I love fall!

I love fall! It's as simple as that. Fall is my favorite season. I am a dork and love school, so I really get into "back to school" excitement (even though I am no longer a student or a teacher). Also, the weather is what I consider ideal - crisp mornings and evenings, wind, temps that allow for being comfortable outside (or inside without air conditioning). You can't beat the fall for good sports... college football, NFL, MLB playoffs! I also love changing leaves, though for the past few years I haven't lived in places with as much color as the midwest.

Here's me standing outside of the apartment where we lived for the first year of our marriage. 

 (Nice dumpster!)

There are two bigger reasons that I love fall, though.

#1 --- Apples & Pumpkins!

Picking apples is one of my favorite fall activities. We have been going once a fall to Hood River to pick apples in the Fruit Loop.  There is nothing more fresh than an apple picked right off of a tree. Yum! I also love the adventure of walking through the trees in search of perfect apples.  Now that we have moved, we live closer to some U-Pick orchards. Hopefully we will get to go more than once this year!

An added benefit of the apple picking is that one of my other loves is making pies, so when we get home with our boxes full of apples, it kicks off a week or so of frantic apple pie baking. A fun fall tradition. This year hopefully L will be able to help me, too.

I have only in the last couple of years discovered the joys of a good pumpkin patch. There was a really beautiful one about a half an hour from our house (before we moved). I really look forward to going out as a family to pick pumpkins and just enjoy beautiful fall weather.

Last year's pumpkin patch visit

I am not very good at carving pumpkins. Luckily Eric is. Last year he got some help from L too.

#2 - Fall TV!!

This is where Eric's patience with his TV obsessed wife can grow thin. I love watching TV! And I love fall because all of the shows that I have grown to love are back! Woo hoo! Here are some that I'm looking forward to this season:

House

The Biggest Loser

So You Think You Can Dance

Survivor (Samoa)

The Amazing Race

Modern Family

Glee

I don't usually have time to actually watch all of these shows, but if I had time (or a Tivo), I'd be all over it! Because of the unpredictable evening schedule, Eric and I don't typically watch many traditional shows - it's much easier to miss an episode of a reality show and pick up where you left off than it is in a weekly drama, except in the case of House where the thread that ties the shows together is usually pretty weak. But, this year I am going to attempt to watch Glee and Modern Family, because both actually seem kind of interesting, and because Eric has his admin classes so I can use his "work time" as my excuse to watch brainless TV!