On the Last Day of Summer

Tomorrow is the first day of Autumn.  Just like that.  Unlike many people, I'm not especially sad to see Summer go.  Summer has been a dear friend and we've enjoyed her to the fullest: visiting the West Coast and the East Coast, spending more than our fair share of time at the local water parks, hiking, watching fireworks with friends, barbequing, and spending lazy afternoons in the backyard, laughing and playing.

 

Hiking at Snowbird with Grandma Pat and Aunt Jen

But I adore Autumn.  I thrive on  structure, and after an entire season of spontaneity I crave the return of a predictable schedule.

I love the beginning of a new school year: gathering crisp, clean school supplies and anticipating new knowledge just waiting to be explored.

 

I love football season: absorbing the energy inside the stadium or gathering with friends and family to cheer or commiserate together over steaming bowls of spicy chili.

 BYU vs. TCU 2009, with Brad & Christina Hubbard

I love Autumn's colors: knowing that our Heavenly Father made this earth so incredibly beautiful just because He knew that it would would make us happy.

 Sundance Resort {source}

And I especially love Halloween and all of its festivities: planning and making costumes for my children with the hope that someday they'll look back and recognize that this was one of my ways of telling them "I love you."

I love so many of Autumn's other delights: the smell of pumpkin pies and pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pancakes filling my home, spending long evenings cocooned in a quilt made by my grandmother, playing with my little family at the school carnival, bringing my cozy sweaters out of hibernation ... I could go on and on.  Now if only somebody could devise a way to keep grumpy old Winter from sneaking in and spoiling all the fun, I'd be the happiest girl on earth.