Leave are Falling All Around

Last week we took our annual trip to the mountains to see the fall leaves in all their glory.
As usual, it was beautiful.
The leaves are so spectacular this time of year, especially the maples.

I have a love/hate relationship with Fall.
I love the chilly evenings and gorgeous foliage.
I love that I can make soup for dinner and not sweat to death while we eat.

I love having a reason to make as many pumpkin recipes as I can think of.
Everything from pumpkins chocolate chip cookies to my newest favorite, pumpkin chili.
I love walking on our favorite pathway and stopping so we can literally watch the leaves fall before our very eyes, and the soft sound they make as they whoosh to the ground.
Really, what's not to love?



The only part of Fall I dread is the end of it.
Because that means it will be winter and that means endless cold and wet and snow.
I am already dreading that.
The California girl in me wishes we could skip the Utah winters all together.

Especially this year, because when Spring comes, so does this baby!

The Other Side of Summer

Dear Fall,
I miss you. Why did you have to leave so suddenly? I miss your warm, but not too hot, sun shiny afternoons. I miss your bright leaves and my kids with rakes 4 times bigger than them. I miss your gentle breeze that is so perfect I feel like I might be in a dream. I miss your harvest of juicy apples and huge squashes and bright tomatoes and carrots and beans and raspberries and pears. I hoped you could have stayed longer. I hoped we could have had one real last horse ride in your perfectness. I miss your smells of crunchy leaves and spicy muffins. I miss the carpet of leaves on the lawn and the acorns in the grass at the park. Now those things are hiding under the cold forbidding snow. Why did you have to yield to the snow? Why could you not have pushed it off just a little longer? Why, why I ask you? I guess I'm just a California girl at heart. You can take the girl out of California, but you can't take California out of the girl. I miss the sweet years when you'd stay with me all the way to Christmas and beyond. Your breeze and gentle rays kept me warm for months and months. You never let me freeze and the snow chill my bones. How I ache for your sweet rays. Spring seems so far away now. Don't leave us so cold and bleak. I look forwar to the promise of your return. After we've had another long, hard winter Spring will come again, and with it the promise of warmth and sunshine. Summer will not be far from Spring. And before we know it all the long summer nights will have passed all too quickly, filled with camping and planting and hiking and playing and laughing. Then, there you will be, waiting for me just on the other side of summer. Then we will play in your gentle sun and pick your bright leaves once again. Then we'll pick apples and relish their sweet goodness. Then we'll play in the leaves and be happy once again. I know you're there, just waiting on the other side of Summer. Til then, I'll miss you terribly, the memory of your warmth always be in my heart.
Love, Me

Misunderstood

I think my post yesterday created a few ripples.
I think some of you may think me un-American for not liking trick-or-treating.
Don't worry, I'm no such thing.
I really do love all of our pagan ways, all of them!
I'm here today to show you just how much I love them.

First off, let me assure you, I have not sworn off Halloween altogether.
My house is living proof.
Anything that is standing still is filled with pumpkins, gourds, leaves, corn, and so on and so forth.
We have done many fun traditional Halloween activities with the kids and there are more in store before now and Saturday.
Here are my favorite things about All Hallows Eve (and fall).

I love our annual fall leaf hunt up in the mountains.
I love bringing the leaves home and finding fun crafts and ways to decorate with them.
(Yes, I mod podged pressed leaves onto blocks of wood. It made a great general conference activity)
I love picking apples and making quart after quart of apple sauce and apple cider.
I love chili and rolls.
I love the first homemade pumpkin pie custard of the season made with a fresh pumpkin just picked from the field.
I love the annual trip to the corn maze with fabulous friends who bring home made kettle corn by the 5 gallon bucket.
I love picking our own pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.
I love sliding down the huge slides assembled from humungo stacks of hay bales.
I love the bittersweet goodbye of the falling leaves.
I love seeing my 1 year old try to rake the leaves with a rake that is at least 3 times bigger than he is.
I love the last fall horse ride at Snow Basin, so bitter sweet.
I love all the piles of leaves that are created and destroyed every single day.
I love the warm smell of chunky apple muffins in the chilly mornings.
I love the colors.

