Happy Fall Y'all!

I have always loved this time of year. I am not sure if it is because of my birthday or holidays creeping up or just because I get to wear all of my fall clothes.  This year we get to spend the autumn months back in Houston, which is amazing for several reasons:

1. I get to see our family and friends and enjoy quality time instead of the usual rushed visit.

I got to see Ally who was in town from Malawi!

2. It is football season...enough said. Go Aggies!  And the Longhorns are doing pretty good, too.

Watching the Aggies beat Alabama was priceless!

3. It is hunting season so my husband gets to go to the ranch, drive the tractor around and do manly things (while drinking beer and wearing lots of camo).

Dove hunting at the ranch with Jesse's parents and Grandpa

4. Both of us have birthdays to celebrate a week apart! Yay, happy birthday to us!

Birthday cake (notice how my sweet husband knew better than to put my age in candles...)

5.  The State Fair of Texas and an excuse to eat anything fried! We saw Big Tex for the last time before his demise...

6.  We got to celebrate our one year anniversary in Napa Valley, CA with wine and gorgeous scenery. And we were able to eat our top layer of wedding cake, too. Mmmmm.

Toasting one year while visiting several wineries!

7.  The election. Even though the results were not so desirable, I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to vote and celebrate the freedoms we have in America. So glad we were here to do it!

8.  Being with family for Thanksgiving. It also happens to be my mom's birthday, but more on that later :-) We are going to get to celebrate with ALL of our family this year which is something we had not planned, but I'm glad it worked out!

9.  Getting to see the Christmas decorations go up the day after Halloween is always a treat. It's the time just before the crazy material/commercialism of Christmas takes over, but late enough that Starbuck's starts using the red cups.

10.  The weather is cool and crisp right now, so I can legitimately wear winter boots and coats and know that it isn't really 90 degrees outside like in Abu Dhabi.

All little things, but still important reasons to give thanks.  God's timing is perfect, and we could not ask for a better time to be back in the US! Happy Fall Y'all!

***Side note: You will have to forgive me if I have been flaky over the past few weeks. It is rather difficult coordinating things and planning each day when we have no idea when we are leaving. Also, our phones get terrible reception and only work half the time :-/ My apologies and I appreciate your patience.