Camping With Girls

This year was my last year at camp. (Insert bittersweet feelings)
I feel like I've had quite the journey with Girl's Camp. My first year we were snowed in and just became living popsicles for a week. My second year was Trek. My third year, my sister was a YCL and it was technically my first official year of camp. My fourth year, we only had 7 girls in our ward. Fith year I was a ward YCL and we doubled our numbers (14 girls. woot.)
And let's see....my very last year I was a Stake YCL, watched the tire on our trailer blow up, packed and unpacked said trailer 9 times, was evacuated from Shalom, and stayed in a million dollar cabin for the remainder of the week. Yep. This week was a winner.
So this whole "getting away from society" thing didn't exactly work out the way I had hoped. Camp was not what I imagined it would be. And I won't say it was better, because I'm not sure that it was, but I know that it happened exactly how it was supposed to.
SO on the way to Shalom, the tire on our trailer burst into flames. Awesome? Yeah, check. So we had to haul the rest of our belongings in the suburban and truck that we had. It took us two trips. We carried 7 million coolers, 500 hundred camping chairs, 3 canopies (that number is actually real), and a billion sleeping items up the mountain. We became very tired and were relieved when we were all settled in and could actually relax for the first time all day. At least that was what I thought.
We went to Waterfront and Confidence Courses, ate some dinner, bonded. Things were going great! I felt like this was the best year of camp ever!
PSYCH!
I woke up at 5:30 the next morning to a loud male voice in the cabin. Scary? Yeah, just a little bit. He said, "Is there a leader in here?"
"Huh...what?" was the obvious 5:30 in the morning reply.
"Is there a leader in here?"
"Huh? No..next cabin."
"Okay, well we're evacuating the camp. The stake president decided the fire was too much of  a threat. We are not in immediate danger, but everyone needs to get out. Get your bags and sleeping bags and go down to the bus."
Awesome. Bain sort of sits up and says, "Is this real life? I mean, I just want to make sure this is really happening before I get up."
But guess what. It was really happening. That morning was so surreal. We just sort of went through the motions. We sent the girls off on the bus, packed the trailer...AGAIN. Realized that we hadn't even been there for 24 hours, and then left.
The ride home was long. It was just me and my daddy in the car. I felt sorry for myslef. I didn't think our ward would do anything to make up for it. I just couldn't believe it was all over. I came home, got in the shower, and before I could drift off to sleep, my Pa told me that they had developed a plan b afterall and we were going to stay at the Thompson's Cabin! WOOT!!
This cabin is HUGE, super luxurious, and pretty legit. And then I heard that the other wards were staying in people's back yards and stuff...and I didn't feel too bad for myself.
We left at 4:00. We got there and just enjoyed the luxury of it all. We started a movie (classic camping activity, right?) and then had some delicious dinner. That night we put together a "non-talent show" that included Rachel and I wearing mustaches and a sick....routine. That was great. We had a little devotional, watched Despicable Me, and went to bed.
The next morning we woke up, had French Toast for breakfast and then went on a nice hike to Stewart Falls. As we approached the falls, we met up with the 6th ward. We felt kind of sheepish when we told them we were staying in a fancy cabin and they were staying in someone's backyard. It's fine.
After the hike we came back and watched Confessions of a Shopoholic and followed that up with some quality girl talk. Basically my life is super dramatic, boys are dumb, and....life goes on. I'm pretty sure I told the same story 17 times. And that number is NOT exaggerated. Then we played in the bonus room. I'm really bad at pool...it's fine. Then we had some dinner, coregraphed a little dance to put on for our leaders, had a Bishop's Devotional, testimony time, delicious cookies, and then it was time for bed. But instead of going to bed we played Sardines..in the dark...with glow sticks. Yep. We rock. And just as we were going to bed, Sister Woodbury came in and told us the story of her and her husband. And so we stayed up until 2 in the morning:)
This morning we came home and I basically slept all day.
So...yeah. It was pretty legit. It was crazy, but it was fun. We made it. I still had a great time. And I know that things happened exactly the way they were supposed to. Of course it wasn't how I planned or imagined, but that's okay. I still learned, I still grew, life goes on.
So my friends, the moral of the story is: if you ever get evacuated from Shalom, ALWAYS go to a really nice cabin instead.
Oh, and P.S.
Showering when you get home from camp is NOT a debatable subject. Especially if you're going to be spending time elsewhere...with people..in public...in a nice cabin. Hygiene. Gotta love my beehives:)
That's all for now!