Girls Trip to Mexico!

 Some of my sisters and I decided that now we are all vaccinated it was time to get out and use our passports again.  We went to Cabo, Mexico for a 4 day getaway from kids and crazy lives back home. It was completely relaxing and fantastic and wonderful and I wish I could do this once a month!!!  We stayed in an "all inclusive" resort which was great because we never had to worry about food or where we wanted to eat...everything was at the resort.  I absolutely loved this trip and can't wait for the next girls trip!

View of the resort from the reception hall.  Lots of pools to choose from to hang out in or you could go down to the beach.  So lovely!

There was a fiesta the first night with lots of music and dancing and food.  It was a lot of fun.

DeNae Israelsen, Riann Johnson, Rachelle Durtschi and Paige Deshetler

We brought these matching dresses to wear at the beach, they were super comfy and we looked dang cute!

Had so many fish tacos and chips with guacamole...soooo goooood!

Riann and I enjoying dinner with a view

This is basically what we did ALL WEEKEND and it was fantastic!

We went into the little town of San Jose one morning to do some souvenir shopping.  It was a cute little town and not too crazy over run with tourists.  I think most of the tourists go to Cabo San Lucas.

In the pool cooling off

Loving our sunny vacation in Mexico!

The last day all my sisters had earlier flights than I did so I got to spend an extra 2 hours doing this.  Listening to the waves, eating guacamole and chips and relaxing!  Adios Mexico, it was a great adventure!

Anniversary, Mothers Day, Utah Wedding, Boys hiking

 

Started the month of May off right with a 5k fun run.  My friend and I had signed up to do this in 2020 but with CoronaVirus shutting everything down (including races) we got our run bumped to 2021.  I seriously hadn't run for over a year, in fact I hadn't done really any exercise for over a year!  My goal was to finish the 5k in 45 minutes or less.  I ran across the finish line at 44:55...that's a WIN in my books!

We had to celebrate with some Mexican food after our "Cinco de Mayo" race...yummy Costa Vida!

While I was off racing Hyrum and the kids launched the Skinny Dan for the season.  The boat has been in our back yard all winter so it was great to finally get it back in the water.  Lots of sailing fun in our future:)

Happy 22nd Anniversary to us!  Hyrum always makes sure I have my favorite flower, lilacs, for our anniversary:)

Hyrum and I spent a night in Astoria, OR to celebrate our anniversary.  This was the view of the Columbia River from our hotel room.  It was so pretty.

A little lunch picnic before we headed out for a walk along the North Jetty at Cape Disappointment State Park.

Hard to see from this photo but there were a pair of bald eagles hanging out at the end of the jetty.  They stayed until we reached about 50 feet from them.  It was really neat to see them take off and fly over the ocean.

At the end of the jetty.  This is the point where the Pacific Ocean meets the Columbia River.  

We brought our bikes hoping we could bike to the end of the jetty but the jetty turns into a jumble of rocks after about 1/4 mile so we had to ditch our bikes and hike the rest of the way out.

Happy Mothers Day to ME!  I love these three boys of mine and can't believe how grown up they are.  

We had a Mothers Day lunch at the Marina with the Doxey's.  We had yummy pulled beef tacos and then played a fun game of Kubb.

Mothers Day sail with Jason Durtschi

My nephew, Taylor Porter, got married in Utah so Hyrum and I flew down for a quick weekend trip to Utah.  I got to hang out with my sisters and parents and Hyrum got to hang out with his mom.  It was a great, quick trip.

The Johnson group that was able to make it to the wedding.  It was a blast catching up and having fun with my sisters.

Of course we had to make a stop at the BYU creamery for some ice cream!  Cecil and Graham were happy to help me finish my ice cream:)

Hyrum helped his mom buy some new furniture and they did some fun hiking.  I think Oma was happy to have her son there for the weekend.

Julian was ordained a Deacon and was able to pass the Sacrament for the first time.  I was super proud of him.  He was nervous but did a great job!

While I was in Mexico Hyrum took the boys on some adventures.  Biking on the Banks/Vernonia trail is always a favorite

Beautiful bike ride through the forest

Hyrum took the boys for a hike up Saddle Mountain

It was a fantastic day for a hike!

