15 Autumny Things To Do in the Fall

Ahh, fall. It's snuck up on us again, hasn't it?

You know, I was thinking... there are always a lot of Autumny type things that I think about doing during this lovely season, but don't always get around to actually doing them. And I think part of the reason that I don't always get around to doing them is because I forget that I thought about doing them in the first place. So, I decided I should make a list of some things that I'm sure we all dream of doing during the fall that we don't want to forget to do. Of course, we'll probably not get around to all of these things, but we should at least try, right? ;) So... here we go!

1. Rake and jump in a pile of leaves. Preferably a giant pile of leaves if possible. :D It's a wonderfully fun fall thing to do that I believe everyone should experience the joy of when this lovely season rolls around.

2. Go on a hike. A fun way to get out and see God's beautiful creation while getting in some good exercise!

3. Do a fall family photo shoot. This of course requires cooperation with the rest of your family, but it probably shouldn't be too hard to convince them...

4. Take a picture each day or pretty regularly of a tree(s) during the fall so that afterward, you can put all the photos together and show how the leaves changed over the season. This would be really neat to do!

5. Knit/crochet a scarf and/or hat to wear yourself or to give someone else (maybe for Christmas). It's always so much fun to wear or give someone something you made yourself! :)

6. Wear Autumny outfits. Because... why not?? It's Autumn after all! Fall outfits are always fun. :D

7. Go shopping for Autumny outfits if you don't have any. I do have quite a few fall outfit things right now, so I probably won't need to do this much, but... you can never have too many clothes... okay, okay, yes you can... you definitely can. :P

8. Drink a cup of hot chocolate or tea whilst reading a book by a window or outside on a bench. Or just reading a book without a beverage (or vice versa) would be just as lovely I'm sure.

9. Read a fall-themed book. Cranberry Thanksgiving! That's actually the only fall-themed book I can think of at the moment. D: Don't worry, more will come to me, I'm sure.

10. Watch a fall-themed movie and/or show. I actually didn't think too much of this until one time (I think it was actually last fall) when I read someone else's blog post about movies/shows to watch in the fall time. I actually don't recall a lot of movies or shows that I've watched that have been exclusively set in autumn, but one that comes to mind is The Spy Next Door. This movie is set around/during Halloween. It's a sweet, funny, and overall clean movie. While our family doesn't celebrate Halloween as the holiday encourages fear, the movie's not totally centered around it; it's mostly just that the holiday is going on in the midst of the story. Anywho, to get to the point, it seems like just the right movie for this time of year, especially if you're in the mood for action, comedy, and Jackie Chan. ;)

But if you're in the mood for more of a classic, The Beverly Hillbillies: Turkey Day episode would also be a perfect one to watch in the fall, especially around Thanksgiving! You can't hardly go wrong with The Beverly Hillbillies, or almost any old classic show really. ;)

11. Make a pumpkin and/or apple pie. I really want to make one or the other this year for Thanksgiving... hopefully that will actually happen. :P

12. Make a new autumny dish/dessert. It's always fun to try out something new! (These apple snickerdoodle muffins look amazing... =O )

13. Visit a pumpkin patch. Because pumpkins + patch = fall in a nutshell.

14. Go on a hayride. I know, you could go on a hayride any other time of year as well, but there's just something so fall-like about hayrides it seems.

15. Do a corn maze. Mazes are always fun! If you can find one to do in your area, I'd totally recommend it. :D

Well, that's it for now! Are there any other autumny things that you like to do that I missed? What's your favorite(s) out of the ones I listed?

I hope all of you are having a fabulous fall so far! Write to ya later, and God bless! :)
~Faith

Hello September Tag

You know what I need to do better at? Keeping up with tags for one thing. There are several different ones that I've been tagged for that I've copied and pasted the questions/rules for in drafts in my blogger post editing thingy that have just been sitting there, collecting proverbial dust for months... or even as much as a year. So, I think it's about time I get down to business and catch up on all these lovely tags that you guys have so graciously awarded me with. But I've come to the conclusion that I probably shouldn't go about doing them all in one post... If I did, that post I'm sure would be so dreadfully long that the person who would actually read the entire thing in one sitting without obligation should be given a standing ovation.

But anywho.

I probably won't be posting a bunch of tags in a row, but I hope to get to doing most of the ones I've been tagged for this fall/winter.

So to start off with, I'm doing this fun fall tag that the lovely Brooklyne tagged me for over at her blog, Showers of Blessings! :) And since it's called "Hello September" I figured that I'd better get to doing this before September flies by! So -- here we go!

