Our First REAL Fall

I guess living in AZ pretty much our entire lives we have never really had the opportunity to experience fall in it's fullest form. Craig served his mission in Wisconsin so he was able to experience 2 fall seasons there and a few visits to Utah throughout his childhood. But other than that we haven't really been anywhere to enjoy the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees for the full fall season. The colors change on a daily basis! We always took our vacations in the summer growing up so I don't ever recall being elsewhere in the country during the fall season. I honesty can't recall ever seeing a tree go from green to red, or orange, or yellow. It's beautiful! It really is! The colors are so vibrant. I remember one time living in AZ we saw a couple on the side of the road taking a picture next to a cactus. We thought they must not be from the desert. To us cactus' are no big deal. But someone from elsewhere in the country has probably never experienced a cactus! Therefore, the perfect photo opportunity! We found ourselves taking pictures of the trees when we first got here. WOW!! TREES!! Green trees. Thick trees. Big trees. Tall and lush looking trees! Trees that don't look stick-like. . . . and dead. We took even more pictures when the leaves started changing colors! It really is gorgeous and we have enjoyed every minute of fall here! Phoenix is 50 degrees hotter than NJ today. The high is only 43 degrees. It snowed this morning off and on for about 4 hours. I have never seen snowflakes that big! I didn't realize they came in all shapes and sizes! We have enjoyed bundling up and the kids get so excited everytime we get to put our coats on to go out. They think it's thrilling to be bundled! Except Clark. He seems to get more and more upset the more layers we have to put on him. We've had to loosen his carseat buckles enough to allow room for his winter coat. I keep forgetting how cold it is outside here. I actually have to take the time to put shoes and socks on. I've gone out in my flip flops a couple of times and my toes are frozen and numb by the time I get back home! The pictures really don't do it justice, but here are just a few fall pictures. . . .




These are the trees outside the kitchen window. Doing dishes takes on a whole new meaning when you get to watch the leaves blow off the trees! The colors are even more vibrant and deeper now. We'll have to take more pictures as the colors continue to change!

We're Alive

Ok, so we just got our internet up and running. Literally 10 minutes ago. Yay, FINALLY! It's almost midnight now. . . . another late night. We have so much to share! We have over 300 pictures to download onto the computer from our adventures here! We'll save the sharing for another night, we're a little sleepy now. Thanks to everyone who has left comments or e-mails wondering about us. We feel very cared for :) Talk to you soon. . . .

For now, goodnight from New Jersey. . . .sleep tight :)