Youth Conference

So, most of you probably know that in March we moved in with Joe's mom for what was hoped to be a temporary stay. In an attempt to still have us involved at Church, we were asked to plan Youth Conference.

All said and done now, I have to say that it was totally awesome. I didn't take very many pictures, but here are just a couple to capture the people and some of the sites.

The first thing we did was go to Price, UT and socialize with some residents at a nursing home. It was a pretty low-key service project, but most of the youth did a great job stepping out of their comfort zones and talking with people that really just want some company.

Then we drove down to Moab, UT. Here are about half of the girls, in our pre-setting up camp stage.

lFront: Hannah C, Rachel H, Sadie W, Mckenna A, Hayleigh O. Back: McKenna C, Sequoiz K, McKay H (oops, sorry, he's not one of the girls), and Emma C
These are the Porters.
They cooked all our food for us for the 3 days we were gone.
The food was all amazing and tasty and awesome.

The first night, some of the boys got up and shook the girls tent and threw rocks at them and were being just dumb. Can I just tell you that every single one of those girls made sure to complain and let us know. So, in retaliation, the boys that didn't participate in the nightly venture did this:

Yes, those lumps you see are bodies. We were also trying to get them to get up for breakfast, but it was kinda cute that some of the boys were avenging the girls. :)

The major activity of Youth Conference was white water rafting on the Colorado River. It seriously was the greatest activity I have ever done. I'm hoping in the next year or two I can go again with Joe and my family. Totally amazing! Sadly, no pictures from the rafting trip because my camera + water = :(

We also went hiking that day. Yes, we wore those kids out! It was originally supposed to be a hike in Arches National Park, which I was super excited for because I have never been. But last minute it got changed. Scenery was still beautiful. It was a hard hike tho, and I was disappointed that I didn't even have the reward for being in Arches. Oh well, life goes on.

We were hiking with these girls for awhile, until they all realized that Joe and I were slow and they wanted to move faster. At least we have a fun picture.
Rachel H, Hannah C, Emma C, Miriam C, Me in the back and funny hat, Bethany A, Hayleigh O, Kirsten E, and Joe.

Gotta love the packing up chaos.

Nice pose Myranda & Hayleigh!

But this one is even better:

This is Kate & Tanya helping Joe roll up the tent.

Our final activity was swimming. Here we are eating our lunch before we went into the pool.From bottom around the circle: Tanya N, Emma C, Bethany A, Sequoia K, McKenna C, Hannah C, Amber M, and part of Miriam C's face.The other part of the circle. There's Tanya and Emma again at the bottom. The back starts with Amber M, Miriam C, Kate C, Kirsten E, and Brother Cannon. Whitney C in the middle in yellow, and Rachel H in the front right corner. Oh, and that's Chase W behind her.

And here we are after the swimming is all over and we are getting ready to go home:McKenna A, Myranda N, Tanya N (with that cute pose and smile), Amber M, and Miriam C.And Trieste P, Nick G, Joseph H, Fotu T, and Chase W.

It was a really fun Youth Conference and Joe and I were so excited to be able to participate it. We have really enjoyed getting to know the youth throughout this experience and really appreciate their examples and friendship.