Tuesday, October 02, 2012

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.


5 comments:

charity eyre wright said...

holy. molee. tell those leaves to stay bright and on the trees until i get to see them in a few weeks!

Linda said...

WOW! WOW! WOW! Those leaves put ours to shame! The reds are all gone now but the yellows are showing up in spades. It's just a gorgeous time of year!

chercard said...

Coming to utah next week for a wedding, I hope it is still beautiful!

Shawni said...

I'm so jealous of those leaves!!!

Nursing Covers made with LOVE said...

THANK you for those LEAVES!!!!!!!! Seriously made me so happy to look at them!!!!! It did make me kinda sad and jealous but it was WONDERFUL to see!!!

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