GIRLS CAMP

favorite thing about the church: GIRLS CAMP

i feel like girls camp kinda gets stereotyped as a place where girls just sit around a fire with no makeup on and cry....but let me tell you, it is so much more then that

especially this year.

this year when my leaders asked for suggestions of what we should do for girls camp, i suggested a high adventure backpacking trip... and of course i immediately got what-do-you-think-youre-doing-im-gonna-kill-you glares from most of the girls....HAHA oops.

but although we didn't go on a back packing trip.. we did do some major high adventuring.

sorry wardies :)))

the day we got to camp, we took a tour of lehman caves.. and let me just tell you.. IT IS SO PRETTY.

it's the kind of pretty that just makes your jaw drop. 

mother nature is the hottest mom everrrrrrr.

it is so fascinating to me how things like this are made... over millions of years, layer by layer.

it is impossible for me to ever doubt that there is a God after seeing things like this. 

God is real, and he is truly an artist.

the next day, we had the opportunity to hike wheeler peak, yet another natural beauty.

wheeler peak is a harrrrrd hike though. we hiked to 13000 feet, and it took us almost 8 hours.

but every step was worth it.

 the majority of the hike was slippery rock.. the kind that looks stable , and then you step on it and it flings you to the ground.

 so most of the time, (especially on the way down, when i was creating rockslides with every step) i found it was easier just to walk like a little prissy girl: arms out, hands flexed..ready to catch myself when the rocks decide to be unloyal. 

not gonna lie, it worked pretty great.

as well as being hard, the hike was also pretty dangerous. part of the time you're just walking across this ridge of snow hoping that your life does't slip out from under you. 

but, i trusted my leaders and Heavenly Father that we would all make it out of the hike safely, and we did.

as we were hiking, i had one of those moments when you look around and just think "this is the way life should be"

i was surrounded by amazing people and beautiful scenery. 

i was pushing myself to be faster, stronger....better.

(of course i had another one of those "this is how life should be" moments when i was peeing under the stars later that night... but that's not the kind of thing you should put on the internet..oops)

another great thing about girls camp is spending time with the girls.

going into this camp, i was going to be the only girl above the age of 13.

HAHAHAH AKA DEATH BY TWEENS.

(you were thinking it too)

but luckily another 16 year old came and i was spared.

and actually, i learned to love those occasionally annoying beehives.

they're kinda cute….
especially while you watch them sleep as you decide if you should prank them or not...

HAHA

okay.

funny story time.

have you ever been snipe hunting?

wellllllll basically, if you're a first year at girls camp, you're basically guaranteed to be a victim of the snipe hunting prank. 

we had one new beehive this year, and let me tell you... she fell for it SO HARD

i told her that we were going hunting for these nocturnal rodents called "snipes" and that we couldn't use flashlights cause the light makes them mad (cause they're nocturnal ya know) and then i gave her a spoon with toothpaste on it and told her to wave it around cause they have a good sense of smell (cause they're nocturnal ya know) HAHA and then we got all the other beehives in on it and they were totally going along with it like it was just another day, another snipe hunt. HAHA and then the other laurel was tickling her foot with a feather and she thought it was a snipe and she was jumping up and down and freaking out and climbing on my back and i'm running out of breath just typing this mile long sentence.

anyway, it was hilarious.

maybe you just had to be there. 

and now.... for the mandatory post-experience vimeo:
GIRLS CAMP from Katie Powell on Vimeo.