93 | Autumn Has Arrived! (Sort of)

0:00Hey everybody, I'm David. I'm Jess. I'm the husband. I'm the wife. And we are married. 15... Time. Sorry we missed a week guys. I know. It's all how hard it is to film. Especially when you're not in your house. And you have kids. And busy schedules. And busy schedules that revolve around everybody else's timetable not yours. So we have to make deal with what we can. We squeeze it in when we can. But I'm excited about today's episode. This can be fun. I love fall. So David told me this is about fall. So I'm off for it. Because at the time of this recording fall is the next day. Which is absolutely insane because it has been so hot. It does not feel like fall. No, it does not. This has been one of the warmest fall beginning fall seasons. Yeah, I've ever. This is the warmest September I can remember.

1:02It's insane. I can absolutely remember it. The summer started off so great and so mild. And then all of a sudden. It's like, is that a giant spider right there? It's like the months just moved over. Like like, like, maybe came June. June became July. August became, you know. The spider is on the outside of the window. But that thing is crazy looking. Anyway, sorry squirrel squirrel. There is so much to look at outside these windows. We have frogs. We have hummingbirds. Now they're just spider out there. So you just never know you're going to say, but we're going to see. You were saying about fall. I just can't believe it. It started out so mild. And then like July, it kind of started getting hotter. August was absolutely insane. And then September has been awful. We've been in high 90s for weeks at this point. And I do think this week is supposed to be in the 80s. So I will take it if that's actually true. Still, I don't think of 80s when I think of September ever.

2:03I know. So it's been. I mean, we are in Alabama. That's been absolutely ridiculous. And it's funny. We talk about. We talk about this almost every year because people love to ask us what's your favorite season or what's your favorite time of the year. And I always tell people, if I could pick my favorite three months of calendar, it's the week of Thanksgiving through the week of Valentine's Day. That's my favorite three months of the year. And the most of that is in the winter season, but about the first third of it is in the fall. But if you said you can't split the season, you have to only pick one season. That is your favorite time of the year, favorite season. Hands down. It's fall. Yeah. Hands down. It's fall.

3:12That's interesting. Yeah. I'm going to get that. Oh boy. I know we're going to we're going to drop the kids off from school and then we're going to, you know, go have some fun. This will be at that point married 17 to life. Yeah. It's true. Yeah. I'm interested. Now, if this is one of the questions, but I'm interested this fall, if it how much of it will be different because we're not at home. Right. In our normal routine of our house, our stuff, our decorations, our kitchen, our, you know, normal routine. That's what you're going to talk about. Yeah. I'm just interested to see like how much this year is going to be different. Well, the first question here is what is the first thing you think of when you think of autumn? Cooler weather. Cooler weathering and leaves changing color. I mean, I love the trees. That's pretty much it. That's pretty much it. That's pretty much it. I love the trees when they start changing color. Yeah. I do think of the food too. I feel like fall food is so good. But yeah, just like when it gets to be like that nip in the air, when you wake up in the morning and it's like cool and you need to sweatshirt. That's what I think of. It's not really cold yet. It's just like a little bit nippy.

4:12Yeah. And it says, when does it officially feel like fall? It's basically what you just said. You know, it's when you have that that you walk outside and you're like, Oh, I think I might need a longer sleeve today. That's kind of. And then like in the evenings, it gets to be where you want like cozy food. Yeah. And right now it's so hot that by the evening, like I don't want anything to eat. It's just too miserable feeling and you just feel like blow off from the sun. Right. So I can't wait for like the cozy feel. We're not in cozyness yet. Yeah. Is there anything about the fall you don't like? Hey, Mark. Hey, Mark. We all wait. We can never do this podcast without having. Mark, Mark, tell everybody in the microphone. What do you like about fall? About it's not cold and it's not that hot too. That's good. Like it does moderate temperature wind. Yeah. It was a lot of leaves. A lot of leaves. You're right. And you could do a lot of trees. A lot of trees and leaves and they all turn color, right? Yeah. I'll have a said in the fall more trees start appearing. They can be like one yellow.

5:12What's your favorite color leaf? The Glussian. What's it? Orange. Orange. You know what my favorite is? And we have this tree outside of our door in Madison, Indiana. And we also had it in Georgia. And that is a bright red tree. Yes. Those are my absolute favorite oranges. Pretty too. Yeah. A lot of maple trees turn red. I love that. I love the maple tree. Yes. Okay. We love you, buddy. We love you, buddy. So have fun somewhere. Yeah. Yeah. Your head feel better? Yeah. Okay. He always seems to have headaches every now and then. You know, not always. So you get some of them when he's been out in the sun. He didn't drink enough. Yeah. We always, all of us get headaches when we're a little dehydrated. We got it. We got it. We got it fixed up. Yeah. Then it says, is there anything about the fall you don't like? I don't like the extra leaf yard work. But it goes with the territory. I don't like the days getting darker. I like it. I don't.

6:12I don't like coming. I don't like coming home from work at five o'clock at its pitch black. But what I like is that it's more daylight during the day and the morning. Now, with time changed, the end of the way it's going to be. Yeah, but it is that like it is still, if it's if it's darker late, if it starts getting darker earlier, it starts getting lighter. If it starts getting darker earlier, it also starts getting lighter earlier. And I like that because I hate being outside, giving the kids like, you know, ready for school in the car going on that and it's dark. Look, it's just depressing. So I don't mind that I don't like it seems like sicknesses ramp up this time of year. I almost always get sick like at the end of September, the end of October, you get those like colds and flu and all that starting. I don't like that. Yeah, I agree. And then it says here, you love pumpkin spice. I absolutely do not. That is absolutely true. She loves pumpkin spice. It says, is there a disagreement here? What do you like pumpkin spice? No, I said he said this says you like pumpkin spice. What who is that who is that? No, that is true. Jessica loves pumpkin spice out the first moment. It's available at Starbucks. She gets it the day of because pumpkin spice at Starbucks is the absolute best.

