Diamonds in the Rough: August 2010

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Road Trip to Kansas

So Dave had to drive to St. Louis, MI for a work show, so we decided to have him take the rest of the family along and drop us off in Kansas to visit my Aunt Melanie and her kids. Boy! did we have a great time doing lots of fun things that were FREE and just visiting and playing at their house which is out in the country on 5 acres. It is in such a pretty place.

Natasha and Kami riding the gocart on Hull's driveway.

Yummm! They all ate purple cupcakes and loved there new look.

Downtown Kansas Halmark craft center. The kids had a blast making card crafty things.

Playing in the fountains in downtown Kansas city.

Looking in the one room old fashioned school house. This day Melanie was sick so I got to take all the kids on an outing. I treated them all to a candy stick from the gift shop. It was fun to play with them.

Fathers Day cooking project

Me and the girls had a blast making these fun cupcakes for Dad on Father's Day!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Caleb in all his cuteness!

Girls Trip with Dad

Baylee and Kami were thrilled to get to go with Dad to Hawaii to stay in the Bowman's Marriott timeshare. It was a fun four days of playing in the hotel pools and building sandcastles on the beach. I missed them terribly Lydia, Caleb and I stayed home to hold down the fort, they were too little to do a trip like that.

Here is the girls camped out in the airport waiting for the long flight home. The girls were real troopers to fly on a plane through the night to come home.

Our Adventure

Our adventure together started when a city boy met a country girl at heart (even though she grew up in the city). We are so glad that our paths crossed and that our destination was the same. Now after almost 8 years of marriage we continue to enjoy the adventure of our lives together. While I try to keep up the pace along the path, he makes sure I don't miss any of the scenery along the way. We want to appreciate each stage of our family journey together, by treasuring the moments that matter. With so much to be grateful for through ups and downs we like to carry on the phrase "never has life been better than this".

Describing Myself

So, I have always thought it challenging to describe myself. Maybe it’s a second child syndrome or maybe its because I am a melting pot of quircky traits. Luckily I am not alone in that, its genetic, haha!

So, here is my attempt at describing myself.
An Arizona native, though I was actually born in CA. I love Arizona and its diversity. The desert can be so beautiful. I come from a family of 4 kids. I am #2. I loved taking care of my sister Chelsey, who was 8 yrs younger than me and growing up I always loved babysitting, because I could just play with the kids. I have a lot of self-motivation and a challenge never stops me from trying. This trait was acquired at a young age when I wouldn’t let being the smallest and shortest be a disadvantage. I have always loved horses, since I can remember. It’s in my Randall blood, though I have never actually owned one. I love the outdoors and sometimes its hard to be doing the mundane house jobs when I would rather be outside. I really enjoy figuring out solutions to problems. I like gadgets (a trait from my father). Thus, when my Sunday School teacher hired me as his secretary, when I was a Junior in Highschool, I was in my element and thoroughly enjoyed getting his company out of the old and in to the new computer world. This job supported me through college. I truly love learning. School wasn’t easy, but I enjoyed what I learned and was able to go to BYU. In college I had a hard time deciding on a major because their was so many subjects I wanted to learn about. I took classes in Engineering, science, business, dance, recreation, and music. - so, I probably could be labeled as knowing a little bit about a lot of things. An experience I’ll never forget was living in Jerusalem and Egypt for 4 months doing a BYU study abroad. It gave me a bigger perspective. I am more of a listener than a talker. I love hearing about peoples experiences and I am good at keeping confindences. I remember as a youth sitting amongst my adult relatives, just listening to them talk. I am so grateful for a close extended family that loves to share ideas. I am a detail person and a planner, I am working on being more spontaneous. I am learning to appreciate the different stages in my life, and now that I am 32 I really wish time would slow down. I am so grateful to be married to Dave, a super wonderful husband and father. Above all, I love being a wife and a mom to 3 beautiful daughters, it gives purpose and meaning to my busy days. I enjoy music in my home - playing the piano, singing songs, and dancing with my kids. I especially love to dance with Dave, even though we don’t get to very often. I love doing projects with my kids and reading to them. I enjoy cooking healthy nummy foods and I have way too many cook books. Cleaning the bathrooms is my least favorite house chore and sweeping the floors (since they need it so often) is therapeutic. I will sweep and sweep with a million thoughts going through my head. I have always loved giving hugs (the big bear hugs), when I was young it was my pets, now it is my kids. So big hugs have become a tradition in our family. I love it when I can use my talents to serve others. I love the Gospel. I love that the Lord makes up the difference for our imperfections. I am so grateful to have a forever family.