Daydreaming is Good For the Soul

Lately I've been daydreaming a lot (a favorite pastime of mine;) about green and warmth and I've been missing Florida which I was fortunate enough to visit twice in the last three months to visit family each time. I also visited Las Vegas for the first time and Sun Valley, Idaho for the third time. With all the travel I've done lately, I guess you could say I have a little bit of "wanderlust" as they say (I don't really care for that term, but that's basically what it is).

I am particularly craving trees and green grass and ocean sand and warm lake water. Darn you, summer for being the shortest of the seasons.

At least Utah has been pretty good to us lately with temperatures considerably warmer than they could have been. This is me trying to count my blessings.

Anyway, here are some pictures of places I wish I could escape to right now. Just me, Dalin, and little Tenley.

Aren't they lovely? For now I'll just have to keep dreaming ;)

Where do you want to escape to right now?
Or where do you typically daydream about going? I honestly want to know.

Pending Adventures and Spring

When I read popular blog names (or even unpopular ones) I can't help but feel like I'm in the Hunger Games and the Capitol is real. You know how some of their names are like Cashmere and Glimmer? Yeah, I always am seeing stuff like that for blog names. But I won't pick on any blog in particular, I just think it's funny. Everyone tries so hard to be original. Sometimes I wonder how humans have not run out of things to say. Hasn't everything already been said? Hasn't every possible song been written already? Nothing should be original anymore, yet somehow a new song comes on the radio and it is completely different from anything else. It's pretty remarkable really. Humans are pretty talented.

Today the weather was beautiful here in Provo, Utah. Tenley and I went for a walk outside to feel the sunshine after saying goodbye to Dalin for the evening as he left for work. He had brought me (us ;) some colorful flowers before leaving today. He always does that kind of thing at the most random times, which to me, is the very best time to do it. He also knows how much I love flowers--almost more than anything else. I have a bad habit of trying to dry out and save every flower he gives me though...I can't help it! They just bring me happy memories! Anyway, spring always makes me feel so hopeful and positive. I am so looking forward to the coming months. I think I sometimes really struggle with being fully satisfied with the present. I am always looking to the future. I'm kind of a dreamer in that way. But I do love my life right now!

I love the colors!!!

Tenley and I are going on an adventure in the next few days. We are flying to meet up with my mom and brother--we had flying credit that had to be used up--who really just want to see Tenley, but I'm okay with that ;). I am excited, happy, nervous, and a little scared all at once. Nervous mainly because I've never been apart from Dalin for more than three days since we've been married. But I am doing my best to have faith because everything will be okay and no matter what, we will be together forever. I'm scared because I will be flying with Tenley alone which I have never done before but I have had many people reassure me that it will be great. Tenley is going to be an old pro at flying! By the time she is one, she will have flown to and from New Hampshire and Florida twice! Eight trips! She is a pretty wonderful little girl and I am so thankful to have her. I have been feeling so grateful for my life lately. Grateful for the promise of joy that comes with being a Latter-day Saint. I am thankful to have been raised a Mormon. It gives one such peace having a purpose. God has been so good to me and my family.

I am thankful that Dalin is so forgiving. I am so imperfect and he sees that more often than I'd like to admit. But he cares greatly about my happiness and I see how hard he works to support our little family and give us the very best. Ugh, it is going to kill me to leave him, but I know he will be right here for me when I return. And I'm going to give him a huge smooch so he knows that I really, really missed him haha. I already miss him and we haven't even left yet!

Anyway, wish Tenley and I luck with our travels and pray that this adventure goes smoothly. I so love adventures!:)

And thanks a million in advance!

Celebrating 24 (And How to Make Your Own Edible Arrangement)

Dalin turned 24 today and we have had (if I do say so myself) an awesome day.

We began the day with gifts (like running sneakers from me, a Red Sox hat from Tenley, and a heart rate monitor from both of us, plus a few small things) and a home-made edible arrangement for breakfast. I had been researching arrangements online the last couple days and could not bring myself to spend $35+ on fruit on a stick, so I decided I would attempt to make my own. 

And let me just say, it's a lot harder than it looks, no matter how crafty you are. 

For your own, start with some kind of vase, container, or decorative bucket. I learned the hard way that, before doing anything, you need to put some kind of weight at the bottom like a few rocks or marbles or something. The fruit really throws things off balance and if you forget to add weight, you'll probably have to take your arrangement apart like I did. 