7:17Pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks. They use like a sauce and it is so good. And this is crazy. Like, I'm not a huge pumpkin spice. I don't really like the texture of that. Right. But the pumpkin flavor and the pumpkin spice flavor in other things, I absolutely love. It's just like that, you know, that spiced nutmeg and cinnamon and all that. Oh my gosh, it just feels like fall and a cup. Yeah. And that's, I don't know why, but I don't like it. Have you had Starbucks? Yes. Yes. I don't like pumpkin flavor and anything. Well, to me though, I don't really taste the pumpkin spice flavor. Well, to me though, I don't really taste the pumpkin as much as all of those spices, like the nutmeg, the cinnamon, all of that. Like, it's just that like aromatic, like when you sniff a fall candle, that's how the drinks are. And I love that. Yeah. It says here, go back to your childhood. What was fall like when you were kids? I mean, part of it was I dreaded it because that means school starting back or getting ready to you.

8:17Tendently, you, technically for us, we always went back to school still in the summer or the end of August, which is still summer. So in terms of season, but, but that's, I mean, the kind of the whole thing when you get out of school, summer begins, and when you go back to school, you're back in the fall. You know, that's kind of, I don't really remember fall as a kid. I just surely don't like, I remember like the holiday. You don't remember all of a sudden, got to get the jackets out. Your mom would put away the short sleeves and get the long sleeves out. I guess it wasn't that memorable as a kid. Like, the holidays really important. Summer was fun. I don't really remember like the fall season, not too much. Yeah, I mean, I don't think, I don't think my either of our sets of parents did any, you know, like fall decor or stuff. Yeah, I remember like Halloween, you know, stuff like that, like what we did as a kid, but I don't know, and I remember Thanksgiving, but I just don't remember like the same fall feeling. I feel like I've been, I've kind of experienced that more as an adult than I did as a kid. Do you remember, like when school would be fall themed, like when you had? Yeah, like Thanksgiving stuff.

9:18Typically, that's when a lot of the schools would do it like the hand turkeys and, you know, different... They'll dress like a pilgrimage Indian. Yeah, I did have different colors around the classroom. You saw a lot more yellow and orange and green. I'm not green, but brown and red and, you know, rule decor like that coming out. But no, no, I mean, fall for me. I mean, yeah, like I said, I remember long sleeves coming out. My mom always would pack away the short sleeve stuff once September hit. And I would all pretty much only have long sleeves in my closet from then on. And then the short sleeves would come back out like March. Okay, you guys let us know what you think. I do not like long sleeves. I like to put a sweater over short sleeves or have a like a card again. I have to have my short sleeves. You don't do that now, do you? No, I don't do that now, but again, I was a kid. That's what moms did for their kids. They would dress them in long sleeves, even if it's 70 degrees, they dressed them in long sleeves. My mom didn't do that.

10:19But yeah, I just remember, I remember distinctly we had tubs that were labeled winter and, you know, spring summer. And we would have, you know, winter clothes that we would put away and then get the spring clothes out. And then we had spring that we had the fall clothes that we would get out after we put the summer clothes away. Mark wants to tell us one more thing about fall. Okay, go ahead, Mark. No, not at all. Okay, what is it about? I can't wish for now. Oh, okay, come in there, come in there, Mark can whistle now. Yep, he's been working on it. I'm proud of you. I cannot whistle at all. I can't whistle. So he definitely inherited that from his dad. Thank God. Okay, for this next sentence says, how has fall changed since your marriage began? Have you just, have you discovered or created any traditions when fall comes? Well, we talked about you going to get a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, but I'm not involved in that. I'm trying to think, I'm trying to think, I don't think there's any, we don't, we don't decorate anything typically. We usually would, well, I have like, I have some fall things. I have a fall wreath I would put out.

11:20I have some full cut, like mugs, I have some pumpkins. Of course, we don't have any of that here. I mean, like you have some, I'm thankful dish towels that are like always out. Like I don't, I don't know. No, I have some that are more like the ones I put out, like by our coffee cart and stuff that are nice. I mean, it's not like every room in the house now has fallen in it. I don't have like that much. Yeah. Or I've kind of just gotten a little bit lately the last few years. We're not going to be able to put that out this year, but I have been trying to add a little bit, like I have set a little pumpkin that I did, like as a centerpiece for our table last year and some stuff like that. Now, used to, when we started having kids, we would go pick a pumpkin. We used to do that a while back. Well, the kids have painted pumpkins a lot. Yeah. We usually will take them to a pumpkin patch or like a fluffest of old type thing. Yeah. We always try to find things to do like that. But with again, though, that's kind of not the same this year. No, it's a little different. But again, it just depends. We'll do what as much as we can do. Has your fall, Trish, it's changed since you've got older.

12:20I mean, once you have kids, it all changes. I mean, you try to do things that they love. You try to find things that will interest them. And especially the more you can do, especially now that it's not as hot, the more you can do outside. Like go to the park and like it's like, you say go to a pumpkin patch, trying to find things to do that don't involve screens. And you can be outside as a family. Falls definitely the better season for that. Yeah, for sure. Anything you want to add to that? No, I love being able to take the kids out when it starts getting a little bit cooler outside. And we can do more like activity, like family activities outside. We can go for a walk. We can go on, we've done like hikes around like the National State Park. You can go to a pumpkin patch or a full festival. Absolutely. And pick a pumpkin or paint pumpkins outside. Are we trying to do stuff like that? Yeah, and typically both of us are pretty good about trying to come up with something to do, especially when it's everybody's day off on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Typically we're both like, let's try to find something to do. And so I think we're pretty good about keeping that part of the schedule open.

