Virtual Girls Camp 2020

 Virtual 3 Fountains Young Women Camp Schedule!

June 4-6

Our direction is that everything is completely voluntary-  and youth-led; don’t feel obligated to participate in anything you are not comfortable with at this time. We are so excited to have this experience with you!

Here are the options- you can attend all the activities or choose the ones that work for your family!

Zoom Info:  Meeting ID for ALL Meetings: 765 057 1291

Password for all meetings: camp

I will e-mail, and put the link to the zoom meeting in groupme/gosple living app- if you have issues let Sister Whitmer know!  

*All Week Secret Sisters (check your email from Sister Bowler for details) Please write your name on your last gift or call/text her so she knows it was you!

Thursday June 4

7pm ZOOM Kick-off Devotional with Chandra Goodman & Kirsi- Personal Revelation and Individual Worth

8pm ZOOM Movie Watch Party Parent Trap 2hr 8min- pop your popcorn and make Hershey and Reeses S’mores in the microwave 15 seconds!

Friday June 5

6-7am- Personal ponder, study, journal time 

Girls and leaders encouraged to spend some time outside in nature reading their scriptures, writing in the camp journals, pondering, & praying. One suggestion is the grassy retention areas close by with a towel to sit on.  If you see others out in the neighborhood doing the same thing please let them have their quiet time to do this and maintain social distance (smiling and waving allowed ;-) Leaders are not “in charge” of this activity, it’s just a suggestion to do as a family.

Fri June 5th continued...

10 am- ZOOm Crepe cooking class- sister Whitmer will teach you how to make crepes! * See recipe down below so you can be ready, let us know by Wednesday if you need help getting ingredients! Young men invited!

1 pm- ZOOM Spa Day- Kirsi and Marlyse will teach hair and skincare, while we do facials, pedicures, manicures over zoom and chat & snack- use facials in bag and Epsom salts to soak your feet or exfoliate, get out any nail painting supplies you’d like

6:30-7:50 pm In- person! Small Service Project Devotionals-  We will assign small groups to do service projects, please drop off and pick up your daughters at the location assigned.  Bring water and spray bottles, hats if you’d like to keep cool. Must pick up at 7:50 to avoid curfew!!

Saturday June 6

6:30-7:30- Scripture, Journal, Ponder in nature time- one suggestion is a family or parent-time bike ride, walk or run or just drive to the Mesa cemetery 2 miles away  It is 20 min each way biking, about 40 min each way walking it opens at 7am, there is a cold drinking fountain by the main office. It’s a wonderful shady reverent place to ponder and read to start your day. 

Don’t forget: Hat, sunscreen, water and a towel to sit on in your bag is recommended. Leaders are not “in charge” of this activity, it’s just a suggestion to do as a family.

10am- Zoom Yoga class with former ward member LeeAnn Gonzalez- and Tanaya will give us a spiritual message on “Standing as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places” Use a mat or towel. Fiber one bar snack!

7pm Closing Devotional on Zoom- Bishop’s night, Testimony Meeting to Finish Camp! Keep setting goals, and using your journals!  We love you!

I feel so lucky we were able to plan anything this year. We had planned to go to Done's cabin but with Covid we had to make the best of a mostly virtual camp. I was especially sad since this was Charlotte's year and I found out soon after it would be my last camp in young womens.

So much work putting these all together!

Scripture time outside in the mornings before it was too hot.  Fun to see the Engler's there!

Here we are making crepes together!

Spa day/Hair tutorial was fun! 

We had permission to do our first in-person activity since March, 3 small group service projects.  We picked up trash and pulled weeds, heart attacked ward members and helped make burp cloths.

Kendra really misses church!

Rachelle was so happy to do the heart attacks together!

Short devotional, reading parent letters, a little rain sprinkle kept it from being miserable.

I can dutch braid now!

We biked to the cemetery to do scripture time this day!

Great, Great Grandparents Lola and Ephriam Allen

Final fireside, both were so sweet!  Chandra did a wonderful job and so did bishop.

Pros and Cons of Quarantine

Things that were canceled

MYPO- Charlotte's orchestra group she auditioned

School- nothing at first then some online and more online Aug-Oct, then every other day for a bit.

Diehl Cousin Easter Egg hunt- first time we haven't had one since 2008
Youth Triathalon- so fun last year
Swim Team- we did get a few open swim times and swim lessons

Regular girls camp

Church at the church- good thing we were prepared for home church a bit (March til October, then part time and on zoom after that)

Things we miss the most
Seeing our friends
THE LIBRARY ( can we please work out a drive by pick up or something?)- finally figured it out in the summer
Some alone time
Visiting grandparents
Church (although home church is nice in its own way)




Things we're loving
Kids lives feel more balanced- only 2.5 hours of school work 1.5 hours of quiet/reading time (mom's favorite), more time to play, practice music, read a chapter at night, watch a movie, go on a walk or bike ride, have a water fight, play board games.  School and activities can take over the rest of the year, family time and time to just be a kid has been great!  Nice at home in the beautiful weather, harder when we actually quarantined twice and the hot weather.