I love that as soon as my kids see the first pumpkin or a spider on any neighbors porch they insist that we pull all of our decorations out so we can be ready for Halloween too.
I love it when I pull out the bin of Halloween costumes that my kids must each try on every costume in there.
Beano even tried the Belle gown. Don't worry he was out of it in a flash when he saw the astronaut get up.
I love it that as soon as they see the costumes they know exactly what they want to be.
I love carving pumpkins with the Bennetts.
Seriously, all the good food and good friends, it's one of my favorite traditions.
I love the family gatherings on chilly evenings.
So far that's all we've done this year for Halloween.
Halloween and fall get pretty mixed up around here.
I think we celebrate fall more that Halloween, but we still have tons of fun that day too.
I love our home school Halloween party and seeing all the different costumes everyone comes up with.
I really can't wait this year; I've heard some strange costume rumors.
So really the only thing I don't like is the huge amounts of candy.
And really the biggest reason I don't like it is because my kids do get so sick and I hate cleaning up puke.
Since we've changed our diet my kids are doing so much better, it works for us.
Isn't that what life is about? Finding what works for your family and sticking with it?
What is working for mine may not be what works for yours, and that's OK. In fact, that's as it should be.
So far we have found ways to eliminate most processed foods form Christmas and Easter and you know what? My kids are fine with it.
They still love Christmas and Easter, even without the candy.
They are not deprived of all treats, all the time.
The truth is, we've merely changed the treats we do give them.
They still feel like it's a celebration and that the day is special.
They are thrilled with the idea of a Halloween carnival Halloween night instead of trick or treating.
Truth be told, I don't think they really like it all that much either.
Sure they get candy, but they're usually frozen stiff by the end.
We like the idea of playing Halloween games indoors where our toes can stay nice and toasty and seeing good friends and watching clowns and unicyclers.
Fun will be had by one and all!

Boots and Chaps and Cowboy Hats

Look what we did yesterday.
We had the best fall horse ride ever.
Our dead Aunt Lisa, who's not really dead, called about 1:00 in the afternoon and said, "Meet us on the mountain for a horse ride."
So by jingo, we loaded all 4 of my heathens in the car and headed for the mountains.

By 3:30 we were saddled and ready to ride.
Most of the bright orange and red leaves are already gone. The trees are all ready for winter.
*Sigh*
I wish I could hold on to fall just a bit longer,
but the ever greens are always beautiful.
Since Doodle is riding on her own we threw the little boys on horses with the grown ups and we were off.
The canyon was chilly, but as charming as ever.

I treasure these times with my family. We all love dead aunt Lisa and Grandpa. And sweet Jess, too.

It struck me during our ride home how awesome it is that we live so close to all the awesomeness.
We were home in time to make dinner and have the kids in bed before 8:00.
Talk about fun, spontaneous days.
I love these days with my kids, I hope they'll never end.

Speaking of the end, here's mine!
Yup, I just posted a photo of my rear end on my blog.
Is that tacky?

Family Fall Fun

Welcome October!

Yesterday we just could not stand being cooped up in these 4 walls any longer. We just had to go on an adventure.

Mr Bird took us on our favorite family drive.
Every time we have had a new baby we have come here.
When the new baby is about 2 weeks old I get restless.
I know the baby's too small to take in public, yet still I need to get out and see the sky and breath the fresh air.

Mr bird sees the restlessness in my eyes and loads me and the baby and any other children in the car and in a few short minutes we are in wonderland.
Weather it's Spring and the hill is covered in wildflowers or Summer and our toes feel wet and cool in the running stream or Autumn with the beautiful leaves changing and falling or Winter with pristine white and sliver covering the ground and sparkling in the trees, this is one of the most magical places I know.
It is one of my favorite parts of having a new baby.

This time there was no new baby, however, we were all feeling very restless.
We loaded all the kids in the car and in a few short minutes we were enjoying the wondrous colors of the fall trees.
A storm had come through a few day earlier and some of the snow mingled with the fall leaves was breathtaking.