13:22But yeah, just when the dead of winter when it's so cold, you know, you can't do much outside. You're going to be inside for the most part. And then when it's summer, unless you're in the pool swimming, it's so dead. I'm hot. Especially where we live. It's very humid and very hot and just miserable. By the time you've been out for 10 minutes, you're welding. And you just want to get inside and get the air conditioning or get into the water. Yeah. That's just kind of where we're at. I mean, I don't think unless you're that family that loves to like sweat, you know, playing a sport or something or going for a walk together in the middle of the summer. But it's just really, really difficult and hot for us. This next section said fall equals football. And I mean, this is probably more me than you. But I know growing up your dad went to Alabama. Your dad's a very big rabbit, Alabama, Crimson Tide fan. I'm not nearly as rabbit a fantasy is, but I do love Alabama football. I don't like pro football. I know that's kind of weird. I feel like how do you watch college football? And you don't watch pro football. But I just have never, I've never, you know, really jumped on the, you know, I've never really jumped on the pro football fandom.

14:26I have teams that I kind of prefer. If I'm going to watch a team, I'm going to watch this team over that team. But I just said, I'm not a big fan of pro football. I don't watch the draft every year. I typically keep up with where my Alabama players go and how well they're doing. But I just, you know, I don't, you know, I don't watch pro football on Sunday. So college football is it for me. You've never really talked about it. But growing up, you knowing that your dad's either going to be at the game or watching the game, did Jell's base, you know, or a bit around the game time kind of. Not really remember. I don't think he went to as many games when we were kids. I remember like we would watch the games. Our mom would make something special for the game. Sometimes I remember in youth, a lot of times we would have like watch parties. And especially the Alabama Auburn game, that was always a huge game that we would have. Yeah, until you get older and it gets violent and really mean it. And you like people would have to go home and say they're sorry for an extra giftedness for how they act when the iron bulls on.

15:26Yeah, but we always try to do something special for that game. But I don't really remember. I don't really remember that much about it when I was a kid. Well, at least your house was united. I grew up mom and me or Alabama fans, dads and Auburn fans. Yeah, that was that was hard. So yeah, we were all we were all Alabama fans. Yeah, I did have friends that were Auburn. So one of my worst memories is the year of the kick six dad was in the house with us. So mad dad had to watch it in another room because we could not be in the same room together watching the iron bull. It y'all maybe laugh at that. Is it really that bad? Yes, Alabama. It's that bad. I remember like crying. It's very bad. I remember crying that night and being like so mad at your dad because he was so happy about that kick six. I mean, I don't blame him. I don't know. I mean, if she had been on the other foot, he would have been. Of course, I'm not mad at him now. I just remember in the moment we were we were way more amateur back then too. We were we were still we were still both in our 20s. You know, we were we were still. I mean, you're in the I my dad always hated watching the game with people like that.

16:29They did with him. Yeah, it's just it's annoying. It's annoying because every time you do something bad, they're like, yeah, you know, it's just it's annoying to watch the game with someone that's happy. We're going to have to try because this year while we're at the beach on our on our church trip, we're going to be watching the Alabama Tennessee game with Tennessee fans. Yeah. And so we're going to have to do our best to not care at all if we win or lose that game and just be and yeah, but I mean, it's it is what it is that. But thankfully, I've also realized that the the older you get if you have your priorities right, it's just a game. Yeah. You know, it doesn't make a break. And now with the playoff system of the way that you can lose two games. And I know like a lot of people hate Tennessee, but it's not to me who's bad as Auburn. No, I just I just do not like. No, Tennessee is not bad as Auburn and fun fact, I hate Notre Dame more than both of them. I thought you hated. I hate LSU too. Oh, I see. For me, my my fate, my hatred is LSU than Auburn than Notre Dame. I hate Notre Dame more than the other game. Okay, don't keep saying that because people out here. Well, that's sorry, you guys. So the people out there, they'll go they hate Alabama more than the other team.

17:30And I'm looking at nothing personal. The personal is just a game. But you probably came up. Then the great food debate. Okay, so this is cool. Okay. But then it says here apple pie versus pumpkin pie. I like apple pie better because I'm just not a fan of pumpkin. I like pumpkin flavored things, but I do not really like pumpkin pie very much. The texture is just wet and got a mushy. So definitely I would say apple pie. I say neither. Today was worried about. I was talking to my friend Shay. I said like, yeah, we don't agree. A green on dessert. Stay with us. It's not like like fruit desserts at all. I want my fruit raw and I want my vegetables cooked. You can all like murder him in a car. I'm fun. Murder me all you want to. I take it because that is so wrong. Who cares? Anyway, I do not care. Pumpkin spice everything. I don't think you like pumpkin spicy everything. I mean, not ever. What does that even mean? Like people go get pumpkin spice bacon and pumpkin spice oatmeal and pumpkin spice. I mean, this is the thing with me. Like you have to remember pumpkin spice isn't necessarily pumpkin flavor.

18:30It's just the spice. Right. So it is so big and full flavor. So you've got the nutmeg cinnamon, that type of spiced flavor. And that's all of it's really good in food. This is a good litmus test for you. So if you're walking down the aisle of a grocery store and you would typically get a flavor of something like, let's say a pop tart or creamer or I'm trying to think of something else that's more generic that you would get. And then you see, oh, there's a pumpkin spice version of that. Would you automatically get it because it's all. It is, but maybe like I do think the pumpkin spice thing got kind of crazy, but it's one time. Especially for either Joe's. It's one time a year. It's only season old. That's why it's so fun. Like when Starbucks comes out with their pumpkin spice latte and everything, it's a limited time. So it's just there's something about those fall foods that they're not going to be around that long. You've got to enjoy them when they're out. I get them. And I don't know. I think a lot of the pumpkin spice stuff is overrated at the same time. A lot of it's really good to you. I mean, this one's an old brainer.

