No Place Like Home after a week at Girls Camp

This past July, I got the chance to leave my kids and husband and real life behind for a week, and go to girls camp.  It was ward camp this year so we got to choose where we wanted to go.  Thankfully, a family in our ward let us "camp" at their cabin.  I got the chance to join with another leader and leave early.  We left the afternoon before everyone else so we could prep and decorate the cabin before the girls showed up.  It was a great drive up to Panguitch with beautiful scenery and long conversations.  We enjoyed a cool, quiet morning creating a rainbow in the kitchen.  Our theme for camp was "There's No Place Like Home" and we had a whole Wizard of Oz theme to go along with it. 


This was the rainbow that just made me smile all week long.  Each day was a different theme to go along with our main over-all theme.  Tuesday was Scarecrow/Knowledge day and we had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner.  Wednesday was Tin Man/Heart day and we had tin foil dinners.  Thursday was Cowardly Lion/Courage day and we had beefy tacos for dinner.  Each day we had a devotional to go with that days' theme and throughout the week the girls displayed these characteristics beautifully.

This was my favorite of all the animals hanging from the wall, I just had to share a picture of him.

That's me in the polka dot pajamas.  I spent A LOT of time braiding.

Thursday, courage day, was hike day.  We hiked mammoth caves.  I was so proud of myself, fitting through that little space in the bars and hiking in the pitch black with only a little flashlight.  I also really fell in love with that other leader in the picture with me, we discovered we have so much in common as we cried together.

Along with the caves, we hiked Cascade Falls.  It was a beautiful hike with gorgeous scenic views.  I was so proud of all the girls for finishing it.

We had so much fun that week.  There was games, crafts, hikes, campfires, smores, late night spotlighting in the back of a truck, dance parties, laughing til you cried, no sleep, uplifting spiritual moments, bed-time stories, and a million memories made.  I'm so grateful for those that planned and put so much time and effort into making girls camp what it was.  I'm also super grateful to my mom, sister, and husband for all their hard work watching my kids while I was gone.


And for those who want to know why we choose our theme...
Life is a lot like The Wizard of Oz...picture yourself as Dorothy.  She comes to a new world and is told to follow the yellow brick road.  The yellow brick road will help her find the way to Oz just like holding tight to the Iron Rod will help us get back home.  Along the journey, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, who needed a brain.  We need knowledge and wisdom as we travel through this life, reading out of the best books and going to school and gaining all the insight and knowledge that we can.  Next, Dorothy meets the Tin Man who needed a heart.  We need charity and love towards everyone, even if they are different from us.  We've been told to "love one another".  Lastly, Dorothy meets the Cowardly Lion who needed courage.  It takes a lot of courage to go through this life, standing up for what you believe in.  We need courage to not judge and be friends and love one another.  All along her journey, Dorothy has Toto as her constant companion.  If we are doing what we are supposed to we can have a constant companion in the Holy Ghost, who can also pull back the curtain and reveal the truth to us.  Unfortunately, Dorothy had someone trying to prevent her from getting to Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West.  Satan is actively trying to pull us off the Iron Rod by making sin beautiful and easier.  Sadly, I don't think Satan is as easily defeated like the Wicked Witch but we can constantly be trying to throw water on him and do better.  At the end of her journey, Dorothy is told by Glinda, that she had the means to get home all along, but she needed all of those experiences to get to that point.  Her ruby red slippers are like our faith and testimony and the gospel, things we have that can help us get back home to our Heavenly Father.  Glinda, like our Savior, Jesus Christ, showed the way.  There really is no place like home, whether it's our earthly home, the temple, or our heavenly home.  And I hope our young women will always remember this.