Yellowstone Youth Camp

It’s Youth Camp week! I was excited the youth leaders asked Sara AND I to chaperone camp this year. Amelia jokingly suggested a combined youth camp, it went from joke to reality. Brother Cherry was set on taking the youth to Yellowstone. I hear the youth worked very hard selling cookie dough and clearing shrubs in order to raise money. Amelia was a YCL again this year along with Cassidy, Emma, Hailey, Cooper, and Carson. The YCLs met many, many times planning the trip, making crafts, and organizing the event. I am so proud of how hard those youth worked, the camp was amazing. It is very hard to balance a combined camp like this because expectations and activities are very different at girl’s camp. 

Justin started his new job with Myriad Genetics on Tuesday! He was able to get his computer set up and ready for work. I organized playdates for the little girls during the days I would be gone since Justin needed peace and quiet. Evelyn was not happy the playdates were boring. Life is not fair sometimes. 

Amanda had everyone drop off their gear Tuesday night. Amelia was the YCL in charge of staying until everyone’s gear was stowed away. I had Justin get some large totes to keep our stuff all together, plus I needed more totes after the camping trip. The stake YW leaders provided breakfast at 6 am before we left on our adventure. I had Amelia, Phillip, Everett, Kyran, and Logan in my van. The nerd squad was nerding up a storm back in the van playing card games, watching movies, and generally geeking out. I did not have my own nerd audio book so I listened to several podcasts on Come Follow Me and a commentary my Mom sent out about the Jewish Wedding Covenant. 

I was jumping out of the driver’s seat every other moment during the video on the Jewish marriage. One of my favorite things I gleaned was that the new logo of the church is like a Jewish Huppah with the Christus as the Bridegroom. I liked the visual. So cool. I love listening to Mike Day and Bryce Dunford’s podcast, Talking Scripture. Their Korihor commentary is golden, how and when we should debate with anti-christ persons. Then I listened to Jordan Peterson’s “The Devouring Mother, War, and Human Aggression.” Fascinating. Basically, social media is causing dissociation of atrocities from guilt. The separation is making an entire new group of people without morals, inhibitions, and control. I completely see that. Last week an assignation attempt was made on President Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. The guy was seen climbing on the roof with a weapon, folks shouting for police to stop him. The supposed Secret Service had tiny ladies and a couple larger dudes protecting the former president. His life was spared at the time of the shooting because he looked away, his ear was hurt. Other people at the rally were not so fortunate. I tell you it’s a crazy world out there. 

We stopped for lunch at the Twin Falls river walk with most of the youth. The trailer Amanda was pulling lost BOTH tires within a couple hours of each other. She was so frustrated and mad about the situation, the trailer had “new” tires. Thankfully, Bishop and Brother Stacy were behind her and able to help. They got a spare on, the second tire blew, they went into the closest town for two new tires. Those of us in the advance group spent extra time exploring the river walk and then the Twin Falls temple Visitor’s Center. At the center the senior missionary couple gave us all  eraser Jesus figures if we could locate 6 hidden figures around the center. That was very fun! We had another 2 hours to burn so we met again at Big Springs near Island Park. The youth loved plunging their feet into the achingly cold water, felt quite good on my feet! We walked over to tour Johnny Sack’s cabin before it closed. The weather forecast was clear and warm. Until I drove through. My weather curse held true! We drove through hail, wind, and a drenching downpour of rain. Crikey. The moisture brought out blood thirsty mosquitoes. As we pulled into camp the camp ground hosts advised us of active bear sightings and subsequent protocols to keep safe. Amanda and Bishop’s vehicles finally made it around 5:45 pm. The youth worked hard unloading the trailers, getting tents pitched, and dinner made. We found a fun river a few hundred yards from our campsite. Some of the youth are really good rock skippers, I joined the one skip group. Ha ha. Amelia and Cassidie gave a lovely devotional on loving as God loves. Brother Cherry challenged us to find love notes from God while at camp. The leaders made sure no lovely smelling things were left out for bears to find. 

