I survived Girl's Camp!

I went with the Young Women in my ward to Girl's Camp. I had so much fun with the girls. They are really great girls--sweet, helpful, obedient, valiant. I sure wasn't that good when I was their age! I still feel a little tired, even though I've been home since Friday mid-morning! We did all kinds of stuff: had classes on all kinds of stuff (fires, sanitation, first aid, nutrition, etc.), played water games and swam (just the girls did this but it was fun watching them), did some line dancing, had a family home evening lesson and activity, played games ("Do you love your neighbor?" was SO much fun, even though I have a bruise on my arm from being elbowed!), saw a presentation at the Nature Center which included a tarantula, snake, millipede, and hedgehog, watched each ward's skit (our was the best!), went on a 3-mile hike (felt like much longer in the hot humidity with long shirts and pants on!!!), went canoeing down the river, fished, made placemats for kids at St. Jude's and lots of other little fun moments. We got to stay in air-conditioned cabins with a mess hall but there were only two toilets and two showers on each wing (with ~24 girls/leaders on each of the two wings). BTW, my mom went as one of the cooks. We had lots of great food! We did a lot of walking so my back is still hurting a little (and my paddling the back of the canoe didn't help much). I was so happy to get home, put a load of laundry in the washer, take a long shower, nap for a couple of hours, take a long, hot bath in the jetted tub and sleep peacefully in my own bed without the sounds of creaking beds! I hope I get to go again next, year, though.

We went to my parents' house straight from church yesterday. My mom made baked chicken, baked potatoes, corn, salad, and rolls and Jared and I made brownies and homemade ice cream. Tim, Ben, Becky, Belle, and Brenna were there, as well. We gave my dad a new camera memory card and card reader (Kiki and I went in on it together). We stayed until the LSU baseball game ended after 9:00.

It was LSU's first game in the College World Series since 2004 and they lost to North Carolina. There was one play in the 8th inning where the ump called an out on us but the replay showed that he was totally safe. That was the 3rd out and we had other guys on base so I wonder what would have happened if the ump had gotten it right. Oh well. We're still in the tournament, as it is double elimination, but no team has ever lost in the 1st round and come back to win it. Maybe we can be the first!

Here are some pictures I took yesterday:

Brenna has hip dysplasia (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_dysplasia_%28human%29 if you don't know what that is). Poor thing to wear this brace for four weeks but it's so cute on her! BTW, I had it when I was born, too, and had to wear a brace. I never knew that until yesterday!

This is for Kiki to see Dad opening our present. He said he was going to buy that very same picture card but kept putting off buying it. And he was excited about the new card reader!
Daddy Ben with his 2 girls. Aaaaw!

Not too much going on the next couple of weeks--just piano lessons a couple of church mtgs. I'll just be gearing up for my 2 week trip to Utah that starts on July 1!!!