California - CA State Fair

Our annual summer trip to California started out with a bang!  (Okay, so more like a pop!)

It ended with a pop too, but we will get to that part later!

We planned to leave bright and early Monday morning (July 21st).

The Saturday before was my cousins wedding out in Kilgore.

It was a beautiful wedding.  My aunt did an amazing job.

After the wedding ceremony was done, we congratulated the bride and groom and left.

To find this....

A flat tire!  50 miles outside of Rexburg, in the middle of the desert, and we get a flat tire!

Thank goodness Mark was with us and that we had a spare tire.

Unfortunately, by the time we got back to Rexburg all the tire stores were closed.

So much for leaving bright and early on Monday.

Mark assured me that once we got home he would do some calling around to see what he could do.
In the end, he called the right person, pulled in a few HUGE favors,

and found two very great people to open up their tire shop, after hours, on Saturday night, to help us out.

 We owe them BIG TIME!

So Monday morning rolled around and we left with two new tires and an appreciation for the great people in the world!

Our 13 hour drive to California went off without a hitch,

but we were grateful to finally arrive safe and sound at Grandpa and Grandmas house.

We arrived earlier than everyone else (Liz, Rachel, and Mike's families were arriving on Sat/Sun!)

So we had a few days of downtime before our little over-nighter (stay tuned) and before everyone arrived.

We mostly just stayed at the house to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa.

But one day Mark and I snuck away to the Sacramento Temple.

Grandma had also bought tickets for the Sacramento State Fair so one day we got to experience the fair!
It was fabulous!
The girls (and I) had never been to a fair before so it was all so exciting and new.

Might I just say the smell of fair food was absolutely heavenly!

We began our fair experience with the animals, of course!

We visited the "Nursery Barn" where all the pregnant momma cows and the new baby calves were.
It was a little rough seeing the momma cows, literally, in labor.
Brought back a flood of memories that I'm trying really hard to forget!
But all the cute little babies were all worth it. (I feel the same way about my own offspring!)
This cute baby calf was like only 2 or 3 days old.

 One of the favorite buildings was the counties building.
Maybe all state fair do this?
The building was divided into sections.  One section for each of the counties in California.
Each county has some sort of hands on display or booth that represented that specific county.
For instance, their was lots of wine tastings and displays in the counties where wine is produced.
I thought it was a pretty fun way to learn more about California.
California is also known for its agriculture, so there was plenty of farming booths to check out!

 And no fair experience would be complete without a carousel ride!
The girls loved it!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the fun experience.

 On our way home from the fair we stopped to get "Thrifty's" ice cream.
Thrifty's is THE ice cream to get when in California!
Super delicious!

After that it was back to staying home and hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.
Oh yeah, and getting ready for our little trip to the coast.......