19:30We'll just group these together. Chillies and soups. I mean, so perfect. I can eat these all year long. And I do eat these all year long. But there's so much better. I mean, yeah, when there's a nip in the air and you're coming in and you take off your jacket or take off your sweater and your wife says, I got chili on the stove or I got, you know, cream of potato on the stove or we've got, I mean, fill in the blank broccoli cheddar soup on the stove. Your taco soup. I mean, good grief. It's one of the best things in the world. I feel like this year has been so different for me. Without my equipment, my kitchen and like my, like that, what is it called? The Dutch oven and like all this stuff. I just feel like I'm floundering. It's crazy how much I rely on the certain equipment to get me through to these certain things. And like, I don't have a, what have they got? I've got an immersion blender here and there are certain things that I'm like, I can't make that soup because I don't have that thing. You know, so I still like making it, but I just don't think I'm going to make as many this year.

20:32Sorry, honey. That's all right. Apple cider. I don't drink it. I really like apple cider. The only thing with apple cider for me is it gets really sweet. Like the juice is so sweet and then there's syrup or whatever in it too. I like the flavor. I just wish I know they make the sugar free one and I like it, okay. But to me, it can just get kind of sweet. I mean, we both easily agree on this one. I love caramel apples. Caramel apples are so good. They're so good, especially when you go to a place like Gathamburg that has a really good store. All of the flavors. Yeah. It's always fun to get a fun dick or any caramel apple or chocolate covered apple with cookie stuff on it. Anything is fun. And we, yeah. My fingers are here to me. My goodness gracious show. Married 15 to life with random drop-ins of dogs and kids. I mean, that's just the way we are now. Oh, hold her. Layla, what do you like most about fall? Oh, that's what she said. She said, huh? Yeah. I mean, if we're talking about Layla, she loves getting out and spinning out in the leaves and doing fun stuff like that.

21:35She likes the cooler weather. I can tell when the cooler weather, the cooler weather hits because she gets like where she wants to be outside longer to go the bathroom and stuff and she sniffs around and she feels herself. I mean, good grief. If you're going to talk about chili, the next one on the list, you got to talk about how good cornbread is. I mean, cornbread is necessarily a fault thing to you. It's not good without our skillet. No, it's not good without a cast-run skillet. And I don't have our skillet. This whole episode has also been how much we don't have our house. I can't put all my equipment that I can make this food. Every single episode of this podcast last month has been, by the way, I don't have my house. It's hard to make some of this food if you don't have the right equipment. All you can do is say, yeah, I love cornbread. I think about cornbread in the fall when I have to try to get an update on cornbread. You have to think about, I don't have my cast-run skillet. Because I can't make it without it. I just know you can make it. The question wasn't, can you make it or not right now? The question is, do you like it in the fall? I like it in the fall, but I don't necessarily love it if it's not made right. Well, then you get somebody with a cast-run skillet and you make it right.

22:35You know somebody that has one? I'm sure there's plenty of people all over the South that have them. And it's always fun to have it, especially when you drink you can chill it. You had to have cornbread. Hot chocolate. I don't like it. I don't drink it in the winter. I say, I don't drink hot chocolate until at least the Christmas season. Like when it's ready to be cold enough, second, third week in December, is when the first hot chocolate starts coming out. We're probably going to have it early December this year. That's what cafes and the church cafe start serving it. But if you go to a cafe and they have coffee or they have hot chocolate. Coffee. I know. Are you ever going to order hot chocolate? I feel like they only tell me of hot chocolates like we're home or watching a movie. Or when you're like walking through the park and it's cold or you're in an ice skating rain. I think I would choose coffee over hot chocolate though. Yeah, it depends. I don't know that I would ever choose. Well, it also depends on what kind of hot chocolate is it? I mean, if you could tell it's fresh out of the box, then, you know, that's different. But if you know this place makes really good hot chocolate, like it's like a special recipe or something. I don't know. I'm not a huge hot chocolate person. I have to be in the mood for it. I mean, and I mean, this is cinnamon rolls.

23:36I don't think cinnamon rolls is necessarily a fall thing. Well, I mean, I guess it could be. It's bad like a fall morning where it's cold and everything. Yeah. Yeah, cinnamon rolls are going to be better. But yeah, we eat. Well, I haven't made those a long time either. Yeah, but it's the next section here says fall traditions that we love. Are there certain movies you have to watch in the fall? Is there even fall movies out there? I mean, I guess there's some that are saying the fall movies. I mean, for football season, I try every year to watch remember the Titans. I mean, I don't know. Rudy is good. Is a good one to anything football football films are fall related typically because this one football is played in the United States. But I mean, I don't I don't associate a lot of movies with it's Labor Day. Watch that movie. You know, it's, you know, or any or I mean, I mean, I know people watch Halloween movies at Halloween. Yeah. But I don't we don't watch Halloween movies. Yeah. Uh, decorate in the house. We had talked about that. Go into a pumpkin patch. Yes. I mean, there's a great one in Arkansas that we love to get a pumpkin patch is a fall fest.

