Pumpkin Patch Magic

In case you didn’t already know, I am obsessed with pumpkins. And I absolutely adore pumpkin patches. So the first weekend I was home my parents and I headed out to one of my favorite places – Lakeview Farms. I haven’t been home to go there for ages since I’ve been at school, so it was a wonderful reunion!

Here are some of the happy moments:

Isn’t it wonderful? (And isn’t the warty one extra cool?)

Lakeview Farms even offers the absolute best in pumpkin transportation – a boat that evades sharks and pirates, and a train that drives through a spooky haunted house.

Here’s what this year’s hoard looked like. Quite nice, if I do say so myself. I got to carve the biggest one today!

The trip was even educational!

We stopped at the roadhouse (McMenamins) on the way home, where I continued my quest to find the world’s best mac & cheese. Mmmmm…

It was highly successful day. Hope you all have a magical Halloween!

*song = Werewolf Bat Mitzvah, compliments of 30 Rock

And I’ll Be Serving for 18 Months in…

(Drum roll please)

The Japan Sapporo Mission!! It looks like the mission covers all of Hokkaido, which is at the very top of Japan.

I’m super excited!! So here are some pretty pictures from the interweb of where I’ll be.

And The Official Hokkaido Video. Which shows more prettyness.

And of course some stuff from the actual opening! My mom is still in Hawaii (see my latest posts) and Amber is at school at BYU, so once my dad got home we got my mom on Skype on the cell phone and Amber on Skype on my laptop and I opened up the call! It was great!

Here is what it looked like when it went down:

Plus video, if you so desire.

Yay yay yay! I report to the Provo MTC two months from tomorrow! So crazy!

*song = Turning Japanese by the Vapors

AAAHHHHHH It’s Here!

MY FUTURE IS LITERALLY IN MY HANDS AND I WANT TO CARRY IT EVERYWHERE WITH ME. My dad already caught a train home from work but I have to babysit until 4:30, so T-Minus hours and counting!!!

AHHHHHH!

(Confession, I already almost ripped it open by accident because I’m so anxious)

From The Island Shack (or rather, nice condo)

For today’s Hawaii related post, while my mom is still so rudely in paradise without me, here are some pictures taken from our hotel room in April.

So happy.

*song = Always Love by Nada Surf

Hawaii Revisited

My mom is back in Hawaii this week having a reunion with her brothers and sisters, so I’m going to take advantage of this time to finally post some more of the millions and millions of photos I took when we were there this April!

Since my mom is going back home to Hawaii for a family thing, I thought I’d start with some family related pictures. My grandparents on my mom’s side loved Hawaii and lived in Honolulu for forever, so my family got a bench in their memory on the beach at Waikiki. You can see it below in photos, but you should definitely go check it out in person! You can sit on it, watch the waves and get a tan. I wouldn’t mind that right now.

I thought the birds in the tree above the bench that day were kinda cute, even if they were dirty pigeons…

(In case you’re wondering, despite how this may make it seem we actually don’t go to Hawaii all of the time. I think this is the first time my mom has ever gone back home twice in one year! And I’ve only been there twice… so far)

*song = Talking Bird by Death Cab for Cutie

Some Book Lovin’

After being home for almost two weeks, I finally started unpacking today. I put on some records, and actually had a great time sorting my books!

First I found them all scattered about in the attic and other miscellaneous boxes from millions of moves.

Then I sorted them into nice piles.

And put them on my shelf! I sorted them into fiction and non-fiction, and then alphabetized them.(You can tell I’m a nerd by how excited I am about this)

Since I’ve been kind of obsessed with books my entire life, here are some unsolicited readings tips. I have the reading tastes of a 12-year-old, but it’s way more fun that way!

Absolute Favorite Authors: Rick Riordan & Ally Carter. Read any of their books, and I guarantee you will have a marvelous experience. Start with Heist Society and The Lightning Thief.

Newest Favorite Book: I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President by Josh Lieb (one of the writers of The Daily Show). It’s just brilliantly hilarious. Read it now. I picked it up at random and it was one of the best things to happen to me all summer.

honorable mention: I also just read Dust City by Robert Paul Weston, and it was a really cool, gritty, action, futuristic Grimm’s fairy tale mystery detective procedural. Totally worth checking out. Bonus? A pretty cover design.

What I’m currently reading: Wildwood by Colin Meloy (fun fact: he’s the lead singer in The Decemberists), and illustrated by Carson Ellis. So far it’s like The Chronicles of Narnia, but set in Portland. Very happy.

I would so love to work in a book store.

*song = I’m Reading a Book by Julian Smith. It’s so awesome, and I want you to watch it so much, that I’m going to embed it in this post.

Tasty Harvest Fun

Rewind! Back at the beginning of September, Michele and I decided to take a fun little road trip. We went all the way down to Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, for a fun little heritage harvest festival.

I’d never been there before, and it was beautiful! These are long overdue, but the pictures are still plenty enjoyable now.

This is us. At the market.

We listened to some music under this tree while eating a delicious lunch.

We also saw the world’s cutest donut truck!

We took lots of pictures. (I bet you didn’t guess that!)

And sampled delicious heirloom tomatoes, apples, marshmallows and watermelon.

The craft part was fun to look at.

As were the gardens!

Fin.

(look! I am actually catching up on these posts, just like I said I would)

*song = This is Not a Test, by She & Him