Harvest Party & Soup Contest

  To carry on the tradition of our church in Qingdao, Laoshan New Spring, we had a Soup Fellowship this year with our new church, The Church at Round Rock. We were so excited to share this event with our new church family & actual family. I love soup parties. I think they're such a good idea & fun all the time, any season. If you have never hosted one, you should! It's super easy to host, especially since the bulk of your menu is brought by others.      As tradition, we as a church provided the plates & bowls, utensils, drinks, breads and the decorations. We then told everyone at church to bring a dessert & their best homemade soup.      Zachary made a delicious Lobster Bisque & I skipped out on soup making this year & instead made a Turtle Pumpkin Cheesecake to share. Both were delicious!  We also made fun flyers so that everyone could invite their friends & neighbors & asked each guest to bring a soup, too.
We rented out our apartment's club house which turned out to be the perfect space. We had 13 soups & around 40+ people. It was a fantastic evening & there was lots of room & food for everybody! We enjoyed the night of soup tasting & chatting.  

    The winning soups were #1 Lentil Soup #2 Italian Wedding Soup #3 White Chili   Zachary's Lobster Bisque came in at #5. Great job Z! For the winners, we made sure to provide fun prizes (gift cards, because who doesn't love those) before they left! :)

Fall Bucket List Update

 We have a little more time to complete Fall Bucket Lists here in Texas than people up North have but since fall is finally, slowly fading into winter, I thought I'd give you an update on the items we completed & the items we have yet to complete. :) 
Texas State Fair September 25 – October 15
  Went! You can read about it here! :) We had such a great time!  
  Pumpkin Picking at a Pumpkin Patch (like a real one, not one in a Church parking lot)
Basically a church parking lot. But it was a patch.  
  Carve our pumpkins that we got at said awesome pumpkin patch
Carved! I carved Sophie & Sebastian's pumpkins into a bat & a cat. They loved them once we lit them all up. We bought two big pumpkins but Zachary ended up just scooping them out & not carving them.  
  Make some Pumpkin Butter. Nope. One day. I'm still set on making some.
Make an Apple Pie It was an apple pie, made from a box but it was made nonetheless & it was delicious.  
Make Pumpkin Bread.
Made! And it's amazing. Make it!  
Decorate our back porch
We decorated our front porch, sort of, does that count? See our scooped out but un-carved pumpkins below?
    Wear something plaid because I'm trendy
I have nothing plaid. I guess I'm not trendy. Oh! I did just get plaid plates from the $1/$3 Target aisle. They're amazing.
Go Camping
Nope but Zachary's asking for some camping gear for Christmas so maybe camping will be on our winter or spring bucket list. 
Pick Persimmons & Make something Persimmony
I haven't seen any. I really should of made something with persimmons when we were in China last year. There's an abundance of them in Qingdao.
Pick Pecans
Haven't seen a place to pick them! 
Have a Bonfire
Yes! We had one! 

Roast Marshmallows

Yes! At Jacob & Lauren's wedding.   
Go to a Football game (It doesn't matter what kind! College, Pro, (<ya, right! We can't afford either of those tickets) high school, Little league, whatever, as long as it's football!)
Nope. And I guess I'm okay with it.
Make popcorn Balls
Nope. Ate a million other things this fall though. ;)
Find a favorite fall candle
So many favorites. My all time favorite is the Red Velvet Candle which isn't fall per say. I have a variety of candles around the house that all smell amazing! I'm kind of digging an espresso candle my brother got me for my birthday right now. 
Make hand print turkeys with Sophie
Nope. Completely forgot!
Go to a Corn Maze
Yes! Checkity Check.  
  Hike Enchanted Rock
Nope.
Host a Soup Party Sharing our Laoshan New Spring tradition!
Yes! It was a great time! I'll blog about it soon. :) You should host a soup party if you haven't!  

Maybe Wurstfest November 6-15 Nope   And there's an update folks! I may not have completed every task on this fall bucket list but we still had a fun-filled fall. It was one for the books. Now on to all the fun winter activities (which are very few in Texas but we'll find time!) ! 

Fall Photo Scavenger Hunt Update

   A few months ago I posted this fun Fall Photo Scavenger Hunt. I challenged my Readers to take the photos on the list while enjoying & being intentional with the fall season. I loved this past fall season! It was filled with so much goodness! Here's a few pictures from our fall:   leaf shaped like a heart Found this little odd-ball, almost a leaf shaped heart leaf  in Central Park. I love it for that.      leaves falling These leaves, while technically not fall-ing, are fallen. Does that count? More leaves in Central Park. These were on the Harlem side in the Conservatory Gardens.      a warm drink Weirdly, I'm not drinking so many warm drinks these days. I'm still craving iced drinks. But I have enjoyed several morning cups of hot coffee, a pumpkin spice or 2 & an egg nog latte or 2 this season.       favorite sweater I'm LOVING this Stitch Fix Sweater.   

Just Kidding. That's not my sweater. But I don't have a photo of it right now so cat sweater picture it is.

  tall boots Obsessed with these new fringe boots I got for my birthday from my grandparents! It's a phone photo, so not that great, but you can still see that glorious fringe!      a fall sunset Two fall sunsets. The first was taken while walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. The second was taken from the Belvedere Castle in Central Park.       a fall run a sunset on a fall run taken in front of our apartment complex      Pumpkins So many pumpkins this year! I was so impressed to see America's big & plump pumpkins. ;)      jack-o-lantern I carved little pumpkin pie pumpkins this year from the farm we went to for the corn maze. Zachary scooped out two huge ones for us but we ended up leaving them whole, without faces.        a Halloween costume We had so much fun this year dressing as a family.         fall baked good   I made a delicious pumpkin turtle cheesecake for our Soup Party this year.   

fall soup   Lots of soups at our churches Soup Party this year.      favorite scarf Just got a new favorite scarf for $5 at Charming Charlies in the season's favorite color, burgundy. But don't have a picture.    leaf pile   Sadly, I haven't seen any life piles this year. The trees are full of leaves still here in Texas.  Thus, no picture. fall veggies These blurry veggies were found near the Brooklyn Bridge.      fall activity Photos in the pumpkin patch-a favorite fall activity.       Thanksgiving meal We had two big Thanksgiving meals this year which is routine for us when in Texas. We're blessed to have most of our family pretty close together.      a get together We had another Murder Mystery Party this year, which I can't wait to share with you. It was the best kind of get together! :)      candle burning Spooky candles from our Murder Mystery Party.    something warm and cozy Always warm, always cozy, always the freakin' cutest.

 

  thankful for All the love that went into celebrating my birthday at the Mosby's (Sr.) this year.     trick or treat The cutest like trick or treating Minion there ever was. ;)  

 

  I love all the celebratory moments that fill the fall season. It's this beautiful time of the year where excitement builds leading into the Christmas season. I love it. And have loved being in America for it. I love all these special moments & memories we've had with our family. I'm feeling so very thankful when I look back on it. Fitting as thanksgiving is one of the main themes of the fall season.