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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Girls Camp 2014!

Girls camp, my 5th year in a row going as a leader. The best year of girls camp, ever. Including the years I went as a YW.
It was great because the stake camp director is Becky who is in my ward and she's the best at organizing and really listening to what the youth want from camp. I don't think I heard a negative thing about camp itself this year which is great!

We arrived at camp on Tuesday morning. Most of the girls went on hikes but the YCL's and leaders went straight to camp- I was with them because of my ghetto knee. It was good though because I got a head start on setting up the 1st years campsite. The last two years we've camped as stake years instead of by ward. Last year Nicole and I were with the 2nd years. This year Nicole didn't go but I still did and ended up with the first years. 25 of them. 25 twelve year olds...BIG WHOA. Only one of those girls was from my ward so I didn't know any of the others. Some of them were so little and looked like they were 8.

There were 5 adult leaders for our group so I was kind of a floater, I just went where I was needed. It was great. We had 7 girls from our ward at camp after 5 others cancelled (mostly last minute :p).

So the forecast for camp two weeks prior to camp was 88 degrees with 90% humidity basically the entire week...yuck. The week before camp it said 70's with clouds...PERFECT! Well that weather app changed almost by the minute. It POURED the first three days of camp. I'm not talking about rain. I'm talking about RAIN. We broke a rainfall record set in 1948 by NOON on Wednesday. We were wet, we were prune-y, we were cold. Despite this I didn't hear anyone complain. It's kind of fun actually to be 'forced' to all gather under the pavilion and/or canopies where you make lots of new friends. Despite cold nights I much preferred rainy camp to way too hot camp.

The theme for this year was Look Up and Believe. We talked about the temple and stars a lot.

It was really neat because there were A LOT of friends at camp this year. Many girls who aren't members got to attend. One of those girls is my neighbor Eve who's friends with a girl in our ward. Our ward is the best. They seriously are. They all get along, they are all so helpful, kind, funny, put up with my weirdness, etc...

I made a lot of new friends at camp. That's weird to say but I seriously met/talked to at least 50 new people and many of them became good camp buddies. Many of them made me friendship bracelets (which was the 'class' I taught about friendship). Old friendships were strengthened too. There are so many awesome leaders and youth in our stake and I love spending time with them all.

Funny camp story-
My ward sat together for almost every meal- they sought each other out. Well other girls want to sit with our ward too (which is totally fun!). So one day we were sitting in the pavilion staying dry and a few girls from the stake were talking to me about how they don't think of me as a typical leader. They explained that I wanted to befriend everyone while other leaders just want to 'lead' things. Anyways it came around to the point that the girls would do anything I told them to do because they like me. One girl then said she would get on the (wet) ground right then and do ten pushups if I told her to. I looked at the ground and back to her and she got on the ground to do them! I tried to stop her and told her NO! But she did them anyways (so I guess they won't do everything I say!). Her pushups made other people curious and four people ended up doing pushups between the tables after lunch. The rest of the week it was a joke that I'd just look at this girl and the ground and she'd start to do them- but I didn't let her do them again, don't worry ;).
All of the first years + YCL's up at the ropes course

The intense swinging tires
Rachael doing pushups in the rain...#beastmode
Just one of the times this canopy needed to be dumped


A1 STEAK SAUCE RULES!
 So here's another little story. The last full day of camp they have these challenges for the girls to do. I was in the group, A1. So before I got into my group I nicknamed us Steak Sauce. The girls looked at me like I was insane, even after I explained it...anyways I tried to get them to make up a chant but nobody was really into it as we walked down to our first competition.
The challenge was like the show Chopped but camp style. Each team had a basket with 5 ingredients they had to use to make a meal over the campfire. Leaders weren't supposed to help at all, which is REALLY hard! Anyways my team came together and ended up winning this round (out of two other teams).
 This was their plate ^^
 They were proud of it.
 Our next competition was shelter building. Once again STEAK SAUCE dominated. After the win at the food challenge the girls started coming up with their own chants/cheers.
 This was our next station- it was archery. Some of my fellow leaders took some selfies with my camera :). My group did not win archery but it kept them humble ;). Our last station was first aid. My team won that too. At the end of the day they tallied up all the teams and winners throughout the day and my team won both the overall food challenge and the first aid challenge out of the entire camp! Everyone was calling us Steak Sauce at this point haha it was reallllly fun. PLUS the sun came out Friday and Saturday so the weather was lovely.
Just chillin' before dinner

F2 Ward Skit- represent! Our entire skit was told in #hashtags
 We rewrote our skit about 20 minutes before skits began. We ended up deciding to speak in hashtags the entire time. SO funny. We made these HOPE super hero capes and did a fun skit. It's hilarious hearing our more serious girls saying things like #chillinlikeavillan at the very end we all #droppedthemic and #walkedaway.
Quick funny story- since half of our YW didn't go to camp we had three of us adult leaders from our ward who participated. When we told the other two adults what we were doing, one of them was like, I don't even know what hashtag means! So then I got an idea that instead of saying hashtag she should say, poundsign. It was SO funny because she said it so seriously. Anyways... #hopeheroesout
Friends waiting to get our picture taken!