You also need a foam piece. I got mine from the Dollar Store in the fake flowers section. I was going to get wooden skewers there, too, but apparently they are seasonal. 

Next you need a selection of fruit. I got an orange, grapes, strawberries, pineapple, honeydew, cantaloupe, kiwi, and bananas. 

Then you bust out the cutting board, knife, and small cookie cutters. As you can see from the disaster below, the fruit was not cooperating the way I had imagined. 

The pineapple and kiwi especially broke apart too easily when I attempted to cut it with a cookie cutter. I also started with irregular shaped pieces, so it's hard to know if I had cut my own fresh full-sized pineapple or whatever, if things would have been a little easier. But, I was lazy and clearly didn't do the math in my head, otherwise I would not have bought the packages of cut fruit like I did. 

Basically, the project was kind of a disaster even though Dalin still loved it, but here are the cons that I would be more cautious of in the future:
Cons: 

• The fruit is really sticky. The more you mess around with it, the stickier things get. I would have a better plan beforehand so you aren't just playing around with the fruit. 
• I didn't go by a model. I just winged it which would probably have been fine if I was a professional but clearly I'm not. Find a picture of a bouquet you want to copy. 
• When inserting the skewers into the foam with fruit on them, I did so haphazardly. I should have started from the middle and worked outward because once I had the ones on the outside in place, it was really difficult to carefully put the middle ones in. 
• The fruit slid down the skewers and tore on them. Cut thick, (cold) pieces of fruit and if possible, use melted chocolate or something similar to be a barricade. Otherwise the fruit softens in the room temperature air and loses its grip (kind of like I did during this project). Once it slides down the skewer (or especially if it tears), the piece is pretty much useless. 
• I bought pre-cut pieces. This made the project even more challenging because I had to kind of squish the cookie cutters on the piece trying to make the best fit possible. If I had had one large flat piece, cutting would have been a breeze (at least comparably--the pineapple would still be tricky). 

Later, someone gave me a tip saying that freezing the fruit is helpful and then refrigerating the whole thing after it's completed. 

Here was my final result, which doesn't look altogether terrible, but is nowhere near the professional appearance I had been hoping to end up with. 

Other notes: 

The front center thing is a peppermint patty with green tube frosting on it. The grapes, oranges, and the bananas (when inserted through the side as shown in the back) were the least slippery and easiest to do. The plain strawberries and the chocolate-covered strawberries weren't bad either (though the longer they were on the more they started to slip). Everything else sucked and was horrible to work with.

If you try this out, I want to hear what your experience is!

As for the rest of our day after presents and breakfast, well...

nap time for my babies ;)

Took a quick walk to check the mail 

Baby girl loved daddy's balloons and it was so cute watching her play with them.

She kept staring up at dad. So stinking precious. 

My cutest girl, Tenley "bowling" for the first time.

The birthday boy man!

The pro-bowler (jk ;)

In action.

Well, at least I sucked less than the birthday boy ;)

Shooting some hoops at the Provo Beach Resort arcade

She all of a sudden just fell asleep. 

At the movies (we were the only ones there like usual) watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Momma and baby

She loves touching Dalin's face

At an infant massage class. It was fun!

Tenley didn't know how she felt about it. 

We rested and Dalin's sister Shaina came over with a sweet Puma hat for her brother. Then we went to Costa Vida for lunch and ate really delicious burritos. Even though they don't do anything for birthdays, the girl gave us a free cookie which was nice. Then we bowled a string next door at Fat Cats. After that, we went to the Provo Beach Resort at the Riverwoods and played a few arcade games (I beat Dalin at Connect Four, yes!) and Dalin beat me at air hockey (but only because I was holding Tenley in one arm...). We got candy and three stretchy lizard toys with our tickets. 

