Lift Your Eyes

I didn’t sleep the best on the cot, but I didn’t wake up super early in pain, so I’ll take it. We woke up fairly early for our sunrise hike. I got the girls up. The ones in the hammocks were so cute curled inside. Everyone dressed quickly and we were on our way. The location Tyler chose was not far away. He found a reservoir with a nice path to it. Look at all these happy smiley faces in the morning.

This is one of the activities we brought Nova on. Naturally she pooped right away. It is possible that everyone argued over who would take the poop back to the garbage near the trail head and Tyler just took it while everyone was debating. What a hero.

It wasn’t a long hike and we didn’t even do the whole thing. However, we were walking towards the mountains so it took forever for the sun to rise. The light sat at the top of the mountain taunting us for ages as we walked.

My secret sister gave me sunglasses on the hike. How perfect!

We walked until we came to the reservoir, but people were hungry and some people (ahem...Robyn) don’t walk far, so we headed back. But look...we saw some deer.

Finally, the sun came up. We basked in the long awaited light. I didn't think we could get up early enough for a true sunrise hike, but thanks to the mountain, it worked splendidly.

We took a few pictures on the way home. It was a great way to start the day.

Back at home, Ivory had a fun idea for breakfast. She wanted to roast cinnamon rolls over the fire. Except, it didn’t really work at all. If you stick a whole cinnamon roll on a stick, it takes forever to cook, and as it gets soft, it tends to ooze all over the place and fall off your stick. The best method is to wrap it around the stick like a breadtwist, but even then, it is still hard to get an even cook. I finally took mine inside and cooked it on a paper plate in the oven. And guess what...it worked great. Luckily most of the girls are fine eating doughy things. And I'm still proud of Ivory for coming up with something we hadn't tried before. Daisy also had the morning devotional. She talked about looking to the Savior for an example.

The morning was then divided into workshops. The first was Henna. We each rolled and got a person to put Henna on. Dad had me and I had Ivory. Each person could choose whatever they wanted for their person. I loved all the ideas people came up with. Everyone did such a cute job. Sadly, we knew it wasn’t going to last long, since we’d have to take them off for lake day a few hours later.

Our next workshop was painting with Robyn. It was Paint Nite style and Robyn painted a picture before and then walked us through the steps. She chose such a cute picture. It was a moose on a hill with the moon behind it. I liked how they all had their own unique style. I don’t think I blended well enough for my moon, but I like how my moose turned out. Dad made a stallion instead of a moose, of course. Robyn made hers into a Christmas scene since she had already done it before. When they were all finished, we proudly displayed them in the front room. I love them all. 

Our last workshop was the Challenge Course. Ivory had several games ready for us. The first was minefield. She put junk all over the driveway and some people were blindfolded while others helped them navigate the course. We mixed it up and had some people move objects in front of them. Then we also had the voice change from the good side to the bad side. They would tag hands (which the blindfolded person couldn’t see) and suddenly the voice you thought was good was leading you astray. Confusing. But everyone who couldn't see eventually made it to the other end of the driveway.

Then we played a fun game with cement blocks. You had to walk across a board without falling off and then throw the board back so everyone could get across. June, Dad, and I all died once from falling into the lava. Usually it was because of a bad throw. For instance, I killed June by throwing the board in the wrong place. Sorry June. It was really fun to try and get everyone across. We did it eventually. 

We also did the grain/farmer/wolf/chicken game where you have to row everyone across one at a time. I was the wolf and kept trying to eat chicken Daisy. Yummy.

After the challenge course activities, it was lunch. Ivory’s choice again and she chose hot dogs over the fire. That was actually a great choice. The day wasn’t too hot and we didn’t’ stoke the fire too much. Just enough to get the dogs toasty. And they went down well with chips. Inside during lunch, we played lots of Zoo. It was fun to see what people came up with for animals and I liked June’s idea that you move when you mess up and you become a different animal.

