Autumn-ness.

I LOVE the fall. I also love the summer. Spring is great too because it finally starts feeling warm again. And winter....well, it's fun for about the first two snow falls. Anyway, the point of this post is that I love autumn -- for many reasons, but there is one reason that inspired this post (read to find out).

1. It is beautiful! I wish it lasted a little bit longer in Utah. In Ohio, the leaves are changing for much longer and everything still has a hint of green (which is not very existent in Utah, anyway). Still, the canyon is beautiful.

2. I love fall clothes. I am much more of a cardigan girl. Layering is my favorite.

3. Mustard yellow is one of my favorite colors (I wish I had brown hair on days that I wear it --- brunettes seem to look better in that color). It seems to pop up everywhere in the fall.

4. Pumpkin carving! This was totally an Eckel family tradition in our house growing up. We would get the super intense kits and spend our FHE carving away. We definitely had the best pumpkins on the street. I have already made a pumpkin patch request to JD for this month.

5. Sundance feels completely and totally necessary since we're already driving up the canyon for a little lookey-look.

6. We went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point for FHE one year and now it is a total must. I love it! Something about it is just so fall-ish and fun to me --- another request I have also placed with JD.

7. Haunted Houses = a blast. I won't mention any names... but I have seen more than one of my friends leak their pants at the Haunted Forest. I feel like it's not October without at least one haunted house. We used to go to them in high school a lot. I even got pulled over one time (LONG STORY) trying to get to one before it closed. (p.s. this was my final request for this month.)

8. Conference...which was amazing, by the way. More to come on that later, I'm sure.

9. Halloween and Thanksgiving. Although I'm not much for getting SUPER stoked on dressing up OR seeing skanky girls prance around Provo all night, I do love the whole handing out candy deal. As long as I'm not working that night, I'm planning on stationing out on our driveway (since we live in a neighborhood) and passing out candy to all the little ones. I think I am already on my way toward motherhood with that kind of attitude (kiddddding). And of course, Thanksgiving is always a favorite. I already have a list of about 4237 traditions I want to start in my future family for that day. College football will definitely be one of them. GO BUCKEYES!

10. You guessed it --- the inspiration behind this post --- all the amazing fall foods. There are certain foods that just don't feel right to eat any other time of the year. Although I am a sucker for a good pumpkin chocolate chip cookie, soups are some of my absolute favorites. Here is the list of soups I have already gathered up that will be made sometime in the next two weeks:
-Hearty Bean and Barley Soup
-Butternut Squash Soup
-Black Bean Pumpkin Soup
-Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup

YUM. All of them sound DELICIOUS to me.

Autumn is AWESOME.