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.