Julaugust

Man, blogging is hard to do during the summer! We have been here and there all summer with lots of fun in between! Here's a catch-up on our lives from July and August! Kind of sad summer is ending, but MORE EXCITED that fall is going to start!! Favorite season!!!

 Favorite picture haha

The family came into town for 4th of July weekend! Quinny boy had a baseball camp at BYU so it was a good excuse for everyone to come. First day we went to the U of U campus to look at their baseball field/campus for Quinn, then walked around temple square. That night we went to the Bee's game and they got rocked. Oh well, the fireworks at the end of the game were amazing! On the 4th of July we went to the Provo River (which was freeeeezing), then went to Stadium of Fire! (Sorry for all the selfies). Journey was amazing!! And the fireworks were even more amazing!! On Friday, just my dad and I took a daddy-daughter drive to Heber and around the Alpine loop. It was the perfect rainy day. We saw beautiful nature, and some cool hay made into minions :)

Alright, so Alex and I are obsessed with good food. Our favorite thing is trying new restaurants and foods. I think breakfast is my favorite meal so I will always go to breakfast with anyone. One day, we ventured to Park City and took a walk down main street then went to this amazing restaurant (cannot remember the name...oops) and had delicious risotto and pizza! Ah. We are going back there.

Okay, big deal in the Baldwin home. WE HAD TO LET GO OF BARNEY :( :( :(

Barney was the greatest car ever. Got it for free 4 years ago and almost everything was broken, however it got me around. But we ended up buying a Prius! (Goin' back to my Seattle roots...woot!) Getting a Prius has been the best decision ever. First off, it is a keyless start, so I will NEVER lock my keys in my car! The car won't lock until the keys are out. Also, best gas mileage ever. Road trips for days. And it just looks nice :) We are happy with our purchase!

Random dates! 1. Got to see Wizard of Oz up at Sudance! Incredble. Incredible. Such a great musical! Also, Sundance is just my favorite place in all of Utah. Anything I do there makes me happy. 2. So happy Spencer and Jessie live here now!! We hiked up to Stewart Falls (after not being able to find the entrance for like a half hour ha). It was so fun! Perfect length of hike for me and great company. 3. Spent our Pioneer day (yes, that's a thing) down in Mona at the Lavender fields! So beautiful. A lot of the lavender had already been harvested, but the farm is so cute and quaint and has a lot more than just the lavender. After, we went to the Red Barn in Santaquin and got some ice cream and other homemade goodies.

Definitely one of my highlights of this summer! GIRLS CAMP!! Ahh it was so nice to be back at camp. We went to Mia Shalom about an hour and a half southeast. We went on hikes, canoed, sang crazy songs, made shelters, learned orienteering, ate amazing food...yes amazing, and of course gained an even stronger testimony of our Church. I loved all of these girls and leaders and just had a blast. It was beautiful up there, plus no cell phone service(!) and no showers...ha it felt so great to come home to a clean house and shower. But I will cherish those memories forever.


Such a fun summer!! On to our next adventure this week!


xoxo, kay

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

The best part about being done with school is taking lots of fun trips! We were lucky enough to visit San Francisco for the weekend to visit our best friends who are living out there for the summer. They were kind enough to let us sleep at their place, and we lucked out on super cheap plane tickets through Allegiant Air (flies out of Provo---pretty amazing to have the airport 5 min. away). It was such an incredible, jam-packed, fun-filled weekend. We did not leave any time to sit around and did a TON. (disclaimer: if you ever go on a trip with me, we will be planning things down to the food we eat and walk a ton and go-go-go, sorry...but WORTH IT). The great thing about San Francisco is that most of the things you do there you just look at, so we were able to see and do a number of things. SORRY in advance for the mass amount of pictures. Like I said, we did not waste any time!


DAY 1:

Went to Fisherman's Wharf, walked all around the piers, ate amazing clam chowder at Boudin Chowder, and of course had an arm wrestle with the same guy that wrestled Mia Thermopolis! (Princess Diaries, people. Alex hasn't seen it and didn't get it...)

Alcatraz was definitely a highlight and Alex's favorite part of the whole trip. We got to learn all about what went on there with an audio tour. A man who was a prisoner at Alcatraz just happened to be there for a book signing. Pretty surreal. It's a must-see!

So many cute houses as you're walking from place to place!!

Ghirardelli was definitely one of my highlights ;) Chocolate is my best friend and this place did NOT disappoint. Later that evening, we went to dinner with Kayla then when Jordan got off work we went to the Castro district for some amaaazing cookies. They totally look like they're hard and aren't going to taste good, but it's SO good. Just don't look at all the naked people on the walls of the place :)

DAY 2:

Cutest breakfast ever in Pacific Heights. Probably my favorite neighborhood.

YES THAT IS THE MRS. DOUBTFIRE HOUSE!!! I was like a child seeing that. One of my favorite movies ever. And around the tree there were a bunch of rocks with "RIP Robin" on them. So sweet.

Did lots of sight-seeing today! Beautiful views of the golden gate bridge and the bay. Plus this is like the best weather San Fran has seen all summer, so go team for that! Went to Twin Peaks that overlooks the whole city...amazing! And yay for group selfies! Then we went to these way sweet man-made concrete slides. Ahhh so fun! You just slide down on a piece of cardboard. I wanna be a kid again!!

We went to see Stanford and went up in the Hoover tower that overlooked the whole thing. Incredible! We walked around campus, went to the bookstore and bought some shirts, then went to a cute restaurant near by. Maybe this will be our home one day...?! We met back up with Jordan and Kayla in Half Moon Bay...cutest city ever!!! And the most incredible drive through the mountains. We went to the Ritz Carlton and felt way out of place in our scrub clothes compared to these people. But oh it was so worth it to see that sunset! Such a beautiful place. When I'm rich and famous, I'm staying there.

At night we went across the bridge to see the city all lit up. SO PERFECT!

DAY 3:

Started out the day by going to Golden Gate Park to the Japanese Tea Gardens and paddle-boating around Stow lake. Then naturally, got Japanese food at some hole-in-the-wall. Just preparing ourselves for our next adventure in a couple weeks. (!!!!)

  

 YOU GOT IT, DUDE!

More sight-seeing throughout the day! Went to the Mosaic Steps (probably the coolest thing ever), visited my childhood again (aka FULL HOUSE HOUSES!), and held on like pros on the trolley ride down to Ferry Building.

We ventured across Golden Gate to Sausalito, the cutest little town ever (I know I already said that about Half Moon Bay...they're tied)! We walked by the bay and the cute shops and ate some fish and chips. On our way back we drove up to the classic picture-esque lookout of the bridge. SO AMAZING. (P.S. Alex had to take a picture with Alcatraz since he's obsessed).

Last stop was the Palace of Fine Arts. Why isn't there one of these in Utah? Jeez. And then of course we had to go back to Ghirardelli. Because it's amazing. And it is my soul. (sorry for bad pic quality but it was really an incredible dish of deliciousness)

THANK YOU to Jordan and Kayla for being incredible hosts and letting us play. This was such a good little break and I kind of fell in love with San Fran! It has perfect weather, by the way. No snow. No extreme heat. 60's-70's for days. Perfect. We will be back!

xoxo,

kay