It’s no secret that Brandon and I are pretty-much-in-love with spending time together. One of the perks of our latest semester schedule is that he gets to do most of his studying at home… across the living room from me. While I try not to talk (too much) because he’s thinking about massive engineering problems with figures like x and symbols like ^, it’s still way more fun that our previous semester schedules of both working full-time and then him studying ‘til 2:00 am while I edited wedding photos… (moral of that story is that every season has its challenges, but this season’s challenges are more fun… BABY!).

Recently, we chatted about how to enjoy the autumn season more. Brandon loves autumn… it’s his favorite-season-ever… and I am becoming a convert. It may have been that our Arkansas sojourn ruined my love of summer, or maybe I just missed the Pennsylvania summer completely and could fully appreciate the glories of autumn.

We decided: We’ve never been to a pumpkin patch together! Let’s go on a Saturday afternoon pumpkin patch date!


We climbed aboard the tractor trailer and bumped along a country road… while joking about whether this would send me into labor (it didn’t). And then we arrived at the pumpkin patch!

In my favorite sense of ironic timing, Saturday marked 38 weeks of pregnancy for me. And that meant one of the baby apps said, “Your baby is the size of a small pumpkin.” So we had to take pictures.


And just so you can see the baby bump!

In interest of totally honesty, we didn’t actually pick out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. We just wanted the experience. It was a windy, sunny, delicious kind of day to wander around and try to pick up reaaaaally heavy pumpkins. And I'm a bit of a pumpkin snob. I want to make pumpkin pies, and that requires pie pumpkins... not carve-me-up pumpkins.


Way Fruit Farm is mostly famous for their apple orchards. Though we missed the Apple Festival days (and I have already spent enough time buying/prepping/apple-saucing it up), I was still enthralled by the prettyness of rosy red apples hanging on the trees.


The real star of our afternoon was the warm-from-the-oven snacks from the Way Café! As we were standing in line, I could see the trays of Apple Cider Donuts and Pumpkin Spice donuts being pulled from the oven, and they were still warm when I bit into them several minutes later. Brandon was thrilled about these donuts.

Accompanied by cold apple cider (for me) and hot coffee (for him), we also shared a piece of moist-and-delicious pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting and autumn-colored sprinkles. Those sprinkles really made the experience more festive --- you think I’m being facetious.. but I’m not! I like sprinkles!

We grabbed some delicious apple cider + apple butter for the road and so concluded our pumpkin adventure. It was perfect weather, glorious fall foliage and lots of hand-holding time for us. I'd call that a perfect day.

To say I’ve been “nesting” is a bit of an understatement. Though lately I prefer the term “baby-prepping” because it seems so much more dramatic. Like instead of “prepping” for the apocalyptic end of the world, I’m prepping for the cataclysmic event of our first baby’s birth! Maybe it’s because I mock “preppers” in my spare time --- it’s the leftover derision from the Y2K fiasco in Christian culture that I just can’t get away from… and that’s why I find the “preppers” label to be so hilarious when applied to my baby work these days…. anyway, wow, I have digressed. :P

My time is being spent tackling my “Master To-Do List.” Yes, I’m an unashamed list person. It helps me to be efficient. The unfortunate truth is that without lists, I am an aimless procrastinator. Like a little canoe drifting away into the ocean. Without lists, I am likely to be sad that I’m not sure what is the most important task to tackle, and then I just can’t.figure.out.what.to.do.next. I found this aspect to be true in my MILLION years working in the office environment (extreme overstatement: because it was actually about fourteen years). I need a schedule for normal tasks and a to-do list for extra projects. If I have those two organizational tools, I become a better, more hard-working, efficient version of myself.

All that to say, I am KILLING my to-do list this week… and I’m also adding the strangest tasks to it. Yesterday, I scrubbed my bathtub (ya know, on my hands and knees, like Cinderella) until it was white again. Because it’s really old and porcelain and the stains are a BEAR to get out. And I changed the light bulb on my front porch, which may have been burnt out for the last two years. I also baked some muffins to live in the freezer for a few weeks for healthy after-baby snacking. And… in my final crowning glory kind of moment, I set up our new (free from Comcast!) modem. The days where I fight technology and win… those are my favorites!

I have done some more traditional kind of prepping. A few weeks ago, my sis and I did a work frolic day! Work frolics = when women get together to work on things like Applesauce-Making… those big tasks that end up being so much more fun when done together. First, we purchased the apples from the local Amish produce stand. I also had to get some apple cider and butternut squash because ‘tis the season.

