Thank Heaven for Little Girls

Our Sweet Little Angel

Our Little "Big" Girls

Dreaming of their Prince Charming

Today I came across this picture of Abbie and Lillie in front of the Cinderella carriage and almost started crying because I thought they looked so grown up. Ever since Lucy came, all of the sudden I realized that Lillie is huge! She is not the baby of our family anymore and Abbie is 5 going on 13. How do I keep my kids from growing up? I look at Lucy and have flashbacks of Abbie at a week old and it feels like I was just there. Oh well, I guess we'll just enjoy the ride while it lasts...then take a VERY extended vacation!

Introducing......Lucy Randall........Feb. 3, 2008.......7 lbs. 8 oz

My kids always give it to me straight...

Don't you just love how your kids will always tell you exactly what they're thinking, especially when it comes to YOU. Here are a few examples from our house this last week.
Lillie: (In a very excited voice) "Mommy! Your hair is two colors! Brown up top and blond on the bottom.
Me: (In my head) "I think it might be time to call for a hair appointment."


Abbie: (While looking at my hands) "Mommy, your hand looks like a man's hand."
Brad: (Lots and lots of laughing...thanks honey)
Me: (In my head) I can't wait until I have this baby and I'm not so swollen so that my five year old doesn't start telling everyone her mommy's hands look like a man.


This last one happened a few weeks ago and was just too funny. We were walking into the bishop's office for tithing settlement and this is what was said...
Lillie: "Are we seeing the Bishop?"
Me: "Ya, we are going to give him our tithing."
Lillie: "But, is the Bishop going to cut my arm off?"
Me: Laughing "What? No, the bishop will not cut your arm off. It's not the doctor. And the doctor wouldn't cut your arm off either."
Bishop: Just laughed and quickly offered Lillie some chocolate to make her like him.

We're still alive!!

OK, it has been quite awhile since my last post and some of you (any of you who happen to still be visiting my blog) may be wondering if I'm still here. We have been busy with Christmas and baby plans and by the time my kids go to bed at night, I cannot mentally or physically do anything but watch the biggest loser and sympathise with those poor people who, like myself, have a hard time going up a flight of stairs, or just plain walking. Although this is sounding depressing, I am feeling ok and am looking forward to meeting our third little munchkin in a few weeks. Christmas was wonderful in Arizona. I was able to fly down with my girls Dec. 16th and spend some fun times with both sides of the family and go to dinner with some friends. Brad drove down by himself (poor guy) and met us the Saturday before Christmas. Fortunately, Santa still found our family at my parents house and Abbie and Lillie had a blast Christmas morning. When we came back to Utah the day after Christmas, we were met with SNOW, SNOW and MORE SNOW. We even got stuck trying to pull into our own driveway the night we got back. Since it was 1 am and we were tired and freezing, our car stayed there until the morning. Our neighbors thought it was pretty funny the next morning when they looked out their window and saw the Randall's car with one half in the driveway and one half in the street. I will try to make myself post some pics soon. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that your new year is going well.

Christmas Tree...Part 2

So, last weekend we decided we better go and cut down our Christmas tree. Seemed like a great day for it...oh, except for the huge snowstorm. It actually turned out to be one of the worst snow storms they've had here in a few years. We first went to McCall's parent's house in Heber. Scott and McCall invited us for some lunch and snow playtime before we headed to the tree cutting areas.

Lillie, Jackson and Abbie
Snow Angels anyone? How the heck do you get up from making a snow angel without wrecking it? That is the million dollar question for our family this winter. We'll let you know when we've solved the mystery.
So after lunch, playtime, and Brad and Scott helping McCall's dad with some things, we were off. McCall's dad graciously offered to lead the way in his big truck to help us find where we were going in all the snow. He took us on a pretty slippery rode, but we were both doing ok with our 4 wheel drive...until we went up a little hill. As her dad got to the top of the hill, his wheels lost their traction and he began to slide back down the hill, right for us. Brad tried to move out of the way, but it was so slippery that we weren't going anywhere. It felt like slow motion as his huge red truck slammed into the front of our car. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and we made it out of that freaky rode safe and sound. Brad and I were ready to give up, but McCall's dad wasn't having it. We went another way and just as the little bit of sun there was that day was almost gone, Brad and Scott found a cute little tree in thigh deep snow just off the side of the road (ya, the rest of us just stayed in the warm cars). It was the longest day ever, but we got our tree and even decorated it when we got home.
My poor baby. Will it ever be the same?

McCall asked us when it was all over if we are going to rethink our little tradition. I'll get back to you on that one. Even though it was a crazy day, we love our tree!

Thanksgiving Fun

Here are just a few highlights from our trip to AZ for Thanksgiving. We had such a great time visiting with friends and family. Unfortunately we had two really sick kids that took us to the Urgent Care twice, but they were troopers. We spent Thanksgiving day at Brad's Aunt Laurie's, the evening at my mom's and then Friday lunch at Brad's Dad's. We ate and ate and ate.

We split up the drive by spending the night in Page, AZ. The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever to stay in a hotel. They wanted to live there. You can tell how much sleep we really got all being in the same room together.

The girls had tons of fun with their cousins
Brad's mom got the game Rock Band and everyone was soon addicted. I think I make a pretty hot pregnant drummer. I think the boys might have started to really believe they were in a band, it got a little out of control. Pretty soon after this pic, Brad's shirt came off, then Kristen's husband Garrett's shirt came off and went on his head. Dennis kept it cool and just flipped his collar. I felt very proud to be my hubbie's pregnant groupie.


These are my first homemade pies. Pumpkin and Dolce de Leche. Even though the crust didn't look like the most professional thing, they luckily tasted yummy.

Don't mess with a pregnant lady...

I don't know about anyone else when they are pregnant, but I can get even more demanding and blunt than I already am. Having said that, now I will tell you why there is a picture of a Christmas tree in this post. For the past few years, Brad and I have taken our kids to cut down our own Christmas tree. It was just a fun idea one year that now has turned into our own little family tradition. Well, now that we are living in Utah, I wasn't sure where or when permits go on sale. I totally procrastinated and finally looked it up online Saturday. I found out that the spot we want to go to was almost sold out. So, I called the Ranger Station this morning (they were closed Mon for Veteran's Day) and asked how many they had left. She said only 25 and there were already 4 people there right then. So, I threw on some sweats (I looked hot) and my kids and I sped up to the Heber Ranger Station (about a 40 min. drive from our house). We pulled in and were getting out of the car (which with my 2 kids takes FOREVER) another car pulls into the parking lot AFTER us and 3 people get out and walk ahead of us into the station (walking with my 2 kids also takes FOREVER). When we got inside I heard those people asking the lady how many permits were left and she said 3, and they said they would take all three. I'm sure you all know where this story is going....but I will finish anyway. I kind of freaked out in my head, but SORT OF calmly said to them, "Do you REALLY need all three?" They just kind of stared at me and were like, "umm, I don't know, umm, maybe, well, umm, let's see.... Basically, they didn't know what to say because I think the look on my face might have been a little scary. To make an already long story short, the pregnant lady dressed in sweats, with her two kids, left the ranger station with a permit to cut down her very first tree in Utah in her hand. Thank you, thank you.