4th year hike...

One of the any benefits of my calling is that I can go on any of the pre-camp activities that I want to. So I chose to go with the 4th years on their hike on Friday. It was AMAZING! Brother Thorley in our ward offered to take the girls up to their property above the Kolob reservoir near Zion National Park. His extended family owns like half of this mountain that overlooks all of Zion and beyond... absolutely beautiful. We drove up to their cabin Friday morning with 14 girls and met the Thorley's there. We made the hike a little harder this year, the girls had to pack in their tents and food! I think my pack was 3 times heavier than last year! I cheated last year and threw my sleeping bag into the truck that drove in the food and tents... So it was a lot harder this year. But well worth it. We all felt very accomplished when we finished. We hiked about 4 miles in and 2-3 out. Brother Thorley planned a hike that took us all around his property... there were huge hills to climb, ponds to skip rocks into, breathtaking views of the earth below! When I left the beautiful, green, mountainous Pacific Northwest to live in the desert, I never thought that I would see such earthly beauty again and it was only 3 1/2 hours away! It made me a little homesick for my hometown. The highlight of the hike was when we were about to hike out Saturday morning, we were out on this ridge and the 4th year leader, Tori Jackson, had the girls sing "How Great Thou Art". It was so cool. We were looking over this amazing earth that we live on, thinking and singing about our loving Heavenly Father... so cool. The spirit was so strong and I think everyone was shedding a few tears. I pulled out my camera and videoed a bit. I have to say that the girls were great! They go along so well and there weren't any bad attitudes or big cliques to break up! So fun to be with them!