I love the fall (some might call it autumn). Getting family together for fun and Frito pie with Kevin Ward’s homemade chili. The cooler weather rolls in from the north. In Texas that means we are moving out of the triple digits into the 90s and 80s. The other morning it hit 68…brrrr. Of course it was back to a cool 92 by 2:00 pm.
We might be limited in the color schemes too. The majestic oaks are ever year round green along with the juniper, but we have small splashed of yellow and orange in our foliage. I think this makes it more of a gift. We could pack up the SUV and head to Lost Maples outside of Vanderpool – it’s like a little pocket of Colorado tucked into the back of our bluejeans.
My favorite part is the unofficial kick off to the holiday season. In October 2004 my sisters and I got our kids together to carve pumpkins. We didn’t know we were starting a family tradition, but now it is part of our kids memories of growing up on the back steps.
Now twelve years later and the kids are actually carving their own pumpkins
This one might be the real picture.
The level of skill and competition has grown each year.
The girls even got to use the power tools this year!
What are you waiting for go make some memories! Do you have a favorite fall tradition?
Jolene Navarro 
Wow, that’s impressive! Usually we buy a pumpkin with every intention of carving it, and then it’s the night before and we realize we have once more run out of time to decorate. We bought a white pumpkin and a blue “ghost” pumpkin this year, but they’ll probably just get fed to the deer!
The trick is to schedule a time and make it an event. When my girls were small we would buy the pumpkins and then never actually carve them. Time just slips away. So my sister invited us over one year and we did it as a group. I have to say I think we really did more of the carving the first few years.