Strong and Courageous chicas of Texas

These are the 2nd year campers that I was in charge of during the day for certification (fire making, cooking over it, knife safety, cloud formations, etc). I actually had a group of 8 FANTASTIC older girls who taught all these skills and made our camp days fun.

Our theme was a combined theme: Wizard of Oz and

Joshua 1:9, "Be strong and of a good courage" for I the Lord will be with thee, be not dismayed neither be afraid, for the Lord thy God will be with thee, withersoever thou goest.

I love that verse!

It has a permanent place in our house now on a little plaque-thing.

If anyone needs ideas for Girls' camp using Wizard of Oz themes, we had so much fun and also had some deep conversations & classes focused on "Having a Heart", "Following the Yellow Brick Road/Commandments", "Having Courage" and "Being Smart/Using Your Brain"

Here's a banner made by some girls that was super cute:

We made s'mores...

Here's Maddie's great buds: Micah and Addy

Here's the girls after someone attacked them in the night with markers... hee hee

Maddie's cute new swim suit for camp-

We had this cool synchronized swimming routine with the 2nd year girls

and a few of our Youth Camp Leaders (YCLs)

 I made this new friend, Sarah S. (who lived here when we moved in, but then they moved out; now they're back) who went to a week of Cub Scout Camp with me (talk about sweaty!) and then almost a week of Girls' Camp wiht me the very next week! Needless to say, she rocks and we have had some fun girls' time out together and our kids are getting to know each other again.

OK: this is my LONG time Texas buddy, Lynette B. She and I have birthdays about 12 days apart and we were both born in 1968. (I'm not ashamed to say it; i hope she isn't either!)  Our husbands are exactly 2 1/2 years younger than us and they both have birthdays within four days of one another. Isn't that a weird coincidence? Ted and her husband have such a similar sense of humor that when Ted gives a talk in church he looks for ways to make this guy chuckle (quoting Nacho Libre; he used to quote Napoleon Dynamite).

Anyway, Lynette and I were chomping down s'mores and got it all over our teeth and lips and hands. This doesn't show how much was on our lips, but What can I say, they're sticky!

Here we are, some of my favorite friends! and we all got to go to Girls' Camp this year!

Moi, Lynette, Sarah (top) and Caroline (our piano teacher and my secret TX sister)

Our lifeguard brings shampoo and gets the hose going and lines the girls up when they get out of the pool (or lake in years past) and gives them a squirt of shampoo; then she hoses off one lovely head of hair, all in a row. This year she got them singing "I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair" and I was cracking up!!

Out with ye olde lifeguard (me, past 3 years)

and in the with new lifeguard (Rose S.)

She is so fun!!

Horseback riding (my 2nd yr girls)

Now this is a story -- muy interesante:

These chicas are from the Spanish ward in our stake. As we got talking, I found out that 3 of the 4 of them all moved here from cities in CA that I lived in on my mission (crazy!) and that is why, after all, I learned "el idioma celestial" como dicen (as they say, the Latinos in the church).

Then the 4th one came from Mexico (which has 31 states)...I told her I had lived in one of them in 1992 and  traveled to about 15 of them during that time. And "que panuelo es el mundo" (small world saying in Spanish), she is from the one state I lived in! (Puebla, Mexico)

SO, I had to take this photo of my kindred hermanas!!

Waterslide time with Micah and Maddie!

Classic summer photo; I want to find a contest to send it to--it's perfect!

These are my Highland Station YCLs from this year and those for next year.

This is our old ward; we split last July and I've missed those I knew--

These are the darling T-shirts we had made that say STRONG and COURAGEOUS as well as quote the rest of the scripture in the Old Testament. They come from a poster one of our leaders saw in Deseret Book store i think. I love them and want the poster...

Maddie enjoys a HUGE lollipop

(her mean mom doesn't buy them this big!)

but she got them from the "Lollipop League" (leaders)

of camp. 

Last night, big dinner in the ballroom and awards.
We had such a great time and look forward to going again next year!!

I loved being at camp Maddie's first year!

I'm touched deep in mi corazón that she wanted me there

and I love being around her bubbly, cheerful, thoughtful self!