Fall Favorites

This time of year is one of my favorites and I love finding ideas and inspiration that celebrate the Fall season. I have been inspired by so many great ideas on Pinterest including recipes, crafts, home decor, and of course sweets! Be sure to check out my Fall Ideas Board on Pinterest for lots of great Fall ideas for you and your family! Here are just a few of my favorites:

Fall Bucket List - a fun way to keep a list of all the activities to enjoy during the season!

Mini Pumpkin Tea Light Holders - such an fun and easy way to display candles and add to your fall decor!

Pumpkin Bars - easy recipe and looks oh so delicious!

I have been loving the cool mornings and sunny days that Fall has brought us and I have the house decorated with all things Fall and pumpkin! I love this time of year and hope it lasts just a few more weeks before the weather turns too cold and we get the dreaded four letter word (SNOW!)...

Pumpkin Patch Photos

We just got back from visiting the local pumpkin patch with our friends Laura and Jordan and their adorable kiddos. It was the perfect weather for roaming around the farm and seeing the hundreds of pumpkins and plenty of farm animals. We wandered around and chatted and I took some great pictures of the pumpkins using Instagram on my iPhone.

I have been obsessed with Instagram lately and recently found another great app, called Diptic. This app only costs $0.99 and offers so many great options on creating collages with your photos. The best part about this app is how easy it is to create photo collages, save them to either your photo file or Instagram, and then upload them to your email or blog. It is so fun to use and easy easy easy! I took all of the pictures tonight using Instagram with the Toaster filter and then added them into a few different collage layouts in Diptic. I love how Diptic allows you to change the size of photos, use either a black or white border, and round the edges of the pictures. I just love how these collages turned out!

Beautiful Fall Colors and Instagram

Today was the most beautiful day up on the Grand Mesa with the gorgeous fall colors and the crisp cool air. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law invited me for a girl's picnic up on the Mesa and a beautiful drive to enjoy the fall colors. I love this time of year when the colors start to change and the Grand Mesa is an easy and short 45 minute drive from our house. We had a great time chatting and catching up and taking lots of pictures of the fall colors and the beautiful trees and scenery. 

I have been wanting to take more pictures with my iPhone and the Instagram App is perfect for taking amazing pictures with some fun filters and edits available. All of the pictures below were taken with the Instagram App and the Kelvin filter which gives the pictures a soft golden tone and a rugged white border. I just love how these pictures turned out... so beautiful!

I also found another great App for my iPhone, called PostalPix and it is the most convenient way to order pictures from your phone. Setting up an account is easy and then all you have to do is pick the pictures you would like to order, choose from either the traditional photo size (4X6, 5X7, etc.) or the Instagram sizes (4X4, 5X5, etc.), and then the photos will be printed and delivered directly to your home for a great price. I see myself using this App a ton in the future because it is so much easier than trying to print photos at home and then I don't have to worry about buying a photo printer, ordering ink and paper, or worrying about the quality of the photos. With PostalPix, I can just pick the pictures I want to have printed and they will be in my mailbox within a week. I love it when I find something that makes life easier!

Today was the perfect way to spend a Sunday and I love the feeling of Fall in the air, the colors changing, and looking forward to taking more pictures in the coming weeks!

Apple Pie Favorites

With Fall starting in just a few short weeks, I am eagerly awaiting the season of pumpkin spice lattes (decaf for me this year), fall colors and crisp cool mornings, and anything related to apple pie! If I had to pick a favorite pie, it would most definitely be apple! I love how apple pie has been transformed to be so much more than the traditional pie format. Apple pie is featured in baked goods, ice cream, and even the scent is used in bath and body products. This Fall will bring the arrival of our baby girl and I just know that I will love this season even more in the years to come! With my sweet tooth cravings in full gear, these apple pie favorites are sure to please my pregnant belly! :)

• Apple Pie Breakfast - a perfect oatmeal breakfast that is both healthy and delicious

• Apple Pie Parfait - super healthy treat made with greek yogurt and quinoa

• Apple Pie Bites - so simple to make and perfect for parties

Fall starts in a few short weeks, which means our due date is approaching fast. I am looking forward to the coming weeks and taking full advantage of the colors, flavors, and comforts of one of my favorite seasons!

Be Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! This sign says it all for a day full of cooking, baking, preparing the table, spending time with family, and feasting on a thanksgiving meal. This year will be my first Thanksgiving learning how to cook a turkey from beginning to delicious end. I look forward to waking up early and learning how to prepare everything for a perfect Thanksgiving meal at the end of the day!

I hope everyone has the opportunity to spend the day with the people you love! I am so thankful for my family, my friends, our home, my amazing job, and the joy that I have in my life. God has truly blessed me and I am eternally grateful for those blessings!

Fall Recipes - Outstanding Reviews!

The relaxing weekend at the lodge was perfect and the recipes I made were a huge hit with everyone and received outstanding reviews!

The chicken tortilla soup was the perfect fall recipe and was nice and filling and great with all the fixins. 

The pear crisp was so delicious that words cannot even begin to describe, but I will try... warm and gooey, toasted pecans, loads of brown sugar, and delicious sweet pears. The reviews from the family on both of these recipes was outstanding and I will definitely be making these again!

The weekends always seem to go by way too fast but we loved getting out of town and enjoying the beautiful scenery up at the lodge!

Fall Weekend at the Lodge

We are leaving this morning to head up on the Grand Mesa for a short stay at a beautiful lodge with my husband's family. We will be enjoying the breathtaking fall colors, taking long walks on the property, relaxing by the fire, cooking new recipes (see the list here), and enjoying the scenery. 

This picture reminds me of everything I love about fall and I am looking forward to the next 24 hours of peace and relaxation!

Pumpkin Favorites

Fall is by far the best time of year for baking and decorating, and pumpkin is the perfect common denominator for both! The flavor of canned pumpkin puree in any recipe is just about perfect and pumpkin can also make adorable decorations for the home and for parties. Here are a few of my fall favorites when it comes to pumpkin:

• Pumpkin Pound Cake - from "Sing for Your Supper" blog

• Pumpkin Treat Bags - adorable favor bags for parties

• Pumpkin Spice Pancakes - from "Dashing Dish" blog

• Pumpkin Party Cooler - perfect drink display for parties

Fall Family Weekend Recipes

Fall is one of my favorite times of year and this season always inspires me to get in the kitchen and either cook or bake delicious recipes for family and friends. We will be heading up to a lodge for a weekend in October and I have a full list of recipes that I plan on putting together. I am looking forward to a nice hike with the fall colors as our view, curling up on the couch in front of the fireplace with a great book, and relaxing in the hot tub on the deck. Oh, how I can't wait...

I having been religiously following the Pioneer Woman's Blog and found a great selection of recipes to try. These are a few of the fall recipes that I will be making for our family weekend on the Grand Mesa:

• Lemon Blueberry Pancakes - perfect for our Sunday morning brunch 

• Chicken Tortilla Soup - the perfect dish to share for our soup, chili, and bread dinner

• Pear Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream - a delicious fall dessert to share by the fire

Stunning Fall Invite

It is almost 100 degrees outside today but for some reason I can only think about Fall and a wonderful family gathering we have coming up. My company has this amazing lodge up on the Grand Mesa that families can rent for the weekend. This October we are headed up for the weekend with about 15 family members to celebrate the fall colors, play games, go for a hike, and enjoy delicious fall food. I designed this adorable invite to send to the family. 

I am really looking forward to the gorgeous fall season and a wonderful weekend with family!