March 2013

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!  Hurray that things are finally warming up.  We have really been enjoying the warmer weather. 

          It has been a busy month here.  Unfortunately, some of the busy times started with a funeral.  A few years ago Bryan made friends with an elderly lady Irmina Brietenbach (aka Randi),  who he met when he helped with the funeral for her sister.   Since then, we have visited her, shoveled her walks on snowy days, and tried to make some of her holidays a little brighter.  This month she passed away and we attended her funeral.  Brady and Ellie helped carry the casket.  It was a sad day, but we felt happy to know that she is no longer suffering and lonely.

          After the funeral we had a picnic at the park in Parowan and played for a while.  We wanted to go for a hike, too, but the trail was still covered in snow.  Bummer!

          We got in some other outside time, however.  Brady, Ellie, Afton, and I went one warm day to Three Peaks to play.  Three Peaks is an area west of Enoch that has lots of huge rocks all over.  Lots of people ride 4-wheelers over the rocks, but they are also lots of fun just to climb around on.  We spent a few hours climbing rocks, chasing lizards, and climbing trees.  Afton liked pretending that the holes in the rocks were her bath tubs.  Brady climbed to the very top of a tree and peered at us over the top branches.  Ellie just ran here, there and everywhere, calling me to hurry and come see the latest neat thing she had found. We had lunch out there and all got a little bit sunburned, but we had a great time.

          A few days ago I took the kids out by Parowan to a spot where there is a big cliff that tons of boulders have fallen off of.  The boulders make great places to climb, hide under, and explore.  Brady and Ellie found “houses” under the boulders while Afton and I hunted for cactus and lizards.  After all of these adventures, the kids always say we’ll have to take Bryan there on his days off.  Too bad those days are often filled with lots of other things to do.

          He did go to St. George with us the other day.  We went and hiked on the Red Hill, did some clothes shopping, went to the temple, and had dinner with my parents.  We tried to fit in a few too many things and didn’t even make it home till 11:00 at night.  We were all exhausted the next day, but we did have a lot of fun and I was very grateful that we made it to the temple.

          Our cat is not doing too well.  He has a huge bite on his leg.  It is infected and his leg is swollen and he can barely put any weight on it at all.  I think we will be making a trip to the vet this week.  Fun!

          Our chickens have started laying more often again.  We are fortunate to have neighbors who want to buy eggs, so the chickens mostly pay for their own food.  They also provide entertainment for the neighbors who come to play with the kids.  They love to hold them and play with them.  Who knew chickens could be so entertaining?

          Brady needed a haircut the other day, so I told him to get the stuff together to do it.  He told me that I could cut his hair, but not to cut the stuff in front of his ears, on his cheeks.  He said he was trying to grow a beard.  I explained to him that you don’t grow a beard with that hair.  You have to have whiskers.  He just replied, “Okay, you can cut it.  I’ll still grow a beard.  I have lots of peach fuzz.”  What a sweet, funny kid!

          Bryan had to work a lot Easter weekend.  He ended up going to St. George in the middle of the night on Saturday, so today we left the house to let him have some quiet for a nap.  We went to SUU and wandered the campus.  We love it there.  It is beautiful and very peaceful on Sundays.  We went to the little stage where they do the Green Shows before the Shakespeare plays are performed.   Ellie danced all over the stage with great drama.  She loves to pretend that she is the greatest dancer in the world and she told me the other day that she was pretty sure that she was the prettiest person in our whole family, and she didn’t know why.  I’m glad she feels so good about herself.

          We had popcorn for a snack the other day and afterwards Afton went to the cupboard and asked me to get her a “pokey.”  She meant a toothpick and I thought she just wanted to copy Brady, who often likes to use a toothpick after meals.  I gave her one and just laughed as she played with it in her teeth.  Then she came to me and said, “Help.  Popcorn stuck.”  I looked in her mouth and there was a popcorn skin stuck in her teeth.  She had been trying and trying to get it out with her toothpick and just didn’t have any success.  I got it for her.  She is a smarty!

          Bryan is getting ansty about planting the garden.  He wants to start right now.  We think some of our raspberries may have survived the winter and our Enoch clay.  I want to clean the house from top to bottom.  It must be spring!

Happy Easter!!!

February 2013

We have had a good month but we are ready to have it be over.  We have Spring fever and can’t wait to get out and work in our yard.  The garden is calling to us and we look longingly out the window at it.   It is, however, too cold and muddy still to do anything with it.  Brady and Ellie have planted some carrots and onions in pots here in the house so that they can be transplanted in the spring.   They just started to sprout within the past few days. 

