California!

My trip to California was amazing, as always. It always flies by, and it's always so hard to leave!

The day I arrived, we went right to Oakdale to have some family time! My parents, Brad, Amanda, my nieces, and me all enjoyed our time there. My nieces loved the inflatable pool, and we all loved relaxing and hanging out!  And my parents are officially buying the ranch, which is such amazing news!!  We're SO happy it's all working out!

Here's my parents' sweet dog Maggie on the ride to the ranch! She looooves the ranch.

The girls in the pool!! 

Our July 4th, we had a BBQ at my brother's house!  My Uncle Jim and Aunt Rhoda came over too, and so did my brother's friend Erik and his wife and their new baby. We had a great time hanging out and eating BBQ (and homemade ice cream!!), and after it started to get dark we had a blast watching my brother light some fireworks!!  The best firework (with the best name EVER) was Tiger Fury!!

Here's my dad, mom, Addison, Aunt Rhoda, and Uncle Jim! 

Here's Brad instructing the girls on where to throw the little popper fireworks. I'm not sure what you call them, but they're tiny and they snap when they hit the ground. 

Cassidy had a blast throwing the little popper fireworks at the ground! Addison didn't like it as much.

It said on the directions of this one to hold it! We all took turns reading the directions because it didn't seem like that could be right, but Brad was brave and did it! He looks like the Statue of Liberty (except he's a dude, of course).

The best firework ever!! I loved the name of it, and then when it was lit it was even better than I was hoping it would be! 

I had a blast during the week hanging out with my family, and I also got to spend some good hangout time with Lizzy and Claighton, Adriana, and my Uncle Jim!! I didn't take a picture when I was hanging out with Adriana or my Uncle Jim, but I got a good one of Lizzy and Claighton! 

I had so much fun hanging out with them!!  Though it would've been better if I'd won at least one game of dominoes... Haha :)  

My brother and I took the girls to the Sacramento Zoo on the Friday before I left, and it was so much fun!  It'd been awhile since I'd been there. Addison is really funny though and after about 30 seconds at an animal exhibit she's ready to move on to the next one! We made it through that entire zoo within about an hour and half. Haha :)

Cassidy and Addison totally overpowering this crocodile.

Cassidy and Addison! 

An adorable giraffe! 

An action shot of the little baby giraffe running towards the food! 

Both girls were super brave and loved petting this boa constrictor!  I thought one of them might freak out, but nope!!  They both loved it and kept petting it. 

They're both roaring! 

 And on Saturday (the day before I left) my parents and I went to the State Fair!!  It had been MANY years since I'd been to the State Fair (I want to say my last time was right after high school?  Can that be right?), and it was so much fun.  The livestock area is usually a lot of fun, but this year it felt really hectic in that area! We didn't stay long in that section. I loved all of the County Exhibits though! We spent a lot of time exploring that area.

Adorable! 

This was a donkey that loved rolling around on his back! I think he had an itch or something. It reminded me of Guinness when he wants belly rubs though! 

This lady at the Stanislaus exhibit told us to sit down at their photo op and she'd take a picture for us! It was a bench in front of a big mailbox... 

I don't remember which one this was... Maybe Placer County? 

Calaveras County! I thought this one was impressive.

Bishop, CA!  I grabbed a few souvenir pencils from this one. 

Our lunch! It was fruit, cheese, bread, and wine slushies!!  Mine was a strawberry zinfandel, and it was SO refreshing and delicious. 

A huge octopus that I thought was cool! 

Kevin was QUITE busy while I was in CA, and I have some amazing home project progress to show you!!  I'll do another post soon about that. And this weekend we are having a Christmas Party at our house!!  Yes, a Christmas Party.  And we're decorating and everything. I'll take some pictures of that too :)  I hope everything is going great for everyone!!