Oakcrest.

It's about time I blogged about one of the most beautiful summers of my life.

So, this summer I was a camp counselor.

It's true.

One more thing, I loved it.

This summer turned out to be exactly what I needed. I found out a lot about myself! I came across an amount of energy that I never thought to be possible, a compassionate side of me that I had never seen, and 91 thirteen year olds to love. 

Week one I can describe in one word. 

HARD. 

I had no idea what I was doing,

but my sweet campers

laughed at my jokes anyway.

By second week I was feeling better,

and this was the week that started

my love affair with Justin Bieber.

That's right.

Be jealous.

The third week brought a group of

extremely 'scraggly' and, 

lets be honest, 

farty girls. :) 

We dressed up as Peter Pan

characters for the party.

Along with sweet costumes, 

week three decided to come up with an evil plan to zip line in the middle of the night. We executed it perfectly..

except when we got to the harness closet it was locked!

Spoiled. But we made up a great cover story anyway. 

I sure did love that night!

Look at these gorgeous girls.

Week four brought a 

never-ending party. 

We sang opera, played in the ashes after cookout,

and sang everywhere. Yes. We did.

Week five was floater week for me, so I had no campers.

And was very sad. But that was the week I found the ukulele,

so I can't complain. Love my little red friend!

Week six was International Week!

We represented Madagascar.

Manao ahoana!

Pretty sure we had a flour-bomb

fight that week..so SO fun.

Oh week seven..my crazy little ones!

We had a fantastic photo shoot in our

80's costumes, and let me be the first

to say that those costumes were

probably the best I saw all summer.

Love it.

Week Eight, I love you!


We had the funnest time on the 
foam slide after a very
adventurous hike.


I went moose hunting.


The so-called moose grunts that we heard turned out to be a camper blowing her nose.
Ridiculous, right?

I am very sorry to say that my camera broke

during week nine. I have no digital evidence

that week nine even happened..

But I promise it did! 

We had a beautiful experience with 

a special needs camper and her

17 year old buddy. 

I will never forget how wonderful all my campers were. We all worked together

better than any other group all summer.

Christmas Week!

This week was too much fun.

We re-enacted the manger scene, and got to carry around my teddy bear wrapped in a blanket as our baby Jesus all week.

Probably not the most religious thing, but eh. Oh well.

We also got to write letters to our Savior, giving him something in return for his sacrifice for us. 

We learned the ultimate importance of him being born to Mary and Joseph, and the 

harsh beauty of the circumstances surrounding his miraculous birth.

I've never felt the spirit as strong as I did that week. 

I will never forget the lessons I have been taught by the

daughters of God that I was blessed enough to spend time with. This experience is something that will stay in my heart for the eternities. Thank you for the most beautiful summer of my life, dear ones! 

I love you, and I hope you are still as happy as I am.

{{ Favorite place on Earth }}