Joshua Tree weekend!

let me start off by saying jtree was amazing!
ill try to go in somewhat of an order-
thursday:
-arrived at school about 6:30
-packed the bus (the bus was one of the super old ones that are really short, so it was a tight squeeze, but that made it all the more fun)
-the ride took about 3-3.5 hours, i sat next to amy, and across from jessica, and we decided we all need to do something over Christmas break!
-when we arrived, we unloaded the bus, and then set up the tents. thankfully it was almost a full moon, so we had plenty of light :)
-the weather was amazing. cold, but not as bad as i expected. im guessing 40s?
-after we had set up tents (oh, i was in a tent with heidi, sasha, erin, and amy) we sat around the camp fire
Friday:
-woke up about 6:45
-pancakes for breakfast
-helped clean up the breakfast mess
-we had alone time, where they handed us a paper to read, and we basically went off by ourselves to read them and think about tit
-we were split into 4 teams (mine was marlena, erin, jacob, and susan)
-my team and one other went on a hike in the morning while the other two went climbing. the hike was brutal! im glad i made it out alive:) our leaders were so intense- they just kept going and going- i dont think they realized we hadnt been doing this as long as they had. but after a fun 2.5 hours we all made it out alive!
-we then went back down to where they were climbing and swapped places.
- i started off by learning systems,
-and then climbed. once. just once. isnt that sad? it is the scariest thing in the world to be on top of a cliff and have to step off the edge.
-after that, we walked back to the campground. out of the whole weekend, i think my favorite parts were at the campground
- i volunteered to help make dinner. i unwrapped to chunks of solid ground beef, and was supposed to be cooking with a team member, but jeff walked over, and started helping. then he started bragging about how he makes the best quesadillas. so he and i cooked the meal for that night, and honestly, cooking with him was the highlight of the trip for me i think. it was just fun to joke around the whole time. plus, it was really neat to be able to see everyone. i mean, everyone wanted to eat, so i got to see every face as they waited in line for the food- that was cool.
-after dinner we talked for a while- jessica showed amy and i how you can burn hand sanitizer:)
it felt nice and warm
-we then took a short walk out to see crazy jack (shogan)
-meanwhile jeff is messing with me and trying to pull my hat off- which is one of the reasons i dont wear hats. i actually think joseph started it (trying to pull my hat off).
-after that our teams split up and had to come up with a machine to represent (we did a vending machine) and change the lyrics to a Christmas song (12 days of Christmas) turns out 2 other groups chose this song, and the other 2 groups did jingle bell rock! so funny and random
-after that, some of us sat around the fire and tried to think up as many songs as we could with the word rock in them- boys vs. girls. girls winning of course.
-we all went into the tent after that, being totally beat, but a bunch of the guys were playing a game outside
-having heard all day about a game called star tripping (you look up at a star, spin really really fast, have a light shine in your eyes, and fall to the ground w/out realizing it) i had to at least see it! it was the funniest thing ever. people lose all dignity when they go camping! people were standing up, and then they'd be on the ground rolling over, trying to orient themselves. i ended up trying it, and it is so weird. you dont even know youre falling, until you hit the ground (it doesnt hurt) mrs fieldhouse and another leader (kim) also did it star tripping was another highlight of the trip
-we really did go to bed after that, and after that day, i slept a lot better than the first night!
Saturday:
-pancakes for breakfast
- oh, i forgot. the night before, it began to get a little windy. nothing THAT bad, but it was definitely blowing the tents back and forth. saturday morning, it was REALLY windy.
-so, trying to take a tent down, and fold it, in th wind was quite a challenge! but we managed, with four to five people standing on it:)
-at some point, i looked up, and brad auman was throwing dirt on a chair- my chair:( the wind had blown a spark or something onto it, and it pretty much went up in a blaze of glory! oh well.
- we then started the MIGs. my team wasnt super motivated to win, so we had a lot of fun with it. i really love those girls. we had to do things like roll balls through holes on a tarp, blind climb (only two people had to), skiing (4 people on two would 'skis' trying to walk around), use bricks to walk across a lake of acid:P, roll a marble down lengths of tubing (we really were disfunctional), and then were tested for systems. we walked everywhere, and even stopped for about 15 minutes for lunch. like i said, we werent trying to win, but we really bonded, and were laughing the whole time.
- after that we basically packed the bus to leave.
-before we could get on the bus, though, we had to fit about 25 people on one small rock. this was another highlight. the wind did not help your balance. the girls all got into the center, and then the guys were going to try to grab on and stay up for 10 seconds (like the game telephoneboothbut on a rock).
-oh, jessica and heidi had to go home early that morning
-on the way home, we stopped at food places, but amy and i decided to stick with starbucks, since we had just eaten.
-anyways, no one was hurt that whole weekend, but in the mc donalds parking lot, some girl tripped and scraped her arms and twisted her foot- nothing bad, just ironic!
-the ride home was pretty uneventful, except amy and i had fun with the windmills (they looked like they were doing aerobics)
-finally we got back to school, and unloaded the bus.
- my parents picked me up, and greeted me with the news that my sister mary is pregnant!!!
what a weekend, right? i was very excited, and cant wait to see the new little face that will be here sometime in August (supposedly)!!!
sorry this was so long. overall the weekend was amazing. i would definitely go again.