Heart Aloha

<-- My house!




Aloha. It had been FIVE(5)!!! Years since I'd been back to Hawaii, a place I used to ache for every minute of every day. I'm sad to say that I had lost a little bit of that ache but it has returned thanks to this trip. Every memory I had came flooding back as we drove down Kam Highway, through Haliewa, walked around Foodland, the Temple, PCC, Hukilau beach, the PCC, ate fresh pineapple, mango, coconut syrup, and Ted's Bakery.

We did spend time with my parents (specifically the breakfast buffet at Turtle Bay EVERY morning) but those pictures are on my mom's camera...




Sarah served her mission in New Zealand so she had a blast going through the Aotearoa village at the PCC, describing the culture and history and talking to the workers who were all from New Zealand. They even knew some of the same people! One of the elders from her mission, Siti, is from Fiji and is attending BYUH, showed us around a little and then we got to watch him in the night show. He was a star in the part about Fiji. The night show has been redone since I was there and it was SO GOOD.



Since it was Sarah's first time to Hawaii, she had to visit Pearl Harbor. It's always a humbling, solemn experience.







I can't describe my love for this place. There aren't words. Please just go there and bring a friend with you.

Road Trippin Sara(h)s

Every year my parents go to Hawaii. Yes it's true. We all hate them a little. But this year I got INVITED!! Yay. So I invited my new BFF-name-twin to come also. Yay again.

It turned out that our mutual friend Tyler (Sarah and I met at his Cinco de Mayo party) was having his wedding reception/picnic in Riverside the weekend before our Hawaii trip...

and... flights to Hawaii out of SLC were $$$

so... we drove to CA for the weekend and THEN flew to Hawaii from LAX. WIN WIN WIN.




This is Tyler and his wife Kimberly. She's from Scotland which is where they got married. It was fun to surprise him.




Then Sarah and I bummed around at the beach for a few days, thanks Ben and Janae for letting us crash on your couches! We ate fish tacos, had hot chocolate at Ruby's on the pier, went shopping etc.


Newport Temple, my fav.



Oh yeah... then we went to Disneyland. Totally NOT in the plan but as we were talking about what we should do for the next few days before our flight, I blurted "We could go to Disneyland!!" Done.





SO SO SO SO SO SO FUN. Except for the part I got soaked on Splash Mountain...

We felt like we could go home that night and it would have been an awesome vacation but we hadn't even started yet. Tomorrow: Hawaii.

Can't Get Enough Pumpkin

Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Rolls with Maple cream cheese frosting, graham cracker crumbs and toasted pecans. Need I say more?

I love Fall.

Roommate Getaway!

My roommates and I, and Emma, a friend of Sarah's from New Zealand, took a trip to St. George and Vegas for the weekend. We had Brick Oven Pizza night, watched chick flicks, shopped etc.




Some of us wanted a picture with a snake...


Michelle wanted some snake poo on her Toms...




We ate at the Planet Hollywood buffet. The food was good but the desserts were best.

Please don't ever let me near a dessert buffet again. We tried EVERY. SINGLE. THING.

We had to walk around the Bellagio gardens, obviously.





This pumpkin weighed 800 lbs. Imagine all the pumpkin pancakes you could make with that...

This is a chocolate fountain. I will have this in my house someday. Or never.


Highlights of the trip for me:
-Bellagio water show to my favorite song Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
-Pumpkin Pancakes for Breakfast
-Warm Southern Utah Sunshine
-People-watching on the streets of Vegas, I love that crazy town.

Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us use Casa de Randall!!