Cornbelly's

OP's little sister Jessie and her new Hubby (whom I finally got to meet) came up for a quick visit last week.

And I tortured them and took them out to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. They were good sports about it though. Especially since they had to walk at a snail's pace with 7 month pregnant me.



Anywho, I really do love Cornbelly's (not so much the price though). They have great stuff for the kiddos to do- and the adults. I loved these giant air-pillow thingys last year, but I was afraid to give it a go this time.



Adi enjoyed sliding off of them.



They had these tire-swing thing-a-ma-jiggers for the kiddos to ride on.



And a cow train.



Here is where these Merrill kids could have spent all day (I got a bit nervous though 'cause I couldn't keep an eye on them at all times).



Awesome, right? There were four sides of climbing and sliding.



But once the youngun's discovered the black tunnel of death, they mostly stuck to it.

It really sent them flying. Here's Chad (the new bro-in-law) trying to stick an elegant landing.



It wasn't the worst one I saw from this tube...



Porter and Chad waiting for Jessie to come down. Porter kept trying to get his faced kicked in by those coming down.



And here she comes.



There were also these giant inflatable balls to play around with.



They were fun, but they were huge and heavy. I think a couple of the kids got taken out by it.



Roping the wooden steer.

"It's a bull, Mom." -Adi

Excuse me.



Of the course the wooden house full of corn kernels (and who knows what other diseases).



Porter was so excited to climb this spider web, until he got frustrated because the black rope was more rubbery and he couldn't move around too much.



There was also a corn maze, a giant iguana haunted house thing, and much more, but I got hungry (and maybe a bit grumpy) and just stopped taking pictures.

How to play tennis

**A series of instructional photographs**

First, one must come prepared with a ball and racket.


Serve said green and fuzzy ball.



The opponents prepare to return the hit.



Success (sort of)



The point counts, girls score!

One must always have a victory dance prepared for moments of triumph in tennis.



Always stay aware and focused on the game.



Girls turn to serve.



Volley.



Aim for the ball, not your teammate.



Score for the boys.

Once again, always perform a victory waddle when a point is scored.



The most important part of tennis, is to stay friends no matter who wins or looses,



Well, that, and always bring a smile!

Just the right one...

Let me begin by explaining why there are a million pictures on this post. Last year when we went to the pumpkin patch, I got a ton of good pics. Seriously. So I was a little paranoid that I wouldn't get any excellent ones this year.

And so I might have over-compensated a bit. Like 112 pics on my memory in 2 hours kind of over-compensating.

Anywho, so we went to back to Wheeler Farm today. I found out that for $30 you can get a family pass to do the mini-corn maze (my kind of maze), pick 6 pumpkins, and everyone gets a hayride. Awesome deal, right? We spent more than that just on pumpkins last year!



And the moment I pulled out my camera, my camera-loving daughter began her posing.



The kiddos (most especially Piper and Porter) enjoyed climbing all over the old farm machinery they had displayed all over.



Here is my family being forced to pose for me in the corn maze...



And here are the kiddos in one of the dead ends. They didn't have the height advantage that OP and I did in there.






Porter was amazed that there was corn in the corn maze.



Once you made it through the maze (probably took us about 7-10 minutes, and that's with OP and I giving the kiddos wrong directions to stretch it out), you ended up in their pumpkin patch.

And my kids took the choosing of their pumpkins serious.



All except Porter, that is. He kept dropping whatever pumpkin he was holding for the next smaller one he found. We were happy we got out of there without him making one explode when he flung it carelessly to the ground.



Orrin also searched long and hard. For the ugliest pumpkin available. And I think he succeeded.




Adi was looking for a "Cinderella" pumpkin. Our rule was that they had to carry them out themselves. Momma couldn't carry anything heavy, so Daddy set that rule.






He still ended up carrying a few.



We then moseyed around and looked at the cows and horses. Porter wanted to feed them. Then he wanted to ride them. Then he wanted to bring them home.

He was told no a lot.



He did get to touch some goats. Piper loved petting them too, but Adi just climbed up the fence and watched them from afar. So very much like her mama, that one. Except I wouldn't climb a fence (slivers!).



Here is Daddy explaining to the boy why we can't just push our way to the front of the line.



And beautiful little Adi.



I told OP that we need to get one of these for the backyard instead of a swing set. I think they would have stayed on it for hours if we hadn't forced them off.



