We just reached our halfway point of our fall vacation, and it is going too quick!

As we drove north from Texas, we could see the signs of fall all around us. The temperatures were steadily getting cooler, the leaves were getting hues of oranges and yellows, and somehow, the air even smelled like fall.

I used to think that winter was my favorite season, and in fact, it really was when I was younger. The canceled school due to blizzards, slipping on the ice, putting out straw for the cattle to bed down on, these were all things that I loved! Well, I still love those things, however, it now seems that fall (or is it Fall?! I am horrible with punctuation) is getting a bigger spot in my heart.

When Cat and I are in Indiana, we stay at my parents house in their furnished basement. It really is like an apartment. We have a kitchen, laundry, bathroom, bedroom, living room, etc., you get the picture. Anyhoo, I was walking up the stairs to the "main" level of the house and when I opened the door, it hit me! All of the windows were opened, letting a fresh cool breeze sweep through the house. My mom had scented candle warmers, filled with fall-ish scents, that mixed with the crisp cool air to create a heavenly aroma. Cinnamon rolls were rising on top of the stove for breakfast. The dappled sunlight was filtering through the turning leaves creating a warm glow.

Does it get better than that? I wish that I could relive that moment over and over again. It was magical!

Then again, last night, I was taking the pups out to do their duties. The sun had set, and the night air was calm. As I walked by the pool, like I had done so many times before, I noticed the full moon reflecting in the crystal clear water. With fallen leaves floating on the water, I just stared at the reflection of the moon. I was tempted to just jump in, but I chickened out!

Another sure sign of fall in Indiana is when farmers start harvesting their fields. It's also a sign that school is starting, but luckily, I don't have to worry about that anymore!

I know that fall is starting to make its way south, and hopefully by the time we get back, it will have reached Texas, but until then we are going to soak up every bit that we can!

The fall TV shows are just getting started, and I'm excited to be watching a few new shows this season.

The reason I say we're watching "a few" this year is because in previous years, we have started watching some very interesting shows and get very invested in them, and then they get cancelled. Then we're left wondering what the big event was (The Event) or what caused the blackouts where people could see a glimpse of their future (FlashForward) or if there was really magic out here (The River) or which reality was the actual truth (Awake.)

Those are just a few of the ones we've gotten hooked on that left us hanging.

One of the new shows we're watching this fall is Revolution on NBC. The network had been really marketing this new show heavily, so when it premiered, I was excited to watch it. Luke's a pessimist about new TV shows and really doesn't like to get invested, partially because we've been burned so many times. But we both sat down and watched the pilot of this show and really enjoyed it. Now that Episode 2 has aired, it's safe to say that we're fans and like it.

As best I can figure out, the show is set 15 years after a major and permanent worldwide blackout of all technology - from cars, computers, phones, lights, electricity... everything. That, in itself, is fascinating to me. It's hard to think about how reliant we all are on technology. I think to myself, hey, if the lights go out for a few hours, that's not so bad... I can play on my phone (still technology.) Recently, one of our past brides posted that they were without power for a few hours so she was sitting in her car charging her iPhone so she could play on it. (Good idea, by the way.) But in the world these characters live in, none of that technology worked. It wasn't a matter of having your iPhone charged up when the blackout happened, because even if your battery was 100%, it was technology, so it was blacked out.

So, in the past episode, one of the characters (remember, this is 15 years from now) had an iPhone in her backpack. One of the other characters said to her, "What in the world are you doing with an iPhone?" and she explained that the only photos she had of her family were on that iPhone. I immediately thought... wow. I wasn't the only one, either. A few of my photographer buddies posted about the same thing on Facebook. The character said she was holding on to her iPhone incase someday the power came back on, so that she would have those photos again.

I'm guilty of it too. We are photographers, for pete's sake, and we don't print nearly enough photos. I mean... we are shooting film now, but instead of ordering prints of the film, we're requesting digital scans from the lab. When we have our own picture taken, if I sit back and really think about it, I honestly think that I'm satisfied with something as insignificant as being able to change my Facebook profile picture, as opposed to having a picture printed to frame. Even as I write it... I'm irritated with myself!

