There are a lot of striking differences between my first year of girls camp and my second year.
It was hot instead of rainy. We were prepared for rain. We had tarps to go over the tents. We had also decorated 5 gallon buckets to function as water proof storage containers as well as seats. But instead we had to worry about heat stroke.
We were no longer in the Uintas. The story I heard was that the Uinta campground asked for $1000 a year in advance to reserve the site. We'd just been flooded and the stake didn't want to fork over money for a place that couldn't guarantee a stress free week. So this year were were on the shores of Utah Lake at a place called Willow Bay. There were lots of cottonwood trees.
The ward boundaries had been realigned. While I was still in the 5th ward it was not the same 5th ward as the year before. We had lost part of our ward to the 4th ward and gained parts of the 11th and 10th wards.
My first year of girls camp had been all about fun. My second year was all about rules. Rules such as: best friends couldn't share tents; no wearing pajamas to the 7:30 AM flag ceremony; breakfast must be finished before the flag ceremony; Sharron N was not allowed to come to camp; leaders must be referred to as Sister ____ not by their first names; no pranks; no going in tents during the day; no parents allowed up at camp on visitor's night even if they were in the bishopric; no one allowed inside tents except for the people who were assigned to that tent; and on and on and on.
These rules were levied by different people such as the camp director and the stake leaders. Some of these rules sort of made sense – the rule about best friends not sharing tents was meant to prevent cliques and to help us get to know each other. Other rules were reactions against rumors – Sharron should never have been banned from camp, but some people believed inflated stories about what had happened the year before.
In my opinion none of the rules resulted in the desired outcome. Instead there were a lot of hurt feelings and petty arguments. I spent a lot of time sitting around the fire burning cottonwood fluff and climbing trees to get away from the tension in our camp.
Despite the changes and the tension I do have several happy memories from my second year of girls camp. I'm going to focus on remembering those events rather than rehashing the misunderstandings.
The first night of camp all the wards gathered around to watch the annual “Biffy Queen” contest. I had heard rumors that I was nominated as the contestant for my ward. So when they called my name I thought that I better make it look like I enjoyed being nominated. I screamed and jumped in the air and gave what I hoped was a very convincing act that I wanted to be involved in the pageant. In reality I was very apprehensive about getting up in front of all the girls in my stake.
The first round of judging was a pajama contest. I guess it was our “evening wear.” Each contestant was escorted by one of the camp guards. My escort was “Gramdpa Dahl.” While we waited in the trees for my turn he told me to just think, “I can do anything.” He walked me to the area by the fire and then I was on my own. I took his advise and strutted with confidence. I was also saying jokes as the announcer read a silly little bio about my hobbies and things that I liked.
To my surprise I actually enjoyed the first round and I decided that I really wanted to compete in the silly contest. The second round was strike your favorite pose. I did a pose like a man flexing his muscles.
The final round was where I really came out of my shell. It was the talent contest. I rolled up my sleeves and started singing. “Da Da Da Da Da” and then I blew a blee right into the crook of my elbow. “phiph-phiph phiph-phiph, Da Da Da Da Da phiph-phiph phiph-phiph . . .” Everyone loved it! I was so sure I had won.
The scores were totaled and I ended up being first attendant. The “Biffy Queen” was a girl who had done back flips around the fire during the pajama contest. I was disappointed that I didn't win, but I was really proud of myself for having fun in the contest. Plus I got a sash that said “First Attendant.”
The next night I had another opportunity to be silly. Each ward preformed a skit. The theme was “Where were you when the lights went out?” Prior to camp our ward leaders came up with the idea to have our skit be about the Light family going out for the evening. I played the dad, Halogen “Hal” Light. My wife was Florescent “Flo” Light. We had kids with similarly clever names. I don't remember the exact plot of the skit (I think it went through several re-writes to appease all the creative minds involved) It was fun to preform and I got to wear a huge bright yellow tie.
At one point toward the end of camp we were given bookmarks that the leaders had written on. They each wrote something positive about us. Mine had some very nice things one it. Several leaders wrote that I had good leadership skills. I was surprised that they had seen this talent in me.
Other positive memorable things that year were the camping shower that we set up and used; the tree that we hung a bunch of mirrors on; the “hike” to the river; and looking at the stars. There were also several negative things that I will leave unsaid. All I will say is I learned a lot of lessons in “what not to do” at girls camp. Those lessons would come in handy over the years. All in all it was an okay year of camp. Sure there were a lot of thing I would have done differently, but considering we were three wards trying to become one ward it actually turned out really well.
Yeah, I have my own crazy stories to tell about that year. I can definately say I remember the heat and some of the craziness that went with it like heat exhaustion. I also remember spending a lot of time in those trees. When I think of climbing trees in my youth that is the time I remember. It was a very interesting year, but in the end it was a good year too.
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