Park City in September

Sometimes I forget that people come to Park City for vacation; that they actually choose to spend their precious free time up here in the mountains. (In fact, my brother and two of my best friends have honeymooned or will be honeymooning up here since I came to Park City 3+ years ago!)

I have come to the realization that I totally take Park City for granted.  I don't enjoy all the benefits that come with living in Park City, not even close. Every morning this month, as I leave for work, I see dozens of these things in the sky.  I mean seriously, how places are there in the world where every morning you get slapped in the face with hot air balloons everywhere you turn?!?!

Someday I will take a ride in a hot air balloon...sigh...

Until then, I am determined to start utilizing the amazing scenery and events surrounding me.  Especially the ones that aren't quite so costly.  I'm going to go hike through the fabulous, fiery red and orange leaves; I'm going to go to that one pizza place on Main st. that everybody not from Park City raves about; I'm going to spend time pretending I am a tourist in my own city; I am going to take advantage of the local deals more often.  I may even brave the crowds this winter for Sundance!   Here goes nothing!

Life Lately According to Other People's Pictures

I cannot believe it is already half way through September.  With so much going on, life just seems to be flying by!  Brian and I are both back in school, our tans are faded, and Wednesday morning I even woke up to frost on my car :(

We have been spending a lot of our time working - this school year has been busier than ever, studying - Brian for classes and me for the Praxis Principles of Learning and Teaching exam I have to take next Saturday at BYU, and working on Brian's car - it broke down 3 weeks ago, and we have been spending weekends (including this one) down in Highland trying to fix it ourselves. And by ourselves, I mean Brian with the help of his Day. :)

We have had some fun in there too.  We spent Labor Day swimming, eating J-Dawgs, and playing games with friends down in Provo.  Pretty exciting especially because my best friend, Renae, got engaged!  We also have beent to two fun celebrations in honor of Travis' graduation and new job with the Air National Guard in Savannah, Ga.  Here are some pictures of Labor Day fun and the party the Ipince family through for Travis.

Hawaii: The Finale (Part 8)

Day 13:  Sunday - We went to church, relaxed, and kinda, sorta started packing to go home. :(  I also enjoyed reading my kindle outside while enjoying the waves hitting the rocks.  Totally chill.  Brian took Lorrin to the airport, so Amy and I also got to have fun girl talk time.

Day 14:  Our last full day in Hawaii.  We took Amy and London with us to Kualoa Park to visit and tour the beautiful valley where movies and TV shows like Pearl Harbor, 50 First Dates, Lost, Godzilla, George of the Jungle, Jurassic Park, and tons more have been filmed. We also stopped at a local restaurant for some kalua pork.

Day 15:  This day was totally bitter - sweet.  We packed up, spent our last few hours at the beach soaking up sun, chasing crabs, and enjoying the waves, and then headed to the airport.  And we experienced a full blown miracle in my book.  Flying standby, I made the direct flight back to SLC with Brian by taking the very last seat on the plane!  Total divine intervention!  A special shout out to Lorrin and Amy for letting us stay with y'all for two whole weeks without killing us!  Thank you, thank you!

Hawaii: Part 7

Day 12:  Today we spent the day with Amy and Lorrin on the North Shore.  We started on our adventure in Halewa.  We toured the cute touristy shops and enjoyed shave ice at Matsumoto's.

Then we went to Amy entitled "Turtle Beach" to see the Sea Turtles! There were so many of them, and they were so exciting to watch.  We counted at least 10 of them swimming in the waters right in front of us. Dude...Totally...

After Turtle Beach, we continued down to Shark's Cove and met up with some of with some of Lorrin and Amy's friends who knew the area and knew of a great place to snorkel and cave dive.  I didn't snorkel and cave dive, but I did hike out to the cave and get in the water to see the underwater tunnel.  Brian said it was a pretty crazy experience though.  He had to hold his breath in complete darkness a lot longer than he had originally thought.

We were still on a roll, so we went back to Waimea Bay to jump off the rock and enjoy the beach while the sun was still out.  Crazy Brian dove off the rock.  Amy and I just jumped.  Look at that beautiful sandy water!

To finish off the night, we enjoyed some BBQ ribs with some of Amy and Lorrin's young married friends, and I topped it all off with Ted's Haupia Pie.  Yum!  Nights like this one make me want to live on a tropical island paradise forever.  Simply breaktaking...

Hawaii: Part 6

Day 9:  Wednesday morning, we went boogie boarding at Malaekahana State Park close to Laie.  We loved this beach so much, we went back two more times during our vacation.  The beaches were white and sandy, and it was one of the few spots with decent waves this time of year.

Brian was obsessed with all the crabs on the beach.

In the afternoon, we walked back on the beach to the house, and after driving Lorrin to work at the airport, Amy and London went with us to Waikiki so that Brian could go surfing for the first time.  The picture below is the only one I took of Brian's first efforts.  Unfortunately, the waves were so far out that you can't really see anything.  I was miserably sunburned by this point, so I didn't surf at all, but Brian got up despite the few waves and large crowds.

Day 10:  Brian and I were were so sun burned, chaffed, and tired that we decided to take the day off.  In the morning, we babysat this little girl...

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and took naps, watched lots of episodes of That 70's Show, and made dinner and dessert with Amy.  We didn't even leave the house until the sun went down, and we finally felt brave enough to venture to the grocery store for ice cream.

Day 11:  Friday, we were feeling much more refreshed, so we decided to get some coconut pancakes at the Hukilau cafe and then try our hand at surfing again back at Malaekahana.  I got up on my first try! (even though Brian didn't get a picture of it...)

Friday night, Amy and Lorrin got a babysitter for date night, and we all went to Chile's for dinner.  Great way to start off the weekend.