Fall Bucket List for a Married Couple

Some of your may remember that Zach and I wrote down some goals and “to do’s” for our fall back in September! We take time every once in a while over coffee or dinner to write down and intentionally talk about what we want the next season to look like. Whether that’s a literal season (like fall) or a season of life.

It is SO important to write down your goals, especially as a couple! It gives you direction and you both are on the same page about where you want to go, and what you want to do. The goals that you set can cover a whole variety of things!

For us, it looked like fun fall activities we wanted to do, things we need to save for, places we want to go, and other priorities that are important to us! We have actually made a pretty good dent in our list, and I am excited to check off the remainder of our items.

Here are a few of the things that we have done so far:

Visited Elijay and picked our own apples. This was a TON of fun. I haven’t been to an apple orchard since I was kid. Zach surprised me with this one as our date day a few weeks ago, and we drove up to the mountains to an apple orchard! We got to pick a whole peck of apples (and taste test a few as well). We visited B. J. Reece’s Apple Orchard, and it was a fun time!

Bake two apple pies with the apples we pick. Keep one and give one away!  This was also a lot of fun, because I love to bake! We picked a total of 23 apples, which was a plentiful amount for two pies (we didn’t use them all). But we baked up two delicious apple pies (you can find my recipe for apple pie here, it’s super tasty for a special treat), and shared one with Zach’s parents!

Have three different couples over for dinner. Zach and I have a big heart for hosting people in our home, and especially cooking for them! It’s our goal to have at least one couple over a month in our home for dinner. We actually have already met our goal of three couples, and each one has been such a joy to have in our home. It’s a wonderfully special thing to gather around a table of good food together, and share good conversation.

Watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” I hadn’t seen this movie in a while, so it was a great one to watch on the first day of fall! The air was cooler, so we had the windows open and made some pumpkin cookies to go along with the festivities.

Visit Burt’s Pumpkin Farm in Dawsonville, Georgia. This wasn’t too far from where we went apple picking, actually! And it was a blast as well. There were a ton of families there, and it was adorable to see some kids riding in wheelbarrows with pumpkins bigger than them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many pumpkin costumes in my life! But they had some great fun there, and I definitely recommend the hay ride! It was my favorite part, the view is gorgeous. You can even see Amicalola Falls from the hay ride!

We still have a few things to check off of our list by Thanksgiving, but that’s just a short look at some fall fun that we have had as a couple so far. We’ve even made a few of them our designated “date nights” or date days, and it was so fun!

A few of the things we are still looking forward to crossing off of our list: going on vacation, having a Thanksgiving dinner (before or after Thanksgiving for the two of us), taking a few hikes, carving pumpkins, making hot apple cider, visiting Helen, GA and Dahlonega, GA, and finishing up the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University series (it is fabulous and I definitely recommend it).

What are some of your fall bucket list items? What have you done so far?

Fall Simmer Pot

Pumpkins. Apples. Crunchy, vibrant leaves scattered across the ground. Crisp, cool air. Warm colors and scents swirl around to encapsulate the magic of the fall season. I don't know about you, but I absolutely love this time of year.

I grew up in Indiana seeing the leaves change colors, raking them up into huge piles and jumping in them to my hearts delight with my brother (that is as long as no spiders or bugs decided to crawl on me). I remember the crisp evenings, and that distinct smell that starts to hit the air when summer surrenders to fall.

But, I moved to Arizona when I was a teenager and experienced a very different kind of fall in the desert. We didn't have as much of the changing colors, but we did drop down out of triple digit temperatures and you could make your way outside of our city to nearby apple and pumpkin farms, and even drive up north to see the aspen trees turn yellow, which is gorgeous.

Georgia falls have been spectacular so far. Well, the one that I have been a part of. I'm looking forward to my second fall here, to watch the leaves change and welcome in the cooler and less humid weather. Since it's now September, I've had the urge to make our house smell like the sweet fall spices that I love. The problem? I have no candles, and candle scent doesn't travel very far anyways.

My solution? Simmer pots!

I had remembered seeing something about making your house smell like Williams and Sonoma a long time ago on Pinterest, so I figured, hey, there's got to be one that makes your house smell sweet and spicy like fall. I found a basic recipe and then made it my own. And boy, does it smell good. It's cheap, and you can do it as much or as little as you want, you just have to add more water to keep the smell going, and ever now and then refresh the ingredients.

So here's what you need to make your own fall simmer pot!

Ingredients
2 slices of a larger orange (cut the whole thing and put the rest in a tupperware to save for later!)
5 smaller slices of lemon (if you have big lemons you can use 2-3)
3 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean pod (if you don't have the pod, use a teaspoon of vanilla extract)
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp. ground cloves (or 4-5 whole cloves if you have them)
1/4 tsp. ground allspice

Directions
1. Get a small pot and fill it to a little over half way with water
2. Place on stove on medium high heat
3. Put your ground spices in first, stir to mix and make sure they are all incorporated with the water
4. Add in the rest of your ingredients
5. Let the mixture warm up until it's almost boiling, then reduce your heat to simmer
6. Leave heat on simmer setting
7. Check every now and then to give a quick stir and add more water if necessary.
8. Enjoy the amazing smells of fall as the drift throughout your home.

NOTE: BE SURE TO TURN YOUR STOVE OFF BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME! Like with candles, it can be easy to forget to blow things out or turn them off, but be mindful and don't forget to turn your stove off if you leave the house.

Another great idea...for a fun hostess gift to all the upcoming holiday gatherings, put the dry ingredients for a simmer pot into a baggie (of course it can be fancier than a ziploc bag), along with an orange and apple. Include some written instructions, and voila! A perfect, sweet smelling hostess gift.

What's your favorite fall smell?