Weekend with the Merrells

This past weekend my family came into town for a very busy, fun, quick weekend. On Friday night Me, Jared, Vince and Meagan, Annie and Russ, and Sasha and Jason all went to the Haunted Forest in American Fork. We were really lucky because there was an accident on I-15 that closed the freeway at the exit after ours. We weren't affected by the closure, but as we were leaving traffic was backed up for a couple of miles. The Haunted Forest was a lot of fun, and a great temperature outside (I really wished I hadn't brought my jacket), but I was hoping that it would be a bit scarier. Next year I will continue my quest to find a scary haunted house. The best part of the night was when two guys came at our group, one with a chainsaw, and the other with a lawnmower. Jason left Sasha behind and pushed his way through everyone else to get away. She had warned us earlier that he didn't like chainsaws, but we had no idea just how afraid he was. We all had a great laugh.

The next morning we all got up early and met at the park for family pictures. Kristi has the pictures and hasn't shown them to anyone yet, but I have a couple of the group as we were getting ready to take the pictures.

After the pictures we ate a quick bite of lunch and headed up to Frightmares!!! We could not have asked for a better day to go. The temperature was perfect, and the lines were really short for most of the day. I do have a confession to make...I am a horrible mom. There was a haunted house that we decided to go through and everyone in the family was going, except Chuck who was unable to walk. He kept baby Taylor, but that meant that the other four kids were going to have to go through it. They were fine until right before we got to the front, and then Kylie and Sadie started to panic. In our group I carried Brynlie who clung to me tighter than she ever has before, Kristi walked with her arms around Kylie, covering her eyes for most of it, and Jared carried Sadie, stopping often to show her that the scary things weren't really that scary. I've never walked so fast through a haunted house in all my life. I did feel a little bit better when we got out and TJ was crying...at least Sasha is a bad mom too. My girls actually came out tear free, and as far as I can tell there was no permanent damage done. No nightmares, not even a mention of the haunted house. Sadie went to Arctic Circle Monday to claim her ice cream that she was promised for going through the haunted house. She couldn't even remember why she was getting ice cream when asked. Sadie, showing Meagan that she finished her food...

Russ showing me that he was still eating...
The girls were so excited to ride the rides. Sadie was begging Annie to take her on a ride.

Kylie is now officially 46 inches, which means that she can ride almost every ride in Lagoon. She was in heaven! She rode the Wild Mouse twice in a row, the Scrambler, Tilt-A-Whirl, Odysea (twice again), and the White Roller Coaster, which she has been dying to go on since she first saw it. She has no fear at all! After she left that night I found out that she is even tall enough to go on Spider and Wicked...next year Kylie!

Our campsite...

The kids got to go trick-or-treating with their admission tickets...

After the hypnotist several of our group decided to call it a night, including Jared, who volunteered to take Kylie, Sadie, Brynlie, and TJ home with him so that I could stay and ride another ride. Me, Vince, Mickala, Annie, Russ, Sasha and Jason all rode on Wicked for the first time. I loved rides when I was younger, but after having babies my body doesn't like them. I get really sick and bad headaches. I usually will pick one fast ride at the end of the day and that will be my only ride because I am too sick for more. Jared used to get upset that I wouldn't ride more rides with him, but now he refuses to let me go on them because he knows just how sick I get. I rode Wicked and was surprised that it didn't make me that sick. It was actually a really fun ride and I wish Jared could have gone on it. Then I stopped thinking...my plan all day had been to ride the Spider. After Wicked Mickala, Carissa, and Sasha decided to go on the Spider, and I was stupid enough to join them. I should have known better than to go on two rides. If that ride had gone for another 10 seconds I probably would have thrown up. I was so sick! The ride home was torture and it took everything I had not to lose it in Vince and Meagan's car. If I had, I know that they both would have joined me, especially since Vince is a party puker. Two days later, on Monday night, we went to West Jordan Park for family night. Within minutes of leaving the house I was car sick and got an awful headache. The next day Jared and I went to Sandy and the same thing happened. I think that Lagoon really messed with me and I'm still recovering. No more roller coasters for me!

It is so much fun to get my whole family together, especially since we are spread out across the state and only all get together a couple of times a year. Thanks for the fun weekend Mom and Dad!