Diamonds in the Rough

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Kami May turns 4!

Kami's birthday turned out to be a real blast. We decided to celebrate in the valley with cousins and the Hulls who came to valley from Kansas. So, we called it Kami's "Cool" Party! with a fun water slide, water toys, bubbles, slip N'slide and a special ice cream cone cake. We had it at Nana's house and Cardon's park. Thanks to her neighboors that had the big slide. So many cousins came and I barely had enough party favors and ice cream cones. We even fed every one lunch. It was so fun to have a reason to get together with everyone and just visit and play. Even Grandma and Grandpa Bevell showed up towards the end. Kambria felt so special and loved all her presents. While all the comotion was going on, she was content to blow bubbles, slip around in the water, and try each of her new toys. We love Kami's sweet personality and shining smile.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Lydia's First Year Scrapbook

Monday, May 11, 2009

Dave's 35 !

Happy 35th Birthday to Dave, May 7th. We had fun celebrating his birthday as the festivies were spread out over 3 days, due to our busy schedules. The girls and I had fun bringing him balloons and lunch to his studio on Thursday. Friday we had a homemade banana split brownie cake and presents, with the Merrill kids who we were babysitting. And Saturday we had a long date night while Amy watched all our kids.

...wow, it sure seems like a lot has happened in the last 2 months.

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".

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.