Girls Camp 2014.

I'm going to backtrack a little to post about Girls Camp, which was smack dab in the middle of all the other exciting stuff going on around here the past month or so.

I was asked to be a camp cook, along with some other fine ladies.

(We took this pic at the beginning of May, but not all the cooks were there. We took another picture a few weeks later, but not with my camera, so I've yet to acquire it.)

We had several planning meetings to discuss the menu and pass out assignments.
(I cooked rice, remember?)
Before we knew it, camp was upon us.
My pictures are a bit scattered subject-wise (but they ARE chronological), and not necessarily fully descriptive of the entire week (I was cooking), but they will give you a glimpse of how things went down.

Our first day on the job was pretty chill.
We were cooking for 75. Easy peasy.
The YCL's would stop by and ask if there was anything they could do to help.
Such good girls.

Then the campers moved on in.

Here's Mar with her tent pals.

Lauren (non member), Cassidey (non member), Lauren (TX transplant), Mar, Taylor (non member), and Tori.

I had my groove on taking jumping pics at camp.

Our Ward's campsite.

This is Angie. She was the Head Cook. She had served as the Stake Camp Director for the two previous years, and was thrilled with the prospect of a less demanding job at camp.

I don't think being in charge of the food was it, although she promised it was much easier.

I could still debate that, but since I have never served in either position, I don't really have much to go on other than knowing how much work it was to feed a boatload of people three times a day.

Angie needed surgery on her foot, but had delayed it so she could fulfill her camp responsibilities. The poor woman hobbled around all week with an aching foot. That is pure dedication.

Misty, our YW President, with some of our awesome YCLs.

During the one break I had from food prep, I hung out at our ward campsite and helped our fine camp directors decorate. These are some dedicated ladies, too!

Mar wanted me to see her tent: all six girls in a 6-person tent.

I don't know where they get tent sizes from, but these girls were TIGHT. I slept in a 10-person tent with two other ladies, and it was JUST RIGHT.

Sara, the Wonder Cook.

(You may remember that I had made a stencil for the aprons and another sweet sister was going to stencil them. Well, she tried stenciling two, mucked them up a bit, then ceased in her efforts. She had brought the stenciling materials to camp with her, but we didn't ever have time to work on them. I nabbed a mucked-up apron, feeling it was the least I could do to show my support for her efforts.)

Although our camp area has running water, flushing toilets, and showers, we were asked, in an effort to conserve water, not to use the showers. It is a long, long story about why and how many of the new camp restrictions were implemented this year, but it was quite sad news to those of us who felt that showers were simply a sanitary issue for the food-handlers.
So a determined co-cook found an alternative:

The Colorado City Rec Center. It was about a 15 to 20 minute drive from camp, and certainly wasn't the nicest facility I've been in, but it had hot water and private showers (although small, with plastic attacking shower curtains). It only cost $2.50, and we could have gone swimming, too. Mondays and Wednesdays are specially priced at $1, but we hit it on a Thursday. Bummer.

And, despite having to share the locker room with a myriad of girls and ladies from the town, it felt good to be clean(er). Until Carrie and I remembered that the minivan we had borrowed to drive there didn't have air conditioning. Our backs were a little sweaty by the time we got back to camp, but Carrie got a great Coloradan Blowout simply by sticking her head out the window.

Back to the kitchen.

I stole a few minutes to head down to the amphitheater for my ward's skit.

They did an awesome job. (Best skit of the night, in my humble opinion.)

Legend Ward campsite by night:

Back to the kitchen.

The last night at camp is Bishops' Night. We were planning on around 300.

Bill came up to camp with Shilo, and I was granted the night off to be with them.

(Our Stake President's wife was a cook also, so she was given the same.)

It's hard to leave when you know how hard it is to serve so many!

I helped in the kitchen up until serving time, then ate with Bill and the girls, attended the skits, then hurried back to the kitchen to see what I could do to help. Those awesome ladies had it all under control, but I could tell they were exhausted. Heck, I was exhausted, and I had the night off.

The Bishops usually do some kind of skit - this year the Stake Camp Director had it planned out for them: The Twelve Days of Girls Camp song.

Can you spot Bill? In the green shirt next to the tree.

Each brother was given a helium balloon (with extras handed to them as needed), and a part to sing.
Here's a brief clip:

Then they asked two Bishops to volunteer for a game. Bill's always up for a little friendly competition.

This was the egg version of Russian Roulette.

12 eggs. 8 of them hard-boiled. 4 raw.

They had to break them on their heads.

The Bishop to break two raw eggs first was the loser.

They went through 7 hard-boiled eggs before Bill found a raw one.

In the end, they both had raw egg in their hair, but Bill was not the winner.

Afterwards the group all headed down to the amphitheater for a devotional.

I went back to the kitchen.

Clean up on Saturday morning was a beast.
We were all so tired, but so happy that the end was in sight.

Determining how to divvy out leftovers was tricky.
Figuring out how to get all my camp gear home was stressful (I packed on the heavy side since we had a trailer going up. I didn't realize we DIDN'T have a trailer going home. Thank heaven that my ward had some extra room.)
Riding home on the sunny side of a full, non-air-conditioned mini van was hot, hot, hot.
Especially to the peri-menopausal.

Overall, it was an awesome experience.
I learned a lot about the ladies I served with (love them all) and about myself.
Yes, I would do it again. I hope to do it again.

Things I've Learned About Cooking at Girls Camp:
Some people like to cook, some like to do dishes. I definitely would rather cook.
Everyone has their own way to cut a watermelon... a tomato... a green pepper. It's all good.
When you stack your trash, you can fit it into the limited-size-only-emptied-once-a-week dumpster.
You can teach girls to stack their trash, then they can teach others.
Girls and leaders love it when you dance to the Wonder Woman theme song while they wait in line to pack their lunch - it may even make the Nightly News.
You only need 1/4 the amount of pasta salad than you would calculate by "serving size."
When it comes to Crash Cake, chocolate wins. Make 4 chocolate to 1 of any other flavor.
When it comes to muffins, chocolate wins. Purchase 3/4 chocolate, 1/4 other flavors.
When it comes to pudding, never, no never try to quickly calculate in your head milk-to-mix ratios when using a different size package of pudding than you're used to. Calculate 5 (or 6) times (preferably on paper, then have a math wiz double check your calculations), mix once.
When you use unfamiliar equipment your recipe will likely turn out "different."
When you serve Haystacks, overcalculate gravy, undercalculate toppings.
You will never need 400 cups of cooked rice.

The end.