Fall Splendor

I love fall. I love the crispness of the mornings and evenings. I love the change in the intensity of the light and the sun. I love sleeping with the window open and feeling that lovely fall air. I love going running in the mornings right after I drop the kids off at school when it's the perfect temperature for running (55 - 60 degrees in my book) and gold leaves are strewn across my path. I love the hints of color in the trees around our house and the full-fledged party of colors in the hills. I love making and eating the orange things that just feel right in the fall - pumpkin bread and cookies, butternut squash soup, sweet potatoes (more recipes coming...).

Last week I went on a perfect hike with my friend Mindy. We hiked for 5 miles and talked up a storm and got great exercise and enjoyed breathtaking scenery on a perfectly cool and lovely day. Then Jared and I took the kids on the same hike again on Saturday (but we didn't have time to do the whole thing again - we'll have to do that another day...). Got to enjoy those leaves as much as possible before they're gone.

Here are some favorite shots from both hikes (taken with my phone - even my little camera phone does OK when the beauty is this amazing!):

And here are a few shots of the path where I run three mornings a week:

I love these golden heart-shaped leaves on my path as I run. They make me think about how much I love the world and love my family.

One time on my run, I found a little broken-off branch with 7 golden-heart leaves on it in the middle of my path and brought it home for the kids - 7 heart-shaped leaves on one branch for the seven people in our family who are bound together by love. Then I found another 7-leaf branch the next time I went running. And now the kids expect me to bring leaves home for them every time I go running. It's fun to look for them as I run and see the kids delight when they find a branch of leaves (I feel fine about "doctoring up" a branch of leaves to get it to the number 7 if need be...) or a pile of unique and beautiful leaves on the table waiting for them after school.