24:36It's a big old farm. Yeah. You can buy pumpkins, but they're not in a patch. But there's so many activities and stuff. I'm going to miss that this year. Going for a drive to see leaves. Now I will say this. Yeah, what's the word around town? Now, so I will say this. There is a difference in watching just the leaves falling around New Street and going to a place like Gathamburg where the whole landscape is color. That's a different and a lot of people do make that trip. A lot of people do make that trip every single year up into the Appalachians to see the color changes and just to take a cab and for a few days up there and walk outside and just see a painting basically. And we're we lived at Madison, Indiana. My goodness. You could walk out on top of the hill and just see all the colors of the Ohio. That was beautiful, but I think even more beautiful was North Georgia. The mount that the landscape. Oh my gosh. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Absolutely. So we talked about cooking certain meals. We talked about football, bonfires. I mean, and I thought when I hear bonfire, I think of youth group.

25:37That's what I was typically. The whole one on the side of the road the other night when I was driving home from something. Then somebody had a big bonfire going. There's lots of people around it. I don't know what it was for. Since we became pastors, I try to always have some sort of fire event, whether for, you know, like singing songs around the campfire, making s'mores, which we have that for our classics ministry called s'mores and more. Where would we get around the fire? Who's kind of me on s'mores? I wish I liked them more. I love them, but I mean, I mean, they're not my favorite thing in the world. They're not my favorite is there in the world, but I have to, I would love to do it at least once a year, have a have a, which is basically what we're doing. Having an event where that's the theme, you make a s'more and you sing a song with a guitar around the campfire, you know, it does take you back to the days where everything's unplugged. You did have phones in the internet. And that's what you're doing for fun. I guess I'm spoiled. I don't really love the smell of campfires and bonfires. Oh, yeah. It's like smoke when they're in it. Yeah, you're going to smell like smoke at the end of it and it's like seeps into your clothes. But I mean, it is in the atmosphere. Yeah, it's unique. So I do like them, especially in the youth group, when you want to give something up and

26:37you don't want to do it every game, people go to their cars and get their, they get their very bad CDs and throw them in the fire or they go and get movies. They shouldn't watch anymore. They throw them in the fire and we never did that. You'll never did that. No. Oh, are you faster than that? He's like, there's anything in your house that you know, Jesus would not watch. Jesus would not want you listening to and not what you watching. Would you bring it next week? I thought it was in the fire because you can even do that anymore because everything is streaming and I know. Yeah. You can do throw your whole TV in the fire. Throw your whole, you know, internet cape router in the fire. Yeah, I'm not going to do that. And then the next section here it says things you miss about fall when you're growing up. I mean, colder weather. I don't know. What? I don't know. Things we miss about fall. I don't think my view on colder weather has ever changed. I've always liked it. In terms of being a kid versus now, I don't think I don't think that's changed at all. I mean, there's moments where I have noticed this. Is this thing we miss about fall that we had on your kid and we don't have now?

27:39That or just the other things about the fall that as an adult now you miss that feeling of it. Well, when it comes to colder weather, I will say this. I have now, maybe it's me turning 40 and my body starting to get to that place. It's your cold. I feel that now. I understand now what older people mean when they go, your joints hurt. Sort of, it's just so worth it. I feel worse in the summer when I'm feeling like I'm dying. No, I get that. But when you get out of your car and you're in an office and your office hasn't heated up yet, you're sitting in your office and the office is not warm yet and it's still really cold and you're working at all of a sudden you're like, wait a second, I'm hurting in this cold. No, no, no. I know that feeling now. I feel like I'm at 30s. I know it now. But still people who are like, I would rather it be 100 degrees or 30 degrees. No, non-questionable. Never. Yeah. 100 degrees is so miserable. You can only take off so much. In the winter, you can later up. You can put moron. You can walk around the blanket.

28:39There's heated blankets. There's heaters. There's personal heaters. Sure. Yeah. For sure. This is school fall festivals. Yeah. This is good. We have one in our school. You love more. I mean, I think this is an obvious answer now, but I really, I'm really trying to think, did you love more going and participating in them or going and watching your kids participate in them? Well, of course it's always fun. I mean, now it's going to be fun to watch your kids. But I loved fall festivals growing up. They would have like little dudes where you would play a game and get tickets or whatever. They would do a fishing game, the ping pong game. Yeah, our school would always do a fall festival and a lot of times they would do it in the gym for whether or not. We are a lot of do a kissing booth. No. We were not allowed either. We didn't even want it to. That's gross. But we had, I always loved that. Anything fun like that when you're a kid is just the best. Yeah. 100%. Let me ask you this. It says here, family gatherings. Now I like them. When I was a kid, I hated them. I loved family gatherings as a kid. I actually kind of like them better.

29:39I don't have to kid than I do now. I want man roles reversed there for us. It was. When you're an adult, you're the one that's like working. They event. It's making the food. I think it is in for men and women. We get to hang out, watch TV together, swap stories together. Women are in the kitchen, typically in the south. And I will say this. I love your family so much. I'm so glad I'm here. But our families are totally different. We're at events and gatherings. Yes. I'm used to a smaller, closer group. When I would come in and we all get together here, it's a bunch of people. Was there ever? It's overwhelming. As an introverted person, it's overwhelming to me. I say, but you would go for Christmas every year with your dad's side of the family. He's got two brothers. So there's a lot of cousins. Listen, he's got two brothers and he's got cut. And I got a bunch of cousins and my grandmother and my grandpa, my papa and my Mimal. You have extended aunts, uncles and all that's great. I'm so glad for you. And I love all of them. But it's just a different feeling. It's a different feeling.