At four, we walked over to the theater and purchased tickets to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. We were the only ones there. We walked into theater 9 which was pitch black. We thought maybe they hadn't started the movie because they thought no one was coming to see it. So I called the front desk and was like, "Hi, we just walked in like a minute ago and we're in theater 9 and it's completely dark." The girl was like, "Oh sorry, we'll start that for you." A minute or two later, the previews come on and we watch all of them. Then the previews end and the screen is gray. We were like, "Oh crap" and were laughing at our luck. I called the front desk again and said, "Hello, I'm not sure if it was you I spoke with before, but we are in theater 9 and just watched all the previews and now the screen is gray." The girl apologized and said someone would fix it right away. We kept laughing about the situation and then the previews music comes on again and then suddenly the movie comes on--but the previews music is still playing. We watched the whole first scene thinking it was going to be fixed then we were like, "Maybe we're not meant to watch this movie." So after I failed to convince Dalin to call this time, I walked out to the lobby (only because they ignored my calls twice in a row so I figure they knew my number by then) and told them (laughing) that the movie was playing but the preview music was playing over the sound. The girl nicely told me sorry and that they were just waiting for the digital thing to re-set. Finally, I returned to the theater and the movie had restarted and the sound was on. And I'm glad we stayed because we loved the movie! Ben Stiller is hilarious and the movie was so cool. We laughed a lot during it and would definitely say it's worth seeing. It really exceeded my expectations. Also, it's hilarious and clean, which is awesome. 

After the movie, we drove to the Provo Public Library to attend an infant massage class with my friend, Hillary. It was only like forty minutes long and I thought it was fun! There were a dozen other babies there and it was fun to see so many babies around the same stage as Tenley. 

We finished off the night at home watching a show in bed eating fruit snacks. Dalin said that he had a really good time celebrating his birthday. Little does he know about my little surprise for him tomorrow!

Have you ever been to an infant massage class?
Or have you watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (and if so, what did you think)? 

Our Little Missionary Experience

Dear Guy Who Sat Next To Us On The Airplane to Orlando,

Thank you for making our third flight that day more entertaining than it otherwise would have been, particularly because we were on an old plane with no wifi which meant entertaining ourselves the old-fashioned way.

We enjoyed hearing about Kansas which was a state we knew nothing about and about your cute grandkids which you showed us several adorable pictures of on your tablet. They had sweet curly blonde locks like our nephew Maddox, which we told you.

Thank you also for complimenting our daughter's behavior--that made us feel really good (even though we did nothing to teach her how to behave her then four-and-a-half month old self on an eight-hour trip).

We really did enjoy talking to you even when you made a few beer references that we (well at least I) didn't understand. Everything was great, even when you mentioned Margaritaville and said, "You guys like margaritas, don't you?" I then told you that we actually don't drink alcohol but we like drinks that are similar to margaritas. You seemed surprised but continued to talk to us.

When you learned we were from Utah, you asked if we were Mormons and we told you we were. Your next comment was, "That show 'Sister Wives' must be giving you guys a hard time." Your wife sitting in the row in front of us reached behind her seat and gave you a smack along with a look that clearly told you to drop it, causing you to smile sheepishly.

I almost burst out laughing right then but I didn't want to embarrass you so hiding a smile I responded, "Actually that show is not about our church. We don't believe in that at all." You said, "Oh," then I explained further. "That's actually a branch that broke away from our church." Then I added, "Trust me, our church doesn't support that at all."

You nodded then we changed the subject, and for the remainder of the trip we had a nice time talking about our individual plans in Florida. We only brought up subjects like going to BYU and other beliefs in passing. But I hoped in my heart that our brief discussion about the church would stay with you, and that because of it you would someday open your heart to hearing a little more about the gospel.

Since our trip, I've wondered about you a few times, mainly wondering if you met an LDS missionary whether you'd be more interested about our church because of the example we set. If we had gotten your name, I might have looked you up at Kansas State University where you teach and sent the missionaries your way (don't worry though--I didn't have your name so I couldn't).

Anyway, thank you for being friendly and talking to us and also allowing us to have that little missionary experience. It reminded me of why I love living in the world (but not of the world) so much. I am so looking forward to having more of those experiences wherever we end up after BYU because I know the joy the gospel brings me and want to share it with everyone.

So thank you for that. And I hope you had a marvelous Christmas with your family in Florida.

Sincerely,

Olivia Gunnell

P.S. And thank you for being so personable! I always appreciate that quality in others.

4 Fun Marriage Strengtheners & Traditions

Is this wrapping paper from the BYU bookstore not adorable?? It's a "box of chocolates"!
(Actually, it's an iPad mini that I got for $279:)

I am always looking for fun things to do with Dalin to strengthen our marriage and bring us closer as a couple. He is my very best friend, but sometimes we get so caught up in our responsibilities that we lose sight of maintaining the friendship that made us want to marry each other in the first place. So here are four ways we strengthen our marriage (and you can, too!).

