Diamonds in the Rough

Monday, May 11, 2009

Planting our Garden

We love this time of year when the weather is warm and we can go outside and play in the dirt. Thanks to Dave who put a lot of work into getting our garden ready to plant, we girls finally got to plant the seeds. Baylee was my big planting helper and Lydia took a mud bath.

Our little Molly from Annie

Baylee got her chance to shine in the Show Choir production of Annie. She did a great job. She had a lot of lines to know for Molly, the littlest of all the orphans. we were so proud of her and Lacey & Rustin who were in it too . It was a lot of weeks of practices. She said the hardest part was not smiling (she smiles when she is nervous) when she is suppose to be looking mad while the other orphans are poking her, and she did it perfectly. She loved meeting new kids, singing the songs, getting to ride in the laundry basket, and getting to put cocoa powder on her face. Amy and I both helped out backstage during the performances and boy is that a big job.

Our little Shirley Temple

Kami looked just like Shirley Temple when she got all dolled up for her dance performance. She had her white teddy bear and danced to a song called "Choochy Face" and boy does she have those natural girl moves. She made us all laugh. Dave, Nat, Nana, Papa, Mimi, and Chelsey got to see her perform and she felt really special.

My Birthday April 21st

Well my 32nd Birthday has come and gone. The thirties are starting to sound old. But Amy and I have a goal to do lots of youthful things so we can feel young, before we hit 40. It was a great day of celebration! Dave made me breakfast. Amy took me to lunch with all my girlfriends. My mom sent me great notes on my blog. Then we had dinner at the Fools Hollow Lake, had cake and presents, and I finished the day watching one of my favorite movies "Australia".

More Fun in Florida

The girls were real troopers but after a day of going from one thing to the next, Baylee insisted that they get to just play around. Kids are so easy to please. All they want for fun is just a play ground to run around. This picture was too funny because the girls were so tired they didn't make it under the covers before falling asleep.

EPCOT - Italy Baylee and Kami had to stop and touch all the flowers and waterfalls.

EPCOT-Morocco The girls made masks and collected tags at each country. This was my favorite because it reminded me of Israel. We ate dinner here and everyone liked the unique food. Lydia loved the Couscous.

After the cruise we spent a day around Epcot Center. Its a great way to travel the world in one location. EPCOT - France. They got to see "a real princess".

Here is a few more note worthy picts from our Florida adventures. This is the Bowman clan in front of our hotel.

Cruise with the Bowmans

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

In April we did a fun trip with the Bowmans to celebrate Dave's parents 40th anniversary. We got to go on a Disney cruise. We had a good time being with everybody since we don't get to see them that often. The girls favorite part was swimming and playing on the beach at Disneys private island. Dave was a real life saver, he helped so much with carrying around Lydia and hawling luggage. It was great to have an extra pair of hands for the usual kid cotastrophes. We realized trips with kids is fun but still a lot of work. Dave and I liked the food and walking around on the deck after the kids were in bed.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Easter Eggs

A fun day dying Easter eggs. We had the Merrills over and Braelyn. It was a great creative outlet for all of us. Its also really neat to see the brown and green eggs from our chickens turn funky colors in the different dyes. Kambria liked dipping one egg in every single color.

Then at the end of the week we had an egg hunt in our back yard with several neighborhood kids. There is always so much excitement in finding hidden eggs. Thanks goes to Amy, who was the master egg hider. I showed up just in time to help hunt. Lydia was happy finding the purple sucker in the grass.

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.