30:41It's a very much like. It's a clan. It's overwhelming. We're an army. We're a small army. We know hardly anyone. It was a lot. Yeah. But as a kid, I just remember being with my cousins and playing and all the fun. And as an adult, it's like, well, okay, we got to make the food. And what is the kid's going to eat and who's melting down because whatever. And it's all of that that you didn't have as a kid. Absolutely. And it says here, are there things that are not around anymore when it comes to the fall that you wish were still around people? Yeah. I miss my grandparents. I miss a kid. We would always go, I didn't live close to my family. And that's what I'm trying to say. Oh, whatever, whatever. I went through that was to grandmother. They would have his extended family like you're all like close by. My grandparents both lived four hours from us. And so we didn't see them a whole lot. And Thanksgiving, we go to my nanny's house. And she always make all the pies. And so now she's not around anymore. And I miss her so much at Thanksgiving. Absolutely.

31:41Like she was Thanksgiving for me. And so when you lose those people, the holidays don't feel the same. No, I agree. I mean, the only thing that I miss at all besides family, of course, is I feel like the fall season, when you're an adult, it's more schedule and kid schedules and everything. It doesn't feel as open as it did when you were a kid. What are we going to go do today? Well find something to do or riding my bike down the street and the leaves flap up on the sides of your bike when you're driving down or like I said, just picking out long sleeve stuffed to wear. Just a different, when your kid falls completely different, it's more about being outside and finding something to do. Now, granted, with the onset of technology and screens, I wonder how many kids, when the fall comes, really great. I can get outside. It's not so hot anymore. But for me, that's what it was. I love being outside the fall. I love the cooler air and it was nothing for me to come home from school and not come

32:43home till like 7 o'clock and be outside the whole time. I love doing that. Your parents are more trusting than mine. I mean, we could be outside, but we can just not come home. No, I would come home and say them and they know I'm going down the street on my bike or I'm going around the neighborhood on my bike and I would just always come home. Time to change. Yeah, but I mean, somebody tried to get me on faster than them. My bike was fast, fast bike. It was awesome. Here we go. Perfect segue. Why does autumn feel different when you get older? This could become the heart of the episode. We'll see about that. Describe how seasons can become connected to different chapters of your life. For example, childhood falls, high school falls, dating in the fall. Not ever good. I mean, you and I dated in the fall. Yeah, but I wasn't in high school. I dated two girls in the fall in college before I met you. We did in the fall. No. I will say this, even just pulling from our experience, there is something more that I like more.

33:44Okay. I am not as big of a fan of like the beach dates or you know, beach dates. Like the whole thing of I can't wait to get my girl to the beach. No. Who says that? Guys, because they get to get their girl to bathing suit. Do we even live near the beach? That's an ain't about you and me. I'm talking about that's what people talk about. I'm talking about the stupid trend or the stupid stigma or cliche about world. Let's say pool party. There you go. Pool party or beach or whatever you want to call it. I would much rather have a date where you're going for a walk in the park. Like Cuddly. Yeah, or where you're going. I skating or you're doing a full festival together. You're going to homecoming. You know, those have always been more fun for me. And I'm thankful that both of our favorite season is fall because one of my favorite things to do with you is when we're both wearing warmer clothing and we pull each other close while we're walking down the street or walking inside a store or whatever because it is

34:47fall. Yeah, fall is more fun to like go on dates and stuff because you're not so hot and sweaty and nasty. Yeah, for sure. I agree. I never really agree with that. Your first fall together is fall of 2028. 2028. 20 2008. My bad. My bad. I'm living hot. I'm living hot it yet. I'm living two years ahead. Yeah, fall of 2008. That was. I don't remember it. Wait, so that was right after we started. Well, that was right after we started dating in April. So we'd been dating about four months when fall hit. Well, yeah. You went back to school and I was in Mississippi. I was in nursing. Well, I didn't go back to school. I was in school in the summer that year too. I had to go once you start nursing school, you got to go even in the summer. And so I was finishing up nursing school when we met. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah, you were down at USA. I was over at Long Beach, Mississippi. That was an interesting time too because we, mobile and Long Beach, Mississippi are not in an hour away. Well, it's an hour away, but they're not fall places.

35:50They're on the beach. It's still hot. It's really hot. It's really still hot down there. We didn't really get to enjoy the fall season until we came home to each other's homes for Christmas or Thanksgiving. Yeah. Did that's been Thanksgiving? No, no. No, yeah. We were in Devilhead. Yeah, that was one of the first, that was the first time you ever came to Devilhead. Yeah, it was. Was that. Yeah, that was a fun. Well, we'll have to tell that story another day. That's a, that's a, that's a tradition I'm going to miss. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, Devilhead was a resort in North Alabama, not far from here. Oh, and I really got a resort. No, it was a bunch of cabins. It's called a resort. It was called a resort. It was called a resort. Yeah, it was a really neat place. Well, you call a place where you can rent a bunch of places all clumped together. It's a resort. It was a bunch of cabins and you could rent a house. Yeah, it's, it got, then it got bought out individually and people started owning the cabins individually and renting them out individually instead of the one central location renting out all the cabins. And so unfortunately, because of that, it was much, much harder to get reservations. And then when my grandma passed away, that tradition pretty much passed away with her.

36:53And so, yeah, we kept doing it mainly for her. Yeah, so I did, I am going to miss that tradition. Maybe eventually our family old create something new that we can do. That's something. I know, I feel like Thanksgiving, it was always really hard for me after my grandmother passed away, my nanny passed away, my papa passed away. And it was so different spending Thanksgiving with you. And just, I don't know, like Thanksgiving was never the same again. And then now it's changed for, you know, it's kind of getting used to how y'all did it. And now it's, that's gone too. So I don't know. Yeah, we, Thanksgiving, I, I love the, the vibe of Thanksgiving in terms of, yeah, the spirit of it. You're not a fan of the food. I'm not a fan of the food at all. We've had that conversation, the Lord. I am not a fan of the food. And you've already said how awkward social family gatherings can be. Yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was just different. Like the way we do, I don't know. It's been, it's different. We both pull, we both pull our energy around Thanksgiving for different reasons.

