Monti and Shannan Randall

Hello again!

2011-03-18T10:14:00.001-07:00

Ok, so it has been FOREVER since I've blogged anything! It has been craziness around here. So much has happened...let me sum it all up. In November we moved from our home in Apache Junction, where we'd lived for nearly 8 years, to Queen Creek. We are now alot closer to both sets of grandparents and a couple of our siblings as well. It's so important to us to be close to our families and it has been such a blessing in SO many ways. In December, Gracie had her first dance recital. She was darling! And did a relatively good job...considering that it was a class full of 3 year olds. :) Christmas came and it was so amazing to share in Rosalie's first Christmas. In January Gracie turned 4 and all she wanted for her birthday party was to have a "pee-YA-ta". And so she did! She loved it as much as she thought she would. Then in February we went to Disneyland!!! We had a BLAST! And we can't wait to go again! Gracie is now in soccer and loving that. I'll post pictures of that soon. In the meantime, here's a look at that last 6 months...

Gracie all ready for her recital.

The girls in their Christmas dresses....OOOH I love them!

Don't you just want to eat those cheeks?!

Rosalie was the star in the annual Stewart Christmas nativity. Gracie played Mary.

Gracie got a Princess scooter from Santa Claus, complete with helmet, knee and elbow pads. She wore the accessories more than she rode the scooter. She looks...great! :)

Going after the pinata at her birthday party.

What a CUTE girlie!!

Her ballerina shoes birthday cake!

Waiting in line for the princess faire with her bff and cousin Max.

Bowing to her highness Princess Ariel

Both princesses with their Fairy Godmother.

At California Adventure we ran into Jessie. Gracie and Hayden were so stoked!

Gracie, Max, and Hayden on the teacups!

Miss Rosalie...so tired after a long Disney day.

Gracie too!

Getting a kiss from Minnie.

So excited to see Mickey Mouse!

Chilling out on Minnie's couch...

And in her sink...

And at her well. We wore out our welcome!

The family with our pal Mickey! Even Harry bear got to tag along.

Rosalie's pictures

2010-07-23T22:48:00.000-07:00

We took Rosalie to get her 6 week pictures taken. Anyone who knows our little stinker will appreciate what an ordeal that was. We told the photographer when we walked in that we weren't shooting for smiley pics..."just try to get some where she's not crying." And consequently we got several right after she'd quit eating and had dozed off. :) The photographer was VERY patient and we got some really cute ones.

Sweet girl!

Kind of a funny look...but she's not crying! And she is super cute so she can get away with it!

Trying to crawl away. She was just about to start crying.

What a sweet little angel! We had to show off her beautiful blessing dress!

This is my absolute favorite..I just want to kiss her precious little nose!

Baby Rosalie

2010-06-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

OK, OK, so I have had a few "gentle" reminders that I haven't posted any pictures of the peanut. I know she's 5 weeks old and I am really behind. But may I remind everyone, HELLO, I had a baby 5 weeks ago! Cut me some slack people! :) It really has been quite crazy around our house and time has flown.

Rosalie Joy was born May 14 at 8:15 am. My water broke at about 6 am on Thursday the 13. It was...a little terrifying. I woke Monti up and he came in. All seemed to be well though. So I called my sister, Tracie. She asked if I as doing ok and I said yes. After I hung up with her I realized that my teeth were chattering and I was shaking alot. So, Monti gave me a blessing and I settled in. I had contractions every 5 mins or so for about an hour and then....NOTHING!! Yes, that's right, a big fat nothing. All day. We played alot of cards. I tried to stay busy. Got the hospital bag together, took a shower and did my hair and makeup, started a couple of loads of laundry. Monti and I went for a walk but, let's face it, we live in Hades and I was miserable outside. So we came back and I got on Wii fit. I did step aerobics and hula hoop...NOTHING!! I was really starting to go crazy. I took a couple of naps thinking I would rest up because things would start anytime now. NOT! So at about 11:30 pm, I called and asked my mom and dad to bring Gracie home. I was tired and discouraged and figured that I needed one last night with just our little family. So my parents got there about midnight and Gracie was really ticked that she wasn't getting to have a sleep over at grandama's. It took a little while to get her calmed down and asleep. I finally laid down next to her to snuggle about 1 am and BAM...there was suddenly NOT nothing. Contractions came on hard and fast. We called my parents and they came back. We got to the hospital at about 3:45 and I was only at a 2. I was a little irritated that I was only at a 2. But went from a 2 to having her in a little over 4 hours. So...it went fast. And went really well. We love, love, LOVE our OB Dr. Brass. She was amazing and we were so glad that her capable hands were there to help everything to go so smoothly. So we brought our little princess into the world in a room filled with people we love the most and who love her and us the most. It was an incredible, beautiful experience. Gracie got to be there to watch her sister be born and she still tells anyone who will listen all about it!! It was AMAZING!!!

