Diamonds in the Rough: April 2014

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Its Christmas time. My girls are getting so tall next to the tree.

So proud of their itty bitty snowman. And that was about it for the winter. Not much snow this year.

Our good ol' Tippy dog.

Kami didn't want to leave JunieBug out of the fun so she decorated her a Christmas tree in her pen and put a santa hat on her. She was so excited for Santa to leave a present for her horse. haha! I even went out one time and saw Lydia and Kami playing the Headbanz game with JunieBug. Too funny! What a spoiled horse.

Another ride for Colton in the doll stroller.

Baylee is such a natural on the stage. She has never had stage fright. She is a quick learner, great singer, and just confidently does her part. I love that. She performed in the Christmas Spectacular with her music theatre class.

Lydias kindergarten Christmas program. She was so cute and one of the littlest ones on the front row.

Sweet Mrs Romney her teacher made them all these blue knit hats.

Story time with Lydia

Getting tired...

so sweet!

Milk shake...ahhh yaaa!

Acting out the nativity at the neighbors. Caleb was a sheep, baylee and kami were angels. Lydia a shepherd and Colton was baby Jesus. So cute!

Kambrias Christmas program at Whipple Elementary

Baylee's first orchestra performance. She was in advanced orchestra and loved it. She was one of the youngest along with her friend Braelyn. they were glad to have each other to sit by.

moments to remember...

Just a compilation of random moments to remember. This is what keeps life real and exciting. I love this season of my life and am so grateful for each person in our family. What a joy! 2013 is quickly coming to an end. It is hard to see time going by so quickly.

Kami and her good friend Kira being goofy on a school field trip to pumpkin patch

Hooray for Baylee! She got a Lobo Paws certificate for her outstanding grades (A+).

Lydia's red smoothie mustache

Friends playing in the leafs.

Best buddies. They can't wait to wrestle together.

What to do with all the fall leafs. Lets put them on the trampoline and jump on them. What fun!!

My kids got asked to sing some Christmas songs for a stake singles dinner. They enjoyed it. Baylee did the violin as an angel, Kami did the auto harp dressed as a camel, Lydia sang sweetly as Mary, and Caleb was the little drummer boy with his friend.

Love this chubby smiley boy!

Another award for Baylee. Her and her friend Braelyn got the leadership award for the month, at Snowflake intermediate school.

I love the patriotism and that Mr. Boon recited the Gettysburg Address.

For Thanksgiving Kambria organized a skit about a turkey for dinner. She had fun getting the kids involved and saying her lines.

Colton's first Thanksgiving hay ride at Grandma Bevells.

Look at this goodlookin' crew ready for some hiking adventure with Papa and Dave and Dallan. This is one of the kids favorite things to do. Packpacking, camping, and cooking in the desert.

My cactus plant in bloom. I just love the florescent pink flowers. Such a unique shape. Gorgeous!

Colton regularly gets pushed around by Lydia and Caleb in the doll strollers.

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.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

moments to remember...

Thursday, April 17, 2014