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.

Sweet Summertime. (Lots of Photos)

Summer is here! 

I am one happy California Girl. The sun is shinning, the rivers are flowing, the lakes are full and the shorts are on.

Finally.. Its the end of June and it feels like summer is JUST starting.

What a great start to summer we have had so far.

Last Thursday marked the Year Anniversary of my brothers passing. I struggled a few days before as I remembered the last days I spent with my sweet brother and how just a year ago we were still laughing and talking. Now he is gone and its been a whole year. A year full of so many firsts for our family and new adventures (and new family members). 

On Thursday I went to work in the morning then Kevin and I met up with Aubrey and Daniel for lunch. 

Later that evening the four of us met up again and headed up to Bridal Veil Falls, where the previous year we spent one of our last days with our brother playing baseball. We all had written letters to Hunter and tied them to some balloons and let them up into the sky. We watched as the bouquet of balloons dodged tree after tree and floated down the canyon.

We ate dinner, played some catch and roasted smores. It was a lovely evening to remember Hunter and I felt so blessed to spend it with family. 

On Saturday we headed down to Manti with our neighbors Kyle and Carly. It was the last weekend for the Manti Pageant and it was such a blast. We set up camp in this cayon right behind Manti and it was so great. Our tent was right next to this little stream that made the most beautiful sound all day and even into the night. 

After setting up camp we headed up to the little lake where we did some fishing! It was my first time and like the champ rookie I am on my first cast I caught a FISH! It was so fun.

We set up out our blankets around 3 at the pageant to save seats and got back around 6:30. The crowd was starting to grow so we were glad we had saved our seats. We got funnel cakes, pulled pork sandwich meals and Italian gelati (custard + gelati + more custard.. yum) We sat out on the lawn talking and observing the anti-Mormon protestors for three hours before the pageant finally started. The pageant was so wonderful. Totally worth seeing (Apparently since it was Kevin's 4th time) 

We headed back to the camp site where we roasted smores and then headed to bed. I'll admit it was a little chilly and we slept on the ground in our sleeping bag, but falling asleep to the sound of the flowing stream was awesome. Such a fun little day get away and we made it back just in time for church this morning.

We posted our apartment online today so after a whole week of neglect we finally cleaned to show the apartment this evening to the first people already interested. 

We are so excited to be moving next door next month. A bigger place where we hope to be for some time. We are so excited for Kyle and Carly as they start this new adventure in their life and wish them all the success in the world but we will miss them terribly! They have been great neighbors! 

Well Sunday is coming to a close. We leave Wednesday night for Sacramento. We are so excited to be going home.Endowment sessions, birthdays, pool side and 4th of July. It is sure to be a lovely weekend! 

Goodnight bloggers!