The tag rules:

1. Please copy these questions (below), answer them, and then write out new questions (or just copy these) for the people you nominate below your answered questions.
2. Please nominate at least 3 bloggers, but try to avoid ones that you know have already been nominated. 
3. Lastly, include these guidelines in your post, and use the tag picture (above)! 

Alright, let's answer some questions!

Windy or rainy autumn?

While I like a rainy day here and there, I think I'd much rather have a more windy autumn. I really enjoy sunny, windy days. :)

Do you like chai tea?

I don't believe I've ever tried it. So, I'm not sure!

Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or apple cider?

Well, I actually don't think I've ever had apple cider before, and I'm not really a coffee person. ("Yes, I can still be a writer even if I don’t drink coffee. I’ve tried it, I just don’t see what’s so good about it. *runs from all the coffee loving authors*" ~Brooklyne :P) So, I'd have to go with either hot chocolate or tea, depending on the mood. :) If I had to pick just one, probably hot chocolate. Chocolate's my fav! :D I actually am not a super-fan of hot tea honestly. I like a couple flavors, but I guess I just don't drink it that often. Now, ice tea... yes! I like the flavor of the ice tea we get (which I guess is technically just black tea) and sometimes I'll heat that kind up, and I like it a lot that way, too. I don't think that it's really the tea being hot that I don't like, maybe it's just most of the flavors of hot tea that I've had I don't like as much? Anyway, sorry, I'll stop rambling about my deal with tea and move on now... :P

If you could go to one state in the U.S.A just for the autumn scenery, where would you go?
Ooh, well, since traveling out to Colorado this summer, I think that it would be a lovely place to go for autumn scenery, with all the trees and mountains. So I'd probably choose Colorado! (Well, either there, or some state in New England... like maybe Vermont. :) )

Do you like soup in the autumn? If so, what kind is your favorite?
I do like soup! (especially my mom's! :) ) I don't know if I particularly have a favorite kind though. I like a lot of different ones! But if I had to choose... maybe vegetable... or potato... or chili... one of those! ;)

What color of leaves do you like best? 
I like them all really! But I especially enjoy orange and red leaves. Bright orange leaves are so pretty to me!

Okay, so I suppose one could argue that these are more yellow than orange... but they're still pretty, so. ;D

If you could go to another country just for autumn scenery, where would you go?
OH MY. So many choices! Well, (as Brooklyne said in her post) I'd want to go somewhere with a lot of trees with changing leaves of course. Probably a country in Europe... Maybe Switzerland! I'd really like to visit Europe some day, and I think Autumn would probably be a nice season to go. :)

Sweater or hoodie?
Can I say both? :P It really depends! I like sweaters... but hoodies are really nice, too, and they have convenient pockets as well, so... Both. Yeah, both.

A hazelnut or apple cinnamon candle?
Hmm... I'd probably go for an apple cinnamon candle. :)

Cookies, brownies, or both?
BOTH! But if I had to choose between the two, I might pick brownies over cookies. (I'm a chocolatey girl, what can I say? *makes note to self to not go overboard on chocolate this fall* :P) But I absolutely positively enjoy cookies as well! So yeah... since I can, I'd definitely choose both!

So apparently this picture I found on Pinterest is of "pumpkin cheesecake swirled brownies"! :O I think I shall have to try this sometime!