37:55And, and we balance each other out in that. But no, for sure. And this is, this is, that is going to be the time of the year that, you know, I'll miss my grandmother and my granddad had almost dad, especially this year. And, you know, and then this last part of the section said, are there, is there a desire to form new traditions? Yeah. There's, there's going to have to be, there's going to have to be because now yet the, the board, the board pieces have changed. And now you have to play a new game. And so we're like, what am I, and he passed away, she was the pilot. So she made every, like we, we, and my family, we don't just have a couple of pies and everybody shares their favorite pie. They literally, we had more pies than people. Like that's just, that's how she was. Like she made every pie you could ever imagine. And so now I, it is not Thanksgiving unless I make her a con pie and her chocolate pie. It's not her chocolate pie. Who's chocolate pie is it? It's my chocolate pie. And it's amazing. It's my favorite pie. Now my mom makes a very similar one, but it's probably about the same. But no, she never really made chocolate pie.

38:55She made all the baked, you know, the traditional baked pies. So. We definitely need to pray about and think about what are some things that now, you know, with things changing, especially in my immediate family. We're going to have to come up with some new things, giving traditions and figure something out that we can keep up. And it was really interesting to like when we lived in Texas, because Thanksgiving was so different. Yeah. Because we couldn't come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So we would always come home for Christmas. Yeah. So a lot of times we would like go to a restaurant or whatever, which is weird. Yeah. It's really weird. And now being here and just going to just even have the conversation today of how much we love being here, you know, it's just one of those things where you're going to have to develop some new things. We're going to have to develop some new traditions because hopefully we're going to be here for the long run and our kids are going to grow up here and we're going to have, you know, a lot of memories here. And so why really hope and pray that we can develop some, you know, Thanksgiving traditions that will live with us and outlive us among our children. And so I want our kids to have Thanksgiving traditions that they remember and when they're

39:58in adults, they can talk about their Thanksgiving memories. But I don't know that they have any. So we're going to have to come up with them. Yeah. We're going to have to do it. Yeah. Last section is just some rapid fire confession questions who likes fall more. You do me. Why do you say that? I think so because I think that you, I think I love winter more than you do and you love for more than I do. I'm not sure. I love Christmas. No, I love Christmas too, but I also love January and February. I like it too. Okay. So definitely I do think though, like maybe I am more fall, I think you look fall a little bit more than me. Just barely. Barely. If this is a sliding skill, you're 55, I'm 45. Okay. So I think that's fairly who decorates more you, but only because you have, you like to have the fall readout and the fall, you know, some of the fall stuff come out on the, on the counters and on the like the towels. I get so excited when I see like the fall decorations coming in the stores and stuff. And I'm not going to say it, but, you know, I wish some things. But next year who buys more seasonal food? I mean, you buy the food typically, but I mean, you don't really like seasonal food.

41:00I mean, for fall, probably not as much. Tell me if you even like seasonal food at Christmas. You're not a seasonal food person. What does that even mean? Like the special, like anything seasonal, I don't, I just don't think you like, you don't like peppermint stuff. You don't like, you don't like anything that's like a seasonal flavor. You're usually not for it. You like the traditional flavors. Typically, yeah. Yeah. So I'm definitely more of the seasonal food that type of thing. Okay. Next one on the list is who wants the house colder? They're, we don't fight over the temperature, but I don't, she loves it blistering cold. Who sleeps with a fan literally blowing on this? That would be you. That would be you. But at the same time, I don't want it to even feel like I'm getting warm. So I do want it. I do want it cold. Yeah. But I mean, I don't need it. I don't need the house 66 degrees. I'm okay with it being warmer. When I sleep, I want to be cold. So the fans, the fans are my best friend. I would be with that. Yeah. That's right. I would never set the house temperature below 70.

42:01No. Typically not. No. Typically not. Um, who would rather stay home? I mean, we're both home bodies. But we also both love to go do stuff. I think if it's about doing stuff with our family, we're both in. If it's about doing stuff with other people, me a little bit more than you. I like to do stuff by myself. Yeah. I like to go shopping or go with Lucy places. But this is fall theme. This is something fall related. We're going on a hay ride. We're going to a pumpkin patch with our family. We're both in. If the church is taking a bunch of people to do it and you're like, is there something else we can do that day? That's not true. If it's like a family thing, if it's with our kids, now I love it. But it's like a couples thing. Yeah. I'd be more, let's do it. You'd be more, I don't know if I want to do that. Yeah. That's just being honest. Because like, I don't like to leave our kids, you know, stuff. Yeah. Uh, who'd rather go to the football game, me? Yeah. I don't enjoy that. I don't enjoy that. That's a no brainer. Who starts thinking about Thanksgiving first? In what way? Yeah.

43:02The food, me. No question. Um, the season probably you. Yeah. I would say so. I mean, I mean, we're both planning for Thanksgiving. I mean, also, here's the other thing. As pastors, you think Thanksgiving is completely different because you're thinking about a United Church event or you're thinking about your vacation time and how you're going to plan it. So it's a little different. We've never, we've never done Thanksgiving on staff at this church. So it's interested to see their bigger deal is Christmas, which I'm glad for. Yeah. Thanksgiving at a church is so hard. It's hard to donate a huge meal. And the thing is like, people are already having a huge Thanksgiving meal. Do we need to do two of them? Which is why I'm thankful we came up with a tradition we did, which was Thanksgiving brunch, which was, which was really cool. And I'm glad we came up with that. And it was always a hit because people were always like, you're going to be eating the same food again in four days or at the most. There is a smell to Thanksgiving that I can smell a mile away. It's like all of this dressing, dressing the gravy, the meat, it turns my eye.

