XOXO, KAY: October 2015

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Do You Rememba the 21st Night of Septemba?

I'm really bad at keeping up with the blogging thing lately. Probably because we have been doing something every.single.weekend. for the past 2 months. We haven't been to our ward in 2 months (oops), and I just want to take a nap. But these weeks have been good! I'm so glad we are at a time in our life when we can travel, have fun, and kind of do what we want, because we may never have this type of lifestyle ever again! Here are some highlights from Septemba!

^^their jammies kill me!!

Soo happy my family came to visit us! We don't see them enough and every time I see them, Addie and Boston get even cuter (and so do Cam and Julia :))! I wish I lived closer to them. (Maybe one day!) We took the kids to our favorite farm that's right down the street from us, Wilkerson Farm. They have the cutest pumpkin patch right now and the best produce!! Addie and Boston loved the mini tractors. We also went to the Puppy Barn! Finally! I kind of feel bad for the puppies though. I want them to just run around, not be in pens. But they were so cute! I want one! Thanks for the fun weekend, Cam&Julia!!

We went up to Snowbird one weekend for Oktoberfest! Even though we don't drink, it was a grand ol' time! I ate the freaking best weisswurst and waffle. German food for the win. We took a tram ride up the mountain and heard THESE^^ people play their long horns. No idea what they're called ha. It was a perfect sunny day and so pretty! Fall was just beginning so we saw a hint of yellow on our ride up. I would definitely go back just for the atmosphere and food there!

double arch

on the hike to landscape arch

delicate arch

balancing rock

fiery furnace

sand dune arch

We finally made our way down to Moab! Alex went years ago, but I have never been. It did not disappoint! I think Arches is my new favorite national park in Utah. It was INCREDIBLE, and I can't believe there are structures like this in our world. There are a lot of arches you can see by just driving through the park but we also went on a few hikes. The hike to Arches is sort of difficult because you walk up a mountain for a good 20 minutes. This is the arch on all of the Utah license plates so of course I was excited. We also hiked to landscape arch, which was sort of a let-down, probably because delicate was so cool. The next day we hiked the fiery furnace! This place was the best. There are no marked trails so you just get to explore! I highly, highly recommend it! Such a fun adventure.

Random pictures that don't fit anywhere:

I just have to say, Alex works for the best company in Utah. Seriously. Domo has been amazing (besides some annoying HR issues...). But other than that, amazing! If you are looking for a job, work there. Domo had a tailgate party before a BYU football game and they had a bunch of activities and about 20 food trucks. I did a dance-off between about 60 people and came in 3rd place! I promise you I am not good at dancing. But I won $100 to the movies! THANK YOU DOMO.

Captured this beautiful sunset on my way home one day! It's days like these that make me appreciate the place I live! YAY pretty sunsets!

That's all, folks. I will eventually get the rest of the Japan pics up soon :)

xoxo,

kay

Thursday, October 8, 2015

JAPAN PART 2 (+Food!)

Ok, I need to be better about posting this trip! Here is part 2 (of 3) of our trip!! Still feels like a dream...

We took the train down to Miyajima, an island about an hour away from Hiroshima. These trains are some of the fastest in the world, and are amazingly comfortable. I love the train. It took about 3 hours to get there from where we were in Shizuoka. Everything is so close in Japan! We got to the island and there are a bunch of deer roaming around everywhere that will let you just come up to them. Bad idea to have food around them though. Miyajima has a famous red shrine in the water and it was cool to see with the tide low and high. We were able to walk out to it when the tide was low. We ate at a cute traditional Japanese restaurant (probably my favorite meal), and some ice cream in a frybread type of thing. Their flavors are crazy--soybean? black sesame? But I loved it. We walked around the island and took a tram ride up to the top. SO BEAUTIFUL. Green everywhere, beautiful water. Just breathtaking. I would come here again.

We stayed in Hiroshima that night and went to the A-bomb museum that morning. It was a very somber experience. Everyone needs to go to that museum. They have a building still standing in the exact spot the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb. Just incredible. (side-note: we went to a pastry place here, and I ate the best chocolate croissant of my life) We left Hiroshima around noon and stopped halfway to our next destination at Himeiji castle. This is the oldest castle still standing that was inhabited by Samuri. All of the twists and turns and secret hiding places in this castle were amazing! No wonder it never got destroyed. They also have Japanese gardens that we went to that were beautiful. But man, I was tired after that day. This was probably the hottest day and the most walking we did. So worth it though!

We went back to Shizuoka and had some chill days. We went to the zoo and just Alex and I took a bus ride to the beach! I love that Pacific Ocean. This water was incredibly warm. We also went to church here and the members were SO NICE. Everyone came up to us to say hi and greet us. You can truly feel the Spirit everywhere you go.

PICTURES OF FOOD!!

This was Alex's breakfast at our hotel. They pretty much have full-on meals for breakfast.

Is THIS not the greatest idea ever? Putting your whole menu in the window so people know what they're ordering. Come on, America. Get with the program.