Then we packed for the hotel. We just needed overnight bags. Even so, people still forgot things. Daisy forgot a toothbrush, Robyn forgot her bra and June forgot extra underwear. Definitely annoying for them. We all went over in suits ready to play right away. The drive was about 20 minutes away. Tyler was trying to find a place that had a nice pool. He had to go by pictures online. Even so, he thought the pool didn’t look quite as nice in person, but no one complained. 

Ivory was in charge of 'Lake Day' pool games too. (She had a lot to do today.) She had lots of fun games. We started with Spoons. She brought metal spoons so they sunk to the bottom. But the cards got so thrashed. They were wet after the first round and soaked after the second. It was hard for the littles to play. They didn’t like diving for the spoons. It was brutal. Dad joined eventually and he was so funny, because he just pushed people out of the way. He always got a spoon. :)

Then we played lots of other games. We played Colors where someone stands at the edge and thinks of a category. Then they list things off. If they list the thing you thought of, you have to swim across. If they hear you, they turn around and jump in after you. You can splash and fake them out. It worked on June every time. She was always turning to look. I stayed on the wall for quite a while. No one called my things. But I eventually got my turn to be "it." That game was fun.

We played a flip game like that where you hold someone and when they guess the right thing in the category, you flip them over. I was only a flipper, not a flippee. We played Sharks and minnows and a little Marco Polo. Ivory brought balloons and we played a little keep away and then I made up the game of Frenzy. There were all different colors of balloons. Everyone hits them back and forth when you say ‘Frenzy’. When you yell stop, everyone gets a balloon, but if it happens to be the color you chose at the beginning, they take your place and get to yell out instead. That was fun too. We played for a long time and it was nice because no one got sunburned. Indoor pool and all that.

We didn't take many pictures because it was a pool and phones tend to get wet, but you get the idea that we had a lot of fun.

Then we came back to the room and made dinner which was paninis with the little Foreman press and fruit salad.

While I cooked, it was mandatory shower time. We all took turns getting the only shower of Girls camp we were going to get. But it wasn’t bad since we were only out there three days.  We had a devotional from Dad. He talked about paying it forward. Once a struggling young lady was given a free dinner by a man who ran a diner. Later, when she is successful, she comes back to find that man and help him when he is down on his luck. He cried a little when he told the story. (Ha. I made it through my devotional.) We had a funny skit by Robyn and Dad, where Robyn was a lawn mower and we all tried to start her. Then Dad came in bragging that he could do anything better than we could. And he started it just fine. Because all it needed was a BIG JERK. Funny.

Roll call was fun every time we got together. The girls were really creative with what they came up with. Dad liked one I did that was a tribute to a Bastille song.

Eventually Dad had to go back to the rental because Nova was alone. He wasn’t planning on staying with us. I got out all the glow sticks and we turned off lights and wore them all. (All of them. I brought over 70!) Then we sang songs in the dark. I had all the words printed out and that worked fine because you could see if you put a glow stick near. We sang the camp song, which I really like “Lift Your Eyes”. We sang songs people requested and I put a few extras in there. It was really beautiful.

When we finished, we went to turn the lights on, but we couldn’t figure out how. Turns out, the power went out while we had the lights off. Ironic. 

It was just in our area. Tyler still had power at the house. In fact, he sent me a picture of a light fixture he installed. More irony. We went and played outside while there was still a little light. We played lots more Zoo. Then we played Little Sally Walker and Hey Girl Do That Thing. We had some people looking at us funny, but that didn’t matter. Eventually we went inside. It was almost time for bed. With no lights, we just made do the best we could.

There were two beds and one pull out couch, but the mattress on the pull out couch was terrible. So Robyn came and slept with me and Pearl. It was quite squishy, but better than someone hurting in the morning. I know how terrible a bad bed can be on your back.

It was a little muggy in the room, with no AC, but not terrible. The funny thing was June wearing hot pajama pants. Ivory finally said, “Why are you wearing those?”

“Remember...no underwear.” said June. So Robyn loaned her some cooler pants. What nice sisters.

Despite the heat, we all eventually drifted off to sleep. Even at the hotel, we got a camping experience with the muggy weather and crowded bodies in bed. I wouldn't wish for it to have been different.

