Finally Fall

(Imagine these words are being sung in dramatic fashion because that's the way they are in my head)

I AM IN LOOOOOVE WITH FALL!!!!

(don't worry, Josh, I am in love with you too)

When the days get shorter, and the temperatures get cooler, and the leaves start to turn then I am in HeAvEn!

It is my favorite time of year.

Anyway, fall in our house means a few things.

1. Canning:  We grow a bunch of tomato plants every year even though I am the only human around here who eats tomatoes.  

The nice thing about tomatoes is that they taste great fresh...but they also turn into other tasty things if you put them to work.

We smoosh these babies up and then turn them into a nice thick tomato sauce and also a fabulous salsa.

ALSO -- one tiny brag -- our salsa can now be officially called "award winning salsa" because at Josh's school there was a salsa contest and our salsa won "Best Traditional Salsa" and tied for "Best Salsa Overall."

Come over sometimes, we'll probably even let you try it!

2. Whitmer Family Weekend:  Often in September we get together with my brothers and their families for a weekend at my parent's time-share at East Canyon.

While we were there, we took a drive to the hoppin' town of Morgan for a family bowling event.  My mom rented the entire alley (it wasn't exactly huge -- but very well kept and the people were kind) and we all bowled our little hearts out (most of us stink at it, but it was fun anyway).

3. We took a trip to the mountains:  I really love the canyons in the fall, but this year we got the bonus of being able to take the kids out of school for a day to go to my brother's property to ride ATVs.

It was so.  much.  fun.  

What a great way to spend a day (and the gorgeous fall colors during the drive were definitely a plus).

4. General Conference: Fall means LDS general conference.  I always look forward to hearing the words of God through living prophets and I always come away uplifted and wanting to be better.  

I was so sad to hear of the death of Elder Robert D. Hales.  I have long appreciated his teachings.  I feel very thankful for leaders who seek guidance from Heavenly Father to try to help me and my family to grow.

Generally, we have conference packets and games for the kids to play to help as they listen, but this year we tried something new.  

We picked some words that might show up during the talks and labeled bowls of candy with those words.  The kids could take a candy each time one of those words was spoken.  They opted to create tally sheets and then fill their sack with candy following each talk.  

Hopefully, some of the messages sank in more than simply the words that were said.   

5. Family Photos:  Often in the fall we try to take a new family picture.  It is hard to get us all together at once, so we try to arrange once a year for everyone to set aside a time to take pictures.  Nothing fancy, but enough to help us remember that we love our life together.

It is always good to be together.