Trimble Times

Last week was our ward youth conference at Bear Lake.  We have spent the last month planning for it and it was nice to get up there and see it all come together.  The theme was survivor so we split them into two tribes and gave them bandanas and shirts (courtesy of Jeff).

I rode up on Thursday with one of the other leaders.  Everyone else had gone up on Wednesday. When we got to Bear Lake, it was freezing.  I had been watching the weather and knew it was going to be a cold week so I had plenty of warm clothes.  I have to admit that it worked out nice missing the first night considering they got rained on and were freezing cold.  The YW were in charge of Thursday so we had the youth play Survivor games on the beach.  They turned out really well.  I forgot how competitive the youth can be.  We had a sand castle building contest, a couple of relays, a human pyramid contest, and my favorite--the eating competition.


 The kids had to race the person on the other team to eat whatever was on the plate in front of them first.  Some of the items were a glob of mayo, boiled eggs, tuna fish, jalapeno peppers, pickles, and cans of pop.  I was surprised they ate everything--I was gagging just watching them.

We gave them some free time at the beach and then headed back to camp. We made taco salad for dinner.  That night, we were in charge of a fireside.  We did a hold to the rod theme and had them walk blindfolded while holding on to a rope.  The bishop gave a devotional after. I thought it turned out well minus the two kids who fell in the fire pit--there was no fire, but there were sharp rocks.

Friday and Saturday the YM were in charge.  We went to Minnetonka Caves on Friday and then spent the rest of the day at the lake.  We had temperatures around 75.  It was a perfect day for boating and warming up.  The girls talked me and Natalie (YW pres) into going on the 5 person water weenie.  Bad idea--we kept trying to tell the drivers to cut it and that we were done, but apparently they thought that meant we wanted to die(that's what they claimed).  We all ended up in the freezing water.  I don't remember ever being that cold--I couldn't breath for what felt like forever.  It was SO stinking cold.
Here is Nad-Brad at the beach (the girls gave us nicknames-mine was A-train):

We got shakes and had yummy dutch oven cooking on Friday night.  Everyone got fried that day and one of our girls got really dehydrated.  We thought we were going to have to take her to the ER, but after drinking a ton and getting a priesthood blessing, she improved enough.  It was a crazy night, but the youth wanted to do a testimony meeting anyway.  It was awesome and so spiritual.  Our ward is lucky to have such amazing youth--they are so strong and I have learned so much from them.   It was fun being on a sort of mini vacation.  I had so much fun getting to know the girls better.  We played games, talked, and did hair trains.  One of the girls told me I looked like death when we were up till 1 am.  Guess that's what happens when you're a mom and not used to staying up so late every night.

Remember the days in high school when you had to go the restroom in a group-well we did that too. We smelled like campfire by the end and it was so nice to shower once we were home.  I thought it was a perfect mix of fun and spiritualness and I hope it is something the youth will always remember.