Heber Valley Camp

As part of the Spencer Family reunion we spent a night at the church's YW camp in Heber.  They have nice cabins/bathrooms and awesome kitchens.  They are full kitchens with running water and everything, just outdoors. We got there on the 03rd in the early afternoon.  We unloaded the cars and set up our beds then did some visiting and went on a little hike to the lake. This camp has a no shorts policy (one you leave your campsite) which caused me a lot of stress the morning we drove down because coming from Virginia I had neglected to pack any pants for Jared and Lydia. I know I recalled reading that you could not wear shorts but for some reason I just registered it as a rule for adults not little kids.  Fortunately there is a Wal-Mart in Heber (10 - 15 minutes away) and we figured that out before we checked in at the camp.  I felt so dumb that I didn't pack any. I blame it on that fact that I had already packed up our whole town home, unpacked everything at our new house, packed and unpacked from Girls camp and packed for this trip.  This has kind of been the summer of packing and I am really over it. So Mark stopped at the store and grabbed some jeans for each kid, crisis averted.
After the hike we had dinner and S'mores at the campfire.

 As things were winding down Jared came over and sat in my lap.  I was rubbing his back when I felt a bump that I had never felt before.  I looked down his shirt and sure enough he had a tick!  I was really surprised and disgusted and kind of irritated truthfully. Ever since living in Virginia I have been vigilant about checking my kids for ticks especially at our new house as there are areas with taller grass and our backyard is basically woods.  None of us has had a single tick here and we get to Utah and Jared gets one.  I whispered to Mark what I found and told him I was going to go ask the camp hosts what they recommended. Mark just held Jared on his lap.  I talked to the camp hosts and they said they take credit cards and swipe away from the head.  We were not comfortable with this idea at all. Mark had recently watched a youtube video about tick removal and he wanted a Q Tip to get it out.  Since we were camping I had not packed any but luckily his sister Susan had one in her car first aid kit.  By now everyone knew what was going on and wanted to see the tick which was less than helpful. Poor Jared. I was trying so hard to comfort Jared who was a total rock star about it and not burst into tears myself.  I sang songs to him and eventually people gave Mark some space. He slowly took the Q Tip and circled around the tick. The idea was that the tick would latch onto the fibers and pull out. At first nothing was happening.  Mark mentioned that on the video the Q Tip was damp. People suggested some essential oils so we went with some tea tree oil which turned out to be the worst thing to use.  Looking back on it Mark and I are really not sure why we didn't just get it wet we had bathrooms and kitchen sinks on site! After about 5 -7 minutes using the Q Tip the tick came out!! I was sitting in front of Jared and Mark flicked it off and it sailed right at me. That totally freaked me out as if I wasn't already freaked out!  I despise ticks and am super paranoid about them.  We were so relieved that the whole tick came out.  As Mark was almost done Jared started crying because the tea tree oil is super concentrated and was burning his skin.  The oil was the worst part about it!  It was such a sad thing.  Jared really did amazingly well.  It was such a relief to be done.  He got a terrible allergic reaction from the oil on skin had a rash all over his upper body.  Luckily someone had some Benadryl and it helped him.  It took 2 whole days for the rash to go away.  I couldn't believe that he ended up getting a tick in Utah when its a big deal out here. I am so grateful I found the tick, check yourselves all the time!!

The next day we had a big pancake breakfast and as we were finishing up the camp hosts/workers (about 75 senior missionary couples) held a 4th of July parade on their ATV's.  They decorated them patriotically and gave out tons of candy.  It was really cute.

One cool part of the camp is that they have a Challenge course.  We got to climb a pole and walk across a tight rope then zip line down.

I had never done anything like it before and never a zip line (except a week prior at girls camp and it wasn't nearly as cool as this) and I loved it.  Jared really wanted to try it out so we got him harnessed (after a major breakdown about not being able to wear the blue helmet because it was an adult size) and he started climbing up. He got about half way then decided he was done so the missionaries let him swing  instead and he loved it. I was proud of him for trying. When Mark asked Lydia if she wanted to try it she said "I will never go up there!" in her cute little voice but once she saw Jared swinging she and Jaselle who is 4 months older than Lydia decided they wanted to swing too. The missionaries were really cute with them. We also did a blindfold walk in the woods as a group.  We were blindfolded, told we could not talk to anyone, and guided to a string tied up between trees.  We had to try to find our way back by just feeling around.  The missionaries came and would whisper to us if we were going the wrong way to help us.  At first when I heard them I wondered if they were just trying to trick me but they were really trying to be helpful.  I ran into a few family members but we all made it back.  It was cool to apply it to life and think about what blindfolds us and what we let distract us. After the challenge course we ate lunch at camp and then went canoeing on the lake.

Canoeing was fun.  Jared and Lydia enjoyed it and it was nice to be out on the water.  You could not swim in the lake because there are leeches (also something I have always been paranoid about) but it was fun to go out. Mark was in charge of steering while I helped paddle. It was really tiring but great. I really have no upper arm strength! I was talking to one of the missionaries before we went out and found out that he actually served his mission in Charlottesville!  So crazy.  It is such a small world.
We headed back to camp and got everything packed up and cleaned.  Nobody really slept well in the cabins as the beds were hard and there were various people in them but we all had a good time.  It was fun to be together and try new things.