Give me S’more “Death by Chocolate”, but only enough to put me in critical condition…

I just got back from our Stake Girls’ Camp. We camped at Agnes Arnold, which is a girl scout camp situated around a private lake, with a purple hippo for a mascot. I was one of two leaders over the 5th year junior counselors. 5th years have many responsibilities and leadership opportunities at camp, and there’s lots of preparation before camp, but I always feel like they don’t really need me much once we get there, because they are so self-motivated. Technically this year I was a “stake leader”, and wouldn’t have been with the girls, but the father of one of our original 5th year leaders got very ill with cancer and she had to travel to California to be with him, so I got to do it.

My 5th year group got to stay at the cutest area in camp, in cabins arranged like cottages in a fishing village, set next to a lighthouse, right on the lake. The only downer of being in the fishing village is that it’s situated waaaaaaaay the heck and gone through the woods and around the lake and up a big hill from the lodge, office, pool, infirmary, canoes, ice machine, craft cabins, parking lot, and everyone else in camp. So since normally I don’t walk up and down hills (this being the flat part of Texas), after about a day there I felt muscles working in my legs that I don’t normally use. The camp has these big wagon-like carts that you can use to haul belongings in, and we’ve discovered that although it’s a bit difficult to pull them uphill, it’s much harder to keep them from running you over on the way DOWN the hill, especially when they are filled with water or food coolers, fans, or other heavy gear. The carts have large wheels and when they are rolled along the dirt paths, they are rather loud. Several times at night I was out walking with another leader or girl, carrying flashlights and pulling a cart, and thought there was a car behind us on the road because of the double lights and wheel noise.
Our theme was Romans 13:12 “Put on the Armour of Light”, and the idea was to protect us from the evil around us, we need to be prepared and strengthened with spiritual armor: prayer, truth, following the commandments, working on the Young Women values. Each ward chose one of the 8 values/colors and made a banner, and we had kind of a medieval knight/princess theme. One of my responsibilities as a stake leader was to do an uplifting presentation on the theme. It was about 8 minutes long and was focused on a princess going on a quest, following in the footsteps of her older brother (Jesus Christ) and wearing his armour, with a focus on the developing spiritual strength with the YW values of Faith, Divine Nature, Choice and Accountability, Knowledge, Good Works, Integrity, Individual Worth, and Virtue.

Our camp director, Sister Olsen, is a high school teacher and really believes in maintaining order. She is never speechless. One of the rules at camps is that no girls are to have cell phones. What we discovered is that most of the girls normally use their cell phones for watches and alarm clocks, and since there’s a schedule at camp, they then have to rely on leaders to tell them what time it was. Sister Olsen announced one evening to the group that breakfast would be at 8am exactly, and anyone who came more than 15 minutes late risked not getting breakfast. One of the girls queried, “But Sister Olsen, we don’t have our cell phones…how will we know what time it is?” After a short pause, Sister Olsen said loudly, “USE THE SUN!!!” and quickly dismissed the girls.

Along with the no cell phone rule, there’s also a rule against pranks of any kind, and if this rule is broken (and it sometimes is) there are consequences. Traditionally there’s been a rivalry between the 5th and 6th year junior counselors, and in past years there have been mattresses put in the rafters, underwear in the lighthouse, and other unacceptable pranks. I laid down the law with my girls this year before camp, telling them they were NOT to prank the 6th years. The day my 5th years went to their High Ropes course, our campsite bathroom was pranked. The toilet paper and soap were removed and hidden, and sticks and other lovely items were put into our toilets. Unfortunately, since we shared the campsite with two other wards, and my 5th years were gone, the prank was discovered by the other wards’ leaders, two of whom are pregnant, so it actually didn’t affect the 5th years as intended. The 6th years claimed that one of their mattresses was put into their bathroom by the 5th years, but it turned out that that prank had been done by the younger 2nd year sibling of a 6th year. The 6th years were promptly marched up to our bathroom by their leaders and made to clean up their prank, restore the missing items, and apologize to all those affected, and my 5th years got together on their own and decided that there would be no retaliation on their part. I was proud of them.

Camping in August in Texas is really hot, and there was a burn ban on, which meant no fires, and several of our activities were moved indoors due to heat advisories. A couple of times, it rained. When it did, I made a point of going out in it because it felt so good. Like “Singing in the Rain” good. Really the only reason I even brought a poncho is to protect my camera and any paperwork and food I needed to carry. I also wore a bandana around my neck, which I kept wet with cold water to stay cool.

