Fall Adventures...including Corn Maze Date Night and Annual Pumpkin Carving Party

Us 
fall 2013

This fall we collected visual postcards in our minds of fall outings as we took scenic day trips and attended festive parties...

Here are a few autumn leaf views on some family day trips in Colorado:

Palisade, Colorado

2013

Our earth turns gold and beams with yellow glows even on cloudy days!

Ouray, Colorado

2013

My last fall jog of October under a pure gold haze.

photo via Instagram @mooreminutes

We have some super special friends who throw the BEST parties, which makes our seasons extra fun! I want to share TWO festive nights we celebrated this year:

A Couples Date Night at the Corn Maze with a Bonfire Picnic

&

An Annual Pumpkin Carving and Chili Party

1) A Couples Date Night at the Corn Maze with a Bonfire Picnic

On a brightly-lit, fullish moon night, we pulled on our boots, buttoned up our cozy flannels, packed our picnic baskets, and headed out (without kids) to meet with friends at the pumpkin patch!

Earlier that day, I packed our basket full of fall foods to enjoy around the bonfire that night: Sandwiches, butternut squash soup, hot chocolate, and homemade cinnamon sugar donuts.

The pumpkin patch breathes enchantment at night: circles of hay around various fire glows, a carpet of hay and mud lit by the moon, and crisp air at the farm.  We found our own bonfire and spread out our picnic on the hay tables.

mud covered boots...

maybe I'm a farmgirl

Let's eat

and be cozy

After dinner, we pulled on our hats and walked into the maze of cornstalks.  The rule was...no technology in the maze.  We found our way by moonlight and got lost a time or ten.

The was such a fun experience and I just love these people!

 Corn Maze Couples!

Our second fall night was JUST as fun, but at this family event, the little people got to play too. Allison and Carrie throw an annual Pumpkin Carving Party that is the best time of the year.  Both these girls are extremely creative and they blog too:  Allison's blog, Carrie's blog

2) Annual Pumpkin Carving and Chili Party

On a weekend in October, Allison's house lights up with tastes of autumn, laughing faces, warm scarves, and artistically carved pumpkins.  Orange plastic is spread across the floor and everyone finds their spot, legs crossed Indian style, as they dig into plump pumpkins.

 Allison and Carrie made incredible chili variations, and we had a topping bar and cornbread too! Ohhh...and there were jars of Halloween candy for both kids and adults.  YUM.

Party time with my babe!

All the kids have SO MUCH fun too as they put lots of effort into their pumpkin designs.  And quiet precious moments were captured too, sharing mini pumpkins...

I carved a sunSHINE!

We had a LOT of carved pumpkins,

These friends are absolutely talented and artistic!

A starry dark night and a long row of playful pumpkins

photography by Seth Schaeffer

Lettering font by Allison Blevins

This annual party is a family favorite for us!  Thank you Allison and Carrie.

To live beautifully is  

to cultivate connection,

to always create, 

and to always be present.

MOORE fall:

Finally Fall Home Decor 2013

A list of 12 memorable things to do this fall

2013 Autumn Recipe Collection



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This post is linked to: Under the Table & Dreamin, Nifty Thrifty,  Made by You Monday, Met Monday, Tuesday Tutorials and Tips, HOMEWORK: Be Inspired, Tip Junkie, Get Your Craft On, Works for Me Wednesday, Snap Creativity, Organize and Decorate Everything, Transformation Thursday, Tablescape Thursday, Strut Your Stuff, 36th Ave, Foodie Friday, I'm Lovin It, Tickled Pink, Friday Flair, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors, Weekend Wrap Up, Six Sisters Saturday 

Creative uses for Halloween leftovers: Candy Bar Hot Chocolate Fall Picnic

We've only celebrated Halloween for a couple of years.  I prefer to celebrate light and I adore happy, pretty, things.  That will never change, but...I guess you can't keep me away from holidays.  ;)  I appreciate the magical enchantment of October with all of the imagination and creativity.  For a day, real life is transformed into a wonderland of imagination and pretend.  

Plus, free candy! 

Last year, our boys dressed up as Alvin & the Chipmunks.  It was perfect because nothing fits the three of them better than those characters! 

This year, I didn't buy or make costumes.  We didn't plan ahead at all.  I actually planned to spontaneously send them upstairs to their rooms to create their own costumes.  Our boys dress up ALL.THE.TIME so I knew this would be an easy and fun challenge for them.  I wanted them to practice their creativity this holiday.  

Living with a super hero ninja, a pirate, and a modern day viking is so much fun! 

October 31, 2013

Ohh, did I mention the free candy?

Gosh I love free stuff...

and candy too. 

But we have SO MUCH of it.  

I wanted to share a memorable way to use up 

some of your Halloween candy: 

A CandyBar Hot Chocolate Fall Picnic

I waited for a grey day, chilly and fallish.  I wanted a day that would require the warmth of piping hot drinks to heat us up! 

I packed up a hot chocolate basket and a bag of popcorn and we bundled up for a walk on the country roads behind our house. 

We walked past postcard perfect country homes in search of our perfect spot...

Excited and cold little boys!

The muted grey sky was a cozy backdrop to the burnt yellow colors of the last lingering leaves of autumn. 

We found an abandoned table with low branches hovering and sparse leaves still hanging, for our sweet candy cocoa picnic.

I used the basket that I recently made with a friend to hold our candy bars, cups, and napkins. 

To make the candybar hot chocolate:

- Warm milk and pour into a thermos

- Collect mini chocolate candybars that you think would taste good as a hot chocolate flavor

- Add cinnamon if you wish

- Stir and drink!

 I used sample size small cups so we could taste a variety of sweet candy bar hot cocoa creations.

We each had fun picking which different candy pieces we would mix into our hot chocolate creations.

We stirred and stirred...

Popped corn to munch on while we stir!

More stirring!

The boys took their jobs very seriously and couldn't wait to find out how their creations taste!

Happy and hot sweet samples.

So much fun, we had to use every last drop of milk.

Yummm

We decided...

that M&M with candycorn was gross (who knew?)

Milky Way was the best with the metled caramel, mallow, and chocolate!

3 Musketeers with a couple squares of Hershey was yummy and marshmallow-y too.

Heath Bar with a couple squares of Hershey was delicious toffee tasting.

Peanut Butter Cup wasn't too great.

photo via Instagram @mooreminutes

It was a bundled up day of fall fun, 

taking in every last day of 

golden colors.

Other Halloween ideas:

a way to use up ALL that candy corn: Homemade Butterfingers recipe

Enchanted Last Day of October

CandyCorn Sunshine

And more Hot Chocolate Events:

Hot Chocolate Bar & Sledding

Aspen Colorado Snow and Hot Chocolate on a Stick

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This post is linked to: Under the Table & Dreamin, Nifty Thrifty,  Made by You Monday, Met Monday, Tuesday Tutorials and Tips, HOMEWORK: Be Inspired, Tip Junkie, Get Your Craft On, Works for Me Wednesday, Snap Creativity, Organize and Decorate Everything, Transformation Thursday, Tablescape Thursday, Strut Your Stuff, 36th Ave, Foodie Friday, I'm Lovin It, Tickled Pink, Friday Flair, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors, Weekend Wrap Up, Six Sisters Saturday