First Day of School

September 8:

After a fantastic summer it was time to head back to school for these three boys!  I have to admit I was very happy to say goodbye to the noise and craziness that is my house all summer long!

This will be the ONLY year all of my children are attending the same school.  That is just crazy to think about.

While the boys were away I spent my day shopping for their traditional "shultute"  My twins say they are too old for me to bring them a cone at school so I just set up their gifts at home.

My big 1st grader Julian with his teacher Mrs. Giard

Emerson with Mr. Holmen.  The twins are in 6th Grade this year!!!

Townsend with Ms. McClain

I really like all of their teachers and am looking forward to a fantastic year with all my boys at Patterson Elementary School.  Go Panthers!

Girls Trip to Ohio

August 27-30:

My friend from Germany, Jody Dean, was turning 40 years old and her fantastic husband organized a group of us girls to surprise her for her birthday.  Most of us were able to fly in on Thursday night.  He organized flights from Oregon, Colorado, Utah and Idaho.  It was unbelievably awesome to see my Germany friends again!

Pam Emmons, Leah Russell, Me and Maratee Andrus.  This is us at the airport super excited to surprise our friend Jody!

The next day we drove out to Ohio Amish country.  We just had to get our photo in front of this giant cuckoo clock!

A sight you don't see in most places.  Parking for horse and buggy only:)

After a yummy lunch we took a group photo in Amish Country

That night we went back to the airport to pick up our friend Lydia Beck.  We were all wearing sashes that said "Mrs. (and the State we came from).  We also had to wear tiaras:)  Lydia was super happy to see us all and it was a fun surprise at the airport.  We had a lot of people looking at us like we were crazy...which I guess might not be too far from the truth:)

The following day we spent at the Easton Town Center in Columbus, OH.  We did lots of shopping, had mini make-overs and basically had a fun girls day out!  We ended our day at The Melting Pot and the chocolate fondue did not disappoint!

Right before we all left for home.

It was an incredibly quick trip but one that I'm super glad I could make.  We stayed up each night super late talking and catching up.  With all of us living in different parts of the country it's not too often that we can get together.  I love my Germany sisters.  We share so many wonderful memories together and I love these ladies!

Cape Lookout State Park

August 20-22:

This year we joined our ward for their annual family campout.  We had never stayed at Cape Lookout State park before and it was beautiful.  We would definitely come back here to camp.  The campsites were so close to the ocean!  We had wonderful weather both days we were there.  The only bummer was that campfires were banned because of the forest fires that had been happening all over Oregon this summer.  Even without being able to have a campfire we still had lots of fun.  Katrina and her kids came down for one of the nights and their campsite was right next to ours.  Oma stayed with us in our tent trailer and it was nice and cozy.

Katrina's dog Luna was having so much fun playing in the waves.

I couldn't believe Julian was playing in the water without a shirt.  The water in Oregon is COLD!

Townsend and Emerson playing on the beach.

Oma and Katrina on the beach

The next day we went for a 5 mile hike out to a great lookout point.

Dad and the boys hanging out at the lookout point.

Our group on the way back from our hike.  Another beautiful day!

Julian playing at the beach again.  The older boys hung out in the tent trailer and played Monopoly with friends.  I think everyone had a good time.

A baby seal was on the beach the next morning.  It just hung out there by itself.  The beach patrol guys said that a lot of times newborn seals will be left on the beach while their moms head back out to the deep ocean to feed.  I hope it's mommy came back.  It was still alone when we left.

We couldn't resist a quick stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for an ice cream cone on our way home:)

Overall I think it was a really fun time.  The boys had lots of friends from church there to hang out with.  It was fun having a big breakfast with some of our ward family.  I think there were about 20 families there.  We will definitely have to come next year.

Mumford and Sons Concert

August 14-16:

Hyrum and I spent a weekend together in Walla Walla, WA for the "Gentlemen of the Road" concert. There were a few bands that played on Friday night but we only got there in time to see the last half of the Foo Fighters set.  They were amazing!  Saturday morning we spent wandering around Walla Walla and eating some yummy food.  We hung out at our campsite for a few hours and then headed over to the concert.  We knew Mumford and Sons wouldn't be on until 8:30 but we went early so we could get as close to the stage as possible.  There were some bands that were just OK and then right before Mumford and Sons the Flaming Lips came on for a set and they were lots of fun to watch.  We were really lucky to be only about 10 rows back from the stage for the Mumford and Sons set.  We were so scrunched together you could hardly stand up but it was amazing to be that close to the stage.  The energy from the audience was fantastic and the concert itself was just great.

Walla Walla is a pretty small town so to accommodate all the concert goers we all had to bring tents and camp out on the golf course.  It was a huge tent city!  We slept pretty comfortable, even the one night when the sprinklers came on for about 10 minutes and soaked our tent:)

Walking around the cute town of Walla Walla, WA.

Wayne Coyne, lead singer for the Flaming Lips

At one point during their set Wayne got into this giant bubble thing and crowd surfed.  He went right over our heads.  It was so fun!

Lots and lots of people.  I'm so glad we weren't in the way back...we really lucked out!

Marcus Mumford, lead singer for Mumford and Sons.  They put on such a great performance, I would definitely go and see them again.

I guess lighters are out and cell phone flashlights are in:)

On our drive home Sunday we stopped at the Vista House.  This was a rest stop built in 1918 and from the top you can see a panoramic view of the Columbia River far below.

A shot of the Vista House from the Old Columbia River Gorge Highway.