Due to the burn ban, which included charcoal, all our cooking had to be done on a camp stove. Since we couldn’t have regular S’Mores (propane-flavored marshmallows = not delicious), the 5th years made S’Mores Pie for the dessert cookoff. I got the idea from someone on Yahoo Answers, who posted the suggestion after I asked what fabulous dessert could be made on a camp stove with a burn ban on. It came out really delicious and set up well. I did have to adapt the recipe since it called for regular cream, whipped, and since we don’t have electrical outlets in our kitchen area, we couldn’t use a mixer. So we used Extra Creamy Cool Whip instead, which has sugar in it, so it was sweeter than usual (but what’s sweeter than a S’More after all?). We won the “Death By Chocolate” award. We also made no-bake cookies, and popcorn in my hand-crank popper.

Quite a few bugs and snakes appeared this year. Pat caught a pair of walking sticks and kept them in the fridge for storage in a baggie one day to keep them from escaping before she showed the girls. There was a huge spider down by the lake that the girls named Parker and fed insects to. We saw coral snakes, garter snakes, and copperheads. There was a young copperhead killed right near my cabin, and one of my 5th years stepped on a snake as well. We also have a rule that only closed toe shoes are to be worn in camp, and since the girls followed that rule, no one was bitten and we had no E.R. visits this year, making the nurse very happy.

We had very few sick girls at camp, although one of my 5th years did wake me up one morning at 5am because she had thrown up. We got her to the nurse. After she threw up she felt perfectly fine. We couldn’t figure out what had happened. She had gone to Ropes the previous day which included climbing and zip lining in the heat, and then she came back and ate a big dinner and lots of dessert, and her mother said that when she gets off her normal eating routine, sometimes she throws up. Then later on, she mentioned that BEFORE she even had dinner she had eaten goldfish, trail mix, gummy worms, pop etc etc until she felt bloated….the girls apparently had a junk food fest with snacks they brought from home. After that I didn’t really worry any more.

We had really wonderful food in the mess hall this year, thanks to Sister Arnold from our ward, who served as camp cook. A self-proclaimed bake-a-holic, she did the groom’s cake for Brittany’s reception. At camp we had homemade Cinnabon rolls, homemade mac and cheese and bbq chicken, jello poke cake, pasta al forno, and the last night we had a choice of dessert: homemade chocolate cake from scratch, or homemade NY cheesecake with strawberry glaze. The cheesecake was the best I’ve ever eaten, including the cheesecake I had when I was actually IN New York. When Sister Olsen brought the cooks on stage at the end of camp, all the girls gave her a standing ovation. When the rangers checked us out at the end of camp, we gave them each a piece of cheesecake . They were very appreciative.

At the lake where we water-skied, I talked with one of the rangers there, who mentioned that the dead body of a staff member had been discovered in the immediate area in recent weeks. He had been stabbed and stashed in the underbrush in a nearby wooded area, and it seemed to be gang-related. We took the trail mix I made to the lake. The girls said it was the best trail mix ever, but I think that’s just because they’d been water-skiing and swimming and it made them hungrier.

My church calling is kind of in limbo right now. Last Sunday the Stake YW president and the first counselor both got sustained as seminary teachers for fall. But they weren’t officially released. Seminary teachers can’t have another calling, so even though she’s still Stake YW President, she can’t be. She’s done. I’m hoping that next week at stake conference the new Stake YW President will be put in, so I know what happens to me. Am I in or out? Do the secretary and I have to run the show during the transition? I’m not stressing about it until next week. If I am released, I don’t fear any calling they could deal me. I’ve been librarian, Relief Society President, seminary teacher, and stake yw. What could they give me worse than that? Besides, I happen to know our ward is REALLY in need of a new Primary pianist….

Trail Mix:
Mixed Nuts, Honey Nut Cheerios, Dried Cranberries, M&Ms, stick pretzels

S’Mores Pie:
(a.k.a "Death By Chocolate" Pie)
1 (8 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
2 cups (12 oz package) chocolate chips
3 cups miniature marshmallows, divided
1/3 cup milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
Directions: Heat 1 ¾ cups of the chocolate chips, 1 cup of the marshmallows, and milk in a medium, heavy duty saucepan over low heat, stirring until marshmallows are melted. Do not overheat. Pour into a large bowl and cool to room temperature.
Whip cream in small mixer bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold 3 cups whipped cream and remaining marshmallows into chocolate mixture. Spoon into crust; swirl top. Garnish with remaining whipped cream and remaining chocolate chips.

“Funny Camping Tip 5:
In emergency situations, you can survive in the wilderness by shooting small game with a slingshot made from the elastic waistband of your underwear. “