What's your favorite fall activity? (Like a fall photo shoot, knitting, crocheting, baking, reading, etc...)
Oh, there's so many fun ones! I really enjoy doing things with family and friends, like going to pumpkin patches, doing corn mazes, hayrides, picnics, hiking, and things like that! :)

~~~~~~~~~

This was a lot of fun! Thank you so much, Brooklyne for tagging me! :) I'm so excited that fall is now officially here! Though I'm kind of sad summer is over, autumn is such a lovely season as well, and I'm glad for it to be here again!

Now, I'll tag...
Christina @ Light Unto My Path
Olivia @ Meanwhile in Rivendell or Towards Indecisive and Palpitating Stars
Abby @ Novels, Dragons, and Wardrobe Doors

And here are your questions!

Windy or rainy autumn?

Do you like chai tea? 

Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or apple cider? 

If you could go to one state in the U.S.A just for the autumn scenery, where would you go? 

Do you like soup in the autumn? If so, what kind is your favorite?

What color of leaves do you like best? 

If your could go to another country just for autumn scenery, where would you go?

Sweater or hoodie? 

A hazelnut or apple cinnamon candle?

Cookies, brownies, or both?

What's your favorite fall activity? (Like a fall photo shoot, knitting, crocheting, baking, reading, etc...)

Bonus questions!
Pumpkin or apple pie?

Have you ever had a pumpkin spice latte? If not, do you think you would like it/want to try one?
Would you rather go on a hayride or do a corn maze?

Have fun, gals! But if you'd rather not do this tag, than please don't feel obligated! It's totally up to you. :) And also, I realize that it's already nearing the end of September, so even though I'm pretty sure this is maybe possibly probably breaking the rules, I just made up a new rule that states  you can still fill out this tag after September if you can't get to it before then.
And ALSO -- if you are either wearing a sweater or drinking a hot beverage whilst reading this right now... then consider yourself tagged, too! ;D

I hope all of you are having a wonderful September! God bless, and I'll write to y'all later!
~Faith

Thankful Thursdays // Weeks 4-6

Well, hello there again! How was everyone's Thanksgiving?


So... I'm kinda late, aren't I?

Well, this Thankful Thursdays series didn't go quite as I had planned. I missed a couple weeks in there, and here I am now, posting this on a Friday instead of Thursday. Well... we'll try to make the best of it anyhow.
It's technically supposed to be the last installment (for now) of this series, so let's go out with a great thankful bang, shall we?? (A 'thankful bang'?...Where did that come from?? :P)

So here we are at the end of November already!!! WHAT ON EARTH HAS HAPPENED TO THIS MONTH?!?!
I actually wrote something up for Thanksgiving Day last week that I was going to post, but for some reason I didn't get around to it and actually wasn't quite sure about it and thought maybe it actually wasn't that great of a post, and so I wondered if I should post it at all, but... well here I am, going to share it with you all today. So, this is technically a Thanksgiving post, but here it is anyway. Enjoy. :)

~~~~~

IT'S THANKSGIVING DAY!!!
How did this happen?!? It honestly seems, to me anyway, too early for Thanksgiving and Christmas to be rolling around again... the year has gone by so quickly! But here it is, nonetheless. And even though it seems to be coming upon us with great rapidity, I'm still REALLY EXCITED!

It seems like though, especially in more recent years, that Thanksgiving has kind of been brushed aside. Well, no, not totally -- most every American still celebrates this holiday -- but it seems like this particular holiday has become less important... at least, not as important as Christmas. This time of year, even before Thanksgiving happens, it's all about Christmas. Thanksgiving seems to just be this extra holiday in between here that is a good day, yes, but not as good as Christmas... I mean, yeah, it's important... but, Christmas is a much more exciting holiday, ya know... so let's just go ahead and decorate for and celebrate Christmas because Christmas is the actual important holiday here of course!

OKAY, OKAY, I am sounding a bit harsh aren't I? I am DEFINITELY NOT saying that Christmas isn't an important holiday. It is! Christmas is wonderful! I enjoy Christmas time SO MUCH!! :D

BUT...

We should remember that Thanksgiving is an important holiday as well! We shouldn't just brush it aside!

And PLEASE PLEASE don't misunderstand me... if you put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, that's absolutely fine! (But, in my opinion, if you're going to do that, you should have some Thanksgiving/Fall decorations up along with them as well... you can decorate for both holidays at once! Just my opinion though, of course. ;) )

But anyway, to get to my real point... I think the reason Thanksgiving isn't as popular with the masses is because, you don't GET anything on Thanksgiving.
Well, I mean, yes, you get a meal, maybe a day off, you get to watch and/or play football, and stuff like that... But, you don't get anything SPECIAL. (At least what the world would consider special) You know -- special things like presents, candy, little gift baskets, chocolate Easter eggs... You usually never get something like that on Thanksgiving. All you get on Thanksgiving is food... and football... and family... I mean... boring, right??

But you know what, that's just it. Thanksgiving isn't supposed to be about getting things. It's about giving. Giving thanks. Thanks-giving. It's a day that's supposed to remind us to not only be looking out for our own interests, but also that of others. It's about being grateful, no matter the situation. We all have something we can be thankful for. Even in the most terrible situation, there's always something to be grateful for -- if only you're willing to look for it.

So this Thanksgiving season, try to find the best in everything and be grateful -- Even if you miss some of the big game on TV, or you accidentally overcook your turkey -- you could be thankful that you even HAVE a TV to watch football on, or have a turkey to eat.

Whenever you're in a complaining mood, I've found that it's quite helpful let your mind wander back to the pilgrims when they first came to America and what they had to endure. They had almost nothing except each other. They actually had to work hard for food, shelter, and protection. Today, we don't have to work too awfully hard for those types of things -- at least, not as hard as they had to. If you really think about it... we have literally nothing to complain about. We're SO BLESSED, guys!

