Two Weeks

The past 3 weeks, we have been staining cabins.  We hand brushed the laundry and 4 double missionary cabins.  Then all of camp Esther and camp Rebecca which was 36 cabins.  It's not very hard work, but we started at 6:00 am which made it a long day.  We are now done and don't have much else to do in camp, except to run families and groups on the weekends.  This weekend we didn't have any campers in camp because it was the open house today.  

Next week we have 2 P-days.  Monday we will do some chinking of the cabins and have a flag retirement ceremony in the evening.  Then we are off Tuesday and Wednesday.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday we will most likely be running the courses.

We had our final Challenge Course party at the fire pit in Sunrise.  We had ribs with salads, fruit, and desserts.  Then we cleared the tables and got out the games.  That was a lot of fun until the sun goes down, and the temperatures begin to drop.  We had a visit from a very large bull moose.  It was a great evening!

Heartbound

Relief Society night last week.  They invited Heartbound to come sing and share their testimonies with the Sister missionaries.  It was a beautiful night.  The sunset was unbelievable.  Listening to "How Great Thou Art" as the sky lit up.  It was a night when I knew my Heavenly Father loved me.  He created this beautiful world.

Weekly News

Last week was a little crazy, as we had families on the Challenge Course all week long.  Sometimes they can be a challenge themselves.  We enjoy having the young women a lot more.

One family was really a challenge in the Rebecca camp.  We got a call on the radio that there was a fire there and all to go to the emergency channel and prepare for evacuation.  They were able to get the fire out and everything was fine, but we had a little scare.  Later in looking at the burn sight, they found cigarette butts and beer cans.  They are pretty sure the butts caused the fire and they knew who caused it.  Obviously beer and cigarettes are not allowed at the camp.  Everything is so dry, we can no longer have camp fires.

We had pictures taken of our team on Challenge Course last week.  Oh, how we have grown to love these people!  We will miss them when camp is done.  We are planning on connecting this winter with many of the missionaries.

We had work in the morning staining a few missionary cabins and also splitting wood getting ready for the winter campers.

Last Day of Young Women

Jamie, Julie, Teresa and Brook

After our last session with the young women on course, we had a party with the CLAS Ropes girls.  These young ladies help each course during the week because we need an extra person.  They are all certified and can do all the jobs.  Now that the young women will not be coming anymore, neither will these cute girls.  

Our new ATV

After a really great dutch oven meal, most of us got in our ATV's and went for a ride up in the hills.  Sister Asay drove the Clas Ropes girls in the transport.  I think they really enjoyed it.  We went up to Temple Lake, Crow's Nest lake, and to the top of Bald Knoll.

Bald Knoll

Crow's Nest

Wednesday, August 10 was the last day for us to work with the young women on CC2.  It was a day of mixed emotions.  All good things must come to an end, but sometimes the endings are hard.  

We had such a wonderful group of young women and their leaders.  In the morning session, Steve and I did the roving.  It's the last time I will work on the Wall.  At the end of the session, the entire group of girls sang to us the primary song "A Child's Prayer."  It was so beautiful, it was hard for me to stay dry eyed.  

Afternoon session I got to work the nest for the last time with the young women.  It was a good ending.  

Last group of young women from the nest

This post is sort of backwards.  I'm not very good at this blogging, and can't seem to move the last part to the first.  Oh well, you get the idea!

The Last of the Young Women

The summer has gone by so fast!  It's hard to believe that this week is the last week of the Young Women.  Yesterday we did our last training of the leaders for running the low courses.  We are starting to feel a little melancholy.

Next week we will have families all week, and the week after, we begin the staining of the cabins.  This year they have assigned us all of camp Rebecca and Ester, the missionary cabins, and the laundry facility.  This is more than we have ever done before, I guess we got done too fast last year.  Ha! Ha!

Last week Steve was helping on the wall, making sure everything was safe.  Since it has been so hot, the girls never have sweatshirts and thus, don't have anything to help the last girl over the wall.  Steve decided to put his sweatshirt on the course, and the girls did ask if they could use it.  The girls from above held it down for the girl below.  She grabbed on and only got about 12 inches off the ground when "rip!" the sleeve came off.  Pretty funny!  I guess that didn't work.

 We had a little rain and some lightning.  Here is our team waiting for the course to restart.  We have to stand down for 30 minutes after the last sighting of lightning.

Special Needs Mutual

Last Saturday we had a very special group on CC2.  We had the Special Needs Mutual come to have a good time on the Challenge Course.  Most of the girls would not climb, so we did about 5 reverse pulls.  Most of the girls just wanted to swing.  That was difficult for the Elders, because it is hard to get them off the ground enough to make it safe.

How many men does it take to swing an adult woman?  5!

Elder Phillips helping a young women

 Katie was a young women who didn't have the use of her legs.  With the help of the Elders, she was able to climb.  When she got on the log, she needed a little more help and I went on rabbit ears and helped her over to the nest where she was able to do the zip line.

This was a wonderful experience for everyone helping and participating that morning.  We all loved the spirit that these young women brought to CC2.

Weekend Visitors

One of the benefits of the mission is having our family members come stay at camp on one Saturday night a year.  It was really special to have our grandson Kai come and stay in our 5th wheel with us.  It's great having a one on one with him.

We started our evening by going to the lake.  Kai enjoyed the ride and did the steering while grandma and grandpa did most of the paddling.  We only got a little wet.
Then we went to the Challenge course to help other families have a good time on the zip line.  Kai decided he didn't want to zip.  

When we got back to the trailer, we had a camp fire located at the Sunrise fire pit.  We roasted hotdogs and marshmellows and enjoyed eating s'mores.  It was a really great evening.

That's a s'more!

Kai is trying to keep warm

On Sunday evenings we can invite our friends and family up for a visit.  Scott and Marianne Robison and Mont and Jolene Anderson came to camp last weekend.  We took a hike to CC2 and showed them some of the activities we do.  Then we drove down to show them the lake, to camp Hinkley to show them the cabins and pavilion.  

We barbecued hamburgers and watched a cow moose and her baby cross through the back meadow.  Then we even had a great game of marbles.  It was fun to have them come up and show them around.

Notice the deer in the background

Legacy Lake

Moose behind our trailer