Girls Camp

Okay, I know I said I would start posting regularly again, but then Mom told us we aren't going to have the internet until next year. We have a library within walking distance that I can go to to use their computer for an hour a day or bring my own computer to use for as long a I want, but it just seems so hard to get up and walk there. I don't know why, but it's just so much harder than just sitting down at the computer at home. So, while we are at Lizzie's I am taking advantage of it.

I don't remember much of the details that I should post so I'll just post the major points. I last posted about crocheting and that was at my dad's so, we got back to California and went to live in Pasadena. First of all, it is easier to say where you live. No one knows where Redlands is and Pasadena is pretty well known. If I do meet someone who doesn't know where it is, though I can just say that it's in LA County. It's really beautiful in Pasadena and everything (Except Joanns! arg!) is really close. We can get to Macy's in like 5 minutes. The library is within walking distance. The 99cents store is really close, too. And more. It's really nice. Diane just emailed me to ask me to send a postcard to my step brothers kindergarten class. They started a map unit and they talk about thier "gingerbread man," who is obviously pretend, running around the world. I felt very special to live in a place that is interesting to someone else. I love Idaho and have nothing against it, but no one really cares about it.

So anyway, 4 days after I got back from my dad's I went to Girls Camp. Those 4 days were probably some of the worst of my life. I am such a worry wart. I get scared and anxious about everything. I was anxious that I would forget something or that I would arrive with something I wasn't supposed to bring and everyone would look at me funny. I was scared becasue my last Girls Camp had been a ward one and this one was a stake one. I didn't know the girls in my ward let alone the stake! I didn't want to leave my books on the shelf (I used anything as an excuse). I was freaked out. One day especially after church. After church the bishops wife ended up talking to me and my mom and giving me advice for Girls Camp. She would say things like, "Oh, you've never been to a stake camp before? Okay, you are hanging out with Carrie." Carrie is her daughter. She is the best. Why is it that the bishops kids are always the best? Anyway, she would say things like that and, "Don't put your elbows on the table they'll make you sing. Don't leave your towel at the pool they'll make you sing." "Okay, who is there that you can hang out with. There's Megean and Cloe. Carrie, will you introduce her to some girls? Otherwise she won't know anyone." "I'm trying to help and I'm just making it worse." Which was true. I know she was trying to help, though. She said this all really fast along with a bunch of other stuff I don't remember. She always talks really fast. Mom thinks she might have ADHD. I love her now, but at the time I was sick of her. Finally, Carrie said, "Mom, Mom, be quiet," then turning to me she said, "Okay, here's what you need to do. Don't listen to her. Okay, just go with the flow, you'll do great." Again, Carrie is the best. I love her. Anyway, when we got home I burst into tears. Mom had to come up and lie in my bed with me and that is bad. My loft is tiny and she doesn't go up there if she can help it. She talked to me forever and all I remember her saying was to just do what Carrie said. She said her mom didn't know what she was talking about and that I would be fine. She told me about my last Girls Camp, too. Apparently I was a mess before that, too. I even said I wasn't going, but Mom made me and I'm glad because I loved it. That was all that kept me going. That I loved it last time.

Enough of before, Girls Camp itself was great. I loved it. I don't remember exactly what I did each day or how everything went. I haven't written anything about it down until now. I'll do better next time. But eveything was really laid back. My last Girls Camp we never stopped doing things. This one we were pretty much free except for meals and certain activities. At the meals we would line up for role call. Role call is this thing where each year rewrites a song and whoever has the best goes in first. It was always something cheesy asking for food. One I remember was, "There's a hunger starting in my stomache. Don't underestimate the amount of food we'll eat." Have you heard that song? It's the one that goes "You had my heart inside o' your hand!" I love that song. That's what we did for meals. The meals all seemed to be Mexican. I swear. I got tired of it and that is saying something because I love Mexican food.

Other stuff I did was just hanging out and the craft cabin. That was my favorite part. I made magnets, fabric flowers for my hair and put a picture of a temple on a marble slab. It was really pretty. It was all on different days and times so that took up a lot of my free time. But I don't remember the details of eveything. But I'll write the highlights. First, I hung out with two girls that were cousins. They didn't get along too well. Danni was at least part mexican and was always threatening to slap Katie who was short with freckles. They weren't the sort of girls I would usually hang out with. Danni was new to the church and wasn't really big on it. Katie loved to burp and they were both just really different from me. Once Katie even pulled me aside and said, "Can you tell Danni to stop saying Bradon in front of me. We were going out and he dumped me for another girl so it really breaks my heart every time I think about him. I know she's just doing it to annoy me." I was kind of thrown off by that. For one thing I had never hear Danni ever say that name and for another Katie seemed awfully young to have her heart broken. To me at least. I know I'm out of it. Anyway, one day we had extra activities to choose from. There were three shifts and we signed up for certain classes during certain shifts. I was really proud of myself because I was brave enough not to just follow Danni and Katie as I normally would have done. I signed up for book binding (which they thought was lame), cake decorating (they signed up for it, too but at a different shift) and tie dye. I loved all three and ended up with Carrie in my shift for two of them so it was great. The book binding was really cool. Someone from my ward actually taught it. She's really cool. We made our own little journals! Cake decorating was old news. My mom has already told me how to hold the frosting bag and how to do stars, but it was still fun. For anyone else it was probably new, but I'm special. :) For tie dying I tie dyed a pillow case. I was boring and made it just purple and pink, but it turned out to look really cool and now I sleep with it every night.

Most everyone did certification with their ward before camp and I missed mine becasue I was at my dad's. I could have done it there, but I was a baby and didn't want to do it. Bummer, so I didn't get mine done, but I can do it anytime and get passed off for 2nd and 3rd year next year. We only hiked one mile up to a lake where we got to canoe. I canoed down a river last year and loved it, too. And we did one game where we did some certification, but that wasn't that cool so I'll go on. Almost every night we sat on benches somewhat close to a campfire and sang songs. The last night each year got up and did a longer version of role call and it wasn't about food. Although. now that I think of it I think testimony meeting was the last night. We might have sung our songs at a different time. I know we sang them when we got a talk from a leader in the lodge. When that happened we each got a cute journal and a letter. We were supposed to open the letter alone after we left and pray outloud. The letter was from Jesus. I cried. I can write part of it our when we get home, but for now I'll just say it was from Jesus and I cried. Whenever testimony meeting was I bore my testimony. At first no one got up, then there was a line and a whole bunch of first years got up and cried about not praying enough and about this boy they knew that killed himself. It was the same boy and it was sad, but got old after a while. After testimonies were over several people thanked me for my testimony. I think they liked that mine was a testimony and not a therapy thing. But, anyway, it was all great. I loved it. I loved girls camp and came back with a huge smile on my face. Writing about it now is getting me all excited for next year again. And next year I might not be as nervous. :)