Tate Farms

We had the BEST day!

We went on a field trip to Tate Farms and we had so much fun! Poor Bobby though. We worked off this morning, slept for about an hour and a half and got up and went with. He had never been there before and really wanted to spend the day with us. I sure do love that man:)

I like this guy. He looks like he's up to something.

First thing on our list was the hayride to the pumpkin patch.
We all loved it:)

Picking out our pumpkins.

Our guide's name is Linda and she ROCKS! I enjoyed talking to her so much.
I told her I'd give her a Shout Out on here so....
SHOUT!

Here's Linda holding a baby pumpkin and explaining the male and female parts and how they make the pumpkin. Pretty cool. She also told us about a local bee keeper who brings the hives to their farm while the pumpkins are blooming and then takes them back home when they're finished. The bees make honey from the the pumpkin pollen. Um..YUMMO! We clearly seemed interested so she told us that they sell the honey in the country store:)

Awesome new slide! Well, new since the last time we've been there.

Then it was time for the hay maze.

Then we were off to the corn crib.

The is Steve Tate...as in Tate Farms. He came over and asked if we were all having a good time and thanked us for being there. He seems like a super nice guy.

Bobby shaking the corn out of Cody's clothes.
Hahahaha!

Then it was time for the...um..HUGE, inflated, jumpy thing:)
Holy cow! I was SO pumped to do this and it was awesome! I think that alone was worth the price of admission for me.

If I could do this every single day, my legs would be buff! Awesome exercise.

Off to the petting zoo.
The bunnies were SO freakin' cute!

They had a sheep, goats, a one week old calf and chicks. I couldn't get a picture of the calf because he was asleep on the other side of the hay bales.

And then the playground. These slides were so much fun!

King of the mountain!

That was the end of our tour. We had about 30 minutes to continue walking around and playing before the farm became open to the public.

We spent that time looking through the country store and getting a couple more family pictures.
We bought a quart of that honey! I'll let you know how it is.

Our pumpkin family.

We stopped at Moe's on the way home. Love me some Moe's and on Tuesdays kids eat free!

It was just a completely, wonderful, magical kind of day.

Khan Academy

ROCKS!

We love Khan Academy! Click HERE to check it out for yourself:)

Content

We had to turn the heat on this morning. It was quite cool in the house. I slept part of the night with my hoodie on! I'm so thankful for a heating and cooling system the we can use to regulate our comfort at the touch of a button. Think about how awesome that is!

Cody is wrapped up in a flannel blanket completely enthralled in Modern Marvels: Locomotives that we're watching on the History Channel. He's had several 'AH-HA' moments where something clicked and made sense, or something occurred to him that he never thought of before. I wonder if we could set up a field trip to the local switch yard.

Cody and I will continue reading Cornelia Funke's Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost.

Britney is still asleep. She went to the Music with a Mission concert last night with one of her best friends. She got in around midnight and was absolutely buzzing! She was pumped! Music makes her so happy and I love when she's able to pursue her passions. Thank you Amos family:)

Bobby's safely home after a night at work from a job we are so very thankful for.

I have coffee. I'm going to make french toast for my kiddos. I have a delicious, healthy dinner planned. It's beautiful outside. I am happy and content.

Taco Soup

What a beautiful 1st day of October! It's cool and there's not a cloud in the sky. It's perfect taco soup weather! There's a big pot on the stove that I'm taking to our Life Group this evening. Yummo!

1 1/2 lbs ground chuck
1 large onion, chopped
2 envelopes taco seasoning
2 envelopes ranch dressing mix
2 cans whole kernel corn
1 can tomatoes with green chilies
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can tomatoes
2 cups water

Brown the ground chuck with the onion. Drain well. In a large pot, combine the ground chuck and onion with the taco and ranch seasoning mix. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours. Serve with cheese, sour cream.
This also works great in the crock pot.

Spiced Tea

Fall is definitely in the air!
Around this time of year, I make up a batch or two of Spiced Tea.
It's naughty...not healthy in the slightest, but it's nice to indulge in once in a while.

2 Cups Tang
2 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Instant Tea
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves

Mix that all together in a large bowl and then store in an air tight container.
Add...I don't know, maybe three tablespoons of mix to your cup and fill up with hot water. Use more or less mix depending on your taste.

Enjoy:)

Baptism Sunday @ EPIC

Britney, Bobby and Cody were baptized yesterday!

Epic has Baptism Sunday once every three months and I'm telling you, it's a full out party! Put it this way. When you walk in, they hand out various noise makers. Mom grabbed something, looked at me and said, "This is the first church I've ever been where they handed me a cowbell!" Hahaha!!

Britney had decided to get baptized last week so she signed herself up and was PUMPED!

Bobby and Cody have both been thinking about getting baptized. In fact, Cody told us he wanted to go ahead and do it, but I didn't want him to feel pressured into it at all. I thought maybe he thought this was his only opportunity or something. You know...I word things wrong sometimes so I told him he could wait if he wanted to and make the decision another time. He said he would wait. Once service started, Bobby literally couldn't stay in his seat. He just had to get up there! I looked over and Cody was standing up and telling Bobby he wanted to get baptized now too.
They did it together. How cool is that?!

This was such a special day for our family and I really appreciate everyone who was there to love and support us. Lauren, thank you so much for watching online! I don't even know how you knew to watch, but it's so awesome that you did :)

In total, 111 people were baptized during the course of their five services!

There are videos of them getting dunked on FaceBook if you'd like to watch:)

Awesome day for my family!
WOOHOO!