Ode to Fall

I love love love the fall. I look forward to it every year. The leaves change to this beautiful red-orange color, there's a bite to the air, and for some reason, it always feels like something so exciting is just right around the corner. I always feel closer to family and friends during this time too. Maybe it's pre-Christmas feelings...who knows.

Fall means football, which always meant bonding with my marching band friends (since we were together pretty much every day). Now football means spending time with my husband, and having something in common with my dad, who is obsessed with BYU football.

Fall means that the hot, yucky summer is over. Houston summers are never very fun, despite how much I love the humidity. Although Houston does not show the change in seasons as well as Utah, fall was always a looked-forward-to respite from the heat for me. Now I get rewarded with not only less heat, but so much more magic here in Utah.

Fall means that not only do the leaves change color, but when they fall on the ground you can hear that satisfying crunch crunch as you walk around. I have a distinct memory of Kirk and I wrestling in those crunchy leaves outside of Helaman Halls. I've had leaf fights with roomies. They get caught in your hair, in your clothes--signs of a battle well fought.

Fall means love to me, much more than Valentine's Day. That's when I had my first boyfriend, my first kiss, fell in love for the first time...Although Kirk and I started dating in the summertime, I don't really associate our "courtship" with the summer. He was gone for most of it at college while I was in back home. No, it was in the fall.

Fall means hot apple cider, pumpkin everything, and lots and lots of candy corn. That pretty much says it all. :)