Lift with Love

 Are you ready for Girls Camp?? (Do you know that I hesitate every time I write Girls Camp. It is Girl's Camp? Or Girls' Camp? Or just Girls Camp? Does it have an apostrophe? I don't know. So we'll go with the simplest form.)

As you may have guessed, Girls Camp was canceled this year. Too much worry about infection and spread of COVID. June was sad because she was our ward's Stake Youth Camp Leader. She had spent hours preparing and getting things ready. Daisy was sad because it was going to be her first year going to camp. I was sad because I was hoping to go and help out in some way to be with four of my girls at camp.

So it seemed a no brainer for us to have camp anyway. Why not do our own Cazier Camp? After all, we are mostly girls. Tyler would be invited as our priesthood and I would enlist the help of the older girls to plan many of the activities. This seemed like a fantastic idea. We just needed a location.

Well, it just so happened that Tyler had just purchased a house (yes, the rental house we have mentioned many times before) and it seemed like painting said house would be a great service project for camp. It all bloomed from there and everyone was put to work getting things together. We were going to rock this camp.

We had less than two weeks to plan camp. (If any of you have ever planned a camp, you will know this is a very short time to get everything together.) The girls were out of school so they threw themselves into it and even though we were up late the evening before doing food prep, we got it all done.

The only thing that didn't fall into place was the shirts. We bought the shirts but the emulsion we bought was a dud. There was nothing we could do. Even though we had this cute design ready, it didn't end up on the shirts. However, later (in August) our ward ended up doing hoodies for the girls and secret sisters. They ended up choosing Robyn's design, so it went to good use after all.

But enough blathering, let's get to camp!

We woke up Thursday morning and started our schedule. Like any good camp, we had a basic schedule to follow and we kept to it pretty close.

I was first up for devotional. (Dad missed it because he was picking up archery stuff, but that was important.) I think it went well. I read the poem Holes, the dream Kristen had (on my blog) and the end of The Martian. Basically all talking about how we have the choice to lift others. Then I gave them the umbrella necklaces. They all wore them all day. :) The umbrella is a symbol of something you choose to lift. When the rains of life some down, you can sit in the rain and get soaked or you can do something and lift an umbrella to shelter yourself. But more importantly, you can choose to shelter others as well. It is all your choice. (See if you can see see the necklaces in any of the pictures.)

Breakfast was yogurt parfaits and then we did some final rush packing. We left only slightly behind schedule. Here is our crew ready to go to camp! (Yes, even Pearl got to go. She is a little young, but essential in the family.)

The drive was easy and when we arrived, people got to work setting up the tents and hammocks and I got all the food put away. I felt a little spoiled. I really like having a fridge on the premises.

Tyler got out a tow strap and after some fancy rigging, he got it to support several hammocks. I was seriously impressed.

Lunch was grilled cheese. Yep, easy to bring an electric griddle.

Then we got ready for the service project. Quick, grab your weapon of choice.

Around the same time, we realized we were missing some things. One was Tyler’s secret sister gifts. He left them at home. We had a discussion this morning about how to deliver gifts. I told him you could leave the gift somewhere, have someone deliver it, or deliver it yourself and pretend someone asked you to deliver it. He said that was very meta and what June would probably do. So of course I asked June to deliver his first gift. Haha! :)

There was much back and forth of gifts. Ivory was telling me this system that had my brain reeling but it seems to work. I took her gift for Pearl and asked Dad to give it to Pearl for me. Sneaky. And I’m still a little confused.

But that wasn’t until later. First, I drove back home to get Dad’s gifts while everyone stayed and did the service project. Here you can see me leave and then the kids get down to business. They had many jobs. The goal was to paint, but Tyler quickly realized that base boards needed to be pried off and holes needed to be patched. So there was some of everything. There was also a LOT of singing. You may notice Tyler wearing ear protection in one of the pictures. I think that was for the singing. :)

Don't worry, everyone got a break here and there.