So, without further ado....Rosalie Joy Randall 6 lbs. 15 oz. 20 1/2 in.

Gracie LOVES that baby sister!

Dr. Brass....the awesomest doc in the world!

Gracie, Rosalie, and "Harry Bear"

Ready for her first trip to church

Can ya tell that she likes her baby?

Daddy's pretty proud too!

What a cutie!! I may be slightly partial.

Snuggling sisters. Look at all that blonde hair.

Both girls got to be princesses on Rosalie's blessing day.

Family pictures

2010-03-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

In February my parents celebrated their 50th anniversary and my whole family came down for the celebration. So we scheduled family pictures. It's been a while since we had them done. And the photographer was nice enough to do individual family shots as well. Then snapped a few of the princess while she was at it. They turned out so great, I had to share! Here's my big girl!! Can you believe she's 3 already?!

Just a little cheesy...but dang cute!

I love, love LOVE this one!

Not my best view, but it shows the whole family, including Rosalie.

Christmas and our ultrasound

2009-12-30T13:02:00.001-08:00

Well, Christmas was a BLAST! Gracie is just at the right age where the magic of Christmas is all consuming. It was all she talked about for weeks. It was amazing to see the light in her eyes when she'd talk about Santa and the presents and our "magic chimney". She came up with that all on her own. We'd told her all about how Santa comes down the chimney and of course she wanted to see it. We explained that we didn't actually have a chimney but that Santa would figure it out. He's a pretty smart guy after all. The next day she started telling everybody about our "magic chimney" that Santa would come down. And even showed Monti and I where it was in our living room. Right next to the stockings. Nobody could ever accuse her of not having a vivid imagination. I LOVE IT!

Christmas Eve we got up and got dressed and she could hardly contain herself waiting for Monti to get home from work. He only worked half day, and so when noon finally rolled around she was dancing a jig. We loaded up and headed over to grandma and grandpa Stewart's house for the festivities there. First it was the big dinner. Gracie has determined that turkey is the best food in the world. She ate and ate and ate it.

Then it was time for the annual Stewart Nativity. Gracie was an angel. She had begged and begged for that part all week. It was pretty much a shoo in since all little girls who aren't playing Mary are part of the heavenly host. She did such a good job standing there with her little hands together in front of her. She was so excited to be part of it.

She makes a pretty cute angel!

Then we had a visit from the big guy in the red suit! She had talked about that all week too, but then when it came time to sit on his lap, we got the breakdown that we'd avoided with the mall Santa. Having cousin Max sit next to her relieved it enough to snap a quick picture. But you can see the drama.

Somewhere along the way she heard Santa speak. Our Santa that visited happens to be my brother in law Rob. He's got a super special job being one of Santa's helpers. When she heard his voice she suddenly stopped crying and stared and stared at him. Then she turned to me and said, "Mama, that's Robbie!"

This is her checking him out to see if she's right. When it got time to leave I told her to say goodbye and Merry Christmas to Robbie (who had changed back into his regular clothes) and Tracie. She said, "Bye Santa! Merry Christmas! You come down my magic chimney." I thought it was pretty funny.

After our visit from Santa it was time to open a gift. She got to open a nightgown from mommy and daddy. It was a Princess Tiana nightgown. She thought that was pretty fantastic. Soon after it was time to head home and she was sound asleep before we made it home. Can you believe it? My daughter, asleep by 8 pm on Christmas Eve? Wonders never cease.

Christmas morning was so much fun too!! She tore into those presents with wild abandon!! She's an old pro now. She loved everything and couldn't wait to help us open our presents. She'd gotten Monti a tie and handed him the package and said, "Open it daddy!! It's your tie!!"

