10 Reasons Fall is the Best Season

I have always loved this time of year. FALL IS THE BEST SEASON OF ALL!  I love the holidays, the scenery, the weather, and the traditions I keep with my family, and for all sorts of other reasons. Here are just a few of them. My TOP 10 REASONS why the Fall Season is the BEST! 
               
1. I LOVE GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!  I am a teacher and I just love all the excitement of kids and parents planning for a new school year. Everybody gets new clothes and backpacks and lunch pails (who doesn't remember their first Barbie or Hot Wheels Lunch Pail?), a new haircut and shoes, and we get to meet our students for the year and decorate up our classrooms. It is a lot of fun for a teacher to do Back to School.

Back to School Buses with some of our school rules....

 We haven't seen our teacher friends for a few months and it's fun to reconnect again. I laugh at the Staples commercial where moms and dads are skipping happily through the store with carts full of school supplies while the kids trudge unhappily behind them while they are singing "It's the MOST wonderful time of the year!". I concur. :D

Balloon Festival at the park down the street from us...her's the hubs taking pics

2.HARVEST FESTIVALS!  I love the harvest time. Up here in Utah at the end of summer there are lots and lots of festivals celebrating the harvest. We have Peach Days, Onion Days, Scarecrow Festival, Lavender Days, Raspberry Days at our Bear Lake cabin and many others. Each  and every festival is unique and lots of fun. Some of them people dress up for too like Swiss Days in Heber and the Witch Scavenger Hunt at Gardner Village.  I love to go to a pumpkin patch or pick cherries or apples from an orchard with family members too. I like to then go make things out of my fruit like cherry crisp or fresh peach pies.  I enjoy going to a pumpkin patch too. Do you have to be a little kid to enjoy it? Nope. You can just smile at little kids enjoying it. :D

Raspberry Days at Bear Lake where we have a cabin. It's a blast.

Here are my cute little granddaughters at one of the festival picture booths.

Fall Festivals are so much fun in Utah.  I love them!!

 I love the fall scarecrow festival and the witch scavenger hunt at Gardner Village.

And who doesn't love getting a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch? We love it! 

3.MY BIRTHDAY is in October. Well you can't blame me for liking my birthday. You have to go on an adventure as you get older and have some kind of new experience. That much I have learned. Because as you get older your birthdays start to suck. So you have to change it up. Try something scary or new. Go experience a concert, a new sport, go see a wonder of the world. My brother and my nephew and I all share a birthday. So it's fun to message each other and remember birthdays past that we've done together. It's fun to get 100 likes on Facebook for your birthday too and get new things you buy yourself for a present (like my cool, new laptop I'm writing on right now). Spoil yourself on your birthday no matter what season it happens on. I try to also give presents or a party to somebody else near my birthday so I don't feel like it's a sucky day. It makes it lots more fun to give than to get.

The Band Perry Concert

Hiking Dog Lake 

The hubs and I at Mary's Lake above Brighton Ski Resort. 

Grandpa's 87th Birthday Party at my house in September.

Hanging out with some of the grandkids 

Singing Happy Birthday with about 30 of the family gathered. Family is so fun. 

Here he is with one of his youngest great-grandsons, my only grandson, Dylan. 

4. HALLOWEEN PARTIES AND DECORATIONS! I just love seeing black and orange and purple and lime green decorations all over the stores right now. I love a cute witch or frankie and I love to see Jack o lanterns decorated in all sorts of ways. My favorite time to decorate my house is Halloween time. I have almost more decorations for Halloween than I do for Christmas! EEK! I know, it is an illness. 

Drink station at a Halloween Decorated Dinner Party I had recently. 

Entry table all in orange and black. 
I love me a good Halloween Party. Add some dry ice and bobbing for apples and a pumpking carving contest and a bunch of weirdos in costume and you can't help but have fun. And add some little smokies pigs-in-a-blanket that look like mummies and some green jello and some kind of meat on a stick  and you've got it made! 

My favorite holiday and some of my favorite decorations are at Halloween time. 

Getting ready for trick or treaters. 

Fun treats for the kids made from rice crispie treats and M & Ms.

s.

Ladybug Lady.

And my grandkids coming over in costume to trick or treat grandma is one of the best traditions there ever was. I love those little witches and pirates. And I always plan something fun to give them like trick or treat baskets, stuffed animals, glow in the dark toys or some rice crispie treats on a stick or candy house

Halloween Party in my classroom with my grandkids and I as ladybugs and bees. 

