The never-ending July and right on into August....

I'm sick today. Been cooped up on the couch all day watching movies and being lazy. Kevin taught our Primary Class alone today. I'm not sure why now, but I suppose its time to update our blog. The last time I wrote we had just come home from California.We've done a lot since that first July trip home and now things are finally starting to settle down in the Ford home.

We returned to Sacramento for my sister Aubrey's wedding just two short weeks after our first visit out there in the beginning of July. It was a wonderful, quick trip home. Aubrey and Daniel made a very fun bride and groom. The reception was held at the same location Kevin and I had our reception. It was truly amazing to see how different the cultural hall looked for Aubrey's reception compared to ours. Each absolutely expressed our personalities and we had the same amazing people pull it all off.

 

It was so wonderful to see Aubrey and Daniel sealed in the Sacramento temple. I know that their lives will truly be blessed for making covenants with their father in heaven on their special day.

 Like I said, a quick trip home and Sunday we headed back to Utah. We took the long way (the southern route) home so we could stop in Bakersfield to visit Kevin's younger sisters. Marianne was visiting Kevin's other sister Melissa and her husband who live in Bakersfield. Sunday also happened to be Marianne's birthday and we thought it would be a lovely surprise to see her while she was so close.

We haven't had the chance to see Kevin's parents and siblings very often so we were so excited at the chance to see both Melissa and Marianne that day, even if just for a few short hours. It was so lovely to be with them. I miss them so much and wish everyone lived closer. I truly wish we could see the Ford side more often. We are terribly excited for December when we will go to Washington for the holiday. Kevin's older brother Jeff and his wife Hayley live there with their sweet daughter Lucy. They are also expecting a little boy to arrive two weeks before we get there. Kevin's parents and youngest sister Marianne live there as well and we are so ready to spend some time with them.

The following weekend we moved! Not far, only 10 feet across the patio but it was still work!

Our neighbors, who we love SO much, Kyle and Carly, moved to Nevada to start their own business! We were so sad to see them go, but very excited for their new adventure! The new place is A LOT bigger then our first apartment and its still in the same ward and area which is so great. The new place has two bedrooms and is plenty big enough for Kev and I to stay in for some time... maybe even with a couple kids!

We love, Love, LOVE the new place. It is so perfect for us. We are excited that it's a bigger place so we can entertain and even have people stay over!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mom came to town last week for her Aunt's funeral and was the first guest to stay. It was a blast to have her and we had a great time with her as our guest for a few days. We went and saw the "UP" house in the Parade of Homes show and it was so neat. We saw lots of other beautiful homes too but the Up house was by far the coolest!

Kevin and I have been working on a few home projects. The first is a garden. Since we are renting we don't have a yard of our own so we decided to plant a garden in a wheelbarrow (I saw the idea on Facebook of a friends daughter who did it in class.) We found an old wheelbarrow on KSL for $5 bucks. Got some topsoil on sale at Lowe's (they give u discount if the bag is ripped) and a few herbs, vegetables and flowers from random places. Its a start. The weather has been hot so we have to make sure we water it EVERYDAY and its looking great. The vegetables haven't sprouted yet but we just got them planted. We will keep you up to date when they finally do.

 

 

 The second project we have been working on is trying to have a proper and organized food storage. In the new place we have this AMAZING pantry and before this weekend it was just cluttered with random things.A lot of the grocery store's have a couple CASE lot sales during the year where families can stock up on canned foods and lots of other food storage items. Kevin and I set aside some money for this go round of case lot sales so we could get our food storage started. It was a little harder then I thought. I knew it was important to buy enough to last us a few weeks/months if we weren't able to shop or whatever the situation might be, but I just didn't feel like we needed 50lbs of flour. There is after all only two of us. We did a great job, I think, of buying things I could actually cook with and things we would actually use of the course of time so we didn't waist anything if we never "HAD" to use it. With our set aside amount and guesstimating what we were at we only went over by 28 cents at the register and our food storage is WELL on its way! I am so proud of us. It took me a good hour or so to organize everything in the pantry once we got it home. I felt like we got so much but in the room it didn't look like anything! I organized everything in sections putting the closest expiration date in front to be used first. It was work but it turned out great and I feel blessed to be prepared (starting to be prepared) like the prophets have asked us to be!

 

Our newest project came this weekend. Kevin has been showing me the "value of a dollar" and we have been shopping every weekend. Garage sales, KSL and DI trips to find great deals on fun stuff. The first week we got a printer (yes it works, just needs ink) for $2 and 7 yards of a gorgeous floral fabric for 50 cents (I plan to take a sewing class during the fall). This week we found a beautiful green vase for the office and an old wooden screen. The screen we found has got to be the best buy ever! We found it at DI for $3.

