Camp Helaman

Bentley has been able to enjoy a few summer camps this year! We signed him up for Dinosaur Camp & Under the Sea Camp at Dots & Doodles Preschool in Morgan. He learned so much and is always spouting off little facts about sea creatures and dinos. He definitly had a great time!
Each Summer, Dallin's Grandma Larraine put together 'Camp Helaman' where she would teach all her grandkids ages 3-12 about gospel principals in such a fun way. She was a teacher and principal for her career and she could captivate anyone with her teaching skills. Camp Helaman is something all the grandkids look forward to each summer. They get to sleep in the Rec Barn, canoe and swim in the lake, take hikes up the mountain and play all sorts of games all while learning important principals.
Grandma Larraine passed away this summer. She was too young and such a staple in her community and our family. She will be very missed :( She passed away just a few weeks short of Camp Helaman. She had been battling cancer and had a feeling she wouldn't make it to camp. So being the wonderful grandma that she is, she put together the theme and lesson she wanted all of her grandkids to learn. She even put together a special little box with a letter and trinkets for all the grandkids to open on the last night. It was so special and there wasn't a dry eye there.

Grandma wanted our theme to be "The Plan of Salvation" Pretty fitting. The first day we arrived we all gathered around Dallin's grandpa who was all dressed in white. He was signifying God. He spoke how as His spirit children, we could no longer progress in His presence. We would need to be tested, use our free agency and their needed to be a Redeemer for the world. 'God' asked if anyone would be willing to be the Savior of this world. Then Jehova (Dallin's cousin) stood up from the crowd and offered Himself. He would go down to the earth, teach the gospel and be crucified so that all of our sins could be forgiven. He wanted none of the glory and wanted The Father to have it all. Then Lucifer (Another cousin) stood up and presented another plan. He wanted us all to recieve bodies, BUT he didn't want us to have free agency. Lucifer said it would be too hard for all His children to return. He also said that he would need some of God's power and glory. Lucifer then tried to gain followers. He succeeded. He ended up gaining a third of all the spirit children. (neighborhood teenagers that came to help with the reinactment) As this war went on about who would be our Savior and Redeemer, the kids would pipe in with their thoughts such as "If we follow your plan Lucifer, we won't be our own person, we won't be individuals, we will be like slaves" Another kid said, "But Lucifer, God is willing to GIVE us some of his power if we can pass the test and come back to live with him. We don't need to TAKE it like you want to." It was really neat to hear the kids get into it. We all know what happened in the end. Jehova was sent down to be the Christ and Satan and his followers were cast out of the presence of God not to recieve bodies. It was a good reminder that if we are here on this earth, we chose in the pre-existance to come down to this earth and recieve a body and be tested. I'm sure we forsaw the trials and hardships that we would endure in our life. But the outcome of being able to have ETERNAL life is so worth it.

How cute is he?!

Jace and his cute cousin Dani.

Madi

Donavin

Wade and Ryker

This lake was named 'Lake Larraine' a couple years ago after grandma. I think it will be a great place for the family to go and feel peace.

Bentley got a battle scar the first day!

He's still cute though!

Listening to a great lesson from Aunt Vadon.

Enjoying some dinner!

The last night we were there, we had a final lesson about when we die, our spirits leave our body and go to the spirit world. We then learned about the Judgement and how if we have been good people and made good choices we will get to live in the Celestial Kingdom in the presence of God.

Here are some of the dads that came dressed in white. Each dad got to 'judge' their children. Throughout the week, some of the leaders had been keeping charts of each child. They wrote down good things they had done AND bad things they had done. The fathers had the chart in their hand and reported what they saw on the chart. I watched as Dallin held Bentley on his knee and read from the chart, "It looks like you said Thank You all the time and you were good at taking turns. But I also see that you made someone feel bad...and then said sorry." Bentley listened so intently and curiosly like, "How in the world do you know this???" I'm pretty sure that's what we'll be thinking when it's our turn to be judged! Then Dallin told him that he was a good boy and made it to the Celestial Kingdom and he will get to see some of his family that has passed on. We walked over to some stairs where someone was waiting, they told us to go all they way up the stairs to the Celestial Kindom. We went through the curtain at the top of the stairs and saw Dallin's mom and Aunt all dressed in white ready to greet us. It was such a neat experience because it signified so much. Bentley was unsure of everything and told me he wanted to see grandpa now (my dad) I couldn't help but cry when I had to explain to him that this was not real YET and we were trying to show him that if he makes good choices in life, this is what will happen. We couldn't see grandpa yet.

We looked over after Dallin's mom told us that we get to go be with our family and 'God' and saw the most beautiful sight. Dallin's grandpa sitting under a white lighted tree with all his grandkids gathered around. It was such a special evening for everyone especially when all the kids recieved their little boxes from grandma. Thank you so much grandma for teaching us about the Plan of Salvation. I RE-learned sooo much.

Learn more about the Plan of Salvation here

P.S Bentley BEGGED me to let him stay the night at the rec barn with all the other, older kids. I knew better, but let him anyway. Guess who wanted to be picked up at 2:00 am? Yep, he was crying and asking for mommy. How can I get mad at that? So off I went up to Peterson at 2:00 am.