Eve, McKenna, Hailey. F2 FRIENDS!
And that wraps up my 2014 girls camp post. It is not complete nor does it make a whole lot of sense because I'm rushing but it's good enough I think. But wait...the FOOD. Food at camp this year was delicious. Seriously everything was homemade and they had meals between meals for snacks...

I just want to go back, it was seriously a blast.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Flirting 101

Since discovering my expertise on all subjects related to dating I thought flirting would be an appropriate topic for my next insightful tidbit.

A few weeks ago I spent the weekend with a group of friends and one night my roommate Nicole and I were up until 4:30am and we talked about all sorts of things. One of those things was flirting and how we are so good at it. At one point we were both hanging upside down off our beds....and I wonder why I'm not married... ;)

To begin our discussion I'd like to start off with the most obvious and successful flirting technique. "The Wink". You know that thing where you close one eye while simultaneously keep the other eye open (and preferably aimed at the fellow you're trying to woo). It's simple but effective. In all my studies I've never seen "The Wink" fail.

Practice your Wink in the mirror a few times, try it out. You need to be sure you don't look like you got something stuck in your eye. It needs to be a smooth/natural reaction. For our advanced readers, feel free to incorporate a little head nod into that wink of yours, but remember it needs to be a slight head nod, none of that over confident head bobbing. Another important aspect of the head nod is that your chin be directed in an upwards motion. If you bob your head downwards while winking you'll just look like you have a twitch.
Before you use "the Wink" decide which is your dominate eye. People claim if you wink with your right eye it means you like someone, but if you wink with your left eye it means you hate them...so my dominate eye is my left so in my case I'll have to be sure to explain that I don't really hate them. If you wink with both eyes, that's called blinking.

The next technique I wish to share is "The Laugh". I've heard many versions of laughter, some more pleasant than others. There is a very fine line between fun/cute laughter and awful/rip your ears off laughter.
Not all laughs are created equal and would you believe there is more than one way for a single person to laugh? Let me enlighten you.

There's the, polite laugh. A soft chuckle indicating you were slightly amused by passing conversation. This usually happens around acquaintances or when you don't quite hear what someone says so you just nod and chuckle.

The nervous laugh. Usually this is accompanied by a sheen of sweat over one's brow. It can also involve hand sweat and/or fidigity digits. We
-->subconsciously laugh in times of stress or anxiety. It's usually a forced awkward laugh. Just take a deep breath and keep holding it...

The guffaw. A loud burst of laughter that's boisterous in nature and usually calls a lot of attention onto the guaffaw-er. 

The giggle. This is the typical laughter used by flirtatious women. It's lighter and softer than a regular laugh. It's meant to be dainty and sometimes the hands are used to cover ones mouth when giggling. Guys do not giggle. 

Things to avoid while laughing- snorting, being too over the top, drooling, falling to the ground, laughing so hard you stop breathing and begin to turn blue.

In conclusion, when it comes to laughter and flirting, keep it light. Don't over laugh, nobody likes an over-laugher. Again if you're an advanced flirter you might be able to get away with a slight shoulder brush mid-laugh. If this doesn't feel natural to you, don't force it. We can't all be so smooth and you don't want to look foolish.

The last topic I'm going to talk about is pick-up lines. Now if your name is Ryan Gosling all you need to do is say "Hey Girl" and you're good to go. For the rest of the world you have to work a little harder at this.

Cheesy pick-up lines: "I seem to have lost my phone number. Can I have yours?", "Hey, don't frown. You never know who could be falling in love with your smile.", "Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?"

Cringe worthy pick up lines: "I don't have a library card, but do you mind if I check you out?", "Are you a parking ticket? 'Cause you've got fine written all over you.", "Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only ten I see!", "If you were a booger I'd pick you first."

Funny pick up lines: "Is your name Wi-fi? Because I'm really feeling a connection.", "Does your skin feel burnt? Because I think you must have just fallen down from heaven, and re-entry would have caused some problems for you.", "Is your face from McDonalds? Because I'm lovin' it."

Topical pick up lines: "Did you invent the airplane? Cause you seem Wright for me.", "Is your name Google? Because you have everything I've been searching for.", "You must be my horcrux, because you complete me.", "Are you a dementor? Because you just took my breath away."

Find a few pick-up lines that suit you. Write them down somewhere so you'll remember them. Again I always suggest practicing in the mirror. 
Don't overuse the pick-up lines because that's just desperate but four-six is a good range to be in. Once you've successfully used a pick-up line use your new-found winking and flirting skills to #getthathusband! That should be a game show or something. 

Nobody can deny the obvious instant connection that comes from sharing a wink or a laugh. Use your powers of flirting for good. Go forth and prosper.

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