October Fun

 I was traveling a lot during October but things were happening in Oregon as well.  

After a full summer of zoom meetings for his Japanese tutor while she was in Japan Julian finally got to meet up again with her in Portland to learn. Hyrum took him out for dinner to celebrate.

I hosted book club. We read 4 short stories and discussed them all. They were all spooky stories, of course

Julian is doing such a great job driving. He is taking drivers ed and doing well in that class.

There was no school on a Friday so Julian and I met up with my friend Cami and her daughter Malia for a hike around Silver Falls State Park. Malia and Julian are in the same grade and it was fun to hear them chatting together the whole hike.

After the hike Julian and I went to Corvallis to say hi to the twins

We took the Skinny Dan out of the water for the season. It's always a sad day when we take the boat out of the water but we had gorgeous weather, so that was good

Katrina, Steve and I went to a bar in downtown Portland full of other Bills fans to watch a game. The Bills WON!!!

Julian and Hyrum out for a walk on Sauvie Island

Hyrum took the boys to a pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. I'm sad I missed out on this tradition, I was in Virginia helping Paige with her kids.

Silly boys:)

Apple cider donuts for the win!

The twins finished pumpkins

Hyrum and Julian went for a bike ride...

...it was a "bit" muddy

Julian carving his pumpkin...

...turned out GREAT!

Happy Halloween! Julian was the official candy passer outer again this year!

Quick trip to Utah

 My host mum and dad, Helen and Ron Heindorff, were coming to Utah to visit their son Adam and their 5 grandchildren that live there. I was so tired of traveling by October but I really didn't want to miss the opportunity to visit them since they were coming all the way from Australia. So back to the airport I went and off I flew to Utah!

Oma was generous to let me stay with her so I didn't have to spend money on a hotel.

My host mum mostly wanted me to take her shopping. We had a lot of fun being silly and talking and catching up.

We went for a walk in Provo Canyon to visit Bridal Veil Falls. The colors were still really pretty in the canyon with the reds and oranges of the trees.

Oma spoiled me with wonderful breakfasts while I was there.

We went to the "This is the Place" monument. I don't think I had actually ever been here before. There is a nice, small museum that tells the history of the LDS pioneers arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.

Cafe Rio...of course I'm eating her if I'm in Utah!

We went to the Thanksgiving Point gardens. It was a little later in the evening and we really seemed to have the whole place to ourselves. It was wonderful

The sculptures of Christ in the garden are wonderful. It is such a peaceful place to walk around.

Italian garden fountain

They are working on installing a new exhibit titled "The Tree of Life" It will be beautiful when it is all installed and you can walk around  the statues.

We all enjoyed walking around the gardens. I'm so glad I got to see my host mum and dad. They are such an important part of my life and I love them lots.

I happened to be there during LDS General Conference.  This is Oma "watching" conference with me 😜

After conference we drove up to Heber and stopped at the Dairy Keen for burgers and milkshakes...so yummy!

On the way back we drove through Midway and stumbled across this great little war memorial on top of a hill. 

Amazing views of Midway from the top of the hill

That evening we got together with Andrea, Craig and Stephanie Merrill. Ellen Doxey was also in Utah visiting her cousin. It was great that even though I had such a short trip I was able to spend so much time with people I love.

September: First Day of School, Visit from Sabrina Ewert, Visit from Elizabeth VanHorne, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Twins back to College, Ecola State Park

 My September was crazy because I traveled so much. I wasn't home even one weekend the whole month. But I did squeeze some other adventures into my month during the very short time I WAS home.

My little man Jules started his Sophomore year of High School!

Sabrina was a friend of mine from Germany. She has a sister that lives here in Oregon so every once in a while she makes it over here and she is always happy to spend a day with me. We went hiking to Cape Lookout

You can't come to the Oregon Coast and not stop at Tillamook ice cream factory!

My friend, Elizabeth VanHorne, came up to Oregon for a visit. She used to live here before moving to Utah with her husband. They are going through a divorce now and I think she really just needed a bit of time with friends to feel surrounded by people that believe in her and confirm she is making the right decision.

A few of us got together for a bike ride into Vernonia

I took her to the Japanese garden in Portland, this place is so beautiful!

I went to Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespeare festival with some friends. I had been to the festival once before about 5 years ago. We saw Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth. They were both amazing productions.

We just stayed for the weekend but we had wonderful weather and it was nice to get together with everyone.

After the matinee show on Saturday Robin Mann and I went for a 20 mile bike ride along the Bear Creek Greenway. 

On our drive back up to Hillsboro from Ashland we stopped to tour the Butte Creek Mill in Eagle Point, Oregon. They had some yummy treats and it was interesting to learn the history of the mill.

This was the night before the twins left us to go back to Corvallis for college. Every night all three boys would come into our room to say goodnight. I would usually find them all on our bed talking with Hyrum. Our home just isn't the same when we don't have all our boys with us.

I drove down to Corvallis with them a few days before classes started. We cleaned the house and bought groceries and hopefully got everything set up for another year of college. They are Juniors this year and are doing really well in school.

Hyrum took a few days off from work during the week and since it was just the two of us we decided to go enjoy the coast. The boys don't really love the coast so it's nice to come when nobody complains:)

We hiked around Ecola State Park. It had been many years since I was last here. It was closed for a long time due to some land slides.

And that was our September when I wasn't out of the state traveling somewhere. I'm so blessed to live in this beautiful state and to have the means and ability to explore and do so much!