The Young and the Restless

Young Women Campout

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be able to go to a campout for the YM and YW in the ward. Last December (or maybe January?) the bishop had given the youth a challenge to read the entire Book of Mormon by this month and then they planned this really cool campout as the culminating event. They put so much work into it with some great activities and firesides, I'm so glad I was able to be a part of it. I decided to bring Kylie with me and she had a blast (and I was glad I didn't have to sleep by myself in the tent :). She thought she was so cool to be able to hangout with the big girls and there were also some other girls her age to play with during some of the activities. She was so excited about the camping part since we are not a camping family and she is seriously deprived in that department. It's just fun having her older and being able to tag along with me to things like this. Jayden had a fun little boys weekend with Dad doing all his favorites like McDonald's, building a fort and having a sleepover in it, going to the store to pick out treats for a movie party and even "helping" him build some storage shelves for me (I was so excited about the shelves, it was the best surprise. I never thought I would reach a point in my life when I would get so excited about storage shelves). Back to the camping...as wonderful as the daytime activities were, the night was a whole other story. I figured I wouldn't get much sleep because I would be so uncomfortable, but what I hadn't planned for was the heartburn, sinus infection and 9 beehives sleeping in a tent 5 feet from mine that were awake until 5:00AM! I started out by sweetly reminding them that it was bedtime, but with each hour that passed they saw me transform into this cranky pregnant monster. Obviously my yelling wasn't intimidating enough because 5 minutes later they would be laughing and talking loud again. I know I was the exact same way when I was that age so it was all payback--karma is a funny thing. I could hear every word they were saying (I learned more than I wanted to about those girls!), and it made me laugh when I heard one of them say, "you guys better be quiet or your going to make Sis. Young go into labor!" Or they would say, "do you think Sis. Young is asleep yet?" and I would immediately yell back, "nope, I'm still awake!". Finally around 3:00 I managed to fall into a restless sleep, only to be woken up 2 1/2 hours later with the breakfast preparations. Oh well, it was just one night and I'm not too old to remember how much fun those overnight YW activities were, so I'm glad the girls had fun. As I was laying there listening to the things they were talking about it made me really scared to have Kylie grow up. The challenges these girls face are so much more intense then what I went through and it's scary. However, the next day they had a really spiritual testimony meeting and as I sat there listening to the amazing strength and testimonies of these kids, it brought me comfort to know that when the time comes for her to grow up and face all those challenges, she will have the gospel, great leaders and strong friends (hopefully) to help her make it through. I'm grateful for the amazing youth program that the church has and it's been such a growing experience for me to be a part of it. I know that I definately learn more than I could ever teach them!