Random October

The whole family went to see the Oregon Symphony.  They performed the score for Harry Potter while we watched the movie.  They did such a  great job!  I almost forgot I was in a concert hall.  The boys really liked it and I think it was a good way to introduce them to the symphony:)

I cut my hair!  I love how fun it feels to have short hair!

Julian got his first pair of glasses.

I hosted my annual October book club.  We read "We have always lived in the castle" and I had a "tea party" theme.  It was a lot of fun putting it all together:)

Pumpkin Time!

We had some very nice weather this October and enjoyed all things pumpkin and Halloween!

Hyrum took Julian to the Plumper Pumpkin patch.  The previous Spring Julian's school class took a field trip out to this farm and planted some pumpkin seeds.  I was hoping Julian would remember where his pumpkin was planted but Hyrum said they couldn't find it.  No big deal, there were plenty of great pumpkins to choose from!

Strong Julian!

Daddy and Julian at the pumpkin patch.  The twins were on a scout campout and I was gone on a Young Women's retreat so it was just Daddy and Julian at the pumpkin patch this year.

They had the front porch all decorated for us when we got home:)

Pumpkin carving time!

Julian, Emerson and Townsend's pumpkins (L-R)

Hyrum's clinic dressed up for Halloween.  Hyrum hates dressing up but he is a good sport and I think the clinic has fun when everyone participates:)

Julian dressed as Darth Vader.  The mask was sort of uncomfortable so he left it off while trick or treating.  Mommy and Julian spent about 2 hours trick or treating and having lots of fun.

The twins with their friend Owen.  Lame boys didn't even attempt to dress up!!  They went out with friends and spent about 4 hours trick or treating and came home with an obscene amount of candy!!!

This candy should last at least until next Halloween!

Traveling Book Club Trip to Astoria

I am part of a "traveling book club"  This means we don't meet regularly but instead we read a book that takes place in a certain location and then we visit that location as a group.  This past October we read a book called "Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire"  It was a great book and I learned a lot about the early history of the Pacific Northwest.  Especially the founding of Astoria (named for John Jacob Astor...I didn't know that!)  It was a lot of fun to spend time with some interesting ladies enjoying a beautiful weekend in Astoria.

On our way out to the coast we stopped off at Camp 18 for some lunch.  My friend Sherry (on the left) had never been here before!

We went out to the little stream behind Camp 18 and there were huge salmon swimming up stream...I guess it's that time of year!

Robin and I showing our American pride at the Heritage Museum in Astoria

This map shows the 2 routes that Astor sent men on to organize a post at the mouth of the Columbia River.  Both routes were terrible.  The overland route ran into Indians and nearly starved to death.  The over sea route had to sail around the tip of South America and encountered terrible storms...plus the ships captain was a real douchebag!  

We walked along the waterfront...it was such a gorgeous day!

From our bed and breakfast you could hear these sea lions...ALL NIGHT!

I stayed in the "honeymoon" suite at the bed and breakfast and there was this super creepy wedding gown nailed to the wall at the head of the bed.  Not romantic...creepy!

Our entire group outside the Flavel house before we went inside for the tour.

The Flavel house was such a beautiful home.  I'm glad that it's been restored and is open to the public.

We enjoyed an Afternoon High Tea while we discussed our book.

We were able to catch the fun Astoria trolley on it's last weekend in service for the year.

Sherry and I on the trolley.

Sunday morning we spent a bit of time visiting Dismal Nitch across the bridge in Washington State.  Lewis and Clark were holed up here for a few days because the weather was so terrible they couldn't go any further.  It was an interesting place to visit.

The last thing we did before heading home was make a stop at the Bowepicker for some fish and chips...yummy!!

What a fun weekend with some fun ladies in a fun location.  Can't wait for our next traveling book club!

Hiking with friends

A group of ladies from my ward got together a few weeks in a row to go hiking.  We wanted to enjoy the last of the sunny days before the winter rains of Oregon set in.  All of our kids are in school all day which makes it lots of fun to get out and hike in the morning and be back in time for school to let out.

Hike on the Salmonberry Trail:

It was a lovely trail through the forest.  We walked along by a river for most of the trail which was very pretty.

Our hiking group!

It was a pretty overgrown "trail" and it started raining pretty hard by the end of our hike.  Not my favorite hike ever but still lots of fun when you can be with friends.

