​I had a fun time at girls camp this year. I know the leaders put a lot of effort into making it a great experience. There were lots of girls because it was for the whole stake. On one day we participated in different stations. Some of these stations included shooting BB guns, bow and arrows, mason jar crafts, and hair braiding/wraps. On another day we had a water fun day. The little lake close by our camp was overflooded, so they made a slip n slide and we had fun with that. One night we all gathered in the woods and sang hymns. During another night we all went to a specific camp site and did something nice for them. On one of the last days, they used this chalky stuff, and we had a color fight. My sandals are still dyed green. One of the things I did not like about girls camp were the bathrooms. I was so afraid of the little whiteish black bugs that were everywhere. I preferred the last girls camp, where we only had one bathroom. I still had a lot of fun and was happy I got to bond with some of the girls in my ward.

​Abby spent two weeks at a theatre camp with her friend August at the Fine Arts Center. The camp was “Let’s Make a Musical.” They spent the entire two weeks coming up with their own musical, writing the script, taking popular songs and rewriting the words, and then rehearsing for their big performance on the last day of camp.  Abby had so much fun at this camp and came home every day just so excited and happy. The musical ended up being about two softball teams who came together to play a game of softball when a giant cantaloupe struck one of the teams.  Both teams became angry at each other and decided to build a wall in the middle of their town.  Eventually the teams found a way to tear down the wall and become united again.  Some of the songs they sang were pretty great. They rewrote words to the song “Seize the Day” from Newsies and the theme song from Friend, “I’ll Be There for You.” The kids had fun performing and the audience enjoyed the great acting, the fun songs, and the bits of humor.  

This year both of the boys got to attend Aaron's Camp which is the high adventure spiritual camp for boys 14 and older. Here are some of the highlights according to the boys about their experience at camp. Our ward was paired with the Gleneagle ward for most of the camp. It was extremely hot for most of the week. The food was very good, especially the drinks which were a wide assortment of sodas and lemonades. The lake was fun but a little too cold to swim in. Both of the boys had fun canoeing in the lake. Peter and Brock canoed around the entire lake. There were lots of games and activities at camp.  Peter's team won the capture the flag tournament. Peter almost died on the obstacle course when he was impaled by a log and was centimeters away from completely piercing his abdomen. He still has the scar to prove it.​ Andrew had fun repelling like last time he was at camp. Peter loved the hike the best and he was one of the first people to make it to the top. The boys played games in their tents at night and gambled the leftover sodas. The highlight of camp was the iron rod experience. Since this was Peter's first time, I asked him what he thought and he said, "It was unlike anything I have done before." It was a great spiritual experience for the boys and one that they will never forget. 

This was my first girls camp, and I had a lot of fun with these girls. It was especially fun because we were able to relax and hang out with each other. We braided each other's hair, made bracelets, and played a ton of mafia. During the day, we had lots of fun activities, and at night we played fun games, and we were able to enjoy the presence of the Spirit. Every night, lots of girls would gather in our tent to play mafia, it was probably one of the most fun experiences I've ever had. The YCLs would come into our one tent to give us a spiritual message, and then we would play mafia. On one night in particular, as a YW tradition, the YCLs took us out on a "snipe hunt." They made us put toothpaste on our face, and we ventured out into the woods to find a fun jump (scare designed by some of the older girls). I laughed so hard at everyone's surprise. It was hilarious. On two of the other nights, we had something super spiritual planned. One of the nights we sung a bunch of church songs, making it really easy to feel the spirit. On the other night was a girl's camp tradition. Before you were to leave, your parents would write you a letter. On that night, we opened up our own letters and felt their love.

One of my favorite activities that we did during girls camp was hiking. It was funny because the leaders got lost and ended up taking us on a longer hike than they planned. Before we went, they had us make our own trail mix with the snacks that they provided. It was so much fun, but we didn't even make it to the end of the hike because most of the girls were dying. Halfway down the trail, we stopped for a spiritual message. Besides hiking, we rented some boats for the river. The boats were made of metal, so we had to put our towels under our butts, so we didn't burn ourselves. It was a lot of fun. The leaders brought watermelon, and we even found a dead fish just floating along in the river. On our last day, we went to these natural water slides. They were covered in moss and actually quite gross, but they were still fun. I never went into the pool at the bottom of the slides, but I did repeatedly go down them. At one point, our leaders had ruined them by knocking down some rocks that continued the flow of the water, so they had to fix it by putting all of the rocks back. Overall, my first girls camp exceeded my expectations, and I probably had too much fun.