Matt's home! He's still working from about 8-6pm but we eat lunch with him often, he sees how the kids are doing, he often doesn't drive his truck for a week or two instead of his long commute to North Scottsdale each day.  More dates as a couple on Fridays or lunch time and more parent/kid dates too.  We order food and eat in our car or the back of Matt's truck before it got too hot.

Don't' feel guilty for not planning things or going places- the opposite in fact.

The memes were so good during everything!

Cosmic Yoga- the kids had to do an hour of outside or exercise time every day.  Having some routine really helped us.

There were some great school parades, and old car parade a few flyovers.  We were so happy to have anything to look forward to.  We picked up lunch at the school quite often.

We did lots of puzzles.  Some people had a puzzle exchange going.

We went on a date almost every week to pick up food and eat in the back of Matt's truck. 

The kids had water fights with the neighbors very often to pass the hot days with no activities and no pool.

Church at the tree when it wasn't too hot.  We'd read from the Book of Mormon do a short lesson or talk and sing some songs.  We read the sacrament prayers and had a few minutes of silence to write in our journals.  We were able to take the sacrament a few times with the Wadsworths and it was so nice.

Republica Empanada!

More tree church.

Everyone went sidewalk chalk crazy!  There were some epic hop scotches as well!

Weirdest end to the school year ever!  We did a Lemonade theme and had some fun start of summer stuff.

Matt started giving the boys haircuts!

They really needed them!

Virtual school for 1st quarter was hard!

Notice the uniforms on top and pjs on the bottom!

Orchestra was a bit tricky so we had to separate occassionally.   I would check in after every class change and make sure they got on to the next class.  These kids are amazing!

Hard to believe we were still virtual in Aug-Oct

We also started car dates with each kid.  Matt and I would take 1-2 kids each week.

First and Second grade online is not easy!

After 137 days at home, they finally went back to part-time in September 2020 fully masked with no extracurriculars.  

We actually quarantined for 31 days because Matt thought he had COVID in June 2020 and by the time the slow test came back negative it had been 14 days.  We were in Cornville when he felt sick for 12 days and came home to do the twins' birthday and finish quarantine.  Then in August, he did get COVID and we stayed home for 16 more days.  It was so hard.  This is definitely something the history books will remember.

First Day of School 2020 Online!

First day of school online actually went really well.  We had a couple issues with sound, getting on calls but honestly not bad.  I relished in some more quiet and productive time and having someone besides me teaching them again, even if they need help fairly often.  It was nice to have snacks, recess, and lunch together and be done so quickly no bus to catch or lunches to pack.  We'll make the best of it while it lasts!  All their teachers are trying so hard and so are we!  6th, 5th, 5th  and 2nd here we come!

6th grade is technically Jr. high at Mesa Academy so she'll stay an hour later and she chose to focus on Spanish and Orchestra.

5th grade is always sentimental for me since that's what I taught.

The twins are in separate classes again this year but have many of the same teachers which is nice when they forget something and we can quiz for the same test and projects together.

Miles has Mrs. Allen at MacArthur this year, we're excited!

We got laptops fro the school for each kid then added a mouse and headset ourselves.  Miles is in the front room, and the other 3 are in their rooms just during school work hours.

The girls had me move their beds to they could do this set-up the night before school.

"I am Light" Back to School 2020 Feast

Do you do Back to School Feasts?  I got the idea from nieniedialgues and Katie Hough at thehugheshouse.  It makes it feel like a special occasion and sets the tone for the year. We could definitely use a reset at this point in quarantine.  This is our 4th year doing them.  Maybe I'll blog about our other 4 years and link them here:

 2019 "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded" focus on Strength of Youth topic each month, Liahona keychain

2018 "Strengthen Home and Family" focus on The Family Proclamation topics of successful families, family tree keychain, The Redheaded Hostess had a great resource I would use to teach the topics each month 

2017 "BElive THEre if GOOD in the World" emphasis on President Hickley's Way to Be Be topics, Beehive keychain

We usually try to choose a theme that is something we need to focus or work on, then I use it for family home evening topics about once a month through the year.  I give them a keychain for their backpack (or later a charm necklace or bracelet for the girls)

 This year we chose "I am Light" as our focus so we can try to focus on sharing the positive and being a light to those around us and letting light into our own lives.  I usually put it in a frame in the main room and each of their bedrooms, sometimes one in the bathroom too so they can see it often and remember what we're focusing on.

David Archeleta recorded a version of I am light on youtube but there are other versions also.  I played it for my kids as well as some other songs about light.

 We had a rainbow smorgasbord of healthy and not healthy options for dinner, literally just whatever I could find in my fridge, I didn't buy anything for it!  Katie Houghs found tons of rainbow vases and put tea light in them I decided to use the vases I had and add food coloring to the water in rainbow colors.  It looks so pretty in the sunlight I can't bring myself to dump them yet.  We used our fancy goblets and had soda (usually I do sparkling cider).

After we have a family home evening lesson on the theme and back to school schedules, establishing a good routine, and balancing our responsibilities, expectations, worries, how to be safe online this year etc.  I had a quote for each kid to read and explain to the group. and we each wrote about some light we see in each family member, including themselves, on post its then shared them- we will add to these as we notice them sharing their light.  I take the chance to talk to each kid at bedtime as well and say a special prayer with them individually.

Excited for the new year and a new routine even if it is online for now!