44:06Mixed with the sweetness and the air of the desserts. It's like a very distinct holiday. People love that smell. It is just not a thing. It's a coxicating to me, but I can understand if somebody else doesn't like it. But no, like you said, that's why we just said, look, are we going to make all of our sweet old ladies make the same stuff two times within eight days of each other or one week of each other? Or, hey, here's a crazy idea. Let's do breakfast food, brunch food. And then four days later, y'all do Thanksgiving food. And it was always a well-respected and well-respected thing. But I also hate is Thanksgiving food and Christmas food are so similar in fact. They are. There's a hat. Why? I mean, you might go ham versus turkey. Some people do turkey both times. Why is holiday food this one thing? Yeah, like down home southern food. Yeah, I don't have not a fan. Anyway, but I know a lot of people love it. So you do you? Who would get lost going on a fall road trip? Who's driving? A fall road trip.

45:07Let's say, what does that even mean? I guess like if you did like a trip to Gothenburg or a trip to Pigeon for a year or two. I mean, I don't get lost seeing Mark as I have GPS. Yeah, we have GPS now, but yeah, I don't think that's. That's a weird question. That's a weird question. I don't think if you have no cell service in your way, is that working? I would be able to get back before you would. For sure. For sure. And then who would spend, who would spend $100 a pumpkin patch? We both would. I mean, for sure, it's going to take us. Yeah, it's all been to a pumpkin. I'd say to get a family of five in there, you're spending that easily. Well, and like what we consider a pumpkin patch is really like a whole experience, like a whole fall festival type thing with slides and activities and food and all this stuff. That's not really about let's just go pick up one pumpkin. And so if you're going to pick up a pumpkin, are you going to spend $100 on pumpkins? Well, how much is a pumpkin typically? I mean, at those type of places you might, but I like to get our pumpkins like it older or somewhere where they're like five bucks a pumpkin. Seriously, put that in the comments, show. What's the most do you ever spend on just taking a pumpkin home? I, I'm not huge on pumpkins.

46:10Just because like the kids will paint them and stuff and that's fun. Do you like roasting, do you like roasting the seeds like popcorn? Well, a lot of times they just go to waste. Like they rot on your front porch and you have to throw them away. It just feels like a waste. Pumpkin seeds roasted are delicious though. They taste like popcorn. Yeah. They're really good. But when will we ever like we normally do it out there and they get all gross and. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But no, fall is here and we're excited about it. And like I said, we are just a few days away at the time of this recording from our 17th anniversary. And I'm really, really excited about it. I'm so thankful. Yeah, we got me right in the fall. I'm so thankful. It was also really hot. I'm married to fall bride. And it was really hot in our wedding too. It was, but yeah, the whole thing may bride June brides. I get it, but I mean, I've always, I've always been thankful that we got married in fall. Yeah. You know, I really, I think it's definitely fits both our personalities. We didn't really have it. It was a fall wedding or anything. I mean, we didn't celebrate it as a fall wedding. No.

47:10It was in the fall. And it was just turn fall. Yeah, barely. Barely fall when we had it. But yeah, I mean, I know there's a people that we know that got married like in the heart of December. One person got married on Christmas. Like I can't, I can't imagine, you know, having a Christmas. No. You know, or I mean, I mean, I guess you take the dates you can get, but can you imagine getting married like in the middle of January when it's freezing? I mean, it depends on the minutes on what you're going on. I can see it being pretty. I mean, yeah, that's the other thing. I would rather it be January than it would be like July. And it's we almost need to ask JTBT eventually like what month of the year has the most weddings? It's June. That's why it's like the whole art used to be. That's why people would say June Brides because a lot of people get married around that time of year. Mm hmm. Yeah. Is it because kids are out of school and more people come to the way? Probably like, you know, the weather's nice. College, you're out of college. Yeah, there's a little break for the summer. I don't know. Yeah. But fall is here and we are going to celebrate it. And now we're going to make some new traditions and hopefully prayerfully we'll be able to maybe

48:13even get into our home in the fall before the Christmas season. That would be awesome. If we could get into our new house and decorate it for Christmas. Thank you. That would be great. That would be realistic. I am trying to be realistic. And thankfully, my God does not parade on my time. We operate on his. And so God, whatever you want to do, let it happen. But if you're listening to us on an audio podcast platform, thank you all so much for doing so. Make sure you follow this podcast. Leave us some comments about it. If you want to collab with us, you can email us at married15 to life at mail.com. We're always looking for ideas for episodes. And we would love if there's a part of you're out there and you're watching us and you're like, I have a podcast. Let's do something together. Married email us at married15 to life at mail.com. Okay. If you're watching on YouTube, it'll definitely help us out. If you make sure that you are subscribed to our channel, leave us a comment down below. Give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it and click the bell to be notified when we post new videos. Happy anniversary, baby. I got you on my mind. I can't believe it. It's so crazy. We're already back around to it. I know.

49:14Maybe 17 to life. This time, two years ago, we were getting ready to go on a cruise. Yep. This time, two years ago, we just recorded our first episode. That's crazy. Yeah. It's true. You're excited about your weekend? I am excited. Yep. Y'all, she knows nothing about it. She's letting me plan the whole thing. Yep. I'm letting you plan the whole thing. Are you having a control anxiety right now? No, I'm okay. Well, I promise you, you're going to love it. It's going to be a lot of fun. Until next time, everybody, I'm David. I'm Jess. I'm the husband. And we are Mary. 15 to life. I have a good week. We get ready. Bye. Bye.