Our chickens are doing great and are excited about the weather being a little nicer the past few days.   We did discover though that one of our “hens” is actually a rooster. So we now wake up to two Cock-doodle-dos (lucky us) we might just have to have chicken nuggets in the next day or two (don’t tell the kids).

          The best thing about February, of course, was Brady’s baptism.  We are so glad, Grandma, that you were able to come and wish that Grandpa could have come too.  Brady thought the water was pretty cold, but he said that afterwards he felt so clean that he felt like he had showered for three days.   What a cute and great kid!

          We are part of a fun school group.  We get together once a week to learn various things, play, and go on field trips.  We went to a natural history museum and a movie theater this month for our field trips.  Both places were very interesting. 

          This month we also learned about Ernest Shackleton.  He was an amazing man.  We learned that he took a group of men to try and cross Antarctica, but their ship was trapped in the ice before they made it to Antarctica.  They had to spend the winter in their ship and then abandon it when the ice broke the ship and made it sink.  They camped on the ice for months while it drifted around.  Then they got in the life boats they had saved from their ship and sailed to a tiny, uninhabited island where no ships ever came.  Shackleton took 5 other men and sailed 800 miles over the world’s stormiest ocean in a 23 foot boat to get help.  They made it to an island with a whaling station on it, but landed on the wrong side.  The boat and two of the men were not in any condition to sail the 150 miles to the other side, so Shackleton took two men, left one to care for the sick ones, and crossed the interior of the island to get help.  The interior had never been crossed before.  It was very mountainous and had many glaciers and crevasses.  They did not sleep or rest.  They made it to the whaling station in 36 hours.  All three men later wrote that as they crossed that island it seemed their group had a fourth man helping them along.  That was my favorite part.  It reminded me of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.  Shackleton eventually got back to his men on the other island.  It took four tries because there was so much ice around the island.  They had to wait for him for 4 ½ months.  However, he rescued every one of them and after 2 years they finally went back home to England.  It was such a neat story and all the kids really liked it.

          Bryan got released from the Elder’s Quorum Presidency this month.  Now he is the in the Sunday School Presidency.  I got to speak in Sacrament meeting about Scouting because I am the Primary Counselor over Cub Scouts.  We also had our Blue and Gold Banquet this month.  Tons of people showed up and it was really awesome.  Brady is really busy with Cub Scouts and loves it.  Afton loves nursery and talks about singing “temple” there.  She wants to sing “I Love to See the Temple” every night at bedtime. 

          Ellie and I just read a book about a girl who sewed a sampler and Ellie wanted to learn to do that.  Brady was interested, too, so they are both learning to sew a little bit.  I am the wrong mom to teach them, but I’m all they’ve got, so we are trying.

          We have had some fun learning this month.  We’ve learned about Galileo, about China’s only woman emperor, and Beowulf.  We finished The Black Stallion, Matilda, Stuart Little, and are almost done with the Bobbsey Twins (the 1^st book).  They want me to read them Mary Poppins next.  We are hoping to be able to take them to St. George this summer to see the play of Mary Poppins at the outdoor theater down there.

 Brady's first day of Cub Scouts

 The Beauty Queen

 Bryan's very cool Keva Plank creation

After a few warm days, collecting eggs was a challenge for Brady and Ellie.  By the time they got inside, they had both fallen several times and were covered in mud.  It was hilarious watching them try to walk through that sticky, deep, clay mess.

Fun with some of the Grandparents who came for Brady's baptism.

 Teaching Great Grandma Burbank how to play the Wii.

 Grandpa Randall . . . the incredible Wii bowler.

 Playing dress up with Grandma Randall.

 Dancing Queens:  Afton and Grandma Randall

Playing Catch Up . . . Again

I have not been a regular writer for the past long while.  However, we have written monthly (almost) letters to our grandparents.  So, to catch up, I am going to post parts of our grandparent letters and add pictures so that we have some kind of record of our goings on.

The January Wrap Up

     What a crazy, happy month January has been.  January is a special month at the Randall house.  Three of our five family members celebrate their birthdays.  We are grateful for each one of them.
     Bryan's birthday started out the party madness.  He was a good sport about having his special day a little bit early since there were other plans on the day of his actual birthday.  We surprised him with a sweet wheel barrow and a new DVD player.  We are so grateful for such a great guy to lead our family.

