With Fall

Fall at Lake Mary. I didn't take this picture, but you bet your bottom I will be out photographing this year. 

Here it comes; the inevitable change of the seasons. Fall is making it's way to Flagstaff and my brain is slowing down and I am looking inward. Watching the yellowing aspens twinkle in the sunlight, my thoughts are no longer on vacations and outings, but on my home and my family.

I feel like I received a great lesson in gardening in this climate and, next year, I should be able to harvest enough food to preserve, not just eat right away. I was able to preserve just a bit of basil from the farmers market, which will be mighty handy in the coming months. I am also freezing some hatched green peppers today to use when our winter needs a bit of warmth.

A few weeks ago, Tris, the boys and I collected about two cords of firewood and will be getting two more cords in the coming weeks. It was an amazing day that taught me how well our family works together. We were rewarded the next day with a movie treat. The family that works together, plays together. That's for sure.

Last weekend, we drove from our abode in Flagstaff, Arizona to Grand Rapids, Minnesota. More lessons on the road, for sure, but again we pulled together as a family and made the trip fun and somewhat leisurely. We went to Minnesota because Tris sister, my sister, Cassie, married her best friend, Clay. It was an amazing ceremony and one that Tris and I had dreamed up for ourselves. The perfect wedding, if you ask me. The love on the grounds of that camp must have been felt for miles away because my heart is still singing with it. Being with Tris's family can change a life. Being part of it is a blessing beyond measure.

I am looking forward to rosy cheeks, wet boots, knitting warm mittens and socks, wearing sweaters, sledding, snowball fights, splitting wood, collecting the fall harvest, learning to build cold frames, reading by the fire, hot chocolate, tea, warm soups, advancing my crockpot cooking skills, baking pumpkin pies from scratch, anything pumpkin really, and having friends visit.

Here are some recent pics:

After our wood collecting. Family is the best thing ever.

My loves and our one day haul...well part of it, nicely stacked and ready for splitting. 

Warm woolys I finally finished for Tris's birthday. Here's to more!