One of my favorite things to do growing up was to find a box of photos and look through them. My parents and my grandparents each have cabinets in their house stuffed with boxes that are overflowing with old photos. I loved to look through them. That was a great way to kill an afternoon... no technology required. At the rate we're going now, Luke and I won't even have enough actual prints to fill up 1 box. We have 2 or 3 actual nice albums from our wedding and a few portraits we've had taken, but our kids and grandkids could look through them all in about 10 minutes or less. That certainly wouldn't kill an entire afternoon. But I have my iPhone, right? Hmmm... doesn't seem nearly as fun.

So I'm going to start doing better myself. We're going to print stuff more often. I don't want all of my memories trapped in an antiquated piece of technology years from now (and yes, even Luke's iPhone 5 (I'm still stuck with the 4, booo!) will be antiquated one day: think about if all your pictures were on a floppy disc, nowadays.) I want my kids and grandkids to have our boxes of photos. So I'm going to do better.

By the way - it's a good show to watch. It's on Monday nights and it's only aired 2 episodes, both of which can be watched free on NBC.com. Enjoy :)

Ok...so it wasn't around the whole world, and it took more like a week, but you get the picture!

Last week was beyond busy for us! We had so much to do and so many places to be that we couldn't really make sense of it all until it was over. We were on the road from Tuesday until we made a pit stop at home on Friday to do a little laundry, a quick bridal session, and hit the road again! I am writing this blog from our hotel room in Nashville as we make the trek north to visit my family in Indiana.

Here is a little glimpse into what some may call "last week" but we choose to call it the most fun we have had in four-day period :)

First thing we did when we got into town was stop in our old stomping grounds at Texas A&M to give a guest lecture to a class about how our degrees in Animal Science led us to owning our own business today as wedding photographers. We were expecting about 35 people (based off Cat's memory of the number of people in the class when she was a student) but things have changed a bit in the past 11 years since she took the class and now it was 230! After we got over the initial shock of the crowd, and after being nervous in the corner before giving our talk, we ended up having a great time and meeting so many friendly students.

Next up was the first evening away from home. We got to meet up with an awesome couple, Morgan and Kyle, and spend a little time together for a quick Save the Date shoot! We have their engagements scheduled in a couple of months, but they asked if we could meet for a quick couple of minutes on our road trip to get them a Save the Date shot! So glad we did, these two are awesome and we wanted to have a slumber party afterwards!

After our little mini-session, we met up at a local sushi place with some friends and talked until they closed the restaurant and kicked us out!

The next day, we were the ones in-front of the cameras! We were asked to be a part of the new Ring Wraps Commercial and little did we know how much fun it would be! We were a little nervous going in to it, because this will be our first official television appearance, and we wanted to make sure that we knocked it out of the park!

Look at us on the little monitor! #celebs! I think that we are going to start the Real Housewives of Boling series! We loved watching the whole filming process!

Here is the whole group from the first day of filming. Cat and I with Emily Huskinson from Ring Wraps and two of the most amazing go-getters around, Lina and Tina from Twinz Co..

That afternoon it was Abby's (our studio assistant) turn to work it! Randa at Southern Jewlz styled Abby from head-to-toe for her senior pictures! Just wait until you see the rest!

Our last day in College Station, we had the Southern Jewlz Fall Photo Shoot! Just wait until you see what the Southern Jewlz girls have put together for their fall collection! It will knock your socks off! I went to school with Randa, the Southern Jewlz owner, and Cat and I have known her for a long time! We have nightly chats about the most random things, but we have also been blessed to watch Randa grow her business into on of the fanciest boutiques around! Ladies beware - you will want to buy everything you see!

After a long days work, we took this by sitting the camera on the tailgate of a truck and using the timer! Luckily, we got it on our first attempt!

Today we are meeting with some photography friends of ours Zach & Jody Gray in Nashville to catch up and visit. Then we make the rest of the trip north to spend a little time with my family and try and convince Cat to go on a canoeing trip with us! #goodlucktome!