Tough Beans

We had Sera this weekend and were invited to go to the Crazy Corn Maze in West Jordan. I am not usually a fan of corn mazes because I hate getting lost. Even though I know I won't get stuck in the corn forever it still causes me stress and anxiety.
Sera was so excited to go because not only were Becca and Spencer going to to there but there was also going to be a bunch of other kids from Spencer's family. And too make it extra exciting the corn maze had a haunted section which Sera was so pumped to go through. I was kind of surprised she was so excited about the haunted section but she swore that she was brave enough to go and that she really wanted to. I agreed and we waited in line.

Ryan was going to try and just carry Gabe through the haunted part but as we inched closer to the entrance, Gabe started screaming about a guy in a silver Jason-style mask. Ry, being the good Daddy immediately walked away with Gabe saying they would meet us at the exit. Why oh why did I not offer to take Gabe and let him go through the scary maze? I hate haunted houses and now I was going to have to be the brave one. CRAP!

We start through the haunted part and I know I am in trouble because I have to bring up the rear. My mom led the train the consisted of her, Sera, 2 of Spencer's nieces, and me last in line. Last is the person who gets the truly twisted people that love to sneak up and scare the holy living piss out of you...great...

Sera and the 2 other girls insisted on being in the middle. And somewhere along the line we took too long and not only caught up with 5 other people from our group but 5 annoying 14-year-olds who acted tough but still insisted my mom and I go first. Awesome right?

Sera was doing okay-trying to act strong and brave but still staying pretty close to me or my mom. She would growl at the people in costumes and try to keep smiling. Well, she did okay until the damn Chainsaw Guys. Yeah, those A-Holes have no mercy! They were jumping out, not at my mom and I but at the 3 girls that were squeezed between us. And poor Sera, she will probably never admit this but when the second chainsaw guy jumped out she let out a scream of terror and hid her face in my jacket. I wrapped her up in my arms and covered her by leaning over and whispering in her ear, "It's okay. I've got you." She didn't respond because she sounded like she was trying not to cry.

I grabbed her hand and hurried her away from the jerk with the power tool (Yeah, you feel like a big man when you scare little girls to tears.) and as we were walking away she looked up at me and said, "I think all my brave ran out." I laughed and told her that it was okay because this was a really scary maze.

When we finally got out Sera was so happy. She did not like it one bit and said that even though she was the one that wanted to go through the scary part she probably wasn't ready for it. She can smile about it this morning and is telling everyone that she never screamed once in the haunted part. I am just glad that I was there to protect her and help her out. And the silver lining? For once I was not the girl screaming and trying to run away! Yay me!

While I faced my fears and Sera's in the corn maze, Ryan got to wait outside and take adorable pictures of our cute Gabe. Not exactly sure how this worked out....
On Saturday morning we met Courtney Ryan at Wheeler Farm to take some family photos. (I will post some as soon as I get the disc and the copyright release from Courtney!) I wanted to give a quick shout out to Courtney because she does amazing work! This is not the first time she has worked with us and I hope it will not be our last. If you need pictures for any reason, I suggest you give her a call!

Once the official pictures were over we let the kids play for a little while. They had done so good trying to behave for the photos and we felt like they deserved some time to run wild.

We went over and said hello to the goats and sheep. The kids were taking handfuls of weeds and trying to toss them to the animals who promptly ignored them.

When they ignored the food that was thrown at them we had to be content with the waving hello and yelling HI!
We also played the playground that is at Wheeler Farm. I think this was Sera's favorite part. Here she is showing me her muscles and she proclaims herself Queen of the Mountain.
And what trip to the park would be completely without a family ride down the slide. Ryan is a good sport even though he is a little tall for the slide.

All together it was a really nice weekend. I am so excited that we got family pictures done and I cannot wait to see how they turned out. Much love to you all!