The beauty of Autumn!!!

It's now November!  I'm not complaining a bit because when summer is over, we move right into the fall mode and enjoy all the seasonal things that come with it!!!  This includes warm drinks, apple cider, sweaters and layers, colorful leaves and brisk cooler air.  We just had the perfect fall weekend weather yesterday!!!  The clocks got moved back one hour giving us an "extra" hour of sleep.  But because of that, Austin was up bright and early.  Mike went out for an early morning run and he back and said, "I'm going to make you feel guilty for not going outside this morning!  It's so gorgeous out there!"  OK …  I just never got back into my running routines and I'm hoping that one day I'll wake up and it will all come back and I'll get out and run!!!  But you know what???  That day will never come until I put my foot out first and set my mind to it.  I did actually go grab my running shoes and went out for a short run!!!  And Mike was right!!!  The morning was absolutely gorgeous fall weather!!!!  I came back just in time to pull my quiche out of the oven.  We got ready for church, enjoyed some warm quiche and some hot coffee! 

 

Church was great!  I love our worship service and all the songs we sing mean so much to me!!!  The message preached was about how we need to be a vertical church and not one that looks around at others and gossips!  But to focus on Jesus!  After church we stopped in at Mom Lapps to welcome her home from Florida and had lunch with her!  Again, the afternoon was so pretty and the kids played outside!  We did take a short nap before deciding to go take a drive to see more pretty leaves!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 Matthew invited Zach over to play some basketball and Hadassah was with the youth.  So, we buckled up Ashlyn and Austin and went for a drive.  We started out by saying, "Who can find a red tree?  And then a yellow one?"  We ended up at a local golf course and we walked around admiring the leaves and pretty trees!!!  I grabbed my camera in case we end up doing a mini fall photo session with the two youngest!!!  It's how I always get the best pictures of them!  Casual and not demanding!  I didn't even coordinate their clothes!  We were just going to wing it!

 

 

And look what happened!!!  Ashlyn is just living her little girl childhood life to the fullest right now and I just love her free spirit!  She doing all kinds of flips and cart wheels and flinging her blond pony tail around like it's nobodies business!

 

The golf course has three bridges and we crossed each one.  We just walked and strolled around and had the best time outside!

 I just love these two so much!!!

 

Throwing leaves up in the air and then catching them as they fall down is so fun for kids!!!

Everything is so colorful right now!!!

LOVE THIS!!!

AND THIS!!!

 

 I loved our scenic walk and we ended it with some peppermint hot chocolate and cake pops from Starbucks!!!  Boy were they good!!!

 

 

 This was by far the prettiest fall day we've had so far!!! 

Today is now rainy and so many leaves already came down just from today!  Only our God could color our world so beautifully!!!

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We came home and read some books and then tucked everyone in bed!  Matthew has a big week ahead of him as his school class is going on a missions trip ALL WEEK LONG!!!  I'm going to miss him like crazy!

He was excited and easy to get up at 4:00 this morning.  His class was off to serve others and spread the love of God to people they have never met.  Please protect them God and keep them safe!!!

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The start of the holiday rush/festivities/celebrations has begun out in the shopping centers!  (A personal goal for me this holiday season is not get caught up in the rush but to really treasure and cherish all the hype and celebrations!!!)  There will be lots of pumpkin pies and pumpkin rolls and apple desserts being prepared for Thanksgiving soon.

The Christmas things are already up and on display in stores!  The children loved going with me to Costco the other day and seeing all the Christmas trees and lights!  (And gifts and toys!!!) 

I'm ready for both holidays!!!!  Christmas is my favorite and I can't wait to start decorating and letting the Christmas Spirit flow out of our hearts and home!!!  Christ was born to die for my sins.  What a gift!!!  What a reason to celebrate!!!!!!

Enjoy the beauty of Autumn and let the pretty leaves remind you that there is a God that loves you and cares for you!!!