Spouse Gratitude Journals (Daily)
Probably one of the best ideas I've ever had was to suggest to Dalin that we each start keeping a journal to record things about the other person that we're grateful for. Basically, I gave Dalin a blank journal (it was black and manly of course) and I chose one out of my collection (everyone always gives me journals because they know I love them and actually use them) and we decided that each night, as a part of our nighttime scripture study and family prayer routine (and my personal journal-writing), we'd each write one thing that we appreciate about the other (whether it was something we were grateful for in general, or specifically from that day). I'm not going to lie, I was very curious about what Dalin would say about me. And being the little sneak that I am, a few days in, I snuck a peek at what Dalin had written. His words touched me so much and made my entire week. I wanted to live up to the things he had said about me, whether I thought they were accurate or not. Since then, I've sneaked a few more glances at what he's written and doing so has encouraged me to strive to be a better wife, a better mother, and a better follower of Christ each day. One thing I've found is that I'm noticeably happier since we've made this a part of our routine. Start this tradition for with your spouse by Thanksgiving!

Memory & Adventure Album (As needed)
When we were engaged, we were given an album by my roommates for my bridal shower. In the beginning of the book, on each page is a dried rose petal or two that contains something I said that I love about Dalin. It ranges from physical appearance to spirituality to personality to actions, and thanks to my roommates, it's adorable. My best friend Sarah then took the book and did the same thing for me, having Dalin tell her things he loves about me for every rose petal included. She tried to copy the format my roommates used. It makes me so happy when I look back and read what he wrote about me. So anyhow, we had this great gift in our home, but there were still several pages in the back that needed to be filled. Not having a place for small things we collect, I decided to use the rest of the album to keep things from our adventures. Included in it are postcards from our honeymoon across New England; tickets to movies, museums, General Conference, etc.; love notes/cards we've written each other; our annual letters (which I'll tell you about below); and anything else. We even have a page dedicated to keeping all of the fortune cookie fortunes we've collected over the years. They're fun to look at all together! :) We love and cherish this book as it reminds of the love we had before we were married, and the love and adventures we continue to have now that we're together forever. (Tear) It's pretty wonderful. And the album is convenient because we can just stick little slips of paper and ticket stubs in the sleeves.

Love notes from our early marriage ;)

Tickets and our Christmas letters (discussed below)

Postcards from our honeymoon in Boston and tickets to a movie we saw while there

Fortune Cookie fortunes collected over the years (we still have several others in wallets/purse pockets that we have yet to add)

Bucket List Jar (Any time we think of it)
This is one idea that we are just starting. There are a lot of goals we have individually and as a couple. We want to support one another in our individual goals and make them our own. Most of our "bucket list" goals include traveling with our little family. We are just recently figuring out how we can make these goals and plans reality. We also have family goals and personal ones that we are working daily to achieve. How this idea works is we keep little slips of paper available and as a goal occurs to us, we write it down and stick it in the Bucket List Jar. Once a year or every so often, we will empty the jar and tape any that we've accomplished in a place we can see it (such as our Memory Album or our bulletin board or perhaps the fridge) and return the ones we've yet to accomplish back in the jar. That way, we're reminded of the adventures we still have yet to have! A few that will be included in our jar are:

• Have another baby in/by 2015
• Travel to Ireland/Scotland
• Buy a house
• Get rich (haha jk that won't be in there)
• Live by a lake or ocean
• Graduate school!

Christmas Love Letters (Annually)
This tradition is my favorite of all and was one we began our first Christmas together, just four months after we were married. On Christmas Eve, we sit together and write each other a love letter. We include things we love about the other person and favorite memories from the last year together. Then we stick our letter in the other person's stocking (before Santa comes obviously ;) to be read on Christmas morning. Pretty simple. But it is maybe the only time that we actually write a full letter to one another during the year and for that reason, I cherish this tradition. You know it's a good tradition when it makes you so happy that you cry. I am not a fan of crying or even happy crying, but this is one time it doesn't bother me. In fact, I kind of look forward to it. The first Christmas we did this, I was shocked by how similar our letters were. We both spoke about the first time we met and both shared how we felt in that moment when we saw each other in person for the first time. When we finished reading each other's letters, we compared them because they contained so many similar things. It was a lot of fun for me, and I literally look forward to reading my letter more than anything else on Christmas. This is an AWESOME tradition! Start it this year!

