Fall Bucketlist Adventures

After John and I had a yummy breakfast on Saturday (see previous post for details and recipe), we took a trip to the small town of Stanton, AL to go skeet shooting! About a month ago I saw a deal on Groupon for skeet shooting and gun rental and Central Alabama Fowl Preserve and couldn't pass it up, especially since it was on our "Fall Bucketlist". It was my first time even holding a gun. So, after I got over the initial jitters, I ended up loving it. It was harder than expected because the gun was so awkward to hold plus I was aiming at moving targets. However, I was able to hit some! I have to tell you, my favorite part was watching John though. He got so into it and hit a few himself!

After we finished our exciting clay shooting adventure, we traveled back towards home making a pit stop in Bluff Park for the 50th annual Bluff Park Art Show. It was voted Best Art Show by Birmingham Magazine in this year's Best of Birmingham Awards. There were tons of artists from all over the state and country with beautiful art of all kinds. Proceeds from the show went to support the arts in the greater Birmingham area by funding projects such as buying art books for school libraries. 

That evening we were fortunate enough to celebrate our friends Allie and Greg by attending their beautiful wedding. We both went to Alabama with them and John is still in medical school with Greg. So, we were very happy to see them finally get hitched! The wedding was at Independent Presbyterian Church downtown which is by far one of the most beautiful churches that I have ever seen. It was picture perfect and we had so much fun visiting with friends while getting to be a part of Greg and Allie's big day!

Sweet Flower girls watching the first dance

Sunday, John and I had breakfast under the falling leaves on the reclaimed wood table that John built this summer. With the weather starting to cool down, it was perfect outside. We enjoyed sipping coffee and eating homemade pumpkin bread while talking with one another (see previous post for recipe). 

Afterwards, we made a quick trip to the new Fresh Market in Homewood, located just a few minutes from our house. I loved it (especially because there are always free coffee samples)and can definitely see us making more trips there in the future! The rest of my afternoon was spent with the wonderful ladies of AOII Leader's Council and my fellow advisers at BSC. It was a long afternoon, but we got a lot accomplished and I loved getting to hang out with my sweet advisees. 

In the middle of my busy afternoon, I did find time to make one more pumpkin treat- homemade pumpkin granola! 

Pumpkin Granola 

Preheat oven to 350.

Dries:

4 cups oats

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup flax seed

1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp nutmeg

Wets:

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

2 Tbsp peanut butter

1/2  tsp vanilla extract

Optional:
Chocolate Chips or Dried Cranberries

Mix up dry ingredients until well blended (make sure 

there are no brown sugar clumps). Mix wet ingredients

in a separate bowl. Pour wets into dries and mix until

all the dry ingredients are evenly coated. Place mixture

on a medium sized baking sheet lined with parchment

paper. Bake 20 minutes, stirring every 5-7 minutes. Stir in
optional mix ins to taste.  

It was another fun and busy weekend. This time next weekend we will be coming back from our much anticipated trip to Asheville, NC! Here's to a good week between now and then!