Dixon's Apple Farm

Today I took the kids to visit Dixon's Apple Farm, home of New Mexico's best mountain grown apples. We bought a 1/2 bushel of their famous Champagne apples, 1/2 bushel of the Sparkling Burgandy apples, and 1 gallon of apple cider. We also tasted some yummy apple fritters, and Sean and Daphne took a whole bunch of pictures--I included a few starting with the pumpkin and ending with Sean. They are very artistic.

tasting those delicious apples

pumpkin

Hayden's shoe

apples

"Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me."

(ever heard that old Andrew's Sister's song?)

On our way back to the car.

"Our State Fair. . .

is a great State Fair.

Don't miss it, don't even be late!

It's dollars to donuts that our state fair

is the best state fair in our state."

In preparation for our State Fair excursion, we watched Rogers & Hammerstein's "State Fair." (Those lyrics I just quoted come from that show, in case you are not well versed in old musicals.) I grew up watching that movie, but my kids and husband hadn't seen it, so I thought it would be perfect to watch it before we go to the fair. I must say, the oldest member of our family watched it rather reluctantly. I think his comment when I chose it was, "Well, I guess marriage is about compromise." (He chose Napoleon Dynamite the week before, so I felt like we needed to diversify. After all, it's important to have a well-rounded repertoire of movie viewing, right?)

But for all his skepticism, even Arthur chuckled at the part where that cute little old judge kept tasting the mince-meat laced with extra brandy. So after we watched that, the kids went around all week singing "Our state fair is a great state fair" and were so excited to miss school on Friday for our family field trip to the State Fair. Here are some pictures of the fun.

Fair food: One of the best and worst parts of the fair, in my opinion. It all smells so enticing, and it is hard to choose! Do you get the funnel cake, or the pie, the kettle corn or cotton candy, the turkey leg or the corn dog or the roasted corn . . . ?

It would be nice to taste it all, but it's just so darned expensive . . . We ended up getting some curly fries that were slightly disappointing, (but we ate them anyway because they cost $6,) a turkey leg, some weak lemonade, (that was free with our coupon,) and some great cotton candy. We smelled sweet and sticky for the rest of the day.

This tiger show was really cool. There are four color schemes that tigers come in, and this show exhibited all four colors. The standard orange with black stripes, the tabby, which is orange with reddish stripes, the white with black stripes, and the snow white tiger, or white with light grey stripes. They are such beautiful animals! And I just cannot believe how BIG they get! That guy in there has some nerve!

Here's a funny tidbit. They had signs all over the area that said no umbrellas. Odd, huh? Well apparently two of the tigers have serious issues with umbrellas--they think all umbrellas are evil and must be destroyed. Good thing we left ours at home.

The kids loved looking at the 4-H animals. They always display lots of baby animals. Sean was trying to pet those fuzzy ducklings above, and we spent a good deal of time watching these piglets fighting for their lunch. I can't believe that mama pig just lies there and sleeps through it, because the piglets are NOT very gentle while they are eating.

The pictures below are from the McDonald's Farm area. It's a cute place for kids to learn about things that come from a farm.

Below, we are modeling the stylish hats we got at the end of the McDonald's farm.

They are promoting green chile and say, "Keep New Mexico Green" with pictures of green chiles on them. Did you know that eating chile can help you lose weight because the spiciness speeds up your metabolism? I learned that this weekend.

Here's a little sheep shearing. We also watched some ladies spin the wool into thread, and others dyeing the thread and others weaving it. It's so interesting to see that whole process.

We had to get a picture of this because it was a momentous occasion in Arthur's life. This is the first time he'd ever tasted cotton candy. He said it was weird but tasty. I think that about sums it up. Oh, and sticky.

The kids got to choose one ride to go on

(because it is just too expensive to go on more.)

They chose this pink train roller coaster and had a blast. Daphne did admit to me in a very grown-up manner afterwards, that she found it "a little disappointing" that they only got to ride one ride. But she understood.

Until next year, New Mexico Expo.