February, March and April

 Not much happens in life these days.  We are still pretty much hanging out at home.  Julian's school did reopen for him to attend 2 days a week, for 4 hours a day.  Not exactly the "back to school" I was hoping for my kids.  I am really frustrated that my boys have been doing this online learning for more than a year now.  My twins especially have totally checked out of even trying to do their classes.  They accomplish the bare minimum needed to maintain an "A" grade but they really aren't engaged in learning AT ALL.  Julian isn't too happy with having to go back to school.  It turns out he is just siting at his desk doing work on his laptop.  So it's really no different than him being at home, BUT at least he has to get up and get dressed and out of the house 2 times a week.  I'm going to loose my mind if they aren't allowed back in school full time in the fall!!  That's for future Rachelle to worry about...but to catch up on the last few months:

Happy Valentines Day cookies.  This is one of my favorite days of the year because Katrina makes these delicious cookies and delivers them right to our house!

Hey look, it snowed a bit in February and actually stuck on the ground for a few hours for the kids to play in!  It was all melted by the next day but I'm glad it was more than just a "slushy" snow to play in!

Birthday boy enjoying some birthday donuts for breakfast:)

My 12 year old Julian.  I'm so happy he is part of our family.  He plays so well with both brothers and brings joy to his mom and dad:)

I had a basal cell skin cancer removed.  The procedure was not fun but I'm glad I got it taken care of.  The worst part was all the shots I had to get so they could numb up the area!  After two attempts the doctor told me the area was all clear of cancer cells.  I'm really happy to have caught this problem at an early stage and I have healed up just fine.

Green dinner for St. Patricks Day!  I thought Hyrum was super creative with all the green food items:)

We took a little break from being at home and headed to Mt. Hood for a few nights.  Hyrum and the twins skiing.

Julian showing how deep the snow had gotten over the winter...good thing we had our snow shoes!!

Snowshoe fun near Trillium Lake on Mt. Hood

Look at those blossoms!  Spring time in Oregon is so wonderful!

The Easter Bunny stopped by our house on Easter morning:)

The weather the last few weeks of April have been fantastic!  We spent a Sunday afternoon hiking around Washington Park near Portland.  We walked along the old railway tracks they no longer use in the park.  It was a gorgeous day and a fun walk.

A rare moment of my three boys playing a game together on their computers.  They are usually all playing different games with friends online so I thought it was great they were playing a game together:)

I'm fully vaccinated and ready to enjoy life again...now if the world would just open up travel I could finally use my passport again!

The twins ran Cross Country for their high school for a few weeks.  The entire "season" only lasted about 6 weeks because they condensed it so the coaches could have time to do track season as well.  It was great for them to get out of the house each day to run practice with their team.  We went to all of their track meets (even though we were told we weren't allowed to because of COVID...we didn't care.  We were outside the entire time and away from other people...give me a break!) It was fun to see how Emerson and Townsend stayed right next to each other the whole time.  Emerson came in just behind Townsend for each of the races.  I was so proud of them!

Baby Josh and I took advantage of a sunny day to go feed the ducks.  He doesn't really get the concept of feeding the ducks the bread I hand him.  He eats a few bites of the bread himself and then just tosses the entire slice into the water:)

Las Vegas!

 Zach was going to be gone for training during the last week of March so I headed down to Las Vegas to help Paige out with her kids.  But mostly I went down to hang out with my 3 snuggle bug nephews that I love so much.  It was wonderful to be in beautiful sunny Vegas, to see my sister and play with her kids and give her a bit of a break.  It also happened to coincide with both our birthdays so it was fun to have some "Sister Celebration" time!

Best birthday present ever...covered in nephews!

Paige and I booked massages for our birthday treat and then we got cupcakes to celebrate.

When I got back to Paiges house after the massage Hyrum had sent me flowers for my birthday...so sweet:)

Remy looking super cool up in his climbing tree

I told Cecil to "smile" and this is what I got 😆

Graham and I made a little snowman out of play dough 

We spent a fun day out at Lake Mead.  The water wasn't super warm yet because it was so early in the year but the kids all had a great time splashing in the shallow water near the beach

The cute little train ride at Springs Preserve near Vegas.  It's a great little botanical garden with a fun play area and some dessert animals to visit.

Overall I had a blast visiting Paige and her kids.  I love having the freedom and money to just hop down to Vegas whenever I want.  I'm so glad she is just a 2 hour plane ride away!