Oct May I Suggest: Entertainment.

HANNAH
I am posting this while on vacation to Idaho. We planned it last minute and headed up for some good, autumn, farm-country fun. I love it up here during this time of the year. The air is clean and crisp and the weather is surprisingly warm and comfortable. These people know how to celebrate Halloween. Straw mazes and pumpkin patches to rival anywhere.

I've been reading like crazy over the past 2 weeks. (8 books started and finished within the month of October.) I go through spurts with reading. I'll go 2 months without finishing a book and then will read a book every other day for the next two. Currently in the midst of the later. I've finished the first two books in the Hunger Games series. Fantastic. I love juvenile fiction. (What does that say about me, I wonder?) I also read "These is My Words." One of the greatest love stories I've read in a long time...without being cheesy. A REAL love story. Just started Atonement and am enjoying it thus far. A friend informed me that it is sad. Not sure I can deal with another tragedy, but I'm being brave.  I'd love to hear any of your book suggestions!


MARTA
i come from a big family who loves to play games. some of my favorite memories ever are gathering around our table together. we love the classics; Scrabble, Phase 10, Apples To Apples, Settlers of Catan, Rummy-O, and Catch Phrase. my mom and i are also known for creating a custom version of $25,000 Pyramid for the family to play. we love staying up late and brainstorming a fun game to re-create and play as a group. dan and i love playing checkers, so last christmas i surprised him with a large rug checker set, the same kind i had when i was a kid. we love it and hope our kids will get it out to play someday too!

LINDSEY
Books: I am an avid reader, and I love a good book. Novels are my weakness. Here are two I've read in the past year that have changed my life: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Help. Both are absolutely beautiful, full of characters you really miss once you're finished--or am I the only one who does that? (They're not in the picture because they're currently lent out to friends--I couldn't keep them to myself!)

Games: My husband and I love board games. Even though we're both pretty competitive (we've had to ban Monopoly in our house more than once for the sake of our marriage), we often spend leisure time playing games with friends or each other. Here are a couple of our favorite recent acquisitions: Roll Through the Ages (45 minutes, 1-4 players, ages 8+; wooden dice and pieces, different every time you play) and Alhambra (tile laying game, each player "builds" their own city; 2-6 players, 60 min, ages 8+)

Internet: I'm probably stating the obvious with both of these suggestions, but they're so awesome I'm going to mention them just in case there's someone who's late to the party like I was. Google Reader: subscribe to blogs, pages, news sites, you name it--it's free, and you can check for updates on all of your favorite sites in the same place. Hannah mentioned Amazon Wish List a couple weeks ago--if you haven't looked into it yet, you need to. I am horrible at remembering specific things I want for Christmas/birthdays, but now I add items to my wish list any time I see something on the internet that strikes my fancy--and it doesn't even have to be on the Amazon site! Forward the link to your list to whoever you want. Voila!

MEG
I'm going to give some entertainment ideas that are not "technology based". These are things that are fun for your whole family to do together...

1- Go on a beautiful drive - Hopefully where ever you live there is something beautiful to see not too far away. We love going on drives and seeing the beautiful outdoors. A few weeks ago we made a day trip out of it and took a 3 hour drive to go and see the beautiful changing leaves in Utah (we live in Nevada and don't get much of that here). We will bring books on tape or I'll make a fun play list of music for all of us to listen too, and we hit the road. I love doing quick little road trips, so fun!
2- Fish Taco Picnic-- I love fish tacos... they are probably one of my favorite meals ever. Something new we've been doing is taking fish tacos out on a picnic somewhere. I'll prepare black beans, pico de gallo, grilled salmon (or whatever meat you want to bring), cabbage, at home and put them in some tupperware. We bring along a little portable butane stove with a pan and our corn tortillas to heat up so it's very little clean up and prep at the site. This makes a picnic so much more enjoyable than smashed bread for sandwiches, promise!
3- Fireplace Peach Cobbler - We have a wood burning fireplace in our house that doesn't get used very often. Something that we like to do is when we are watching a movie or have friends over, we pull out the dutch oven and make peach cobbler in our fire place. It makes dessert so much fun! My go to peach cobbler recipe is very easy. You need one can of peaches, one cake mix, and a can of Sprite. Pour the peaches and juice into the bottom of the dutch oven. Pour the cake mix on top. Pour the Sprite on top of the cake mix and mix it in a little till the dry mix is gooey (don't stir so much that the peaches get incorporated, those stay on the bottom). Bake with coals on the top and bottom of dutch oven until cake is browning and done! Super easy, super fun in your house!


Do you have some entertainment suggestions? Please do share in the comment section!
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