Love

Author unknown

My heart fills with love as it expands even more with the addition of our newest grand daughter. A baby sent from heaven is a precious gift. Love, love, love her!

Fall is Here!

What better way to celebrate Fall than doing some of my favorite things. I will call it my

Fall Bucket List

1. Carve jack-o-lanterns with the grand kids

2. Go for a drive up the canyon with the hubs, take a picnic and gather colorful leaves

3. Plan Harvest Fest... an annual event with the family to celebrate the end of harvest

4. Make scarecrows with the kids and grand kids

5. Birthday lunch with a favorite sister to celebrate both our birthdays (one week apart)

6. Create a Homestead Christmas Shutterfly book 

7. Plan this year's three-day Homestead Inn Christmas at Midway

8. Decorate Home for Fall Holidays

9. Visit Mom and Dad's grave

10. Cook up Halloween treats, a new Autumn dish, and make desserts that include pumpkin and apples... yummm!

Beautiful Fall Leaves... Sardine Canyon

Harvest Fest

We usually center Harvest Fest around a theme. One year we did Pirates. The kids had to follow a treasure map. When they got to the bottle of (root)beer. They had to sing 20 bottles of beer on the wall, while dancing around the tree. At the end of the hunt, they had to dig up a treasure box filled with coins, necklaces, and other pirate treasures. It was a very fun year. We also do a Spooky Hollow Forest walk through the orchard where they follow clues from a story to collect prizes as they encounter graveyards and bones, bats and ghosts, and a witch at the end. They have to grab their last prize from the witch's hut and run to the tractor and trailer that is filled with straw bales. Grandpa then takes them on a hay ride back to the barn. Harvest Fest is one of the big things I look forward to in the Fall.

Fall is my favorite season. I love to decorate the house, porch, and yard with gourds, pumpkins, leaves, and candles. A daughter, who is very creative with florals, made me the beautiful Fall wreath for my door. The witch in the center is my daughter-in-law who played the witch at the end of the Spooky Hollow Forest walk.

Homestead Inn Christmas

This is a big event that we do every five years. We take the family to the Homestead Resort in Midway for three days, just before Christmas. We ice skate, ride the Polar Express, tube, sleigh ride, play games, play in the snow, and exchange gifts around the Christmas tree. On Sunday, before going home, everyone dresses in their best and we go to Sunday Brunch together. I am looking forward to this year's family Christmas at the Homestead and can't wait to finalize the plans.

As you can tell, all my favorite things center around family! 

Writing prompt #5:  Fall is here! List your 10 favorite things about this Fall  

Leaves

Autumn is my favorite season. My birthday (Sept 21) usually falls on the first day of Autumn. I can always tell. There's excitement in the air, it smells crisp, is a little chilly, is splashed with vivid colors of orange, yellow, red, and green.... painting the landscape everywhere I look. Autumn really is the year's last, loveliest smile!

I took Kaylene's advice and tried a little magic on the original leaves picture (below). I photo edit using picmonkey, a free editing program on-line. I first went to effects and applied orton, and then cinerama. Then I went to textures to smudge and then paint. I can't tell you exactly what I did. I was just playing around and having way too much fun to notice. All I know is that I was pleased with the effect I created. Finally, I added text. If you haven't tried picmonkey you really should!

This is my original leaves picture. The hubs and I went on a Sunday drive to the beautiful Heber Valley where he grew up. I was amazed that the leaves in the canyons were already turning color in the middle of August. I took this picture above Midway, a small resort town just west of Heber.