Christmas afternoon we stopped by the cemetery to wish Harry a Merry Christmas on our way over to Monti's sister Maria's house. We had dinner and presents with the Randall cousins!! They have a way cool slide inside the house that goes from the main floor to the basement and she had a terrific time going down that over and over again. Overall, it was a really fantastic Christmas!!

Yesterday afternoon we had our ultrasound. The baby is perfect and healthy! Ten fingers, ten toes and a stubborn streak as wide as Gracie's was at this point. I knew from that what gender it was. But waited patiently til the end when the ultrasound tech announced it...It's a girl! She had her little foot curled up under her and right over all the parts we wanted to get a good look at. We finally got the view we were hoping for though. We're going to name her Rosalie Joy. She truly has brought so much joy into a very difficult year. We love her so much already and can't wait to meet this beautiful little princess!

Santa and the snow...

2009-12-13T15:33:00.000-08:00

Last week we took Gracie to the mall to Santa Claus. She was SOOO excited. She was dancing all the way in from the parking lot. Of course there was a line but, in all fairness, it wasn't that long. We only had to wait for maybe 15 minutes. She loved looking at the little North Pole City they had set up, but kept saying "It's my turn? I get to sit on Santa's lap?" Monti and I "patiently" continued to tell her it was almost time. Finally the big moment arrived and I was certain that she'd change her mind and freak out. I am pleased to say that I was wrong. She was a little timid, but walked right up to him, climbed up and said "Cheese" for the camera.
And boy is that CHEESY! You can see that she's not quite comfortable enough to snuggle down in. But she loved it. For months she's been telling everyone who would listen that she wants, "Boody and Buzz Lighthere" for Christmas from Santa. So it kinda threw Monti and I for a loop when Santa asked her what she wanted and she replied, "a puzzle". WOW!! Information that the elves might have found useful a couple of weeks ago. :)

On Saturday we got to go up to Flagstaff with my sisters and their families and play in the snow! Gracie's first time seeing it. (Unless you count the mound of crusty black crap they'd scraped off the road when we went to the Polar Express last year.) She was so excited to build a snow man and it was all we heard about on the way up. When we spotted the first little patches of snow she started saying, "Stop daddy! Stop! We build a snow man! Stop!" We finally got to the hill where we always go and after the trek in through knee deep snow (waist deep on her) her first order of business was to...eat it of course!

Her hat was not very cooperative. It kept falling down over her eyes. But she was glad to have it on. It was a chilly 32 degrees while we were there and it started to snow. AWESOME!!

She finally got to build her snow man and quickly named him Frosty. Original huh? She kept hugging him and telling him how much she loved him. When it came time to go, through chattering teeth and a tear stained face she cried, "I take him home with me!! I don't want to leave my snow man!" I finally talked her into the fact that he'd be much happier there in the snow than if we took him home to melt. But as we were loading into the car she had to watch some jerky teenagers kick him over. She was in hysterics and said, "Mommy, they're hurting him!! Stop them!! Please mommy!" It broke my heart.

After the snowman, we made snow angels. She does a pretty good job. But then, in my opinion it's pretty easy for someone who's an angel to make one!! Ok, maybe her halo is a little askew sometimes, but we sure are glad to have her in our lives. What a sweet blessing!

Then it was sledding with Auntie Vicki and we headed out. She was freezing and her daddy was getting an ulcer over the idea of driving home in a snowstorm. So, we tearfully waved goodbye to Frosty and headed home. It was ALOT of fun. She's already talking about "next time" we go. I'm pretty excited about it too!!

Holiday Fun

2009-12-10T12:09:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I know I missed Halloween and touched on it in my last post. But I finally downloaded my pictures off my camera and couldn't resist posting these. Again, I know I'm partial, but I think she's just the cutest darn thing!! So...without further ado...here's Dorothy!

Last weekend we went to ZooLights. It was really cool and Gracie loved it. To anyone considering going, wait til after Christmas. I'm told it's free then. It's $10 a person now...OUCH! But we had a buy one admission, get one free coupon from SRP and Gracie is still free. So $10 for a family outing was worth it to us.

She absolutely loves penguins and is thrilled that they are all over the place at Christmas!! So when she spotted this one, she had to pose with him.

