unity.

some of my best memories from high school are the summer weeks i spent at young women's girls camp with my church friends. not just because i luved those s'mores, and obviously still do, but it was a time in my life where i had the chance to strengthen friendships, learn skills & more about myself, and do things that i probably wouldn't have done otherwise. memories like...tipping over in the canoes with my cousin carly, tenting with angie-melissa-hilary-and all those fun girls our YCL year, tight braids & wavy hair, hikes up into the provo canyon before camp for skills check offs, cooking around the stove, first-aid mock disasters, no showers, lots of singing around the campfire with those amazing girls & their guitars, sister norton and her positive + positive attitude, lots of beautiful hikes up around camp Mia Shalom, being away from the day to day distractions, and all that comes with those great outdoors. my journal records of pretty dear moments that strengthened my relationship with my savior jesus christ. in a world of mostly chaos, with temptations & severe distractions facing teenagers...what a blessing to have a program that provides safety, love, values, friends, and a path that can lead you to happiness if you choose to follow it.

in january cam & i were called (asked) to head-up the 4th year stake church young women's backpacking trip. here in highlands ranch, all the 4th years do not stay with the main camp but instead leave camp for a big backpacking trip. the past few years they have gotten away from the backpacking and instead have done things like canoeing, a river raft trip, and hiking a 14er but this year they wanted to go back to the true backpacking trip it is suppose to be. so after months & months of planning...we headed out this week with 35, 14 to 15 year old girls, for a 3 day backpacking trip...we hiked up around the beautiful colorado trail in leadville, co and camped next to turquoise lake & then hiked to both bear lake & timberline lake...

mountain man cam really came through...

we hiked some tough, tough terrain (even for the adults). we did 30 miles in 3 days with our backpacks...most of these girls, their backpacks were bigger than they were.

roasting hot dogs...the food was pretty hardcore roughing it and the girls had pretty good attitudes! day 2 they had packed bagels & the leaders carried the pb&j....they all swore pb&j never tasted so good :)

these chicks were no wimps! those who dared, jumped into this 50 degree lake...the photo below is the face they all made to the reaction of the cold when they jumped in - hilarious i have them all on video!

the things you get excited about while camping...yeah chili mac with beef sounds gross but i am telling you it was pretty awesome.

the theme for camp this year was unity...Moses 7:18

"And the Lord called his people ZION, because they were of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness." it was amazing to watch the girls helping each other over these different streams, lifting each other up ("sister kesler, i really wanted to cry on that last hill...i wanted to give up but then i turned around and saw alex behind me and i knew if i gave up that maybe she would...so i just kept going."), and pushing through the challenging times...the rain, the hills, the blisters, the "gross" oatmeal in the morning. it was a testament to me that this younger generation is really more capable than they even know. i think sometimes as parents we think our children are "too small & young", "that's too hard for them", "they just aren't into that sort of thing"...but the truth of the matter is that doing hard things, makes us stronger people. and the thought is true, nothing in life that is worth it, is easily obtained...whether it be schooling, relationships, goals, mothering, serving, forgiving...

we were definatly in the right place.

we left back to camp after taking this picture...the girls walked 7 miles back into camp...it was like a movie, as we turned the last corner, there were the other 150 young women waiting for us...epic...each group of girls started screaming and running towards each other. how sweet is the reward.

we really couldn't' have been working with better couples. ryan & dana moats and laurel & mark plumb. WE had some great times together over the past 3 days and i am grateful for these new friendships. and smash burger was awesome on the way home.