And here is the hay ride. Not very exciting...



The kiddos got to peek in on a good-old-fashioned two-seater outhouse. Adi was disgusted even though she was told that it was never actually used as a bathroom.

I think.



So, I still have about a hundred pictures left, but I thought that I'd narrow it down for you. Even though I am now thinking of all the pics that I wish I could have put on.

Freaky Friday

Our amiga Vanessa or Anessa, as Porter calls her, invited us out to her dance group's performance at Wheeler Farm tonight. It was called Freaky Friday for a rather obvious reason: there were zombies dancing around to Halloween music.

Can you say Awesome?

Adi was excited before we got there, since she is rather obsessed with zombies, vampires and the like lately. Yet, as soon as we got to the farm and she came close to the dancers that were wandering around in costume in a very zombie-like way, Adi suddenly turned her head into me and tried not to look at them.

Porter clung to my mom and wouldn't let her put him down.

And Piper was rather unaffected by the whole thing. Not surprising at all, actually.

Once the music began, Piper began doing her little head shake and singing along to all the Halloween music. Porter liked everything but the Phantom of the Opera (which really scared him for some reason). And Adi was a bit on edge, but she sat through it all by herself while only flinching a couple of times.

The point to this post? Go and see Freaky Friday if you are in Utah. It was, once again, Awesome!

Oh, and you might be wondering why Porter is not in the above picture... well, he wouldn't get close enough to our undead-friends for me to take a shot.

Fall Clothes

So, we finally cracked out the fall clothes... and the kiddos look dang cute (if I do say so myself).

I originally took these pics so I could show off the total cute-ness of the skirts and scarfs I made the girls. I got the pattern for these "circle skirts" from my favorite blog ever, MADE.

Seriously, peeps, you've got to make these skirts. I whipped up both of them in about 30 minutes. And they cost about $7 for both of them! I was lucky enough to find this cute material at Walmart in their "$5 for an entire bolt of fabric" bin. Awesome.

Poor little Adi has such an itsy-bitsy waste, her skirt just won't stay up right. I measured her waste and everything, but, alas, it still slides down.



And here is Miss Pipes showing of her twirling skills. Have I mentioned how stinkin' much I love these skirts?



After attempting to get some decent shots of the girls, I figured Porter-Pot looked sweet enough to eat, so I snapped a few of him...



And then I tried to get some group shots (thank goodness for Photoshop of I would never have a decent shot off all three kiddos together).



And then Pipes looks just so glamorous.



And Porter looks likes he might be getting into some trouble...



Adi was in one of her "I can't look at the camera to save my life right now" moods, so I didn't get a good candid one of her.

I'll try again tomorrow, I suppose.

*Sigh*

Candy Apples

Fall is slowly setting in here in Utah, which means changing leaves, cooler weather and lots and lots of fruit.

Like shiny, mouth-watering apples.

And where ever they sell apples, there are always caramels close by.

So for F.H.E. treats last night, we decided to venture into the making some caramel apples.


We used caramels, melted chocolate, pecans, toffee bits and sprinkles.

Doesn't it just sound like a toothache?

The kiddos were counting down the minutes until they could bite into them...



Yup, even Porter ate one... well, he ate the toppings off while being extremely careful not to to actually bite the apple.






Adi had a bit of a hard time since she has a loose tooth right in the bottom front. But she managed.



Piper, being ever the odd-one, soon threw hers out and settled on a plain old apple.



Doesn't Porter wear his goodies well?



I also captured a few compromising pictures of Orrin eating his apple, but he threatened to hide my camera from me if I posted them.

So I won't... yet.

The funny thing about Adi

This little lady is reading.

Really well, in fact.

And because I see this as common ground between the two of us (I am an absolute reading addict. But, if you know me at all, you already knew that), I have been buying her all of these fun books that I've had my eyes on now for 7 years.

Unfortunately, mine and Adi's taste are a bit different. I bought her this new American Girl book, which has been gathering dust on her shelf except for when I become a tyrant and demand she reads it.

Adi goes to the library and gets books like this Scooby Doo treasure.

But, like her mother, she has these books done in about 3 days. So I am not complaining. At least she is enjoying reading, right? And besides, she often reads her Scooby Doo books to her little brother.

For now, I am still hoping Piper will get into the girly-girl books that I enjoy looking at...