Visitors!

The family came to visit earlier this month and we had such a fun time together!

We worked on finishing our back deck. It looks great! (finished pictures to come on my blog.)
McKay was a big help. :) He played with tools and cheered us on.

We walked around OSU campus one day. The campus is beautiful. The autumn leaves were just starting to change in some places and fully ripened (and flaming) in others. This is called "the oval." All the buildings are on the perimeter and the sidewalks converge at three different points in the middle. It gets crazy between class periods.

This is the library. It has one entire glass wall spanning up the seven floors of the library, showing off the thousands of books. It is amazing.

We also went to a delicious German restaurant in the German Village downtown. Schmidt's proudly displayed their Buckeye pride.

We saw the life size and fully functioning replica of Christopher Columbus's main sailing ship, the Santa Maria. We were surprised that it wasn't very big--it doesn't seem big enough to brave the mighty Atlantic. Christopher Columbus is this great city's namesake.It was a great trip, a cold week, and we had a lot of fun together. We love visitors, so feel free to come by anytime!

Anyone there?

I'm glad I'm the only one who posts anything anymore... I guess I'm the only one with an interesting life! : )

Hyer Girls Retreat

For those of you who didn't get to attend, here is what you missed:

Amren teaching Luanne 'fast texting'

Mom even enjoyed her 'birthday ride' at Texas Roadhouse! 

Aprons of many colors and varieties.  What talent we have in our Hyer Clan!

Y HIke?

Actually, you should hike because it's great! Speaking of hikes, I hiked the Y with Granddad on Friday morning.  I started my day with a walk to the temple at 6:30am, came home at 8:30, ate and hiked with Granddad at 9:30.  It took us 2 1/2 hours.  On the other hand, he did it.  He made it all the way to the top and back down and never fell once (of course, we did have hiking sticks, which I'm sure made the difference)!  We took it at a VERY slow pace and stopped about every turn.  Even still, this 2 1/2 hours wasn't a waste of time, in any way.  I talked with Granddad the whole way up and back about his and my breakfast, the name 'Granddad', (did you know he drives with two feet? I think it a 'that generation' thing), Taiwan, Japan, Grandma Harriet's death, Japanese culture, the war, his mission, marrying Harriet 15 days after, Berkley, his educational plans at the time and his continued teaching at BYU, the 'accounts' not books he's writing of his life and the Hyer family coming to America, genealogy of the Hyer's, and interesting people.  Being a Friday morning, there weren't many people on trail, however we did encounter some.  Every time, no matter where we were in our conversation, he'd always say something to them, except it was more than a simple, courteous "hello, how are you?" it was a comment significant to them.  He is so friendly and can have a conversation with anyone no matter who they are.  He's the cutest '90 in 7 years' old man and I'm glad I was able to hike it with him.  It made my day. Love you Granddad

Calling Grandma Karen to tell her we were at the top!

Potty Passion

Guess what?! I have the best story ever! Ok, so today I went to the bathroom in the Wilk and it was the most amazing experience of my life! I sit down and the toilet paper is automatic, I wash my hands and the faucet turns on automatically as well as the personal soap dispenser, I dry my hands in this turbo dry hand chamber, and get a squirt of automatic hand sanitizer as I walk out the door! Aren't bathrooms fabulous?! (Well, that one at least!) So basically, the only manual thing I had to do was pull my pants down and open the door! If only they came up with an automatic invention for that... wow, we'd be one lazy population. Either way, it was way cool and I'm definitely using that bathroom anytime I'm near and feel that "gotta go" urge.

Introducing the Sweatband Fan Club

Karen's tennis team played Carson yesterday at Westwood. Marcus and I went to go support her and catch some sweet tennis action. Karen won both her singles and doubles match.

Marcus proved to be Karen's biggest fan with his new t-shirt. The front reads, "Go Sweatband" (Karen's nickname). The back reads, "Karen's Fan Club".

So long, farewell....

The Teachers Quorum made this card for Dad to thank him for his service. It reads: We're EXTRA grateful that Elder Kikuchi received a STARBURST from heaven. You have been a LIFESAVER to a bunch of NERDS on many JOYOUS occasions. We have SNICKERed at your sense of humor. Your SWEET(tarts) leadership is worth 100 GRAND. Your testimony makes our hearts burn like HOT TAMALES. Your calling really REESES (pleases) us. We sincerely appreciate your great example and all you have done for us. On the front of the card was a Dear "MIKE (and IKE) box.