California Trip: Part 2

We spent Saturday at the farm just hanging out and enjoying our lack of responsibility.

We played with kittens in the barn.

The girls followed their cousin's examples of covering themselves in dirt- awesome. . ./

We used Clay and Stephanie's swing set.

Ross took us on a tour of the ranch in the golf cart.

Emma played with the fishing game Grandma bought.

We also had Joe show us pictures on his laptop and ended the night with a full fledged TURKEY DINNER!! We love turkey. We love Judy! It was awesome. All the cousins came out and Emma LOVED having so many people to boss around :)

It was a fun day and even though everything we did was pretty relaxing, I was more than ready for bedtime when the last of the cousins trickled out for the night. It was a good day!

California Trip: Part 1

Last weekend we took a trip out to California to visit the Goodman Ranch for the first time in a couple of years. Sara had never been out there. It was a trip long overdue- but inspired by the return of Ross's brother, Joe. Elder Joseph Goodman returned honorably from his mission in Veracruz, Mexico. Ross took some days off of work to be able to welcome his little brother home properly. Here are some pictures of the first part of our trip.

I took this on the way out to Reno (we stayed in Reno the first night). It is a giant pile of salt. Beauty! After driving 8 hours with minimal crying, we got to Reno. We stayed at the Circus Circus partly because it was cheap, but mostly because we thought the girls would like the free Circus acts. With our room key came a coupon for the buffet, so we hit that (it was AMAZING!), and then saw some Russian jugglers before I ended all our fun by demanding some rest. I was really struggling for some reason. Anyway, we had a quiet evening in the hotel with some TV (poor Ross- he really does miss it!), an epoch game of Skip Bo (that I won!), and some tickle torture. The next morning, we got up early and headed out on the road for the last few hours of the trip.

We were greeted by this at the front door! I LOVED it.

I had never been to the farm in nice weather. I had only ever been there in the middle of the summer, or in the middle of the winter. Super hot and ugly, or super cold and ugly. I was surprised to find that in the milder parts of the year the farm is actually very beautiful. The grass and leaves are green, and the mud and dust are lessened. Also- the frogs. I had never seen the tree frogs. I love them.

Grandma greeted us with big hugs and had Emma and Sara help her decorate cupcakes for the ward party that night. That was the perfect introduction for Emma to remember how fun Grandma Goodman is. We had her practice saying "Welcome Home, Joe" for when Joe and his dad got back from delivering some wood. She did well!

That night, there was a big Harvest Festival at the church. All of Ross's siblings met us there (except Melissa- we missed the Russells!!) and we had a good dinner and enjoyed some fun games. Each auxillary in the church was in charge of a different activity, and each activity had fun prizes. It was a big deal, and a great success! We had a lot of fun!

Joe is in the striped shirt in the back. He is single and will be at BYU in January! ;)

The Priests Quorum did a mini-golf course. It was so fun! I like Emma's pool cue technique.

There was a cake walk too. Judy won a whole carrot cake which was DIVINE! Good times!

After bidding goodbye to Ross's siblings, we headed back to the house with more cupcakes than we had come with. That is my kind of service :)

Gardner Village- 2009

Ross had the day off last Monday, and he had the awesome idea to take the girls over to Gardner Village since we had sucha good time there last Halloween. We had a good time, even if Emma was a grumpy little brat for part (most) of the time. It has such a fun atmosphere, and we had a much better time this year when we decided to not go into the shops so we had less temptation to buy things. I may have had to check out the Christmas shop, but no money was spent there!

That water was so dirty and smelly, and I was terrified Emma was going to fall or jump in.

This was Emma's favorite witch because of the cat in the boat.

This was Ross's favorite witch.

FHE Pumpkin Carving

Remember how my one artistic talent just happens to be of the most useless variety? Well, Ross is nice, and he let me indulge in the uselessness early this year- thus allowing a larger opportunity for a repeat enjoyment later on. We picked up some pumpkins after our trip to Gardner Village on Monday, and spent the evening carving pumpkins. Emma opted to paint hers, and Sara opted to color one of the patterns that Ross uses. All in all- it was a good time for all!

It wasn't as impressive as I wanted it to be, but that flower was really hard to carve! Oh yes, that is 3 wolves howling at the moon. Ross was channeling his inner-Dwight.

Caulene had a Birthday, Shout Hooray!

These are out of order, because they are from 3 different cameras. There were a bagillion pictures- all of them cute. Here is a fun little sampler for your viewing pleasure.

Caulene got one of those water painting books. Emma and Grandpa has a good time with it. Who doesn't love a little Handy Manny?! (Emma has no idea who he is. . .)

This is Caulene! She is pretty and single. You should date her if you are an attractive, single, Mormon boy of good standing!

This is Emma. She is pretty.

Caulene got a snuggie. See how much she has to bring to the table of a relationship?! An actual slanket!

Look at that concentration. Caulene was very excited about her Harry Potter books. Sara was enamored with this card that sang the birthday song in ribbits. Emma is a great assistant present opener.

Caulene decorated this cake by herself. She wonders why I still see her as a teen. . .

Sara was worn out by the time we left- which was just fine by us!

Happy Birthday, Caulene! We love you!