 

We had some silly times this month as well.  Afton, really, is quite the character and keeps the rest of us laughing all the time.  She loves to clown around and be silly.  She also wants to be a part of everything that Brady and Ellie are doing.  One day in our history book we studied about Columba, an ancient missionary to Scotland.  The first group of people this missionary taught was known as the "Picts" because they liked to paint themselves.  Brady and Ellie markered themselves and then did Afton just for the fun of it.  They looked like some crazy Picts!!!!

Bryan's real birthday was overtaken by the Pinewood Derby.  He and Brady had some adventures and good times making Brady's first Pinewood Derby car.  The races were fun.  We won some and we lost some, but Brady won the award for the "Sportiest Looking Car."  He can't wait for next year and is already making plans for his next car.  Bryan's not quite as enthused!

 

One Christmas present this year was a set of Keva Planks.  They have inspired Bryan and Ellie to great creativity.  So amazing what you can make with such simple blocks!

 

Afton's birthday was delayed because of technical difficulties. One of her presents just was not ready on time.  So her birthday was spread over a few days.  She didn't seem to mind, but she did keep wondering when her "hoo-hoo" and her "papas" were going to come.
She was thrilled to get new clothes from her Randall grandparents!

The "Hoo-hoo" finally came on Brady's birthday, along with a Pirate Ship.  It was so fun to see such excited and happy kids when they got out of bed and saw their cakes.  They loved them.  Afton had to bring her baby into the kitchen a few times throughout the day to show her the cakes.  It was really cute!

 

We were so glad to have Grandma and Grandpa Lillywhite, Supe, and Grandma Kurtz, and our neighbor, Jerry Rupe, come help us eat dinner, eat cake, and celebrate.  Afton was super happy about her presents.  She was beautiful, chatty, and ready to ride.  Bryan did such an awesome job on her horse.  It will be finished soon.  He just needs to stain it and add the mane and tail.  We are glad our neighbor, Brother Rupe was willing to help.  Afton knows him now and often talks about and prays for "Rupe."  She also got some books that she was really excited about later on.  She talked to "Papa" on the phone the entire time she was riding her horse, even though the "papas" were sitting right there in the living room.  So funny!
We sure are happy to have this cute and silly little girl in our family.  She makes us all so happy!  She is sweet and smart and so lovable!  Happy Birthday, sweet Afton!

 

Brady had some great reactions to some of his gifts.  He's way excited to be getting a magazine in the mail each month from the Lillywhites.  He's already built one of the wooden tractors from the Randalls.  Surprisingly, he about jumped out of his chair when he got a Cub Scout shirt.  Legos, of course, were thrilling.  The funniest thing, though, was when he got tithing bank from Grandma Kurtz with a little lock on it.  He had a great idea of where to keep the key so he wouldn't lose it.  He locked the box and then put the key inside.  It took him a minute to realize what he had done.  It was so funny!  We loved it!

 

Brady is such a fun guy to have around.  We sure love him.  He is creative and smart and starting to turn into a book worm.  He builds amazing Lego creations and has the greatest laugh.  He is enthusiastic about a lot of things and is a great worker.  We love him tons and are very proud of him.  We can't wait for his baptism.  Happy Birthday, Brady love.

Dance Magic

Amazing what a little music can do!  The whole family was inspired by some music on  Sunday night.  We danced around like crazy people for a good long time.  Bryan was very inspired.  He performed an astonishing dance called "Butterfly Emerging From the Cocoon."  The rest of us very nearly wet our pants as we laughed our heads off.  The whole evening was hilarious.  The kids keep begging Bryan to dance again, but he claims the next time he will dance will be when Brady gets his mission call.  Ten years and counting!!  We can't wait.  Maybe we'll get a cockroach dance then.

Baby Chicks

by Ellie and Brady

In August we had broody hens.  Finally one hen stayed with it.  One morning in September Brady went out to find the eggs.  He found a baby chick.  The other hens pecked the chick so we brought it in with its mother.  We also brought in the other eggs she was sitting on.  After three days another baby chick came out.  One is white and one is yellow.  They are best friends.  Their mom doesn't take care of them now.  Afton thinks the chicks are called beep-beeps.  She loves them!

Mountain F.H.E.

by Brady and Ellie

Our friends the El Haltas invited us to go to the mountains with them for F.H.E. last week.  We took tin foil dinners and cookies and coats.  We went to Cedar Breaks.  We played and started cooking dinner.  It started to rain and hail and snow.  It was cold!  We hopped in the car and went home.  At home we ate dinner and had hot chocolate and cookies.  Then we played and chatted.