostly) without complaint.
I really love this picture. Chuck and I captioned it "Well, I guess dinner's ready . . . " on the poster we made for the bulletin board at church, but that's actually quite misleading since this occurred while they were washing the dutch oven. But that's a minor detail :).
One afternoon we walked/hiked/balance beamed on trees a couple of miles to Stanley Lake and enjoyed the views along the way; Paulina and I were pretty excited when we found the wild strawberries.
The water was FREEZING. What cracked me up is that all of the Young Women jumped right in and swam and swam, while the boys took much, much longer to get in (and even then, they usually got right back out). My original plan was just to stick my toes in a bit, but I eventually gave in to peer pressure and went all the way in. I'm pretty sure campgrounds in a five mile radius heard my shrieks.
Group shot of almost everyone before we left the lake. In total we had ten young women, nine young men, three adult male leaders and five adult female leaders: 27 campers in all!
Quick hilarious story: at the lake, someone saw this on a nearby tree and was like, "What the? Is that a camera right there?" And we were all super confused/alarmed as to the idea of video surveillance at a campsite. And then someone walked up closer to it and realized it was a roll of toilet paper. And then we all laughed really hard.
There was a really nice balance of planned activities and downtime on the trip. Plenty of time was spent relaxing around the campfires and getting to know each other. This is where one of the young men thoughtfully (and accurately) observed, "Sister Izatt, when you're talking to all of us, you call us 'team'. And when you're just talking to one of us, you call us 'friend.'"
We also spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the latrines a couple miles away from our campsite. A couple of times a day we'd organize carpools in one of the two minivans to herd the kids (okay, mostly girls) for a bathroom trip. It became a big joke because the selected listening for these trips was a Brian Regan CD that most of the kids already seemed to have memorized. It was my first exposure to the comedian, and I have to admit that he's pretty hilarious - here one of my favorite bits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpBIZgvjWmA If you don't have time for the whole thing, start it at about 4:27 and then die laughing. "Umm, ohh, you know Kevin?" Hahahaha.
We also had movie nights. Well, everyone else did. This tired, pregnant lady went to sleep :). But the set-up was awesome with a projector and a hanging white tarp. The first night's selection was an old Western/favorite of the Bishop's called "Support Your Local Sheriff" and the next night was one about the life of Joseph Smith.
Seeing as how it was a church activity, we also made time for the spiritual stuff. Each morning we all gathered up for 'family' scripture study. Bishop invited all the kids to ask questions or offer comments/insights and it was so neat to hear what they had to say. The morning we broke camp and left, we all went around and had the opportunity to share a favorite scripture and its meaning to us - such an awesome experience.
The Bishop was very set on playing Capture the Flag, so he and Chuck created all of the flour sacks one afternoon.
And that night was the battle! Chuck got out of it on account of his appendix but my pregnancy did not afford me the same escape (although I did only play the first round).
And then it was time to head home: tired, sunburned, DIRTY, but verrrry glad we were able to go!
(And as always, mucho gracias to Grandma Pam for taking excellent care of the little boys while we were gone!!)
(Oh, and happy birthday today to my dear brother Sam! I love you buddy!)
