Coyote Gulch

While the girls were at Girls’ Camp, the boys had their big back packing trip of the year at Coyote Gluch.  Derek was recruited to drive down and he went with the boys.  It sounds like it was beautiful and they had a great time swimming in the rivers and pools. 

There was a very tight crack they had to hike through at the start.  Derek said he would have gotten stuck had he continued on, but they were able to find an alternative route for him which required scaling a wall. It was super hot, Derek had trouble sleeping due to the heat. Then to get out of the canyon they had to climb up sandstone holding onto ropes with their packs on.  

Always an adventure with a the young men campouts, but they all made it home in one piece.  The only part they didn't like about this hike was that they had to carry their poop out.  Derek came home with filled poop sacs in his pack and announced to me that we had a situation I needed to deal with.  I dug the wag bags out of his pack and threw them away as Derek wretched on the front lawn just from the thougth and smell of it.  

Girls' Camp

Liv campaigned hard for me to go to girls’ camp this year as the “camp nurse”.  As a stake leader they invited me with open arms.  The girls all stayed in a house in down town St. George with a pool.  There was lots of down time for the girls to hang and relax and connect which seemed to be just what the girls’ needed.  

They also had a bit of retreat with emotional resilience lessons taught by the oldest girls and leaders.  They played lots of card games, went on a short hike, did baptisms in the St. Goerge temple.

We took the girls to get free frazzles on Friday.

The girls stayed up late talking every night of course.

All the leaders secretly learned a dance- we practiced mutliple times in the weeks leading up to camp.  The girls got a kick out of it.  Liv and Star had brought down some gansta outfits and Sienna and I surprised them by coming out in them for the dance.  

We had lots of great food made by Courtney Shaw- one of my favorites a full table charcuterie. 

And the last night we of course had a fabulous testimony meeting complete with paper plate awards- Liv got the Gabriella award because of all her Zac Efron paraphernalia.  And I got the Gansta's Paradise award because well Sienna and I pulled off that Gangsta outfit pretty well.