Fun at Heber Valley Camp!

A couple of months ago, Will's sister, June, lucked into a reservation for one night at Heber Valley Camp (these reservations are usually made a year ahead of time and are hard to come by.) When she called us to see if we'd like to go up, we weren't sure we wanted to go. The whole camping thing really isn't our cup of tea (see last post) but we love to do anything with family and we would be sleeping in cabins after all, so we decided to go.

Heber Valley Camp is an LDS church-owned camp that is used mainly for girls camps but lots of families make reservations for family reunions and things like that. It is huge and has several different campsites. We were in Reeder #4, which consisted of 4 cabins that can sleep 16 people each. In the middle of the campsite there was a kitchen pavilion which included gas stoves and a refrigerator and a huge firepit. It was really nice! Not at all what I usually think of when I think of camping.


Each cabin has wooden bunks and whoever stays is required to bring a mat or pad and sleeping bags, etc. We took this huge bean bag that we have that folds out into a king-size mattress so instead of a bunk we just plopped our bed on a tarp in the middle of the floor. We don't have sleeping bags or camping mats so that worked out great for us.

When we arrived at camp on Friday evening, we were last to arrive so we had just enough time to unpack and then headed straight over to the waterfront area for paddleboats and canoeing. We spent about an hour on the water and were able to spend some time in a paddleboat and then the rest of the time in a canoe. Great full-body workout! My quads were burning on that paddleboat!
We spent the rest of the evening making up for lost calories by eating way too much food and acting silly with the nieces and nephews (hence the Kid 'n Play moves.)

I think we may try out for So You Think You Can Dance next year. Will says we need some practice but I say it's perfect! Let's take it on the road!

While the boys watched Toy Story on the portable DVD player, Will and I stuck by the campfire with a few others. We finally all got to bed at around 10:30-11:00. The next morning we woke up to this-SNOW! Yes, Snow! In June!!! Crazy, right!? It was really unexpected and great fun for the kids to see it snow this late in the season. Once everyone was up, we had a big breakfast of eggs, hash browns, sausage, pancakes and lots of hot cocoa and then packed up and headed home. Coleman's first t-ball game was at noon and we didn't want to miss it. And we didn't really want to hang out in the snow!

All in all, great fun! Looks like for non-campers we sure are getting in a lot of camping lately!

A "campout" for non-campers.

Our church sponsored a father/son campout a couple of weekends ago. Sounds like fun, right?! Well, Will is NOT a camper and even though he had intended to go, at the last minute he decided it wasn't for him. However, in the spirit of being one with nature, we decided to have our own "campout" at a nearby park. Our campout was essentially just a cook-out but the boys were so excited to be camping that we let them believe that's what camping is. (Who wouldn't want to go camping if it means eating hot dogs and s'mores and then going home to sleep in a nice cozy bed?!)

I have to admit that I was a little worried that Will wouldn't be able to start a fire. He's never been a boy scout and if you consider the friends he hung out with as a kid, the closest he's ever been to fire was probably first-degree arson. But he surprised me! I guess he did a little homework and asked his co-worker how to build a fire. He built the little firewood stack and voila, fire!
I was impressed! I was prepared to be eating cold hot dogs and stiff s'mores but ol' hubby is more manly than I thought! The boys were very meticulous when it came to finding wood to feed the fire. They loved impressing their Dad with their finds. Here they are looking for the perfect sticks.
Cooper found one!
The fire was blazing and Coleman was convinced that he needed to stand on the picnic table while roasting his marshmallows in order to keep safe. That child is quirky!

Here are a couple cute shots of Super Cooper-

The boys had so much fun that we are planning to do this again and again this summer. Who knows, maybe Will will be one of those Grizzly Adams types by next years father/son campout?! Ha!

My brother must've been bored...

...but this is cool! And it has almost 100,000 hits on YouTube. Watch this little video that my brother, ChaddyMac, made to amuse his boys (and himself.) Have fun, go mad!

A fun run!

You know that 5k that Will and I have been stressing about for the past couple of months? (If not, you can visit the site I set up for it by clicking on the link at the left of this page <---.) Anyway, Will and I have participated in this run the past couple of years as runners. Last year the run was a bit unorganized. In fact, the race was actually only 2.5 miles instead of 3.1. Crazy, right? (And I only found that out after I had thought I had beat my best time by like 4 minutes! I was so disappointed!) Also, it was always such a small event with about 15-20 runners at most. So, Will and I decided that we would take over the race this year and do it up right! Like a real charity event!

So, fast forward to this year. We got sponsors, volunteers, a great race route, t-shirts, medals and raffle prizes. We ended up recruiting over 100 runners and raising $1500 for Primary Children's Medical Center in SLC. A great success!

And I received this in my email inbox the day after the race-

"I just have to tell you. Your race was my fourth 5k I've ran this year and it was by far the most organized and put together.(...)You guys did a GREAT job getting it all together and I know it was a lot of work and it turned out beautiful.

Thank you so much I had a great time. -Annie Johnson"

That was from our overall female winner, an obviously very experienced runner. It was such a great feeling getting that nod from her. It makes me feel like we are on the right track and that perhaps we've found our nitch. Will really put his heart and soul into this race. I'm so proud of his effort.

And to top it off, I got 2nd place in my age category and got a medal of my own! (Which makes me feel better about having to move up an age category this year. I was in the 30-39 age group. Whoa!)

Here are some pics of the event:
Before the race-

The finish line chute-

Will writing down bib numbers at the finish line.

We've decided to continue to put together an event like this every year for charity, no matter where we're at. It was such a rewarding experience. Thanks again to all those that supported the race!