Wedding Dress Shopping with Aimee

Last Friday the girls & I went wedding dress shopping with my sister, Aimee. She is getting married on the beach so she didn't want to go to the "normal" bridal boutique and try on expensive long flowing dresses. So, we went to Fashion Square mall in Scottsdale and although it was a mall I felt like it was a bridal boutique when we looked at a store & the dress was 700 bucks!!! It was fun to be with her, and the girls felt like a grown up for getting to go "shopping" with Aunt Aimee. They LOVED the dresses. Every time they saw a color they would say "Cinderella, Aurora" or whatever Princess might wear that color.They found their "Cinderella" mannequin

This was the first dress she thought she might like...we were digging the black socks!!

She was discouraged at the end because she thought she was going to have to go to a boutique after all, until she found the Black & White store. Here is where she found "the dress" for a great price.

She is beautiful & the lady helping her kept saying it so the girls found their own dressing rooms & both would come out saying" I'm so beautiful"

It will look so beautiful on the beach with a flower in her hair. We had such a great time with her & it was fun to see the huge smile not leave her face once she put the dress on. The dress is hanging in my closet to make sure she isn't tempted to show Glenn, but we can't wait to see it on her for real.

American Idol

Last Friday night when we went to pick up David from the airport it was taking forever for his luggage to get in so we took the girls for a walk down past the rest of baggage claim. We walked past #6 and David said "That's Brooke White" (For those of you who don't watch American Idol she was one of the top 10 of last season & she was my favorite) so I told him we should get a picture of her but we kept going. So as we were waiting for his luggage we could see her down there & I kept saying we should get a picture but I was too chicken to do it. So as we were leaving David said "I will do the talking" and he walked up to her & asked her if she would take a picture with us. She was SO nice. She talked to us for like 15 min about her being in town doing a charity event for a family here & we talked about some church music that she did that we listen to. It was my moment with a "famous" person and I may be silly but I thought it was one of the coolest things....because one day she will be famous for real and I have a picture with her!

Weekend with the Roberts

Last Friday our friend Brett Roberts had a conference here in Scottsdale and he was super kind & brought his wife along with him. Leslie is one of my dearest friends & she moved to Indiana a few months before we moved to Arizona. I have missed her so much & it was so fun to have her here. They stayed at this amazing resort in Scottsdale that had a HUGE pool with a beach portion for the kids. The girls LOVED it. Friday afternoon the girls went swimming & then we picked David up at the airport, picked up Leslie & hung out for the night.

Saturday morning we got up early & picked up Leslie to walk in the March of Dimes walk. It was humbling to be walking & see the people along the road holding up signs about March of Dimes helping save their preemie. Leslie & I got choked up a few times when we would walk up on people who were walking for someone they loved. It was a great 4 mile walk & we got some great free stuff at the end (3 gallons of FREE milk). After a nap we went back to the hotel & swam for like 4 hours. Leslie & I went down the 2 story slide they had. I am afraid of water & when I came out the girls & David were watching me & David said "that was embarrassing". Leslie came out flying like she was in the olympics or something. I did it a second time to redeem myself but I still didn't do very well...although it was fun acting 15 again. Then Saturday night some friends of ours watched the girls & we all went out to Native New Yorker & had chicken wings (well not Leslie because she doesn't eat chicken wings) I have become quite the sissy living in the heat & had to wear my jacket in the restaurant even though it was like 90 outside. It was so wonderful spending time with Leslie. She french braided the girls hair & Zhara keeps asking me to do it "like Leslie" but I am not quite that talented yet. Thanks for coming out....we had a great time!!

An Easter Picture

We did a lot of things this weekend and when I find some time I will do a couple of posts but I wanted to at least share a picture of the girls in their Easter dresses.

A Night Out

Last Friday night a friend from church offered us his seats to the Suns game for free. Against our gut reaction to say no, we got a babysitter and went to the Suns game. It was a much needed night out. We sat 10 rows from the court (those guys are HUGE and Shaq is a BEAST), had a parking pass to the garage, got 4 free tacos (which was our dinner afterward) and they gave away free deodorant coupons with our program, so after the game we picked up like 20. I know most of you are laughing at this, but we are on a strict budget & there is nothing like something for free!! We enjoyed the game and our time together. The girls don't get a babysitter very often (usually it's grandma or Aunt Aimee) and they loved having one of the young women play with them. I enjoyed the date with my hubby!!

My Girls

When Sue was here she bought the girls the cutest pink outfits for church and they were too beautiful not to post. I am so grateful for the daughters of God I have been given. They bring such joy to mine & David's life. I sat watching them today for almost a half hour just watching them play together and I was so grateful for their innocence and for the love they have for each other....of course about 5 minutes after my prayer of thanksgiving Alyssa reached over and hit her sister because she wanted Zhara's toy and Zhara started crying and I just laughed (they didn't know I was watching of course but still it was an ironic moment that I'm sure the rest of the mothers out there can relate to) and was grateful for the girls in my life...good and bad.

p.s. the wet spot on Alyssa's shirt is because she got a nice blob of toothpaste on it :)

A Day with the Johnson's

The Saturday after the Larsen's left our friends Hilary, James, Cyan & Olivia, who were here visiting Hilary's grandmother, drove down to spend the day with us. My girls were so excited because Cyan & Olivia are about the same age as our girls and Zhara was very excited because Cyan is in kindergarten (that is very exciting to her). They were all so cute together. We spent a few hours at the zoo and then headed back to our house for a BBQ and swimming. We enjoyed listening to James' prison stories and James & David realized they knew all the same people from back in the high school days, which I'm not sure is a good thing :) We spent another couple of hours at the pool & then headed back to the apartment for some ice cream and ended our day at the park. It was so great to have them here. We miss our mountains but it has been wonderful having friends bring a little piece of Colorado to us. Thanks to the Johnson's for an amazing day...we hope we do it again soon, only this time in CO so I can see Pikes Peak again.

A Visit from the Larsens

Life in the Gould house has been crazy for the past month & I am very behind on blogging so I will be doing a lot of these the next couple of days. 2 weeks ago today Sue and Hannah Larsen came to visit us from Colorado Springs. They are our adopted family. From the moment I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Sue took me under her wing and became like a second mother to me and as soon as I was called to serve in Young Women's, Hannah and I were like sisters. We stayed at their house for 5 days while we got the house ready for renters before we moved to AZ and I remember saying goodbye to them on their driveway, not knowing when I would see them again. Well that moment came a year later when we met them at the airport. The girls made signs for them (in case they forgot what we looked like) and I felt like a school girl, I was so excited. David saw them round the corner and as soon as I saw Hannah we both started running and screaming (I'm sure everyone thought we were crazy). The girls were so excited to see them and Alyssa was attached to Hannah from the first moment (she called her "Obana" because I always say Hannah Bo Banna). Our week was full of activity. We took naps, rented movies (I FINALLY got to see High school Musical 3), went to the zoo, took a trip to the Fashion Square Mall (no famous people sightings but....)and ate out more than I think I've eaten out in an entire year. I was so spoiled while they were here and we had an amazing time. We were very touched that Hannah chose to spend her senior year spring break in AZ (of course there was a huge snow storm in CO that they went back to after being in the 80's). Thank you Sue & Hannah for everything!! Hope you enjoy the slide show (notice that David is not in our pictures because he works hard so that I can play and I love him for it!!).