What are some awesome and fun traditions you and your spouse have?
Will you be starting any of these traditions?

Optimizing October

It took me a good five minutes to find a good "o" verb for this post title.

Dalin and I are off to a great start celebrating autumn.

Things we have done so far:

We bought some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies at Macey's...

Which were so good, we bought some pumpkin chocolate chip bread at Harvest Bread Co. 

We stopped by Allred's Orchard and got a bag of apples for me to make an apple pie for General Conference with.

We bought chocolate frogs (Harry Potter style) to share (word to the wise--don't buy them--they're gross.)

I drank a gallon of apple cider. Seriously. Just me. Hey, I've got to feed a baby.

We bought some peanut butter chocolate fudge. 

(Why are these all about food??...)

We watched all the Harry Potter movies (except the first...we lent it out and never got it back).

I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Tenley and started on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

We stopped by Bath & BodyWorks and smelled every single new pumpkin candle scent for fall. (This is one of Dalin's favorite things to do...)

We bought four awesome new fall hand soaps from Bath & BodyWorks (or, as we like to call it, Bed, Bath, & BodyWorks). They are so awesome that I have all four out by our kitchen sink. I couldn't choose just one. The ones we bought are New England Autumn Bouquet, Apsen Autumn Day, Fresh-Picked Heirloom Pear, and Montana Mountain Air. They are all great!

I decorated the apartment for fall and Halloween a few weeks ago! (I might have been early, but fall is so fleeting :/)
Dalin brought me home some lovely orange (very fallish) roses randomly one night (randomly is my favorite way to get them :)

I'm sure I'm missing something, but I think we've been off to a great start! In two weeks, we head to Boise for a Halloween party at Dalin's parents' house, where we plan to win the costume contest (haha, well we'll see...it's going to be hard with baby Tenley). While there, we would like to visit a pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins like we do in New Hampshire...not out of a box at the grocery store (something about that just feels like a rip-off to me). I'm sure we'll do many other fun fall things along the way. 

What have you done so far for fall?
Any suggestions for things for us to try?

Fall Assignments

I've always loved fall, but my love for the season grew significantly the first fall after I graduated high school when I worked at a local farm stand called Beans & Greens in Gilford, New Hampshire. I will admit I did not love that job while I was there (it was a lot of hard work) but looking back, it was a really fun job to have for a season. The store was a giant old barn on lots of land where we sold fresh procured honey, jams, milk (the chocolate milk was so freaking fresh and good!), baked goods, green beans, tomatoes, corn, apples, fresh berries, and a zillion other vegetables.

While working there I got to help decorate for Halloween, paint pumpkins to be sold in store (I painted things like Snoopy and Woodstock, funny faces, a haunted house, etc.), paint children's faces (and make some sweet tips I might add), organize a children's pumpkin maze, have a jack-o-lantern carving contest, give tours to elementary school children and lead them through a hay maze, decorate with fall flowers (zinnias, chrysanthemums, and others), tie my own pumpkin-hangers with hemp, work the haunted corn maze at night, and many other things. I also acquired a love for country music while working there...that probably had something to do with the same country soundtrack being played on repeat for the entire season. So basically while working there I participated in, what I would label, the epitome of fun fall activities, so I feel like I really know what a fun autumn season can be like.

Fall in New England is locked in a three-way tie with summer and spring for my favorite time of year for (what I feel are) obvious reasons. One less obvious reason maybe is that I think the fall is romantic. Maybe it's just me, but being with your sweetheart in the cool and colorful fall-time has something about it that just makes me feel capricious and adventurous and even more in love with my husband. I think for me it's the fresh start of new school year (even when I'm taking a break this semester) and feeling like Dalin is my hot boyfriend that I get to spend my afternoons with after work and classes. It's even better now (if possible) having a sweet daughter that we get to share our new experiences and adventures with!

Anyway, since fall is mostly about school starting, here are some assignments I've made for myself so that I can get an A+ in fall.

