Black Hawk

I was invited to go to girls camp this year as the "camp nurse." I haven't been to girls camp since I was 17 years old. That was a long time ago and girls camp has changed a lot since then. And I mean a lot.

This was Kara's last year at camp, so I agreed to be the nurse. I agreed so that I could watch her, so I could commune with nature, so I could hone my nursing skills and so I could sleep in a tent and not bathe for a week. (I hated that last part when I was 17 and I still hate it now.) But they needed a nurse, so I packed my bag, charged my electric toothbrush and I headed for the hills.

Kara was an amazing YCL. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her lead her girls. She read scriptures with them, she talked with them, she laughed with them. She set up a tent with them.

I, on the other hand, was busy doing important nursing things. Like introducing the girls to Tillie, our camp mascot.

Tillie and I met at DI a few weeks before camp. I was actually looking for a bone to use in my mock disaster and I stumbled upon a whole pile of bones which turned out to be Tillie. Instead of taking her apart and using just pieces of her, I decided to put a bow on her head, add some google eyes and eyelashes and bring her along. She was a great addition to camp Black hawk.










Every day Tillie could be found in a new place. Sitting in a camp chair by the fire, lying in someones sleeping bag, hanging out by the food table eating gummy bears (as in the picture above) or soaring over the secret sister depository Superman style. Tillie felt right at home at camp and everyone enjoyed having her there. I'm glad she came.

Other than bringing Tillie, I was in charge of the mock disaster with Kara. We planned out the scenarios, brought the props, gave the YCL actors their scripts and then we let the disasters begin. Here the girls are taking care of a bear and snake attack victim, who also had been hiking in the snow and had hypothermia, poor thing.

This one fell in the fire and burned her hands. The screaming and writhing was so believable. I think she scared some of the Beehives.

Honestly, Kara deserved an Oscar for her performance as a compound leg fracture victim who had just fallen out of a tree. (Do you see the little bone sticking out of her jeans?)
The girls did great and successfully treated all of the victims at all six stations. (Most likely due to the incredible pre-camp first aid lessons they received.)

It wasn't all blood and guts though. We had time for a few other activities.

Like glitter nails. (Trevor laughed out loud when he saw this picture.)

Or how about making flower clips. Yes, that is a glue gun in the lower left corner. Yes, we brought a generator for our glue guns. (Okay, now Trevor really laughed, where's the stick whittling or fish gutting, a far cry from his rugged Scout camp!)

We did do some campy things, like a big long hike. At this point in the hike I started singing "Climb Every Mountain" at the top of my lungs. (Do you think I will get invited back next year?)

We also did a little canoeing. That's outdoorsy, right?

Despite the lack of sleep, greasy hair and pasty white face with no makeup (notice I did not include any pictures of myself in this post) I had a fabulous time with these girls and the wonderful women who lead them. I ate well, talked til late in the night, laughed a lot, and felt the spirit often.

And thankfully, my prayers were answered and I only needed to perform minimal nursing care.

I especially loved spending the week with my Kara. Her girls camp days are over. Where does the time go? I was grateful to be a part of her last camp experience.

We are a good team.

We are friends.

We are campers! (at least I keep telling myself that)