Oh my goodness… I don’t even know where to start with the month of August. We started off by heading off on one of the most magical trips i’ve ever been on. We kind of planned it last minute too. Toby has Oregon as part of his territory and we were looking at the southern part where he has a couple offices and I had that idea of turning his work trip into kind of a family trip, since I really wanted to go somewhere like this before Elle leaves off to college. Honestly, it couldn’t have turned out more perfect. Sure it was a lot of driving But my kids are good ages and they’re great in the car. I did a lot of research before we went and I knew exactly where I wanted to stay and what beaches I wanted to hit. They’ve all been on my bucket list for quite a while now. I wanted to stay in the town of Brookings in a little in right on the beach. I don’t even know how to describe this place. The room was wonderful. Two large king beds and a pull out sofa that had to be a queen. A mini kitchen and plenty of space. 2 balcony’s that overlooked the ocean. We just slept with the sliding doors open with just the screen closed and listened to the sound of the ocean. There was driftwood all over the beach below us and the weather had to be 75 degrees. Like for real? We started off by driving up the coast to a stretch of the coast 12 miles long that was called the Samuel H Boardman Corridor. I’m seriously head over heels in love with this place. The first day we hit Harris State Park and the Natural Bridges. I felt like I was in a movie. It also felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. The beaches are so empty and it’s just sand for miles and these amazing seastacks and it’s foggy and there are ferns and moss everywhere. I love the Pacific Northwest. The natural bridges were something that I have wanted to see for the longest time and they took my breath away when we got there. It’s a scary place to hike though so I was very careful with the kids and didn’t go very far and just enjoyed them from the viewpoint. We then went back and got food and went to the hotel and swam under the moonlight under a lighthouse just incredible. The next day we decided to head south towards the redwoods and go to a place called the trees of mystery. You pulled up and there was a big massive Paul Bunyan, and babe. This place is in Klamath Falls and was so unique. The kids loved it. There were trails everywhere and canopies in the trees and we got to go on a gondola up to the top of this mountain above all the redwoods. Again it’s just hard to describe. Feels like you’re in an Ewok movie. The redwoods are so majestic it was super fun to experience. After we left there, we drove nearby to a redwood tree that we could drive our car through. How cool is that!? Then we decided To drive back to those arches that were so amazing and this time I hiked a little bit lower down so I could get a better view and Toby came with me. That had to be my favorite place. Reminded me of Peter Pan or something. Next, we found the coolest place called secret beach. You have to hike down it a little ways and it’s kind of hard to find thus the name. But once we did oh my goodness. We were in our own little Wonderland and had the whole place to ourself. We explored all over that beach. Then back to the hotel and enjoyed exploring around there and picking up the driftwood and hard rocks. The next day we went back up, Samuel H Boardman corridor and hit a beach called Whales head beach. Was Misty and beautiful and you could hardly see the huge sea stack that the place was named after. That beach we literally had all to ourselves not a soul in sight. But within about a half hour, the fog lifted and you could see this massive sea stack right in front of us. So cool. Then we headed up the corridor to a little place that had dinosaurs all around in like a little rainforest. It was called Prehistoric something. The little boys really loved that but mostly they just made fun of the old looking dinosaurs. Everyone was getting really hungry and weren’t sure where to eat. We stopped by a beach called Gold Beach, but there wasn’t really anything there to eat. Especially hard finding gluten-free. But somehow, we got lucky and found the best Mexican restaurant right off the beach that had the most incredible chips and salsa and food good priced and the best atmosphere. We can’t wait to go back. We were full. We wanted to go back to secret beach because everyone’s loved it so much. It didn’t disappoint the second time either. Just so beautiful. We stayed much longer this time playing in the sand, throwing the football and enjoying the evening there. The sunsets on the beaches of Oregon are insane. I really didn’t wanna leave this place. The next day we got up, got ready and started to head home. We stopped by our favorite Bigfoot store and got some ice cream and decided to make a little bit of a longer drive out of it, but we wanted to go see crater Lake. So glad we did. It was the brightest blue and had so much history about it. We found another fun little restaurant that happened to be Mexican but gluten-free. It was just the best trip ever. I’m not doing it justice, but hopefully you can see from the pictures what a wonderful time we had together. Core memories forever. We bought souvenirs and took lots of pictures and I treasured every moment I had there with my family altogether.
Also, in August, I took each of my kids on their back to school dates out to eat and to buy new school clothes. I always love that one on one time with them. And I discovered that the pie has some pretty dang good gluten-free pizza so that was awesome. We went back up to Logan to celebrate August birthdays and to celebrate else starting college at Joel’s house.
We also went to this cool reinactment of the temple/tabernacle back in the Bible. Hard to describe in words but it was a really neat experience and I was so grateful Elle and Cash especially wanted to go and that they enjoyed it as much as they did.
And then just like that school started. Tate started fifth grade and started third grade and cash Started his sophomore year of high school. Wish I knew how to slow down but the hardest one of all was sending Ella to college at Utah State. First of all, it was super hard to watch her. Say goodbye to Dallin knowing he’ll be leaving on his mission soon , but also dropping her off felt so surreal. I cried halfway home. I just know that things will never be the same and I’m going to miss her contant presence in our home. And all of her friends coming in and out and just all the little day to day things. Obviously, she won’t be far and can come home all the time, but it just won’t be the same. Writing about it just doesn’t do it justice. It’s been a little bit of a rough month with her and Dallin trying to figure out where to go with all the changes and I’ve been so involved helping her figure out where to live and getting her packed up. Then it would just hit me hard and the tears would just flow. I love that girl so much.
We didn’t get in a hike with the Stevens and Ashby’s during the summer so we had to do it after school started. We all hiked donut Falls together, which was so fun and a tradition we’ve done for a long time. We also stopped at our favorite taco shop. August was certainly busy and we were able to fit so much and I’m so grateful especially for that Oregon trip. Truly one I will never ever ever forget.