1. Bake an apple pie. Bonus: Do it with apples we picked ourselves. My absolute favorite type of apples apparently don't exist out here in Utah (as I've tried every freaking type at the store,) but two falls ago I had my mom send me a dozen or so of them--fresh-picked at an orchard in New Hampshire--and I plan on begging her to do the same thing this fall. So maybe I'll use those for my pie.

2. Eat a candy apple. This might be a little harder than it seems. I can never find places that sell candy apples, which I much prefer over caramel apples (call me crazy, but I am not a big caramel fan unless it is very fresh). I might just have to make one myself.

3. Find some fresh apple cider and also some hot apple cider. Two of my favorite things in the fall. Sold all over the place in New Hampshire, but there has to be some sold out here somewhere and I will find it.

4. Do something not involving apples...just kidding haha, I just noticed the last three were all about that and thought I should change it up.

4. Watch some corny Halloween movies. I love Halloween. I know it's kind of a creepy, pointless holiday, but I love the things that come with it (aka trick-or-treating, Halloween parties, pumpkin carving, etc.).

5. Go to a Halloween party. Check. We're going to one in Boise in October. Maybe I should revise this to say "Win a prize from the costume contest." We did two years ago and it really got us motivated to make that a regular thing. Our dear sister Cassie and her husband Shay stole the prize from us last year, but never again ;).

6. Decorate for Halloween and then for Thanksgiving. I have decorations (many are crafts from years past) stored away and normally I'm good at getting them out because I get bored when our apartment looks the same month after month, but when I was pregnant that was not a priority (with the exception of Christmas and Easter).

7. Find a place to serve people on Thanksgiving. This is a tradition in my family that I haven't participated in the last two years because I haven't been with my family, but I always loved going to the community center and serving Thanksgiving lunch to the elderly. It made me feel happy inside and extra grateful for my family and health. It also made Thanksgiving dinner later taste even better ;)

8. Own at Fantasy Football. Do I care about football? No. Do I even watch the games? Not really. But I am competitive and I want to beat my sister, Shaina and her husband, Layton in particular. Not sure why I chose to target them, but they both like football and I think it would be satisfying to beat them ;)

9. Go through a corn maze or on a hay ride. I don't know where they have those out here, but there has to be one or the other somewhere and I really want to go. Even if it means Dalin and I have to drive outside our Provo/Orem bubble.

10. See more of our family! I want to visit with Dalin's family as much as possible this fall and I want to try to get my family to come visit me at some point before or around the holidays. I miss them too much otherwise. A year is way too long to go without seeing my dad, mom, or brothers.

11. Roast pumpkin seeds. Love this tradition. Maybe I'll try a new recipe this year. I could try to make them taste like kettle corn or something!

12. Go to the Farmer's Market as much as possible. It's on Thursdays and not only do they sell the best kettle corn (mentioned above) but the produce is fresh and delicious. And I like supporting farmers.

13. Make more blackberry smoothies. This means I need to see more of my brother-in-law, Layton because he makes AMAZING ones. With fresh blackberries. So does his mom. I'm seriously obsessed with them and crave them daily.

14. Make squash. Real squash. My mom tells me it's easy to do year after year, but year after year I fail to make it because I get nervous it won't come out right. But this year, I'm doing it.

15. Read and watch Harry Potter. Definitely a fall activity. And it makes me feel happy and like a teenager again.

16. Drink Butterbeer. I've never had it, but anything Harry Potter is fallish to me, and maybe I can find a recipe if I can't find a place that makes it. Someday Dalin, Tenley, and I will go to Universal Studios and have some in Harry Potter World.

17. Visit Provo Canyon. I want to be outside and take a hike or have a picnic. I just want to smell the fall air and teach my daughter to love nature. Hopefully we will get to see something of the leaves changing color (maybe we'll take another drive through Nebo Loop) and I can pretend I'm home in New England ;)

18. Paint pumpkins. Carving is fun, but it makes such a huge mess once the pumpkin gets old and leaks all over the place.

19. Make fried dough or scones. Warm bread dough and cookie dough are always so comforting. Maybe I'll even make some Mexican buñuelos for Halloween, too.

20. Take lots of photos. I pretty much do this anyway, but now I need to record it for Tenley's sake. So she can look back and see how much we loved her and all the fun things we did as a family.

Do you have other fun fall ideas? 
What are your absolute favorite three things to do in the fall? I want to make this the best fall of our life thus far so don't hesitate to share something you've loved from falls past!