The kids had fun eating the snow and making the first snow man of the year.
I had fun collecting unique leaves and dreaming of the fun fall crafts in my future.
We looked at the beautiful sky and soaked up the sunshine and breathed lots of fresh mountain air. When we were all frozen popsicles we all loaded back in the car and headed home.
It was such a nice distraction from our sickness.

Don't you just love this time of year!

Guess what?
There is a mighty change taking place all around us!
Can you feel it yet?
There seems to be a chill just on the otherside of the sunny afternoons.
School has started and the days are getting shorter.
That's right, Fall is in the air!
The farmer's market is in full swing with apples starting to come on and the end of the summer harvest being canned and jellied and pickled.
I have spent the last few days making nectarine leather and pear sauce.
The nectarines were grown about 15 miles from our house and were picked the day before I bought them.
The pears were grown about 2 miles from here. Have you ever had pear sauce?
It is divine!
I can't wait to get my hands on some tastey apples!
Last Saturday the kids and I had a fun time at our local farmers market.
We bought some fun squash to decorate with. I don't get very halloweeny around here, but I love fall colors.
I can't wait to go on our annual fall leaf hunt and then come home and press our leaves to make fun fall leaf projects.
Now's the time I want yummy things like pumpkin cookies and spiced apple muffins.
Fall means curling up on a cool dark evening with a soft blanket and reading a good book.
Fall means horse rides in the bright red mountains of our home.
Some things are so constant and unchanging.
Like the seasons. We can always count on he seasons.
Fall means so many things to me and my kids.
It's so good to know these traditions will come again every year.
I think I'll still be picking red leaves when I'm 100!

I've Created a Monster

A few weeks ago we went on a field trip with our beloved home school group to a pumpkin patch/corn maze.

Bad idea.

Remember Doodle's obsession with pumpkins?

Well, it has been reborn, only bigger and stronger.

They took us on a hay ride into the huge green and orange speckled pumpkin patch so each child could pick their very own pumpkin to take home.

They had to stand next to the pumpkin they wanted and the farmers came and cut it

fresh off the vine for them.

The pumpkins were perfectly cute, just the right size for those little hands to cart around.



Since the kids got to pick out their very own pumpkin and watched as it was cut and placed ever so lovingly into their very own hands they have all developed a special bond with these bright orange squashes.

It's almost like watching a new life come into the world...ALMOST.

They held fast to those green stems all the way back from the hay ride.

They studied every inch of their pumpkin for originality and special marks so they would be sure to be able to identify their pumpkin from all the others.

Sort of like when a mother has a new born baby and she looks for birthmarks to be able to distinguish her baby from all the others.

They placed them ever so gently into the car so they would be safe as we played on the huge hay stack slides and got lost in the maze of corn.

On the way home they had great plans for those pumpkins.

"Pumpkin Pie", Doodle yelled form the back of the car.

"Pumpkin cookies!" Yelled Beano!

"Pumpkin muffins" I added.

Fall was hear and we could hardly wait to taste it!

Then Doodle spoke up with fervor and added, "But you can't cook my pumpkin!"

Oh no, I thought, here we go again!

And so far, it has survived all my baking...so far.

I suddenly have an inkling for pumpkin pancakes...

Something for Fall

This week Lara over at The lazy Organizer is hosting a home tour for Talk About Tuesday. I have decided to give you all a tour of our fall decor. I have alterior motives. I really would like a peak into your fall homes. How do you decorate for the season? Is it all ghouls and goblins or fall foliage like me? Or do you mix it up and have some of each? Or do you just skip over fall decorations all together?

As you can see I like to use nature in my decor. I love fall squashes and leaves.
A nice candle is always charming.
Here are the place mats we made from the pressed leaves we gathered in the mountains last week.


This is what I did with the left over leaves. I had Mr Bird cut some blocks of wood from spare 2x4's we had laying around. Then I painted them and sanded them and modge podged the leaves on. I added glitter cuz I'm frilly and I like sparkly things.

These pumpkins have been hanging around for years. I made them when Doodle was just a wee sprout.
I am always looking for new fun ideas. I love cheep and easy things I can make myself in an afternoon. This is by far my cutest Halloween decoration.

So out with it! What is your favorite fall home decor?

Inspire me!