Farewell to Summer

Every leaf speaks bliss

 to me, fluttering from

the autumn tree.

                       -Emily Bronte

Can you feel it? It's happening in minute changes. It isn't really that much colder yet, but I feel fairly confident in saying that we won't see any more 100+ degree days around here this season. I don't know if it is because we become acclimated by the end of summer or if I'm just ready for the season of big baggy sweaters and everything pumpkin, but I was actually a little chilly yesterday. It was still in the mid 80's. But, as the wind tousled my hair I got a faint shiver that ran up my spine and exploded in a full body quiver.

Today my family is saying farewell to summer by going to the water park. I know that we are still weeks away from the "official end of summer", but with the kids in school and, dare I say it with a gasp, the leaves beginning to change in the higher elevations, it feels like it is time.

I've been waiting to break out some new pumpkin recipes because I don't want to be the person who is ready to put up their Christmas decor one week into November. I don't think I can hold out for much longer. Pumpkin Cheesecake and Pumpkin Bread French Toast with Cinnamon Spiked Syrup, even Pumpkin Canolli's are certain to grace our table.  I have plans to make some new fall decorations from some odds and ends I have laying around the house. The kids and I are going to go to the park and scavenge for pine cones for some fun little burlap acorns I have my eye on making and so that I can make a few more of these beauties for winter. (Look for a step by step guide in the coming weeks)

But, with as much as I look forward to fall, winter scares me. I have begged my husband for YEARS to let us live somewhere that has more mild seasons, and by mild seasons I mean no real acknowledgement of winter at all. A couple of weeks ago I promised him that I would do EVERYTHING in my power to stay happy this winter. To which I made him promise that if my best efforts fail we would finally move from Utah. I hope that it doesn't come to this, but I also know I can't last for too much longer.

I don't want to set myself up to fail. I know what it takes to move and I know moving out of state will be just that much harder. I just hope that I have done the "dirty work" to prepare myself mentally for the coming storms. I am going to do my best to create more adventure time outside, maybe even come up with a winter "bucket list" and countdown. Like watching contractions on the monitor, I think that if I have something tangible to measure when the misery will be over, I think I will be able to endure it. I really hope that this winter I THRIVE instead of merely survive.

On the plus side, I do know a few more things about myself that have been a mystery up until this point. So hopefully with this knowledge and the knowledge that winter does eventually fade into a beautifully colorful spring, I can make it. Here's to a depression free winter, I think it's about time!