Now it's really Fall!

The past few days it has finally started feeling cooler here in Denver. Today is one of those cloudy, gray days that makes me want to stay in bed with a book. As I was driving to work I started thinking about some of my favorite fall memories and thought I would share a few.

When I was little and we lived in Rhode Island, every September my family would go camping in New Hampshire to see the leaves changing colors. A few times we went to Vermont and got to make our own maple syrup and snow ice cream. It was always such a beautiful time a year - the leaves were all shades of red, yellow and orange. Someday I want to take Josh to New England this time of year. It is incredible.

In high school fall meant 2 things - youth group retreats at Camp Hensel and football games. Each week after all the football games we would go hang out at someones house. We started making silly flyers each week to advertise where we would get together. I was cleaning out a box of stuff a month or so ago and found a few of those flyers. In Texas, high school football is a HUGE deal and Leander High School was no exception. Homecoming was even a bigger deal - everything was decorated, girls had mums that would touch the floor, we even had to tape up the bells on the mums because it drove the teachers crazy!
Our Westover Hills high school retreat was also one of the highlights of my year. Camp Hensel wasn't anything extraordinary as camps go, but it holds countless memories of times in worship, prayer and of course playing capture the flag.

Another thing I love about this time is cooking things that I don't cook the rest of the year. Last night I made homemade caramel corn and a week or so ago I made apple crisp and pumpkin bread. The other things on my list that I need to make soon are: beef stew, soup in bread bowls, cider, baked apples, sweet potatoes, and lots more. One year when we lived in Kansas my family went to one of the Indian reservations for a holiday festival thing. They had a stew that was sausage, apples and molasses. It sounds weird but it is incredibly good. My mom is going to make it for me sometime in the next week or so while she and Larry are in this area.

The smell of the crisp air makes me think of camping, walks outside, football games, and holding hands with people I love. I start to think about my fluffy comforter, flannel sheets, warm PJs, hot tea and the holidays that are coming up. I love all the decorations with wheat, pumpkins, gourds, pine cones and other natural outdoorsy stuff. It's hard to decided if I have one favorite time of year because there are things I love about every season but I am glad that it finally feels like fall is here.