So don't forget to take time to thank God for all the blessings you have in your life this Thanksgiving -- and the rest of the year as well! :)

~~~~~

And speaking of being thankful... here we are again, my friends. This is what I found to be thankful for these past three weeks (since I missed several weeks before). What about you? :)

Week 4

Friday:

- Our family van

- That our whole family was able to attend a conference this weekend

Saturday:

- Being able to fellowship with other Christians at the conference we attended

- Having a house to come back to

Sunday:

- All the veterans in our country who have risked their lives to keep us safe

- My amazing church family

- That we have a lot of trees around our house that have lost a lot of leaves so that we can make huge leaf piles :D

Monday:

- God's given me the ability to write and come up with good stories

- My mom's encouragement

- My dad's humorous, lighthearted personality

Tuesday:

- Chocolate (I mean, who wouldn't be grateful for chocolate?? ;) )

- My several journal/notebook type books that I have and like to write/draw in

Wednesday:

- That I've been able to have been homeschooled my whole life

- That God's given me such great Christian friends

- That I have great adult friends as well as ones my own age

Thursday:

- My new baby cousin :)

Week 5

Friday:

- Having straight, strong teeth

- Laughter and joy in my life

Saturday:

- Vaseline

- Hot Tea

- Good Books

Sunday:

- That God gives me sweet sleep

- Having heating in our house

Monday:

- Being able to have fun playing board games with my family

- My wonderful parents who have set such a great spiritual example for my siblings and I

- That my parents have had a strong relationship with eachother and each of us

- That I've never had to go through my parents separating/divorcing

Tuesday:

- Getting to spend a fun day over at my grandparents' house cooking and watching Christmas Hallmark movies with my grandma :)

Wednesday:

- A great house to live in

- That tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we'll get to see and spend time with our extended family

Thursday: (I had quite a few things to be thankful for today... it was Thanksgiving after all! ;) )

- That it's Thanksgiving!

- That we live in a time where vehicles exist and are also heated

- That our extended family gets along well with eachother

- That we had a safe drive down to our uncle and aunt's house today

- That we were blessed with an abundance of food today

- That we got to play football with our cousins

- Hot chocolate and s'mores

Week 6

Friday:

- My bike

- Our TV

- That we have access to on-demand movies and shows

Saturday:

- Having a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, combs and essential things like that available

Sunday:
- That I have nice clothes to wear

Monday:

- Having heat in our house (Did I say that before? Having heat in your house is definitely something to be very grateful for this time of year!)

- A warm bedroom and bed to sleep in

- Having a bedroom all to myself

Tuesday:

- Having good eyesight, hearing, and that all my physical senses work properly

Wednesday:

- That I was born and am living in this specific point in history where life is much easier to survive and live in than in previous times in history

Thursday:

- That God's been so merciful and gracious towards me this year

- That I've had SO MANY wonderful things to be thankful for this Fall!

~~~~~~

Well, there you have it, folks! I hope you enjoyed this series as much as I did. I'm sorry that I didn't end up posting every week as I originally had planned, but I think it turned out alright in the end... Thank you all so much for joining me in being thankful this Fall! :) BUT REMEMBER -- don't stop being thankful just because we're past the Thanksgiving and Fall season now. Remember to thank God every day for all the wonderful things He's given you! He's SO GOOD to us!!!

Have a wonderful rest of your week, everyone! :)
~Faith

The Beauty of Fall

Ahh... Fall time. :)

The time of year when we rake up leaves, go on hayrides, visit the local pumpkin patch, take scenic walks, and slurp up pumpkin spice lattes (well, some of us do anyway. I've actually never had a pumpkin spice latte in my life... Come to think of it, I've never had any kind of latte before... I'm not a coffee person.)

Well, last week, the weather was so nice and the scenery was just gorgeous where I live, so I took our camera outside with me and took bunches of pictures around our yard and of the fields that surround us. I thought I'd share a portion of them with you, since sharing all of them at the moment might take you an hour to scroll through (Okay, perhaps my exaggeration has gone a bit too far.). But anyways, here they are. I hope you enjoy. :)

Our neighbors plant winter rye this time of year in the fields around us, which gives them a cheery green look, even during bitter cold fall or winter days (unless the snow covers them).

 Our marigolds don't cease to bloom. :)

 

And, oh! The mountain views! I like it! :D

I hope you enjoyed these pictures! God's Creation truly is amazing. Of course, it's hard to capture the true beauty of the scenery with just a camera. I encourage you to take the time, even just a minute or two, to look out the window, sit on your porch, or take a drive to the park or through the countryside, and just enjoy and soak in the magnificent scenery the Creator has painted for us!

I wish you and your family a wonderful Fall season! :)

~Faith