I was very surprised when I received the calling in December, especially since camp was only 3 months away - during spring break. I was honestly super overwhelmed at first, and wasn't sure if I could handle it all. With Jackson still nursing, Tyler having to be out of town so often, and my lack of experience planning events, I wasn't sure I was the right girl for the job. I had never really been given a difficult calling or assignment from church - but this was one that would challenge me, and take me out of my comfort zone. But it turned out all right - but it wasn't anything like I thought.
Before I was called, the Ward had decided on the location (a ranch aka in tents), the dates (starting on Jackson's birthday), and a general outline of what they wanted to happen. While I was expecting Camp to be the large production I experienced, I quickly learned it was on a much smaller scale here. This year, camp was just with our ward (so only 15 girls, not the 200 I was used to in Arizona) and only 2 nights (I'm pretty sure ours was 4 nights). So the "smaller scale" part was good, but they hadn't done a ward only camp for years and had never done one at this ranch so I was kinda making things up as I went, rather than following the tradition from years past. Also, since it was just with the ward - there was no one else doing any of the planning, just me! This scared me at first, but in the end it was good because I could do things my way for the most part!
The first thing I decided on was the theme, I went with "Happily Ever After - Your Once Upon A Time is Now!" This came from President Uchtdorf's talk from last year's Young Women General Broadcast. It's an amazing talk that you can read here
"“Happily ever after” is not something found only in fairy tales. You can have it! It is available for you! But you must follow your Heavenly Father’s map...You are truly royal spirit daughters of Almighty God. You are princesses, destined to become queens. Your own wondrous story has already begun. Your “once upon a time” is now."
So we took that theme and ran with it! There was lots of planning involved, but it ended up being worth it in the end ... I'm realizing this post could be really long if I go into all the details so I'll just share a few highlights... (sadly I was so busy I took hardly any pictures!)
One of our leaders designed a logo and I got shirts made for the girls in this cool blue color. Turned out to be perfect and all the girls really loved the design, and color!
I scheduled a morning at a high ropes course which was really fun for the girls - they had to work together to climb a giant ladder and had fun doing a zip line 65 feet up in the air!
We had a few classes and devotionals all based around fairy tales and writing your own story, and what steps they need to make in order to have it end with "happily ever after"
We had a skit night where the girls had to act out fairy tales, which turned into a surprise dance they had all worked on which was hilarious...
We did some service which involved shoveling cow poo, and cleaning up that swing set area shown above.
Had some great food which luckily I didn't have to prepare thanks to some other leaders who decided to come up and help at the last minute :-)
But most importantly I think the girls all had a good time, spending a weekend together away from the world! I think they had good experiences that brought them closer together and closer to Christ.
It was a lot of work, especially the few weeks leading up to camp, but I'm really glad about 2 things.
Number 1 -- it's over!
and Number 2 -- it went well, and the girls made memories they will always remember!
Oh and PS - Jackson and Tyler spent the first night up at the Ranch House so I was able to be with them on his birthday, and then they headed back home the next morning. Jackson was amazing for Tyler and slept through the night both nights which was amazing since he normally needs to be nursed early in the morning. This was the first time he had ever done that. Prayers are answered! It was sad to be away for him for the FIRST NIGHT EVER! But I was so busy, I didn't get the chance to miss him too much :-)
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