My daughter and her 2 oldest kiddos.

Trick or Treat! My first Granddaughter Marisa. 

5. THANKSGIVING FUN! I love having people over for turkey dinner and eating till I'm stuffed with all of my favorite foods. And everybody is always so happy on Thanksgiving. There are no expectations like there are at Christmas. It's just a fun holiday to get together.We play games, decorate gingerbread cookie houses and we pin the feather on the turkey. And we always go to the movies in the evening after everybody has gone home happy.

Entry tables and coffee tables are so pretty in the fall! I love the rustic colors. 

  I always have lots of fun pulling out the Thanksgiving Plastic Bins and getting reaquainted with all of my cool Fall decor again. I love the fall colors, the fake leaves, glass pumpkins, and scarecrows!

I love pretty placemats for every season and scented candles and silk flowers too.

I love Thanksgiving almost as much as Halloween Decor. 

 Here's the family and lots of Autumn decor on an end table in my great room. Every year it looks a little bit different. It's fun to decorate for each season of the year.

Fall picture wall....I change out the flowers and ribbon color and usually put a new swag of beads along the wrought iron picture holder.

Thanksgiving table decor 

Kitchen counters.....

I have lots of end tables I decorate for each season.....I get carried away....

Pilgrims and Indians....

Thanksgiving decorating 

Kiddie table I decorate for Thanksgiving every year. 

6. HIKES IN UTAH MOUNTAINS in early October. It's not too hot, not too chilly, and the autumn colors on the mountains are just awe inspiring! I love the mix of orange, yellow, green and red. And the animals are all about too. Just yesterday I saw a young family of deer walk across the street as I was driving home from school. I couldn't get my camera out fast enough! 5 little deer will just make your day, believe me!

Hiking Minnetonka Caves in Idaho with my sis. 

Hiking around Sundance Ski Resort in Utah. We didn't see Robert Redford though...sigh....

Bridal Veil Falls hike on October day with the grandkids.....

Just above ALTA Ski Resort look what we saw hiking....it doesn't get any better than this! 

Hiking in October is really the very best weather.....

We are surrounded by a dozen lakes and reservoirs to hike around-- this was Bell Canyon Reservoir in October. 

7. I LOVE THE FALL SPORTS!  I love watching the World series in Baseball, and the start of Sunday Night Football. It is fun for my hubs and me, and for the guys in the family to get together and talk about our favorite teams while eating great football snacks

Fun Football Snacks

Football starts in the fall....Sunday Night Football is fun to look forward to! 

 

Lots of the kids do fantasy teams and that adds to the fun. I love watching my little grandkids playing sports too. Have you ever watched 4 year olds playing sports? It's a HOOT.

Love the football snacks too. 

HERE you can check out how to tmake these soft pretzels for Monday Night Football!

 Or some football cookies or Pigs in a Blanket!

.And who doesn't love a good, rough, hockey game in person? I love to go see the Utah Grizzlies and watch the clown shoot hot dogs up in the stands and stand up to dance to YMCA. And have you ever done "Chuck a Puck"? Well you haven't lived then. It's a fun sport, hockey is. My son Danny loved it and we loved watching him play and end up in the penalty box. It makes me smile thinking about it. We've got tickets for November already! 

 

 We make little individual pizzas in these cast iron pans They turn out like Pizza Hut deep dish pizzas.Gotta love football snacks! And I LOVE pigs in a blanket!

Football Snack Pizzas

8. FAMILY QUAD RIDING  at our Cabin in the mountains during the Fall season too. It is one of the most fun family outings a family can have. We take the little ones and put them on the back of the 4 wheelers in their own little helmets and go tour the national forests around our cabin. The weather is nice and crisp and breathing fresh air when you are doing something physical and beautiful at the same time is a rush. I love it!

Fall Family photos and quad riding....

The beauty of nature on display.....

Some of the most fun times we've had are riding the quads as a family up in the mountains above Bear Lake.

I'm always at the end of the pack...lol....

  I love coming in half warm half cold to get by the fire and drink some hot chocolate and grab some BBQ chips after riding quads or hiking out in the mountains of Utah. It's just so neat. My hubs is a biker and he loves that too. I love watching the pelaton of bike racers whizzing around a curve at the mountain bike races they have right near our cabin too. But I just take the pictures. I don't bike.

I love quad riding out in nature. 

