These are a few of my favorite things...

Things in the new season are going well, we're all settling into our new routines. We continue to stay busy, with school, dance & exercise classes, soccer games and other activities. Like so many other people, fall is increasingly my favorite time of year. I don't know if I can pinpoint why... some ideas off the top of my head:
Foliage - Such a dramatic and beautiful change of the weather (yes, even the rain).
Beginnings - a new school year, new football season and even some new clothes and blankets to keep me warm.
Food - my favorite foods are soups, holiday turkeys and pumpkin pie.
Holidays/Birthdays - it's crazy at our house this season... between Halloween and Christmas we have all the holidays as well as the girls' birthdays. Chaotic but wonderful!

So here are some highlights as my favorite season begins:

The girls always start off the school year at the annual school jog-a-thon



My cousin got married for the first time at age 38 - since their ceremony was in Bora Bora, and he lives in California, there was a reception here, given by my aunt and uncle. I was able to meet his wife and see him for the first time in about seven years. Here he is with his bride:

Here are my siblings and cousins, striking the same pose (by age) that we have since we were babies:


This last weekend was my 20-year high school reunion. Wow, that makes me sound old! I didn't want to go, but was glad I did. It's funny how my memories of high school tend to center around 5-6 mean girls, instead of the other 500 really nice people I went to school with for so many years! Here's just one picture with a few good friends that I haven't seen for a while:


Coming up in the next few weeks, we'll have the aforementioned birthday celebrations, more soccer games, holidays and, of course, Croptoberfest in Sunriver. Another reason why fall is one of my favorite seasons!