glamping

          Girls' camp is the best, let me just say that. For you boys out there, just know that it's secret and super fun and way cooler than high adventure.

Qualities of girls' camps in general:

• loud. oh, so, loud
• hair. braiding hair, washing hair in ice-cold pumps, jedi-braiding hair, complaining about hair
• near-death experiences (rattlesnakes?)
• high-stakes dice games (I say high-stakes because to play a game with us is to risk your eardrums.)
• cards
• awful campfire songs
• the eating habits and food pyramid of Buddy the Elf
• reek (but a reek that is mild compared to that of scout camps)
• crafts
• overenthusiastic beehives
• disgruntled laurels (see previous bullet)(haha. I am hilarious.)
• intense leader paranoia about dehydration and heatstroke
• bragging parties about sunburns and bruises
• intermittent sessions of squealing/gushing/hugging
• that one thing someone said that everyone else makes fun of for the rest of the camp
• bears/screaming about bears
• bugs/screaming about bugs
• staying up late
• the leaders telling the girls to GO TO SLEEP FOR PETE'S SAKE but then staying up later than the girls
• scary stories (all of them about serial killers and girls babysitting, funnily enough)
• skits
• tightening friendships
• accomplishing hard things
• cheerful, wonderful girls and leaders
• unique spiritual edification

This week's camp:

• so-called "glamour camping," or "glamping" (thus the post title). We discovered, however, that a cabin does not glamping make; near-death experiences on both land and sea sort of cancel out ceiling fans and flush toilets;)
• awesome cabin in Huntsville, which the Hintzes were kind enough to turn over to a crowd of messy, noisy teenage girls for the week.
• hiking Adam's Canyon in 97 degree weather (whose idea was this anyway??). Three rattlesnake encounters, one within two feet of a foot. hah.
• tubing down the Henefer River. Several of us got caught on rocks or freeway bridge pillars, flipping our tubes and getting sucked under. 
• boating. Banana tubes are a menace (swollen, bruised lip and various flesh wounds for reference). Pineview was beautiful and the water warm as a pool. The beach was also a blast, especially paddleboarding. 
• Wicked sunburns, face masks, and pedicures on Friday. Bishop Sharp and Cameron certainly enjoyed the face masks and blowing their bubbles, and Doug practiced his curtsies. 
• incredible examples of unconditional love, alacrity in the face of adversity, friendship, eagerness to serve. I am so grateful for the young women and the leaders in my ward. I know that so much planning goes into these camps; our leaders care so much about the girls' spiritual welfare, safety, health, fun. The love we girls feel from the leaders is overwhelming, and the girls are all so kind to each other. 

       Have a wonderful week!

       Love, Grace

Hot pink crocs make all cleaning more enjoyable.