9. MY GARDEN  looks good but it's not as much work as summer gardens are.  I've done all the back breaking weeding and hoeing and mulching all summer and everything has slowed down but everything still looks good. It hasn't all died yet but the workload has shrunk down to nothing but the occasional odd weed or watering. Mostly it is just beautiful and colorful with fall orange and red foliage, a harvest of green, yellow squash and orange pumpkins and red apples from the trees and vines and lovely fall mums and shrubs in shades of orange, yellow and burgundy.

Fall gardening...when the deer don't eat the lilies I am a happy camper. 

It just makes me happy. Every year I put down a new door mat in fall colors for my front door and add a beautiful fall wreath with some Hobby Lobby Doo Dads of some sort.

It is just inviting to walk up my front path in the fall seeing the green pine trees, the aspens and the fall leaves changing colors on our other trees and shrubs. Fall is the best season for beauty in nature, I think.

I have 4 fruit trees and lots of veggie gardens......and 2 ponds. 

Some of the fruits of my labor.....

10. FALL FASHIONS  I love when all the new fall sweaters and scarves can come out and I can cover up with some of my favorite boots and overshirts and sweaters and scarves. I love the new fall looks in magazines and trying new fall colors of jewelry and nail polish. It all feels new like a new school year.


Even though I love Christmas in the winter and Easter in the Spring, and a good, long, summer vacation, I've always loved fall the best. I remember skating down my street, my cheeks flushed and pink, panting and happy with my new, red, birthday skates, loving the weather and being outdoors. And here I am 50 years later and I still feel exactly the same way. FALL ROCKS!

Potato Salad with Bacon recipe,

I only have 7 ingredients for my creamy potato salad. And I NEVER put pickles or onions in mine. That's just wrong! With this great fall weather we've been having it seems like a good day to make ribs and potato salad!

Weekday Chef's Creamy Potato Salad with Bacon! 

This is one of my kids' favorite things that I make for BBQ dinners....great for summer picnics too. 

My 7 ingredients are: Potatoes, eggs,  bacon, celery, mustard, mayo, and salad seasoning. These 7 yummy things makes a great potato salad. But don't eat it that often because it is very high in calories and the egg yolks aren't so good for your arteries. But it's great for a special Summer BBQ.
      
I like to use either red, new potatoes, or Yukon Gold potatoes. Both just seem creamier to me.

And of course bacon makes everything a little bit better, now doesn't it? 

If I use the red, new potatoes, I don't peel off the skins, ever. But sometimes I do with the Yukon Gold, if I'm not feeling too lazy.
Potato Salad Ingredients List:
13 to 15 small and medium potatoes cut up into bite size chunks so it fills a big salad bowl
7 eggs (boiled with the potatoes, then chopped up)
1 1/4 cups of good quality mayo
3 Tablespoons regular French's Mustard
4-5 pieces of bacon cooked and crumbled
3-4 stalks of celery finely sliced (I like that bit of crunch)
5-7 shakes (to taste) of Salad Seasoning (about 2 teaspoons)

Seasoning salt and pepper if you need more flavor
Top with a few shakes of parsley flakes

It's hard to find this stuff sometimes, but it MAKES every single salad better, pasta, potato, spinach...I use it a LOT! 

The best potatoes to use are these red, new potatoes. Just leave the skins on! 

Yukon Gold also make great potato salads...leave skins on or peel as you please...I peeled mine for this salad. 

It's a great side dish. And it tastes even better the next day when all the seasonings have melded together as leftovers!  

THE WEEKDAY CHEF

Zuchini Recipes (Chicken Chili)

Zuchini Chicken Chili

My good friend Launa brought my hubs and I over some of her hub's garden goods; a few of these yellow squash and zuchinis. I love zuchini and my hubs loves yellow squash, but neither one of us had grown or seen these yellow zuchini before. Aren't they so pretty? I had to use them tonight in something.

Chocolate Chip Zuchini Bread and Chili are how I used up these garden veggies!

So I came up with a chili that I added the yellow squash to. It was really good. I had some leftover roast beef I used, some fresh tomatoes from the garden, corn off the cob and some leftover taco meat and leftover Jimmy Dean sausage I had frozen in a zip lock baggie.

Stir fried up the veggies and added the yellow zuchini to the mix.....I didn't have any corn so I added carrots instead. I use up whatever leftover veggies in my fridge with this chili. It's healthy and spicy too!

But not as spicy as this yummy Apricot Zucchini Bread I also made with the yellow Zucchini! Check it out HERE.

