Nashville Tribute Band Concert

A couple of weeks ago we attended a concert put on by the Nashville Tribute Band. They are a group of musicians who are all LDS, who have been successful in Nashville, and still find time to perform together paying tribute to Joseph Smith, the pioneers and missionaries. It was held at a farm outdoors on a nice evening.

Visiting with each other before the show begins.

Enjoying a delicious BBQ dinner.

Elder and Sister Terry. This hat was the best of the selection at Fred Meyer so don't laugh too hard!

Nashville Tribute Band. Jason Deere, who is second from the left served his mission in Las Vegas back in the 80's. 

Due West. A great group. One of their best known songs is, "When the Smoke Clears."

Singing with the band. At one point they asked if there were any full time missionaries in the audience. We raised our hands and they had us come up and sing with them. The song is about missionary work and is called "I Was Born." I loved the chorus which is:

And we are here to serve our King!

Children of the Most High

It's His good news that we bring

As we labor gladly bringing souls to Christ.

And that's why we are serving our mission... to do whatever we can to help bring souls to Christ.

 Beautiful moon. A perfect ending to a perfect evening!

King Estate Winery

A few months ago we met the other senior couples at King Estate Winery for lunch. Such a beautiful setting!

It is always nice to spend time socially together. Since we are LDS and don't drink alcohol, we chose to eat out on the patio. From left going around the table: Sister Caldwell, Sister Rout, Elder Rout, Sister Terry, Elder Terry, Sister Oliphant, Elder Oliphant, Elder Mangun. Unfortunately Sister Mangun got cut off of the picture!

This lavender field was just off of the main road and so pretty. 

A view of the vineyards. There are quite a few wineries in the Eugene area.

Pretty view.

A great time was had by all.

Voodoo Doughnuts

I have already devoted a blog post to Dave's Killer Bread so it seems only appropriate to devote another one to Voodoo Doughnuts! We are lucky to live close to one of the three locations in the United States. Two are in Portland and the other is in downtown Eugene.

The bright pink on the building makes it stand out and sometimes you can even smell the icing as you walk by!

It's hard to see in the picture above, but you can have your picture taken in a big voodoo doll that stands in front of the window.

Let's not leave out Elder Terry!

Elder Terry's favorite... Bacon Maple.

Sister Terry's favorite. The Voodoo Doll. Note the pretzel "pin." Inside the stomach is raspberry filling.

Last time we went we went all out and got fritters. Elder Terry chose a peach with cream cheese frosting. Sister Terry chose a Memphis Mafia fritter with chocolate, peanut butter and banana. It took us three days to eat them!

 

Besides buying doughnuts, Voodoo also sells t shirts, hats, underwear and if you are really inclined, you can actually get married! We have no idea who this couple is and didn't see this wedding, but it is too bizarre not to include!

Hendricks Park

On one of our couple outings the Routs invited us to visit Hendricks Park which has a beautiful garden full of rhododendrons. The first time was pretty, but we went back on our own a few weeks later and it was even more beautiful.

 It was a little chilly the first time we visited.

Elder and Sister Rout, Sister Terry, Elder and Sister Oliphant, Elder and Sister Mangun, Elder Caldwell and Elder Terry.

Pretty purple with the sun shining through the trees.

Up close and personal.

My favorite picture.

Afterwards we had lunch at Café 440. Delicious food and good company!

Camp Alpine

Part of our mission includes a girls' camp. Elder and Sister Caldwell and Elder and Sister Mangun are the two couples who serve there and keep the camp running. One of our monthly activities was a barbeque at the camp.

A nice group shot of all of us except Sister Caldwell behind the camera.

Elder Caldwell, Elder Mangun, Sister Mangun, Sister Oliphant, Elder Oliphant, Sister Terry, Elder Terry, Sister Rout, Elder Rout

Visiting while waiting for the food to finish cooking.

It's always nice when the men do the cooking!

 

What a pretty view!

 

Good times

The office board during transfer week. Here we are checking out who the new Zone Leaders, District Leaders and Trainers are. Sister Oliphant in the background.

All of the missionaries being transferred are driven to the Stake Center where they are taken to their new areas. It's a crazy busy time that happens every six weeks.

Here I am with our favorite district leader, Elder Wells, who was our district leader for most of the six months we were in Burns. I started to put my arm around him in this picture and then remembered that is against mission rules. So that's why we were both cracking up.

And here we are with Elder Wells for the last time before he went home the next day. Sad to see him go!

A fun picture of our two tallest missionaries, Elder Burton and Taumoelau. See the Christmas tree behind them? It was well over 6 feet tall! Elder Taumoelau used to be in our District and comes all the way from Tonga!

We enjoy getting to know the President's assistants who are in the office quite a bit. Here are Elders Covey and Hackett.

Right before Elder Hackett went home. We have a tradition where we call all of the missionaries on their birthdays and sing "Happy birthday" to them and blow horns and whistles. Elder Hackett's birthday was a couple of days after he went home so we had to call him in Utah and sing to him!

And here is our inspiration. We absolutely love working with President Young. He is truly an amazing man.

Oregon Coast

Continuing our search for lighthouses... this is the Cape Blanco Lighthouse.

And here is Coquille River. It is located in Bandon, where we followed President Young's advice and found a delicious fish and chips resturant located not far away. We eat there every time we pass through.

 

Port of Brookings. It is part of a private home. We found that the best place to view it was from a hotel parking lot across the street.

We love driving along the coast. There are always great views such as this one...

Or this.. We love Oregon!