You can see why it was only $3 but I had a vision much bigger than that. With some sand paper, primer, yellow paint and hard work my vision became a reality. I have an incredible husband who helped make this  DIY project a huge success. A photo/artwork screen to be kept around for years. Our first "DIY Project" and a treasured piece of furniture we hope to be a part of our family for a long long time. It was a blast to do, super easy and made me feel so proud to have done it ourselves! I have definitely got the domestic juices flowing now!!

 

  

 

This weekend was also busy with service projects, cleaning the church and volunteering at a car wash to raise awareness for Dystonia with  Tonic for the Dystonic. It was a lots of fun and so great to see so many people supporting the cause!

Nothing big planned for K2 for a little while. We are taking it nice and easy and trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer. I told Kevin that I felt I was missing out on all the back to school stuff. Some of my greatest memories were clothes, food and school supply shopping before a new school year with my parents, brother and sisters. So much fun and I am actually a little jealous of all the fun things Haley, McKenna and Desi are gonna get this week in their back to school shopping. Speaking of those 3 real fast. McKenna and Desi are going to be SENIORS! I cannot believe it. McKenna is ASB President this year and I am so proud of her. I see her FB post the last few days and they have so many fun things planned already. Senior shirts, Senior sunrise, ah, I miss those days with my friends from high school. Senior year truly made some of the greatest memories. Little (well she is taller but ALWAYS will be younger so I can say Little) Haley is going to be a sophomore! I can't hardly believe that either! She will be getting her learners permit here pretty quickly. It kind of frightens me! She also will be in Student Government as Sophomore class president and she is currently on track to graduate high school with her AA Degree. I definitely have some pretty amazing sisters and great parents who make it all possible. I am really excited to be going home this year a few times to be apart of McKenna's last high school experiences. Halls, Sports A Rama, Sr Ball and Graduation. It's going to be a great year Mickey G.

Kevin's birthday is on the 1st of September. It's almost been a year since we first met and its crazy that we have been married for 5 months of that year! Last year I met Kevin a few days before his birthday. I had talked to him once in person the day we met, once on the phone to set up a date and wished him happy birthday through a text a few days later. Birthday's are a big deal (for anyone who knows me) but I think it's a little different for Kev. He'll be 28 and I think he's at that age where dinner and a movie with his wife and maybe a few friends over for some ice cream cake will be about all he can handle. That's fine with me... this year :) I have already told Kevin, family and friends not to make plans for September of 2013. Turning 30 is a HUGE deal and I plan to give Kevin a HUGE, embarrassing, incredible birthday party to be remembered! You're all invited to.

OK, OK now I'm getting ahead of myself. Well, that's all we've been up to lately. I miss posting more often. I will have to try and do this once a week instead of once a month so these blogs don't go on and on.

We are so blessed to have such great friends and family who read our blog and care so much about us. We love you all and promise to continue to keep having amazing adventures and stories to share with you over the years!

Happy Sunday Readers

<3 The Fords

PS. A few extra pictures taken this past month I thought I'd share. Enjoy! (They are really Random)

Cooked Dinner for Kyle & Carly b4 they left.

Bride and Groom

Bridesmaid's/Groomsmen

Car ride to California

Mr and Mrs.

Aubrey's rocking Bouquet

I didn't miss out on back to school shopping. I got 3 new books!

 

Bride/Groom Night Before

Aubrey Started a new job at my work and Left me a love note!

Hedlund Wedding Day.

The AWESOME Aunt Rene working her magic!

The CUTEST picture Ever.

Crepes in Vegas

Homemade Desert. Borrowed the idea from Ashley Nichols. Banana Bread, Bananas and homemade Carmel.

A happy family is but an earlier heaven: Definition of this past Weeknd.

What an incredible weekend.. Just thought I'd share:

 

Kevin & I picked up our rental car at Salt Lake Airport about 7pm Wednesday evening and began our long 8 hour, in the middle of the night journey West! 

We arrived in Sacramento about 2:20am and found a nice cozy bed waiting for us. (Thanks to my little sister Haley for giving up her room for the weekend for Kev and I)

Thursday June 30th was a day that our family had been looking forward to for some time. This was the day that we would get to do the temple work for my sweet brother who passed away last year. What made the day even more special was that my sister Aubrey went through the temple for herself that evening also. It was such an incredible and overwhelming experience to be with family and so many friends as we did the work for my brother and as Aubrey went through the temple. 

