Oakcrest Flashback

During the summer of 1995 I was a camp counselor at Oakcrest Girls Camp. Oakcrest is a LDS camp for 12 and 13 year old girls and is located in Kamas, UT. My camp name was VaVeeka or VaVa for short (yes, I really did have a nickname for my nickname) and my girls each week were called "The VaVa Girls" I LOVED Oakcrest. And I don't just mean a little, I mean I really loved it A LOT! Our goals were to send the girls home at the end of the week with a stronger testimony of the gospel and have an incredible amount of fun in the process. What's not to love? You must know, however, that I was always very serious:

NEVER got into any trouble:

Didn't have any fun with the other counselors:

And NEVER started any ABBA dancing parties in my cabin:

Ok, maybe just a few times. . .but it was always before the girls arrived in camp for the week, so it's all good.

It was fun when my little sis Libbie came up as a camper. She had a hard time not calling me by my real name but never did give it away.

It wasn't hard to teach her the ropes.

Why the Oakcrest Flashback??? This year Oakcrest is celebrating its 50th anniversary and they are inviting all past Oakcrest employees to a huge reunion this week. Oakcrest had such a huge influence on me when I was 12 and 13 and later on as a counselor, and has certainly holds a special place in my heart even after all of these years. I haven't set foot on Oakcrest soil since August 19, 1995 and I guess it will be kind of cool to go back and relive some of the memories. (Hey, every once in awhile I can actually be sentimental about some things). I've actually kept in touch with some of the other staff members and we are still friends today. Even though our conversations about camp stopped years ago, the friendships remain. (The only thing I haven't been able to do is call them by anything other than their camp names).

I'm not sure if anyone I know will be at the big reunion, but even if I'm the only one there it will be fun to show Adam camp and be there again.