There were lots of helpers. Many hands make the work lighter! We had an apple “runner,” who took on the task of selecting a variety of apples (we used about four or five different types of apples) and bringing them over to the sink. There another little niece would wash them --- this was especially fun because we talked about why apples “bob” in water. Then us adults cored and quartered the apples and threw them in the big pot!

It was a really, REALLY big pot.

The apples cooked and cooked and cooked…. in the meantime, we waited and waited, hanging out on kitchen stools while clad in aprons (very useful pieces of fabric), and then picking up a few books for inspiration.

Everybody has books.


Little House on the Prairie books are inspiring while food-prepping. I even picked up “The Long Winter” to breeze through while waiting for our apples to cook down. That particular book always makes me appreciate simple food more.

We had two of these Foley food mills going.. operated by the little girls! It eliminates the apple-peeling step… which is SO GREAT.

And before you know it, there is applesauce! Add a little cinnamon and sugar to taste, and we’re ready for canning business!



By the end of the day, we were dead-tired…. and had canned almost thirty jars of applesauce! It’s so delicious, too! We’ve been having applesauce with our breakfast every morning and it’s like all the flavors of autumn!
Sometimes “prepping” tastes delicious.

You could call this a “babymoon,” I suppose. It’s more like I’m starting to realize the imminent arrival of our first baby and how life is going to change. How we will be three, not just two (the cat does not count). How our considerations, limitations, focus and directions will change. How---though we might carry the babe around us, we won’t be quite as willing to ‘rough it’ or go rustic or experience cold and dampness and outdoorsy things… at least for the first few months.

So we decided on one last autumn weekend away!



We took a long weekend, drove an hour or so into the Pennsylvania Wilds, to spend time at a rustic cabin that we (and other family) have a membership with. In a spontaneous turn of events, my adventurous parents decided to bike 35 miles on the Pine Creek Trail (because they’re crazy) and ended up being in the area so they stayed the first night at the cabin with us. It was great because a) we like them, and b) my dad has great fire-building skills so our Friday evening was warm and toasty and filled with s’mores. After a scrumptious breakfast together Saturday morning, they went off to have more adventures (no more bike rides though... that I know of!).

There’s just something wonderful about the slow, simple pace of cabin life. We settled in for a full weekend of reading, coffee-drinking on the porch, sitting by the fire and admiring the fall foliage. Since Brandon is a college student (and grad school is time-consuming), he cracked the books all day long on Saturday… but I didn’t mind. It was a good excuse to wrap up in an afghan, and burn through a few fun books.

I also crunched around in the leaves to take a few photos of Autumn in all its glory. Nature teaches me wonderful things about God. I’ve been deep in the minor prophets in my Bible reading lately, and the vivid imagery that the prophets use has opened my eyes to the greatness of God.

I remember reading about God’s cathedral and loving the concept. That every time I step outside, I am overwhelmed in a way that I have never been overwhelmed in a church building. Our God is bigger than our comprehension and the work of His hands is both intricate and astounding.



The autumn views called to us and we went out for an afternoon drive!


We missed the “Falling Leaf Festival” in small-town Pennsylvania, but still enjoyed strolling around town. Though my nose was pretty cold. It was not even forty degrees! It’s almost ridiculous how much the weather changes from region to region in Pennsylvania. I wasn’t quite prepared for that kind of cold!

The river runs through the town, and a very sad-looking abandoned Victorian home.

Here I am at 35 weeks pregnant! Baby coming soon!
I was a big fan of this gate. Such interesting ironwork.

It didn’t take long for us to get cold, enjoy the pretty drive back to the cabin and for Brandon to build us a roaring fire for our camping-esque dinnertime. Brandon’s getting pretty skilled at this whole fire thing. I am grateful --- I love fires. :)

Mountain pie making! Pizza flavor. YUM!




I had heard about a new campfire dessert called “doughboys” from my sis. Thawed frozen bread dough, wrapped around toasting sticks, roasted over the fire, with butter melted over and cinnamon-sugar on top. Our review on the concept: ‘'ohmygoshthesearesogood,canyoumakemeanotherone?!?!”



Before we knew it, time had passed so slowly and enjoyably… and quickly (at the same time!), and our autumn weekend away needed to come to a close. Here is one last look:

Even the drive home was lovely.
Goodbye, little cabin. Next time there will be more of us. :)