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 :)