Autumn in Iowa - my favorite season of the year

My favorite time to live in Iowa is the Fall. I just love every day of Fall. I love the sunny warm days, the sunny cool days and yes, even the rainy cold days. What follows Fall is my least favorite season, starting about January 2nd.

This year I have new fun, the fun of driving through Iowa to pick up sweet College girl during her breaks. There are 4 quilt shops that are on the beaten path to Fayette and probably 7 off the beaten path! I just love small town shops and especially enjoy little finds to decorate my house.

There is a cute garden store/ nursery / gifts/ foods place just north of Oelwin. I love stopping there!

My favorite stop of all is in Independence. It is the Little Red Schoolhouse, which also has another store attached. Just cute nicknack's, great coffee, candles and jewelery. If you are ever within 100 miles of Independence you NEED to visit, trust me on this!

Another favorite of driving around NE Iowa is the barn quilts.

and barn flags. Really makes me want to figure out how to move out of the city, raise chickens and grow a big garden. Can I do it? Not sure because I love the mall and delivery pizza.

Fayette is a cool little town, so small a college kid can't get in trouble, right?

I really enjoy sweet college girls visits. We always have fun shopping, getting hair done and catching up on life. Well, at least as much as she wants to share!

Now that is scary, I don't even need make up!

We watched a lot of football this season. Dear Son played in every Varsity and every JV game. Guess he got his money's worth! Only one small injury. Thank God for watching over him! I worry the entire game about him getting hurt.

Homecoming brought a lot of fun. The cheerleaders decorated our door, the team was in the parade and the game was kicked off with fireworks! I apologize about the lack of quality in night pictures with my camera.

number 81!

The school has recognized the firefighters since 2001. I remember that game as I had just gotten back from a wild trip home from Boston on 9-11.

Fireworks were blasting as the team ran on to the field into a banner of balloons.
The cheerleaders and team managers are Prairie are awesome!

Dear son before the homecoming dance. Look how tall he is!

my front porch, I sewed the scarecrow out of the panel a long time ago.

maple in the backyard is a show off!

Hydrangea's win the show off contest!

Finishing off the weekend with Butternut Squash soup, thanks niece Laura for the recipe

Thank you for letting me share this blog with you!

Anniversary trip

Dear hubby and I enjoyed a wonderful trip to Breckenridge Colorado for our 20th anniversary. The aspen were golden, the skies a crisp blue and the evergreens a deep green. It was the perfect time to visit! We stayed just a couple blocks from the downtown area of Breckenridge and we were within walking distance of several great restaurants and shops.

We took a walking history tour and it was enjoyable. The evening we enjoyed a wonderful meal with old friends of mine that dear hubby had not met before. The Colorado kids really have a lovely home right on the edge of a national forest. I was a dumb dumb and forgot to take pictures. I have not seen them for over 20 years so it was really cool to catch up and meet their kids.

We drove over Independence pass to Aspen one of the days. It was a lot of driving but well worth it with a lot of great sight seeing. Independence pass was a little scary as the switch backs and drop offs down the mountain are just as breath taking as the views!

On the West side of Independence pass is a ghost town and it was really fun to hike down to get a closer look at the old mining town.

The weather was perfect every day. My favorite kind of weather were you wear shorts and sweatshirts.

We hiked around the Maroon Bells, they were fabulous.

Each evening after we went out for dinner (it was so nice to not have to cook for almost an entire week!) we took a walk all around the residential areas of Breckenridge. There is a family of fox that live there and it was so cool to see how tame they appears. This lovely young fox posed for me.

We enjoyed the laid back vibe of Breckenridge and all of the hiking trails. We walked between 6 - 8 miles a day!

The water was crystal clear and you could almost reach out and touch the trout. Definitely making plans for Dear Hubby and Son to come back fly fishing next time!

We finished out the week with a lovely anniversary dinner at an Italian restaurant.
I am not sure how we will top this for our 25th anniversary but you can bet that we will come up with something!

Dear son did a wonderful job taking care of the dogs and the house while we were gone. Wrigley was loving every minute of the attention! It was hard to be on vacation without our kids and the first time in 20 years! I am blessed to have such a sweet loving husband that is also my best friend. Here is to the next 20 years!