(Maybe we'd better start saving up now so we can afford to go again next year. :)

Aprons

We got a package from my Mom the other day. She had made aprons for me and each of the kids so they can help me in the kitchen and not get flour all over their clothes. :)

They are darling, and the kids just LOVE wearing them! Thanks Mom!

Here's a better shot of Hayden's apron.

I just think he looks so cute in it.

Daphne and Hayden saying "Cheese!"

Coincidentally, Hayden has a mouth full of cheese that we captured at just the right moment.

Nothin' much

I haven't blogged lately because it seems like we're just going through the routines of normal, boring days. Chores, school, homework, meals, lessons, nothing extra-ordinary. But my mom told me the other day that it's time for a new post, and she's right. So here are some random little tidbits.

Dallin has been asking me for awhile to teach him to play the violin. Well, I haven't kept it up as well as I'd like to, and I wouldn't know the first thing about teaching violin. Luckily, we have a family in our ward whose kids all play string instruments and one of their teenagers plays violin and teaches beginner violinists. So he just started taking violin lessons a couple of weeks ago, and he's really excited about learning that instrument.

I figured Daphne needed something extra this year, so she is trying a gymnastics/tap/ballet combo class that she loves. She's totally excited about her ballet shoes and showed us a very beautiful curtsey they learned this week.

Sean is enjoying his preschool. We're doing a mom's preschool again this year, and he comes home with some pretty fun projects. I'm always amazed at the good ideas everybody has.

This is the first day of preschool at my house. We have seven kids in the group, (plus Hayden at our house.) We traced their bodies on that butcher paper, and I thought they were so cute all lying there waiting their turn.

In our family scripture reading lately, we've been memorizing scriptures with the kids. We've learned three so far, but the first one we learned was Moroni 10:5 which says "And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things." The last time we recited this scripture, Sean said afterward, "Not just one thing, or six things, or four things, but ALL things."

Hayden is busy, busy, busy. He climbs onto tables, kitchen counters, bathroom counters, stove-tops. And he loves to dump stuff out. Flour, cereal, water, those crunchy La Choy Chinese noodles, toys that have just been picked up, laundry out of baskets . . . I spend a lot of time just chasing him, and cleaning up his most recent dumping. Hayden also loves to ride bikes with Sean outside. Sean is a really good brother to Hayden.

"When the working day is done. . .

Oh, girls just wanna fu-un, oh girls--just wanna have fun."

The youth in our ward had a "Decades Dinner" tonight for the combined activity, and my friend Amber had the great idea that we should volunteer to help in the kitchen and dress up to represent the 80's.

Amber, and I in our 80's garb.

We looked totally radical.

And we were really good kitchen help.

Me & Jill, above, working very hard as you can see, & sipping our Shirley Temples.

Below, Amber, Sharee, (80's) Jill, (50's), Kellie (70's)

The scary thing is, I got my top, bracelets, and turquoise leggings at Walmart. I honestly thought the 80's might be one fashion decade that might just get skipped over in the great fashion recycling plan, but no.

Brace yourselves.

They are back.

Labor Day Trip

Since everyone was off for Labor Day, we decided we should go up to Pagosa Springs, CO and check out some land so we can buy some and build a cabin. . . . someday. But hopefully not too far away. We'd like to have it done before the kids are all gone so they can enjoy it and we can all make some fun memories together before they leave! This trip was mostly familiarizing ourselves with the options in our price range, and dreaming. :)

We stayed in Farmington, NM on Sunday night, because we had a free hotel night there. Arthur found a cool place for us to have a picnic dinner, and go for a walk afterward along the Animas river. It was perfect! The weather was gorgeous, and the sunlight that time of day is my favorite because it's so rich and golden.

Monday morning, we drove over to beautiful Pagosa Springs, and spent the morning looking at a lot of different spots. The kids were great for the most part. We went out to lunch, and then went for a short hike up to this little waterfall called Treasure Falls. There is a fun legend about some french treasure that was hidden somewhere around this area, and has never been found! The kids were looking in hollow logs and wondering if it was in the bottom of the pool at the base of the waterfall.

Just think, if we found that treasure, we could BUY SOME LAND!!! Dallin said if we were a dollar short, he would spot us the cash. Thanks Dallin!