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!

Sisters Trip to Michigan

 My sisters and I had planned a trip to Mackinac Island in Michigan. Amazingly we got all 7 sisters, plus Del's wife Lori and even my mom made it work to come to Michigan for a weekend. It was really great to see all my sisters and even better that we didn't have kids or spouses around...just us girls. I had been to Mackinac Island when I was 9 years old so it had been a while but it was really wonderful then and it was still a great place to visit. The weather was amazing and we had so much fun together. We certainly don't get together that often but it's nice that when we are all together we can get along and still be friends and have fun.

I sent this photo to Hyrum and the boys as I was boarding the airplane. I don't seem very happy or excited but it's only because I had been traveling so much in the month of September and I was just tired of traveling at this point. I never thought I would get to the point of being tired of traveling but I guess even I want to sleep in my own bed every once in a while!

Paige and DeNae flew into Detroit earlier in the day and rented a car and ran to Costco for some treats before picking me up at the airport. Then Paige found us the most delicious Lebanese restaurant in Detroit for dinner!

Lots of people drove to Michigan from different places or flew in on different flights but we all ended up meeting in Petoskey. This is the first photo of all of us together!

Kilwins fudge and ice cream shop in Petoskey...super yummy!

The ice cream and hot fudge here were the best!

My mom got a bit messy but it's all good when you have chocolate!

We waded into Lake Michigan to find "Petoskey Rocks" which are petrified coral you can find along the shores in this area of Michigan.

We checked into our Airbnb for the night. The "little sisters" had to share the bunk room!

It was great to have a house all to ourselves. We could stay up watching movies and laughing and eating and we didn't bother anyone:)

Since we were staying in St. Ignace we had to take the ferry back and forth to Mackinac Island. It was so lovely out on the water and the weather was fantastic.

The beautiful Grand Hotel

We took a carriage ride around some of the sites on the island. It was a lot of fun and the driver tells you history about the island.

Part of the carriage ride takes you into the State Park. The trees were changing colors and it was very pretty. Not to mention it was nice to be in the shade!

We stopped at a beautiful overlook...not everyone wanted to get out of the carriage:)

After the carriage ride we walked back into downtown.

Such a picturesque little town

Old Fort Mackinac

Cute little art piece

This church has windows made by the Tiffany company

We went to the Grand Hotel for afternoon tea

Tea set for 9

Very tasty

After tea we got to explore the old hotel for a bit. It was built in 1887 and was a destination holiday for many.

The dining room, there is a dress code to eat here

The movie "Somewhere in Time" was filmed here. It was one of our favorites to watch growing up. We re-watched in one of the nights we were all together and we agreed...it didn't age well 😜

The hotel has the "longest porch" in the world.  Not sure if that is true but it's what the carriage ride guide told us:)

Can't believe we could all be together

The grounds for the hotel are also beautiful 

Silly sisters

Serious sisters

It's not a sisters trip until someone starts braiding hair! After a fun day on the island we came back to the house and had pizza for dinner and watched a movie

Back on the ferry for day 2 of Mackinac Island fun

We rented bikes to make the 8 mile loop around the island. My mom got an electric scooter that only went maybe 3 mph...it was the longest 8 mile bike ride ever, it took us almost 3 hours. BUT, we weren't in any hurry, we could stop and enjoy what we were seeing and we just enjoyed being together. Sadly, Eryn wasn't feeling well so she stayed at the Airbnb 

Paige

DeNae

Taking a break to enjoy the view

Went for a very small walk through the state park. The 1/2 mile trail pointed out plants and animals native to the island

What a great day for a bike ride

Photo by the lake

Riann and Paige took off their shoes to wade in the water but the rocks were not fun to walk on so they had to crawl back to their shoes!

We stopped to get a photo with this cool rock arch

Even though it made the ride VERY slow I'm glad my mom could join us on this little adventure.

I had the best time!

This was a scene from the movie "Somewhere in Time"

DeNae and I had to stop to recreate the scene by the very same trees!

That evening we went to Darrow's Family Restaurant in Mackinaw City for dinner. I got the white fish that is supposedly fresh from the lake. It was delicious. We got an apple pie and sang Happy Birthday to DeNae because her birthday was going to be in 2 days. 

Overall this was a wonderful trip. It's always a bit nerve wracking to get together with so many people because everyone is trying to anticipate what everyone else wants to do and no one is willing to actually say what they want to do for fear of offending other people. And it's hard to get this many women together and not find things to argue about, especially with the past we have all grown up with. BUT with that said this weekend was perfect. It was just 3 days of togetherness which was great, not enough time to bring up past wounds. It was nice to reconnect without other family distractions. I can genuinely say that I love all these ladies...I just don't necessarily want to spend more than 3 days with some of them!