Thursday the plan was to see Norris Basin and Old Faithful. We did not leave the campground early enough to avoid the 9:30-10:00 am traffic jam. The rest of the day was packed with traffic. Boo. I felt a bit frustrated that some drivers were taking detours on a whim. When communication is cut off, you stick to the plan. I saw some youth touring the little falls, screamed the van off the road to park. We ran over the join them only to discover they left already for the next spot. Some folks went ahead to Norris, didn’t wait for everyone, and went on to walk the Prism Falls loop and/or the other basin. After an hour all the youth were finally gathered in one group. My knee was giving me grief again, I had to hobble along with the super slow crew. I’m used to walking with the hyper boys, that was humbling. Phillip was running a fever, his cough worsened and he complained of a sore throat. We were quite the pair. The boys running back and forth helped energize us to reach the end. I suggested everyone stop at Madison Basin picnic area because it was already 1:30 pm. Some wanted to picnic at Old Faithful, an hour drive away. Madison Basin won! I love that area because it has a fun spot to wet the feet while downing sandwiches. I stood at the turn off for 15 minutes flagging down cars in our group. Brother Tampas’ vehicle did not show up for 45 minutes, he turned the wrong direction! I was about to call out the calvary because Amelia was in the car. She happily slept the entire way, only halfway hearing Olivia say several times that her dad was headed in the wrong direction. We were glad they made it in time to eat lunch. Brother Cherry’s group made it to Old Faithful in time to watch the 3:55 eruption. The rest of us missed it. We walked through the visitor’s center then gathered to make a decision: wait until 5:30 for the next eruption OR head back and get dinner made. The Bishop was keen on staying so he split up the group, half staying the rest heading back. I was in the head back group with a bunch of cranky teens. We perked up back at camp knowing stream swimming was in our future. I jumped right in with the group. There is a swift section of the “river” making it a fun challenge to get wet. The calmer water was stuffed with gross river weeds and slime. Wade through the slime to enjoy the faster water?! Ok! I tried walking up the bank to a calm section of the river, only to find mud 2.5 feet deep. Shiver. The youth had a great time playing football, with PVC swords, games, crafts, and writing notes to each other delivered in individual mailboxes. Carson and Cooper lead the devotional that night, talking about service. Red crew worked hard to get a breakfast dinner ready by 8:30 pm. It rained a bit that night, the rain on the tents was so lovely. Sara and I were quite happy. 

The leaders decided to leave much earlier on Friday to avoid traffic. The plan, much more concrete and planned out, was to leave at 8 for Mammoth Hot Springs. We made excellent time and mostly stayed together. I love Mammoth Springs! We walked the small and large loops. I love that Brother Cherry calls Liberty Cap, Dum-Dum wants a Gum-Gum (from Night at the Museum), much more appropriate than Justin’s interpretation. Sara drove on Friday to give my knee a break and split up the gas cost. I wanted to punch one of the leaders for saying that Sara only wanted to take control, that’s why she was driving. I set the person in place but it seems my explanation fell on deaf ears. Our next stop was lunch at lower Yellowstone Falls and hour away, not the promised 20 minutes. As we got closer some of the cars started pulling into the upper falls view parking lot. Everyone got mixed up and followed the one person who turned the wrong way. Brother Cherry’s group was the only group to go to the correct location. They showed up after hiking the trail. The view was beautiful regardless! Everyone got back to camp around 4:00, with a plan to swim and do camp things. Yellow group made dinner. Phillip earned over 55 mosquito bites on his back alone, he was one huge mosquito magnet. We had a lovely devotional and testimony meeting after dinner. Emma and Hailey spoke about looking for answers from Heavenly Father instead of Google. The OG plan was to have a short combined testimony meeting because the girls did not want to cry in front of the boys. Halfway through the meeting it was going so well that the experiment was extended! I love how the girls and boys got along so well. I love hearing my children bear their testimonies. After the meeting ended we sang I am a Child of God before heading to bed. The girls wanted a short meeting to read their parent letters. I stayed up way too late writing who knows what to Amelia, turns out whatever I wrote made her cry. This time I was there to cry along with her. The boys wondered where their parent letters went…next time I hope! Some of the shy YW including Kiana (a non-member) bore her testimony. That was so sweet. 

Next morning we broke down camp in record time. A huge grizzly bear waltzed through camp as we were breaking down tents! The bear stared down Jayden and Brittan! He ran off right past the dinner tent. Talk about heart stopping action. Some of the group stopped at Craters of the Moon. I had to head past the cool rock formations to get Hailey and Kyran to the town of Shoshone to meet up with their Mom. The drive home was quite boring, just sleeping and movies. We got home around 4:45, Amanda’s group arrived home at 9 pm. Bishop left at the same time I did, he got home an hour later…he loves to drive slow! Phillip was fine because he got a huge order of fries. LOL. 

Sunday all those who attended camp sat on the stand. Brother Cherry invited us up to tell the ward about camp and the Love Letters from God we received. The youth spoke about the beauty of the park, other youth lifting another, making new friendships, their love letters, and how much they enjoyed combined camp. I loved it all, even walked away without a single mosquito bite. I shellacked the bug spray on until it looked like my skin was peeling. LOL.