It was so nice to get away for the weekend and enjoy such a fun experience with my man.  A big thank you to Oma who watched our boys for us so we could enjoy a bit of a break.  It's always so hard to come back to reality!!

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

August 4-6:

I have wanted to attend the Shakespeare Festival here in Oregon since we moved here 3 years ago.  I was lucky enough to get invited with a group of ladies that goes each year.  It was a fun few days away from the kids enjoying some adult time with other ladies that enjoy seeing plays and discussing them after.  Ashland, OR is about a 5 hour drive south of where I live.  We stayed in a super cute bed and breakfast which not only had very nice rooms but served a fantastic breakfast each morning.  I  had so much fun may have to invite myself to come along again next year:)

The cute Iris Inn in Ashland, OR

Sherry Work (I carpooled with her and had a fun 5 hour trip chatting and making each other laugh) and Robin Mann (our personal travel agent and itinerary planner!)

We had fun walking and shopping around downtown Ashland

Waiting for our play to start.  We saw "Antony and Cleopatra" on the first night.

The whole group that came to Ashland for the festival.  It was a fun group of ladies to hang out with.

Waiting for our 2nd play to start.  We saw "Much Ado About Nothing" and it was fantastic!  The actors had the audience laughing the whole time!

I absolutely loved this trip.  Maybe next year we can do a couples trip, I think Hyrum would have really loved the plays:)

Random July and August

Between trips back and forth to Utah we did actually have some fun times here in Oregon:)

Julian helping me grocery shop.  He likes to eat his lunchable while we cruise around the store:)

Emerson with some friends at Sauvie Island

Townsend playing at the field near Patterson Elementary School.  I swear, these boys are part monkey!

Summer isn't complete without a few afternoons at the nickel arcade.  This is Julian and one of the boys friends, Landon, who had just won 2,000 tickets in the jackpot!

Daddy and Julian floating around the swimming hole in Vernonia, OR

We hiked the Portland 4 T's trail again.  Julian and Oma taking a break at Council Crest, about halfway through the hike.

Oma and Julian at Camp 18.

My friend Sabrina from Germany came for a visit.  We all went to Oaks Park for the day.  The boys had so much fun on all the rides.  I think Emerson was actually tall enough this year to go on all the rides except the roller coaster...maybe next year:)

While Sabrina was visiting I got together a mini German reunion with some other friends we all knew in Germany.  Sabrina, Me, Christina DuWors and Janet Abersold at the Portland Rose Garden.

There is a walkway with all the Rose Queen's dating back to the early 1900's in the Rose Garden.  I had to get my picture next to the plaque that had "Queen Rochelle" on it.  Not exactly the same spelling but close enough:)

Townsend and his friend Sean having fun at Seaside Beach in Oregon

Oma's brother Karl and his wife Leann came down from Washington for a quick visit to see Oma while she was here in Oregon.

Durtschi Family Reunion

July 18-25:

This year we were lucky enough to have a family reunion with both our families.  Hyrum and I drove back to Utah with the boys to get together with the Durtschi clan.  We missed having Steve (had to work) and Taylor (on a mission) Doxey as well as Andrew Merrill (on a mission) and Rachel Durtschi.  And of course we missed having Opa there!  I missed his guitar playing, his ability to make me laugh and keep everyone in the family on the same page.  I guess it will just keep getting harder and harder to get everyone together now that people are older but it was still lots of fun getting together as a family.  I'm so lucky to have married into such a wonderful group of people.

We all stayed in a house in Heber, Utah.  It was wonderful to all stay in the same place and have all our meals together and spend just a lot of time chatting together.  We had great weather and all the cousins got along really well.  It's too bad we live so far away from lots of these people but super fun to have a week together.

The whole group that was able to come.

Oma with her 6 kids.

We all hiked up to Timpanogos cave one of the days we were together.  It is a pretty tough hike but we all made it.  My twins were so quick, I think they ended up waiting for us at the top for quite a while.  Julian made it the whole way up on his own but needed to be carried some on the way down:)

Craig, Andrea and Stephanie Merrill at the top of Timp Cave

Anja Durtschi taking a break on the trail.

Mommy, Daddy and Julian hiking back down from the cave.

The house we stayed in Heber.  There was plenty of space for each couple to have their own room and all the cousins stayed in the loft on the 3rd floor.

Oma and Andrea having fun playing badminton on the lawn.

Jules and I hanging out on the porch swing

The family gathered for Family Home Evening.  We all had to share a story we learned or remembered from the Durtschi family.  It was a lot of fun.  Hyrum found some old letters from his Grandfather, Fredrick Durtschi, which were pretty neat to read.

Of course we had to stop at the "Dairy Keen" restaurant while in Heber!  Home of the famous train burger...delicious!!!

Uncle Craig brought his boat up to Deer Creek and we had fun riding around the reservoir.  Townsend got a chance to drive the boat!

Hyrum and the twins:)

Avonlea Durtschi having fun on the boat

Julian floating around Deer Creek

Oma, Katrina and Cooper Doxey enjoying the beautiful day at Deer Creek

We spent one day walking around the BYU campus.  I love Julian's pose in this photo and if you look close you can see Avonlea Durtschi photo bombing in the background:)

Emmett, Hyrum, Andrea, Oma and Craig (taking the photo) hiked up Squaw Peak.  They left way too early for my taste...I don't like getting up at 5:30 AM for hikes:)

One last family photo before heading back to Oregon.  We had so much fun with the Durtschi family at the reunion.  Can't wait for the next one!