Rita Allred Goodman

Rita Allred Goodman

August 15, 1917 - May 18, 2012

Today I had the good fortune of sitting next to my Aunt Katrina in Relief Society.  After the lesson on missionary work was over, she leaned over to me and said, "You know that Uncle Chad has been going through Grandma Rita's records and files and journals working on family history.  I thought it was interesting to note that the very last entry she ever made in her journal simply says, 'The church is true.'"

In Sacrament Meeting, Bishop Uncle Jim got up at the end of the meeting and said that he was prompted to share something with us today.  He'd been preparing for this sabbath day and praying to know what he needed to do, and he felt this inspiration.  He said he was trying to talk himself out of getting up, but decided he needed to listen.  His counsel was that we need to share our testimonies with our children and with our parents, in word and in deed.  He shared an example about his son, Jimmy, and also spoke of the faithful testimony that his parents (my Grandpa Harry & Grandma Rita) lived by going to the temple every Thursday.  I know that they loved the temple and that they loved their Savior.  They lived their testimony.

Last night at my Grandpa Reid's 90th birthday celebration, my Aunt Diane kindly reminded me that she was still waiting to see my pictures (of the funeral, of our vacations, of everything...) since I'm so behind on blogging.  So with both of my sweet aunts' and my Bishop Uncle Jim's reminders of Grandma Rita, I thought today was a perfect day to finally post these gems.  I love my family.  Truly, I am so blessed to be numbered among the Goodmans.

Here are a few of the pics taken at Grandma Rita's funeral services on May 25, 2012.

The pallbearers - the grandsons - carrying the casket to the burial site

my sweet girls, with Randi and Grandma Cindy

It's far too seldom that we see the Allred cousins these days, so it was an extra special treat to have them up in Mesa for the funeral.

After the dedicatory prayer, all of the girls were encouraged to take one of Grandma Rita's beautiful hot pink roses.  Pink was grandma's favorite color without a doubt.

Yes, all 10 of Rita & Harry's granddaughters are in this picture.  I love my Goodman Girl Cousins!  From left:  Karrie Platt, Laura Fodera, Julie Chesley, Jodi Goodman, Kathryn Whitlock, Kristi Zundell, Kim Marble; front row: Kelli Brown (me), Rita Wilstead, Dyan Ricedorff

All but two of the grandsons are here.  We're just missing Van the Man (serving his mission in Atlanta, Georgia) and Mark, who was working up in Snowflake and couldn't get the day off.  From left: Chad Willis, Dale Goodman, Craig Willis, Matt, Michael, Willie, Jimmy,  Joe & Luke Goodman.  What a handsome crew!

I love these pictures!  Jodi, Rita & Diane

Kimmie, Kathryn, & Kristi

 

Aren't they cute?  Bishop Uncle Jim celebrated his birthday yesterday along with my Grandpa Reid.  Happy Birthday, Bishop!

Jules, Dyan, Laura & Karrie

Me & Julie

Taylor, Julie, & Kylie Chesley

Aunt Betty, Uncle Clyde (Grandma Rita's brother) & Alexa

Uncle Clyde & Aunt Iva Jean (Grandma's surviving siblings)

The BIG FOUR:  Bishop Uncle Jim, Uncle Dale, Steve (also goes by Dad and Grandpa Steve) and Aunt Katrina

And this is my favorite.  Just trying to keep up Grandma's Rita's spice and sass.  We love you, Grandma, and will forever miss you.  Until we meet again...

Cabin Fun: Memorial Day

Memorial Day at the cabin is usually one of our best memories.  It's the first trip of the season and really signals the kickoff to summer.  Late movie nights, lots of card games, walks to the creek, homemade ice cream, time with cousins and friends.  It's summertime at its best.  No doubt about it.

Our crew plus the Bauer girls (Hallie & Syd) at the cabin for Memorial Day

We never have any fun...

 

I love this guy!

These girls crack me up. Oh, we are going to be soooooo sad when the Bauers move.  What will we do without them?  They're practically family.

 The hair flippers...Hallie & Barrett

Making homemade ice cream with Grandpa Steve, one of our favorite cabin traditions!

The beautiful Grandma Cindy, right where she loves to be at the cabin - baking in the kitchen!

South Kaibab to the River (the descent)

OK, so it's been one month and a couple days since our hike, but alas, the photos...The memory is too good to skip the photos.

The plans for our South Kaibab to Bright Angel journey began a week after Spring Break when we took the whole fam to the big hole for their first time.  I got the itch to hike it again after playing around on the rim and only venturing down a short ways (it was icy and mushy in March).

So we decided to do it, made our reservations, put it on the calendar, and here we are.  We took our first born along for the ride.  What a great decision that was!

Here we are at the South Kaibab trail head at approximately 5:45 am on Saturday, May 5th.  We spent the night before in the Maswik Lodge on the South Rim and arose bright and early to catch the 5:00am hikers shuttle bus.  It left from the Back Country Information Center, about 100 yards from our hotel room so we were able to just leave our car parked right there.  It took us right to where we needed to be.  Perfect.  We rode the bus over with some hard core running tri-rimmers who looked like they were going to eat the trail for lunch.  One of the Australians had his sandwich stored in his hat because he didn't want any extra bulk.   A sweaty hot head sandwich.  Nice.

But I digress...back to us.

It was very cold and super duper windy at the top of the south rim at that early hour.  We bundled up tight and kept our glasses on to save us from the dust.  As this was my first time coming down the South Kaibab trail, I didn't know how steep it would be.  The decline seemed much steeper than the north rim, and I was so glad I had my hiking poles for support.  We all did great on the descent, although it was a little slippery in the loose dirt and Barrett could have used some better traction on her shoes.  But she had her poles too, thank goodness, and did great.

Yes, we oohed and aahed.  Truly, it was so beautiful.  The pics don't even do it justice.

Barrett and I took a few silly pics while waiting for Ryan to use the facilities.  I have no idea what I am doing here, but we were having fun.

Just a glimpse of the trail coming down the South Kaibab.

 When we looked down and saw this a couple hours into the hike, Barrett asked, "Do we have to hike that?"  I said, "Oh yes, and there's so much more where that came from."

When we turned this corner and saw this drop off, both Barrett and I gasped a little.  I don't know if you can really tell from the picture, but seriously, right in back of where Barrett is standing, is the craziest drop off to the bottom.  Really, a crazy steep drop.  Sure footing would be highly recommended here.

We waited for a few mule trains during the morning.  Trail side etiquette says you move to the side when the mules pass.  We gladly obliged.

 Another glimpse of the trail...we're getting close to the river!  Hooray!  Almost down to the bottom.  I love the river.  Something about watching the rapids and those boats makes me happy.

 It was cool crossing through the South Kaibab tunnel for the first time.  There's no tunnel going north to south, so this was something new for us.

 Isn't she so cute?  I was so proud of her for doing such a hard thing and doing it at 13!

 Crossing the South Kaibab bridge.  Yes, we took a lot of pictures on the bridge.  Good thing I'm only sharing a few of them...

 We crossed the bridge at 3 hours into the hike, but by the time we actually finished all our river gazing and picture taking and hiked about another mile to Phantom, it was 3:45 into the hike.

After eating some lunch at Phantom Ranch, partaking of a Snickers bar and lemonade, using the facilities, and filling up our water supply, we were about ready to head out again.  Barrett decided to rinse off her caked on red dirt feet and go for some fresh socks too.  Ry and I just gave our feet a little breather sans shoes. No blisters...yet. 

And alas, after about 50 minutes at Phantom, we are ready to start the trek out.