It was one of those nights where I just wanted to throw things in a pot and simmer it for an hour while I was finishing the wall painting in my master bathroom.We are remodeling again. Oh Crap!!

This is kind of the "Before Picture".  I'll be done with this in another day Woo Hoo!

We are down to the last 2 bathrooms and we have finished the tile floors. Now we just need to add granite countertops. I can't wait!

Add a packet of Lawry's Chili seasoning and some salsa to ground or shredded beef or cubed chicken.

Anyway, here is another use for zuchini!  Taco Chili

1 1/2 cups of diced chicken or fried & drained ground beef
(or shredded....I use whatever I have on hand)
1 small or 1/2 medium onion diced and sauteed for 8 minutes in oil/butter mixture
1/4 cup green or red pepper sauteed  with the onion
1 cup diced tomatoes or use a can of stewed, diced tomatoes
3/4 cup corn off cob or frozen yellow corn (or another leftover veggie)
1 can kidney beans
1 can chili beans (I don't drain the liquids)
1 quartered and sliced zuchini (small) yellow or green
1 packet of Lawry's chili mix (found in the spaghetti and gravy packet aisle)
1/4 cup fried up ground Jimmy Dean sausage spicy (Optional) I usually have some leftover frozen from doing sausage breakfast burritos.

Zuchini Chicken or Beef Chili....it's soooo good!

Fry up your onions first and then throw the green pepper in. While that is sauteed, fry up your ground beef and drain off the fat. Then mix the two pans together.  Then cut up your tomatoes, and zucchini and 1/2 can of corn or 1 cup of fresh or frozen corn, and dump them all in, your packet of chili mix and your beans. Let it all stew together for 15 minutes on medium heat,  I rarely ever have to add any more spice to this.

You can also add in any leftover veggies or spanish rice. It is kind of a "use up my leftovers" dinner. But BOY oh BOY those yellow zuchini look and tasted great! And my chili goes great with corn bread too!

Deck Restore Painting

We have an old house. I think it is around 35 years old. So this deck may be really, really crotchety! That means old in pig latin. And we redid the flat part last year.  This year we wanted to redo all the posts and cover up those dumb hearts. (who puts hearts on balconies except the Swiss? Are we living in the Swiss Alps or what?)

The awful Deck.  This is the BEFORE DECK RESTORE picture. 

When we started the project last year we had to do a lot of PREP! Oh my GOSH the deck was flaky. Is yours that way too? Yuck!  I took the power washer and washed off the entire deck really good. It took me an hour or so. Then I let it dry.

My Gardening Glove Collection

You know how people that cycle have all kinds of cool cycling gear? My hubs is a cyclist. Every spring when I get home from work there are days when he will get a package. It tends to either be computer gizmos or cycling gear. He loves to get a new shirt or some of those colorful stretchy pants.

My Garden Glove collection......I think I need to add some more colors!

I used to NOT wear gloves and my fingernails would get so dirty and my hands would get slivers in them and my fingers would get raw from sliding them along cement edging or bricks. I once even tried the Dove Soap trick. Scratch your fingernails along Dove Soap before gardening so you fill under your nails with soap. It did work better at keeping dirt out from under my nails, but it irritated me too. I didn't like it. So gloves it is.

This would be such a cute thing to make to hang the wet gloves up on! I love it!

Well, I think gardeners are no different. We love a good hat, some colorful or "feel good" gloves or a new and improved tool of some sort. I still dream about the day I get a ride on mower.....not that I mow the lawn all that much, I just would like a ride on a ride on mower, haha!
These Atlas gloves are listed as top 5 favorites in gardening gloves, and I think they are really neat. But I think I only need one pair at these prices! EEK!



So here is my collection of gardening gloves. I have all kinds.

I sure do have a lot of black gloves!What's up with that?


These are cute ones too. Gotta love a new, cute pattern on the gloves. Sometimes I like these loose, thick ones if I'm picking up twigs or pruning bushes. 

 There is always one pair out on the porch drying out from getting wet or muddy weeding or watering. I just throw them in the washing machine with a load of towels every time I weed or work in the yard.

Garden Gloves....I love the ones with cute patterns, but the thinner, rubbery ones work better for weeding.

And the funny thing is.....every time I walk past a display of garden gloves, I want to buy a new, cute pair! Just like a cyclist longs for a fun, new, pair of socks or some cool, new jersey design.

But my feeling is, HEY! If it helps motivate me to get out there and weed, isn't it worth every penny spent on my glove fettish? Oh yes it is. :D