Diamonds in the Rough

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The edible Rainbow!

We invited the Merrill's over and had a scrumptious St. Patty's dinner. I made the corned beef roast, cooked cabbage, and spent the bulk of the day layering our rainbow jello dessert. It is always so fun to look at, it makes it worth the time.

St. Patty's Day Treasure Hunt

The gold at the end of the rainbow was extra tasty.

Aunty Chelsey insisted on being the Leprechaun.

Amy and I put together a fun St. Patricks Day treasure hunt for the neighborhood kids. I had fun writing the clues, but it really stretched my rhyming skills. The kids ventured from my house, to Willis', to Merrills - where they found the treasure.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Cousins!

Cousins are so fun. Baylee and Kambria had a blast getting to spend a couple days with cousins in the valley and getting to see Amarissa & Natasha from Kansas. They just played outside most of the time, coming up with games and make-believe activities. Natasha turned 8 and they loved getting to celebrate her birthday with a treasure hunt and cupcakes.

A Lost Tooth!

Another first for Baylee this year, finally she lost her first tooth. She was worried for a while that everyone was going to lose teeth except her. She was wiggling it for weeks. Then the day finally came for it to come out, only mom and dad were in Utah and Baylee was at Aunt Amy's. So Baylee decided to save her tooth for mom to see when she got home, only by that time it really got lost. Baylee asked, "mom will the tooth fairy still come even if I can't find my tooth to put under the pillow". "Sure, I say, just leave the tooth fairy a note and something inplace of the tooth". So Baylee comes up with a note and a fishy cracker. To her amazement the toothfairy did come-took the note and cracker and left a gold 1 dollar coin. Wow! I bet the toothfairy never received a fishy cracker, instead of a tooth before. :) The word spread to 7yr old cousin Lacey that if you leave a fishy cracker under your pillow, the tooth fairy will give you a gold coin. Lacey was so excited and ready to make bank from the box of fishy crackers in the pantry.

Tunes

This was a bonding moment for Lydia and Aunt Chelsey. Lydia discovered that Chelsey has fun kids music to listen to on her ipod. Aunty Chelsey is such a fun pal.

Violin Recital

Baylee had her first violin recital. Yea! She has a wonderful teacher, Arabeth Brimhall, who made all the students feel so special by giving them a certifcate, violin pin, and flower. Baylee was so excited about the whole thing and had worked really hard to get her song just right. I liked hearing the songs played with the piano accompniament and then at the end all the students played a song together. I was proud of Baylee for doing her best and being so self-motivated to stick with the violin even though at times it is challenging.

A typical dinner at our house.

My sister and I were discussing the funny differences in our family dinner conversations. Amy was expressing how she has to try really hard to initiate conversation and get her kids (4boys, 1girl) to tell about their day and how they are doing. Really? I thought. I definitely have the opposite problem at our dinner table. We sit down to a dinner that could last forever, because my 3 girls (yes, even Lydia) will not stop talking. We hear about their whole day, every random thought in their heads, how they are feeling, and Lydia consistenly repeats every word coming out of the other 2 mouths. I have to constantly monitor the taking turns of who is aloud to speak, and Dave and I rarely get a word in. If we do say something, then the girls always have something to say about what we say. It is rather humorous, but exhausting. Girls are so funny!

Another observation is that despite the fact that my girls love to talk, they are also very different. This was made apparent on another evening meal when Dave and I were actually having a dinner conversation together, after the girls had finished eating. The funny thing is that Baylee was sitting by us taking notes (practicing her writing skills), Kambria was running around the house with a balloon, thoroughly happy pretending her balloon was a person and dressing it up (so silly), and Lydia (who loves to figure things out) was sure she new how to build a fire in the wood burning stove and so she was neatly laying all Dave's wood kindling in it. Boy, was that a site to see when we finally discovered what she was doing. Definitely a picture moment with black soot all over her face and clothes.

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.