Autumn in Idaho

Autumn is my favorite time of year. I've always known that I love Fall, but this year my family has felt Fall deprived. We are feeling a new gratitude for Idaho now that we are living in Nevada. For most of you reading this, Fall is almost done and you are bracing for the cold of winter. Here the Fall is just beginning, if you can call it Fall. I didn't realized how much I looked forward to the leaves changing color. I always loved taking a drive up into the mountains to look at the leaves. I remember doing that often growing up and Brandon and I have continued the tradition every year until now. Fall colors are my favorite, my house is decorated in them. So far, the leaves haven't really changed colors, they just kind of fall off the trees. It will be so disappointing if I have to look at the naked tree trunks with out first seeing the leaves burst into color. Maybe it is too soon.

I am missing the sharp crispness of the air and the crunchy grass from the night fall of frost. I miss jogging in the early morning when the air is so cold that it burns your lungs and you run harder just to keep warm. I miss my favorite sweaters that are still to warm to wear here and cuddling up with a cup of hot cocoa in my fall colored quilt that my mommy made for me. I think mostly I miss the smell of fall. I think it is the smell of the decaying leaves mixed with clean air (if anyone comes a cross a candle that smells like decaying leaves, please let me know!). The air here is different. No matter how deep of breathe I take, I never feel the satisfaction of good, clean, fresh air.

I should have appreciated it more. I always complained about how much I hated the long, bitter Winters in Idaho. They always seemed so harsh and never ending, but now I actually miss those too. I would be willing to endure a long Winter if it meant a proper Autumn. We are tired of the endless summer that once sounded so luxurious. We enjoy the variety of the seasons. The first lesson Brandon and I have learned on our adventure is that our hearts will always be in Idaho.