I showed up about 6:05 for the 6:30 session and when I walked into the women's locker room I recognized 15+ women from my ward. I asked one of the sisters if they were having a Ward temple night and to my surprise she simply smiled and said, "No, We are all here to support your family." Wow! How incredible. I was a little choked up as I got dressed after that. As the room began to fill with people I noticed there were only a few people I didn't know. The rest of the entire group were family members and friends who had come to show their love for our family. Just another incredible experience for the books and proof that we are so loved and blessed.It was so neat to be in the celestial room with Kevin, my mom, my dad, Aubrey, Daniel and so many other loved ones. It was incredible to know Hunter was right there with us.

I am so proud of Aubrey and for her choice to make promises to the Lord and to be married in the temple in a few weeks. I am so happy for her and love her so much.

Well, everyone knows it wouldn't be a real celebration if we didn't have a PARTY! And being The Goolds that is exactly what we did. No, we didn't care it was 10pm when we got out of the temple. We invited lots of people over where we barbecued and hung out until about midnight. So much fun to be home and have the Goold house rockin like always! 

Friday morning turned out to be a harder day then we all expected. We thought Thursday's tears in the temple were enough to hold us out for a long time... wrong.

My dad came and woke me up around 6am Friday morning to say goodbye to Daisy. Daisy is my dog that I got when I was 18 years old. About a year and half ago Daisy had trauma to her back legs and was paralysed and could no longer walk. It was a very hard time back then as I struggled with the thought that I may need to put her down. Somehow though Daisy told me she wasn't ready to go yet and with an incredible love and hope from my Dad we did everything we could to keep Daisy going. My dad is such a hero. He took Daisy in when I moved to Utah and for the last year he has been a Knight in Shinning Armour to that dog. He worked with her everyday. Massaging her muscles, rubbing ointment on her sores and making sure she had the right food to help her stay strong. He even built a wheelchair for her! It was pretty awesome! Daisy had her good days where she could muster up enough strength to actually use her back legs and walk on all fours but it never lasted long, most of the time she dragged her little legs behind her all around the house. 

These last few weeks her legs have been really badly infected (from the dragging) and she began to kn-aw on them :( Her health and strength declined really quickly and Friday morning she wasn't doing well at all. We decided it was best to put her down... A quality of life choice instead of letter her suffer even longer.

We took Daisy to the SPCA where they put her down. It was devastating. I balled like a baby as my dad took her from my arms and inside. I waited in the car with Kevin and my dad, Aubrey and Daniel went in. Everyone was crying when they came out without her :(

I am so grateful for such an awesome dad who for so long loved my puppy when I wasn't around. I can never thank him enough for all the love he gave her and all the time he spent with her. I know that he loved her and was her biggest fan. Thanks Dad for making the wheelchair, for brushing her teeth, for cleaning up when she peed all over the place and for having so much faith that she could walk. I love you dad. You are not only my hero but Daisy's too!

RIP Daisy Girl. 

Friday night was Aubrey's bridal shower and that was so much fun. Dr. Seuss themed of course with great food and company. I cannot believe Aubs is getting married in two weeks! Its so crazy! We are so happy for her and Daniel and are excited they will be staying in Utah for awhile longer so they will be close.

The rest of the weekend was spent laying out by the pool, shopping, eating and celebrating my sisters birthday. We went to Denio's and to The Galleria and to The Buckhorn for an awesome steak dinner. 

My parents always know the coolest restaurants (even if they are an hour drive away).

 

 

Sunday we had dinner at Mike and Rene's and watched family videos' afterwards. Its always fun to watch videos of yourself when your younger. I noticed how bossy  I was to my siblings in the videos (Kevin did too) but I guess that's what I got for being the oldest of the 5 kids! We were all so cute when we were little and we said the funniest things. Lots of great clips of Hunter too. He was such a handsome charming little boy! I miss that.

Monday morning we had to head back to Utah. No staying around for fireworks or big barbecued dinners or even for Mom's birthday. We said our goodbye's and headed off. 

Its always a bitter sweet feeling leaving home. I am always missing it when I am out here, especially my family (not so much Sacramento)... I love all the time we get to spend and cherish every moment we are together. 

Luckily we will be back in just 16 days for Aubrey's wedding. That makes me very happy.

We made it back to Utah just in time to head up to the Capitol and watch the fireworks all throughout the valley. It was such a cool view way up on Capitol Hill and we could see dozens of fireworks! It was lovely.

Back to grind...Work, housework and getting ready to move in a few weeks. 

We have so much going on in our lives and at the end of everyday I look back and think how good we have it. How blessed we are that I know Heavenly Father is looking out for us.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July Weekend and was safe.