"October, 十月"

Once upon a time, I blogged every little thing... 

Then, the evil dragon called "SCHOOL" sunk its teeth into me 

and I've been limping along, ever since. 

My family has a Japanese exchange student 

staying with them, at the moment.

We made him gut a gooey pumpkin {with Chan}, 

and bake an apple cake {with me}.

He's such a careful little helper.

Old family friends, the Cannons, 

came to sing and dine with us. 

{I'm afraid we were a bit too loud for sweet Yuima.}

Singing and smiling together. <3

Halloween Cruise!

Alex, Kate, Amy, me, Dominic, Stephanie, Kristen 

{and Cory, who was taking the picture}

sailed down the Provo River and heard spooky stories.

The lights on the water reminded me of Kyoto.

:< I miss my Japan.

Reflective pun'kins. :3

Pumpkin Land! 

Friends and I tackled the corn maze, 

to search for a magic bean. 

Alex.

Christopher.

Heather.

Kristen.

{Whose photos these are.}

After the maze, 

we played with the goats and rabbits. 

{And took their barnyard fragrance home, on our clothes.}

We're all like, 5-years-old, still. 

Heart. <3

Öktoberfest! 

Snowbird Resort is so LUSH and PRETTY.

Lovely lady Erin got flags on her face. 

{She's told me she'll give her heart to the boy 

who actually knows which flag this is.}

Es lebe Deutschland!

*phew* 

In descending order, that's been my October. 

Now, onward to tomorrow, 

when I'm filming Stringtown's spooky train ride~
Happy Halloween, loves!

{♪ "Nach Haus" © Silbermond}

"Temple Square in 日本語"

{I have a lot of stories to share during this upcoming week, so bear with me!}

We took our exchange student, Shinji, up to Temple Square last Sunday to a performance of Music and the Spoken Word.

And guess who else was up in the balcony with us?

You see so many familiar faces when you roam Salt Lake City, I'm telling you. :)

The statue of the Christus is a must-see at Temple Square.

Whenever I enter the room it's placed in, I sit on the cushioned seats, but always find myself rising up to wander closer to it. What it represents to me is so beautiful.

I love whole-family trips. ♥

After the Temple Square tour in Japanese.

{Now that was interesting! Made me realize what I need to study next.}

In this photo, we're waiting for Pere to come pick us up.

{We were headed to a picnic in the park.}

Chan's a little monkey. :)

{He wasn't supposed to be on that side of the pond... but it made for a great photo!}

Two things Shinji loves: tennis & sightseeing.

We drove up one of the many canyons Utah houses and found life amidst the wintering trees.

And of course Raine came too!

"Pumpkinland + Carving"

"At first cock-crow the ghosts must go, back to their quiet graves below."

-Theodosia Garrison

This is Halloween.

Everybody scream!

{Just kidding... but can you believe it's almost here?!}

On this holiday-spirited adventure, mates + I tra-la-la'd our way through Pumpkinland's cornmaze, crawled through rabbit holes & befriended the farm animals.

We also ate Sonic ice cream. It was to die for.

{*ku fu-fuuuu*} <--Japanese cackle.

Rob, Kevin, Kristen & friends all participated. It was uber lover-ly.

Can't wait for ghost tours with the McCabes on the big day itself!

{Music credit: "End Credits" by Bruno Coulais/The Children's Choir of Nice & "Sweet Dreams" by Beyonce}