Hello, Good-bye

A quick shout-out to my main squeeze.

Happy Father's Day!

 You are the BEST.

I am heading out tomorrow for Utah.  

Yes, I just got back from girls camp.  At 2:30 am Saturday morning.  After a quick 3 hours of shut-eye, I had a full day of swim-meeting, party-carpooling, laundering, cleaning, and shopping.  

And tomorrow I'll be driving, apparently through some rain.

Here's an ever-so-brief run-down of the stuff I've missed posting about:

EFY.

And the Provo boys (yes, they're from Provo) the girls met there.

 (These boys are all brothers.  We have been referring to them as "the twins" and "the short red-headed ladies' man."  I'm sure shorty will hit his growth spurt any day now.)

Despite being sick, Lex DID have a good time.

Girls Camp.

Which could also be called Attack of the Swarming Moths.  The first two nights the moths were ridiculous.  And disgusting. 

Being the camp cook was hard work.  But I truly appreciated when Bill and Brother Willis came for the day on Thursday, fulfilling their priesthood assignment.  They helped in a variety of ways, including serving dinner.  Nice.

Shilo and Cheyenne survived their 4th year hike.  Three days, two nights, with everything they would need on their backs.

It is a ward tradition for a younger camper to take the girls' packs once they have arrived in camp.
A big thank you to Celeste.

Then those 4th years are treated like gold.
Hair washing, back-rubs, and foot massages were the order of the day.
Sorry, no pics.  I was cooking, cleaning, and packing up.

Did I mention the bear?

See that brown figure behind the trees in the upper center of this picture??  

YES.  That is a bear.  

He seemed much closer to me than that at the time.  The final evening of camp, the bears were enough of a concern to have the girls congregate in the large, central pavilion to sleep, guarded by vigilant priesthood brothers who stayed up all night to keep them safe.  That was the night I headed back home with Shilo, so she could make the swim meet the next morning.  But before we headed out, we stayed for the testimony meeting. 

This was the brain child of my cooking assistant and me.  A fire ban prevented the usual campfire, so we came up with this ingenious idea.  It worked perfectly.  Just enough light to see everyone's faces.  The only thing that could have made it better would be to have one of those relaxing soundscape CDs with the crackling fire track playing.  And a heater.

Now I am off to Utah for a week of visiting family and camping (again!).  My 1 1/2 days of prep time is rapidly diminishing.
I need to go pack.

But not before I give a big Happy Birthday wish to my only follower (not that I'm counting):  my nephew Josh.  I hope your 22nd birthday was awesome!