This little newt?? was on the trail and didn't move at all.  We stood around taking pictures for a few minutes and he didn't even blink!

Hike along the Wildwood trail to the Pittock Mansion:

We had to make a stop at the "Witches Castle" for some pictures.

At the top of our hike with the city of Portland and Mt. Hood in the background.  It was such a beautiful day to be out in the forest.

Oregon Ducks Football Game

Hyrum took the 3 boys to Eugene Oregon to see the University of Oregon Ducks vs. University of Utah Utes football game.  It may seem strange that my husband went to a football game (that's not usually his idea of a fun time) but the Doxey family was also going down for the game so Hyrum decided it would be nice for the boys to see the campus and hang out with their cousins for a day.  The weather was so beautiful and sunny.  I think this made sitting through a full football game bearable for the boys...not to mention all the junk food Hyrum bought for them at the concession stand:)

Katrina, Cooper and Steve Doxey.  Cooper started attending the University of Oregon this fall as a Freshman.  He showed the boys around campus a bit.  I hope my boys go to BYU but the University of Oregon is a pretty great school as well.

Hyrum and the boys (Emerson refused to be in the photo) outside the football stadium.  What a sunny day!

Inside the stadium.  Julian had fun watching the game through the binoculars.  The Ducks beat the Utes 41-20!  

The Deans Came to Visit!

Our friends from Germany, Jared and Jody Dean, came out to Portland for a visit.  I think they had a free ticket they needed to use to go somewhere so they came to visit us:)  It was super sad that the weather was not wonderful while they were here but Oregon in October can be sketchy!  It was so much fun hanging out with these guys!  Why do they live in Ohio???

Hyrum got off work early on Friday so we could pick the Deans up at the airport together.  We took them into Portland where we walked along the waterfront and tried some Voodoo donuts.  This is Jody and I "committing to the pose"

You better believe we also went to Salt and Straw!  You can't have visitors from out of town and not go to Salt and Straw.  They had their October flavors which were pretty terrible...the "creepy crawly" flavor had actual mealworms.  No thanks!  I got the "candycopia" flavor, which was awesome!

We drove out to the coast and stayed in a great condo right on the ocean.  Unfortunately it was raining and the wind was blowing upwards of 60 mph!  That didn't stop my kids from wanting to play in the pool!  Crazy boys.  Jody and I watched from the comfort of the heated lobby:)

The next morning the crazy rain and wind had stopped but it wasn't exactly a "beautiful" day at the beach.  

We walked out to haystack rock and the sun came out once or twice from behind the clouds.

Kind of cold and dreary but still a fun walk along the beach with great friends.

We got back home Sunday evening and the Deans left pretty early on Monday.  It was a quick but super fun visit with friends.  Come back any time you want Jared and Jody!

Glencoe Ward Young Women Retreat

I am the camp director for the Young Women of my ward.  This means I have to get all the forms and things organized for the Stake Girls camp in the summer.  I guess it also means that I am in charge of organizing a "retreat" for the girls.  This was my first retreat and I had no idea what to do.  I had never gone on a retreat before so I wasn't sure what the expectations were.  I organized the food, some fun crafts and a few other activities but I figured the girls would just have fun hanging out and enjoying being together.  At the end of the retreat a lot of the girls said it was very different from previous years but they still had fun...I don't know if that's good or bad?  I had a fun time with the other leaders and getting to know the girls a bit better.

A group shot of all the leaders that were able to come.  I had so much fun with these ladies!

We were at Cannon beach so of course we had to spend some time down at the beach!  We had a sandcastle building contest...

...some of the girls went for a classic sand castle...

...these girls built a "sand temple"...

...but the winner was this awesome sand crocodile some of the girls made!

I brought soccer balls and frisbees so we could spend some time at the beach just playing around.

We had a campfire on Friday night.  The weather was so great!

The next day we had some fun crafting

The girls made a "beach in a jar" 

Also made some pretty cute "tikis"

We spent a few hours on Saturday doing a scavenger hunt through the cute little town of Cannon Beach.

Our whole group before heading home.

Overall I think it was a success.  We had plenty of food.  All the girls had a place to sleep.  We had some interesting devotionals.  We did some yoga in the morning.  I think the girls had a fun time getting to hang out and get to know each other outside of church.  I look forward to next years retreat!