Fall Favorites

Today the weather is beautiful. So pretty in fact, that Ellie and I decided to have a picnic lunch in our backyard. As we were eating our lunch, I began thinking about all of the reasons why I love Fall. Reasons like cooler weather, the leaves changing colors-who doesn't love that?-pumpkins, scarecrows, mums, pumpkin patches, college football-HOOK 'EM, #1, how 'bout that??!!-my pumpkin spice candle, Trick-or-Treating with my kiddos, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and then I thought about Deer Season. Okay, stay with me...

I grew up in a hunting family...between my Papaw, Daddy, brothers, uncles, etc...come Fall season, someone was heading somewhere to kill something! Now, my mother has never been much of a hunter, but growing up, somehow my Daddy convinced us to tag along at least once or twice during the season. Thinking back over those trips today has brought back some special and fun memories of our times together as a family...here are a few of my favorites.

~playing "freeze out" on the way down to the lease-when it's really cold out, you roll down every window in the car and the first one to roll their window up was the LOSER!
~watching for deer on the way down
~all of the "rabbits" that would suddenly jump in front of our car, causing my Daddy to SLAM on the breaks just as one of us was drifting off to sleep! (sound dangerous??)
~road burgers
~'neakin in the deer lease truck
~all of us crammed into the tiny camper
~watching Daddy jump out of the truck and kill what I thought was the biggest deer I had ever seen!
~deer lease breakfasts-yummy!
~sitting around the campfire at night listening to Jeff Foxworthy's tape "You might be a Redneck"...right after it first came out
~killing my first doe with Daddy
~laying in bed that night and listening to my older brother tease me with cries of "Mama, Mama", when I told him how her babies were right there when I killed her! (Sidenote: I did not know they were right there...Daddy had me looking through the scope which only let me see what was directly in front of me...smart move on his part, 'cause had I seen those babies, I don't think I could have pulled the trigger!)
~singing Ray Charles songs as we rode around the lease looking for deer
~listening to Brooks & Dunn's song "Neon Moon" over and over and over again, all because a certain someone in our family was missing another certain someone-who, by the way, is now a part of our family! :)

I know these memories don't make any sense to most of you, but to me, these are precious memories of my family. We weren't perfect-FAR from it, and we didn't always get along, (still don't), but we are family. I think that is really why I love Fall so much. When the weather changes, it makes me want to pull my family close and snuggle, when the holidays come-I want to be with my family, when I'm watching the #1 Texas Longhorns (sorry, I had to put that in there again-it may not last much longer!) there is no one I'd rather watch with than my sweetheart, and nothing makes a Pumpkin Spice Latte taste better than when it's shared with someone you love, (or delivered to you by someone you love)!

So, go and enjoy your family this Fall!