Diamonds in the Rough

Friday, January 4, 2013

MORMON LAKE

So driving home from the Grand Canyon dave insisted we detour through Mormon Lake. Unfortunately there was no lake..it was all dried up. But their was still a small quaint town.

Grand Canyon

Family trip to the GRAND CANYON and boy was it grand!

PUMPKIN PATCH

I love going to the pumpkin patch in Snowflake and choosing our pumpkins to carve. This year we even did the corn maze and the barrell ride. It always feels so festive!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Soccer girls

Baylee and Kami finished out a fun season of soccer, with dad as assistant coach. It's great to see them run around the field. Both of them made good progress on their soccer skills this year.

Oh my word...was Baylee excited to make matching t-shirts and go with her dad on a date, planned by primary activity day leaders. What a fun event it was that they couldn't stop talking about for days.

Baylee's Nancy Drew

Baylee discovered a passion for reading Nancy Drew mystery books. So for her 9th birthday she wanted a Nancy Drew mystery party. It was a fun party to plan. Complete with a mystery to solve "The mystery of the missing birthday presents" Her friends all had a great time making fingerprint pictures, headbands, guessing games, and solving the clues of the mystery. All kids got a mini-detective kit. Baylee loved the party!

Calling all detective and sleuths!

Cupcakes and donut magnifiying glasses.

Everyone got a sleuthing kit.

Baylee loves her friends.

My little Nancy Drew

Trying to solve the mystery of the missing presents

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.