Diamonds in the Rough: Deseret Ranch in Florida

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Deseret Ranch in Florida

So we finally had a couples trip (well almost..we did have Caleb) but downsizing to 1 child is a piece of cake. We went with Amy and Troy to Florida to visit my parents on their mission. It was really fun to just travel together, see the beautiful 500sq mile church cattle ranch in Florida, take an airboat ride, and see my parents in their element of beautiful country and serving the Lord. Dad is an engineer over water resources, he is amazing at what he does and has proved to be a good asset over their. Mom is busy doing all kinds of good things and all the ranch workers love her baked treats. They are living in a cute itty bitty little ranch house.

Mom had to show us the big CAT she got to drive while they were clearing trees out of the pastures.

These amazing vines growing everywhere on the cypress trees. Mom gives official tours on the ranch so she impressed us with her knowledge of the vegetation and ranch facts.

This is the shallow waters we started on with the air boat. Its amazing how the boat just hovers.

we saw alligators ... ooh scary! we saw lots of cool wildlife in and around the water.. several times the airboat skimmed right over the top of them.

This picture is too funny...you wouldn't know we were speeding along holding on for dear life. The airboat is so loud you have to cover your ears.

This was the cool part. The driver jumps off the boat and catches us a babygator to hold. It took nerve to finally hold that thing.

Dad had baby duty, while the rest of us were on the 2 hr boat ride. What a great papa! He thought he was going to get a nice nap while they slept. Instead he had his hands full with these 2 active critters.

We went to the beach. It was a perfect day, the water was great to swim in, and we found lots of fun shells.

Great sign at the ranch rodeo grounds. I had to get a picture of it.

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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.