Camp LoMia...Bringing Back the Good Times

May 29-June 2 Sierra and I got to go to Girls Camp together. We were both soooo excited to go. I grew up going to camp at Camp LoMia and I loved it. I have wonderful memories of being up there with the friends that I grew up with in good ol' 25th ward. I remember writing "Catherine loves Todd" all over the walls. (back then you were allowed to graffiti on the inside walls of the cabins...but not anymore...it's all been painted over) Sierra was excited to make her own good times. I am usually with the older girls, but I got to stay with Sierra this time and be one of her Cabin Moms. I loved it. I had such a GREAT group of girls. They all got along. They are all such good girls. Sierra is lucky to have so many her age....12 girls in her year. And, one more just moved in:).

The girls had their "spiritual" classes where they were reminded that they were daughters of Heavenly Father. They truly are "Princesses". Oh, and note....the torch. The whole camp theme was based on the Survivor TV show. Each cabin had a torch that they had to protect from other tribes who would try to steal it. You could also win immunity by completing the challenge of the day first. We earned immunity the first day. Our color was purple - for the Young Women's Value of Integrity.

We decorated our cabin with flamingos galore. Gotta love it.

We sang all sorts of silly, obnoxious songs with some pretty crazy actions. I loved it. This was our girls first year to come so they had a lot of camp songs to learn.

The girls and I played games. Do you like our face paint? That was from our "rite of passage" that we earned for going on the hike.

Of course, they had lots of crafts up there for the girls to make. This is a book made out of the word "Believe" cause they are all Believers. Our Stake Theme is 1 Timothy 4:12 "Be thou an example of the believers...in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."

In this book, there was a page to put camp memories, including one's camp nicknames. When we saw that, we knew that we all needed a camp nickname. Some girls used their nicknames from home while others made up new ones. l to r: Amber was Froggy girl due to her collection of frogs at home, Morgan was Finch, a name her sibling calls her, Sierra chose Dusk...opposite her middle name of Dawn, Alex became known as Ringlet since she let me curl her hair for the first time, Hayley was Bopper - nickname from home, Riley was Newby since she was the new girl in our bunch, Maddie was Bubbles - nickname from home, Jayne was Snickers due to the love of the candy bar, Cymrie was Ariel for her part in the skit, Abbey was known as Snipee for her part in the Snipe Hunt, Hannah was blondie for her very blonde hair, and Kadee was our Agent Squirrel after the many squirrels up there and since she is small and quiet like one. The leader in the far back became Sister Violeta since she was so great at wearing our camp color, purple, everyday. When coming up with one for me, I brought up my nicknames from home. Growing up, my Dad called my Punky Dunky...or just Punky. Then, I told the girls how Todd called me Spaz. I must have acted too much like a 12 year old up there, cause the girls quickly grabbed up that name and started calling me Sister Spaz. Gotta love it.

Don't ya just want one of those flamingo hats?! They were to go along with our skit.

Of course, we got all excited to see four deer out in the field one day.

Here's the lovely ladies that I served with. l to r: Me, Susan, Erynn (behind), Tammi, Arloa (behind) Celest, Wendi, and Kris (behind). I love these gals!

Here's our tribal leaders during one of our Makafeke ceremonies....where you write down a bad habit or something like that on a piece of paper and throw it into a fire to symbolize overcoming it.

yummmm. We made mini Smores made over a tealight one night after our devotional.

We really did have a great time. Fun classes. Good times. Girl Bonding. Testimony building.

Speaking of.....on Sunday, it was a whirlwind day of crying. First, a great lesson on eternal marriages in the Temple. Then, we watched "The Testament" ...one of my fav. church movies of all times ....and I cry every.time. at the end when Helam sees the Savior face to face. Then, we had a great fireside on the Atonement. Our Stake YW leader did pushups to buy the girls these HUGE cookies. But, it got to be LOTS of pushups and it was hard for her. Tears were shed. But she was willing to pay the price for them. Some girls said no to the cookie realizing what was going to happen. But, then, they were told that the price had to be paid whether they accepted the cookie or not. Yes, a tear-jerker of an object lesson representing the Savior and how He paid the price for us. WOW....talk about overwhelming. Then, to top it all off, we had testimony meeting at the end of the night. Boy, were my eyes tired of crying. But, I couldn't believe how strong the spirit was felt up there. I loved it. loved it. loved it. Can't wait to go back next year.

This was the morning we were going home. The very last day....getting up for the very last flag ceremony....if you can call that "getting up" when many were still in their pajamas. Do they look tired? :)

Nothing a snow cone can't fix.

The girls favorite activity to do during freetime was to walk the creek.

Aren't they all beautiful?! I was so glad that I got to go up there and be with Sierra and all of her friends. I made some more wonderful Camp LoMia memories.

Going home at last.