When I got back, half a room was painted grey and kids were working hard. I asked what I could do and Tyler sent me to Home Depot to buy light fixtures and miscellaneous items. Daisy was my good helper. She was great at finding exactly what we needed.

Then it was time for dinner, but no one was hungry so we sent Robyn over to prepare the Faith Walk. We studied and June sat with Pearl and explained scripture stories to her. It was really cute.

Finally Tyler called and said they were ready. The park they went to was not very far away. Maybe a two minute drive. We pulled into the parking lot and watched squirrels for a few minutes. There were tons of squirrels. It was so fun. I never see squirrels in our neighborhood.

Then Robyn blindfolded us and led us to a spot where we all sat and waited and she took us one by one through the course. I thought she would leave me until last, but I was third, after Daisy and Ivory. 

I went across a parking lot and was put on the rope. Robyn gave me whispered instructions to help make my journey easier. It was nice, but there was this lady talking really loudly nearby. I was wondering why she couldn’t see what we were doing. Her car was running and she talked the whole time. But it was okay. I still made it to the end, where my blindfold was taken off and there was a picture of the Savior waiting for me. Dad was also there to welcome me with the other girls who completed the course. Then, he left and went over and apparently HE was the person the lady was talking to. I honestly was a little annoyed. I thought he was chatting real estate and thought that it always comes before family. I was so wrong.

Turns out this lady was a passive aggressive anti Mormon. She thought Robyn was doing some cult ritual and she was saying she was going to record it all and put it on youtube. So Tyler went to distract her and talk to her. They talked the whole time and then we all went to meet her at the end. She seemed nice and genuine at the beginning, but then she started to throw doubt on stuff we were doing. She told the kids that Jesus was Middle Eastern, so none of our pictures of him were right. She said her husband used to be LDS, like she saved him somehow, and told us how she sees God. She believes crosses are good and I tried to tell her that we also believe the atonement was essential, but we just don’t use crosses in our worship. It wasn’t too confrontational, but I found out later from Tyler that she was very against our beliefs and was trying to show him how he is brainwashing his kids. I’m glad Tyler distracted her. I thought the faith walk went really well and I have him to thank for it. We have exactly one picture of Robyn setting up. Other than that, I think Tyler was going to take pictures, but he had his hands full. Still good for the kids to know that everyone gets an opinion.

Back at home, we worked on making dinner. It was supposed to be lasagna in the dutch oven. I cooked all the stuff and we layered it in the dutch oven. We didn’t have any coals going yet and I realized it was going to take forever to get the coals to the right temperature and then cook the lasagna for 40 minutes, so we cheated and used the oven.

We forgot the stick to hold the lid, but that was minor. We also forgot hot pads, which was remedied by using leather gloves, but the gloves that Tyler grabbed had a hole in the thumb and he burned himself. Ouch!

The lasagna was pretty good. The younger kids didn’t love it, but that is fine. We forgot the Parmesan at home. Oops. But I thought it tasted really good. I think we did devotional and skit while dinner was cooking. June and I did our awesome skit about trying to pick up the magnet suitcase. It was pretty funny. Then Pearl gave a devotional about Lifting with Love. She asked everyone beforehand what they thought that phrase means and then she had us guess whose definition was whose. It was fun. This wasn't part of our skit, but here I am wearing one of the balls that Nova popped. (Stinker.)

Then after dinner we roasted s’mores and starbursts. Ivory made me a nice marshmallow, but I remember I don’t love them very much. Don’t even like melted starbursts much either. Give me a pastry anyday. But it seems to be an essential part of camping and fires.

Then it was time for bed. June, Robyn, and Ivory slept in hammocks. Daisy, Pearl, and Dad were in the tent. And I slept in the cot in the house. I’m not a ground kind of girl.

It was a good first day to camp.

In case you are wondering, Nova had a good first day at camp as well. She spent a lot of time running back and forth along the fence chasing Sonny, the neighbor dog. He seemed like a really nice dog. He was trying to play with her and Nova just wanted to eat him. She may never learn.