All I Want for Christmas

I want to start out this post by giving a little shout-out to my nephew, Tyler Swan, whose high school football team will be playing for the Utah 5A State Football Championship next week. Go Diggers! (Yes, the students at Jordan High are known as The Beetdiggers, which, I know, sounds like a school Dwight Schrute would attend).

With the NFL in full swing and high school football the big talk in our family these days, I've already decided on what I want for Christmas this year.

Can you guess what it is?

No, it's not season tickets.

And it's not a jersey representing my favorite team.

It's not even a football autographed by my favorite player.

I want...

...and I promise this is good...

a yellow penalty flag!

You've all seen it. Somebody grabs somebody else's face mask and the referee blows the whistle and tosses a yellow penalty flag onto the field. All the players stop and the ref tells them what they did wrong, then penalizes the offending team with loss of yards.

Can you imagine the real-world applications for my very own yellow penalty flag? I mean, how perfect is that? When my kids come in from school and leave a trail of backpacks, shoes, coats, papers, and legos from the door to the kitchen, I can toss my flag and yell, "Penalty! Cluttering! Loss of dessert!"

What about when someone cuts me off in traffic? "Penalty! False start! Loss of 3 car lengths!"

And I'm all about maintaining my personal space. "Penalty! Personal Foul! 10 yards!" 

Oh, I'm getting giddy with anticipation, just thinking about all the uses for my yellow penalty flag. There is no arguing with a yellow penalty flag. You MUST obey the yellow penalty flag.

There is no stopping me with a yellow penalty flag.

I see no flaws in this plan.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Apple Tart

Check out this cool spider web I discovered on our back door this morning!

As you can see in the picture below, fall is upon us. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I do lament the loss of summer. 

And while I feel a loss when the leaves start to turn, fall does bring with it some very nice things. Like beautiful hillsides. And soup and hot rolls. Pleasant days and crisp mornings (we'll not mention what the nights are like around here). And of course, candy corn!

But let's not forget the apples. I saw this apple tart recipe being made on T.V. the other day. Now, a baker, I am not. I have a sister and a sister-in-law and a niece who can bake circles around me. I can cook you the most fabulous dinner (my roast chicken and rosemary potatoes are to die for (if I do say so myself)) but don't expect anything for dessert, unless you bring it yourself. I have a list of about 4 cookies that I can make that usually turn out well. But when I saw this on T.V. last week, the lady making it said, "anybody can make this." So I did! My husband ate about half of it himself and then had what was left for breakfast this morning.

I'd consider that a pretty good beginning to Fall.

Want the recipe? Click here.

Happy Fall Y'All!

We're enjoying what I'm sure are the last of the warm days here in northern Utah for a while. This is a collage of a few pictures I snapped this afternoon.