Thompson Mania!: Kori's Crazy Summer

Kori has been a very busy girl this summer. June alone brought Youth Conference, EFY, USU Leadership Conference, Girls Camp, and BAGA Retreat! In July she went to the Governor's Honors Academy at SUU for a 9 day retreat. It is a leadership type conference that she applied for, and now that she's finished, she gets 6 credits of concurrent enrollment, plus a 4 year scholarship to SUU! Between trying to fit in work when she's in town, a few photo shoots here and there, and an active social life, she has been a rare sight here at home. Now that our Bear Lake trip is over, she is so happy to not have to pack her bags again!! Here are a few pics of her busy season starting with some silliness from our Stake's Youth Conference.

The YC models.

Next up, EFY. Clint also attended EFY, though I don't have any pics of him. Kori and Clint were in different groups because of their difference in age. It was Kori's third time and Clint's first. Kori's done with EFY now, but Clint loved it and I think he would like to go again next year.

Since they went to Logan's stay at home EFY, Kori and Sierra stayed close to home in the EFY mobile!

The girls stalked poor AJ all week.

Kori saw a lot of the same friends from last year's EFY.

The week after EFY, Kori attended a leadership conference at USU for high school student body officers. She attended with Sky View's Executive Council. She was the only BAGA representative that could go, but since BAGA will work with Exec a lot, it was good for her to mingle with that group. BAGA is Sky View's Boys And Girls Association and it is made up of 3 boys and 3 girls with a President, VP and Secretary for each. Kori is the Girl's Secretary.

I think Kori went a little overboard with Lexi's face paint!

Kori met new friends,

and caught up with old friends.

She loved getting to know the kids from Mountain Crest.

And she narrowly missed being in the paper. She was in this photo, the photographer even asked for her name, but alas, she was cut out of the final version!

Girls Camp came next. Kori is the Laurel President and she was a Youth Camp Leader as well, so she was very involved and busy at Girls Camp. She loved it! She loves Cinnamon Creek, and it was a great camp to end on since it was her last year. I think she was so busy that she only took a few pics...

The YCL's all went up early and set up the tents and everything for all the rest of the girls. I thought that was a nice idea. Wes went up with them and spent the first night.

When we were up at Cinnamon Creek 4 years ago for Girls Camp, this was a tiny tree that we used as a place to hang our love notes. Kori couldn't believe how much it has grown!

Immediately after arriving home from Girls Camp, Kori packed an overnight bag and headed up to Bear Lake with her BAGA buddies for a BAGA retreat.

They planned a little and bonded a lot!

Funny BAGA boys Chandler, Jack and Mitch.

The BAGA Bunch!

Silly BAGA girls Kori, Cami and Lindy.

After a week's break, it was time to drive Kori to Cedar City for Governor's Honors Academy. GHA was a life changing experience. I can never fully comprehend the experience that it was, let alone do it justice in a blog post, but I am grateful that Kori could have this opportunity. Some of the things they did were: doing the SUU challenge course, visiting Cedar Breaks and Zions Park, seeing 2 Shakespeare Festival shows, listening to 20 speakers from all walks of life including Senator Mike Lee and former Senator Jake Garn, and participating in meaningful group discussions. Add to that lots of fun things like a pool party, talent show, visits to local restaurants, and an all nighter on the last day, and you'll understand why Kori was filled to the brim and completely exhausted when she got home! She was also a little GHA homesick. She made tons of new friends from across the state of Utah, and they plan to have GHA reunions. What a fantastic program!