Then she spotted the carousel. Her FAVORITE thing in the world and begged until I gave in. She was kinda freaked out by all the endangered animals. Lions, Tigers, Dragons etc. are not exactly up her alley. So she finally found a "dolphin". I couldn't bring myself to tell her it was actually a shark. So she rode the nice "dolphin" and had a blast.

And when she got off she turned all her charms on her daddy and convinced him it was worth another $2 to go again with him. This time the slightly less frightening hummingbird was available and she spent the entire trip yelling YEE HAW at the top of her lungs. The girl can attract quite a bit of attention, let me tall ya.

This week we did a gingerbread house for Family Home Evening. Gracie wasn't sure if it was more fun to eat the candy or decorate the house. I let her have creative freedom and she didn't do half bad. The obsessive/compulsive in me really struggled to not "fix" it and make it a little prettier. But she was determined it looked great. So I took a lot of deep breaths and let her go at it.

And here it is, the finished product. Not bad for a 2 year old being helped along by her father. :) And yes, that is a poor headless gingerbread man laying in front. You might not want to expose your children to this kind of carnage. Sorry.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-12-01T11:09:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. Didn't get to posting our Halloween pics, but Gracie was absolutely the cutest Dorothy you've ever seen. Of course, I may be a little biased. We had a lot of fun trick or treating. I especially loved how Gracie was wandering the streets singing Christmas carols and stopping only long enough to say Trick or Treat. I guess she takes after me a little. :) And I would be a terrible person if I didn't acknowledge that Monti and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in October as well!! Yay us! We haven't killed each other yet, that's a good thing. Actually, at the risk of sounding pretty cheesy, we're still really in love. I love being with him. He still makes me laugh and I am thankful everyday for what a wonderful father and husband he is. Ok, moving on before I make everyone sick...

Thanksgiving was...good. I'm afraid that I'm a bit of a stresser. We had planned to eat at my parents house at 1 and spend a little time, then head over to the Randall's for their dinner at 5. Well, as seems to be our lot in life, things did not go as planned. As 1:00 came and went and 2:00 came and went, this hungry pregnant woman started to get kinda...grumpy. I started to stress about eating too close to 5 and seeming rude if we didn't eat at the Randall's, and about whether or not we'd have time to take part in my favorite Stewart family Thanksgiving tradition, the Thankful Turkey. Finally, Monti took me by the shoulders and said, "Relax, everything will be fine. We're here with family and we have so much to be thankful for. Just get a snack and enjoy the time." So I took his advice and the day improved substantially. We had dinner and enjoyed ourselves fully.

Gracie LOVES turkey!! Begged and begged for more!! She actually loves food in general, I'm pretty sure she gets a healthy dose of that from both parents. :)

We shared Thanksgiving with 39 people at my mom and dad's house. My brother and sisters and their spouses who live here and all their families came. This is the "married adult" table. Mom and dad still hadn't sat down yet. But this is just a tiny bit of the beautiful chaos we had. Yes, the adults were far outnumbered by all the rug rats running around. That's the way we like it!!
After dinner we sat down to do the thankful turkey. We have a turkey made from a milk jug. Every year mom puts it out at the beginning of November and everybody in the family has the opportunity to add a slip of paper with things we're thankful for. Then on Thanksgiving day we all sit down and take turns taking them out and reading them. It's really an awesome experience. This year my sister Tracie and her husband announced via the Thankful Turkey that they're expecting another baby!! I am so excited for them! And me...we get to be big fat preggers together!!

After the Thankful Turkey, we hurried out and made it to the Randall's just in time for prayer. We only had dessert there and it worked out fine! It turns out, if I can turn down the stress level and just let things happen, they turn out pretty nice!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by all the people we love!

Again, at the risk of sounding cheesy and sappy, I want to take a moment to say how blessed we are. Bear with the hormonal, emotional side of me. I am thankful for so much this year. I think in years past I've taken things more for granted than I should. This year has been a real eye opener for us. I am so thankful for my beautiful little family. For a beautiful daughter and a perfect son. I am grateful for a loving husband and wonderful father. I'm grateful that he is a worthy priesthood holder and can bless our family. I'm thankful for our larger families, the ones we came from, for how close we are to our brothers and sisters and how much love and support they are. I think we really learned this year just how much they love us and how much they'd do for us. I'm thankful for our parents. They are all 4 amazing people. I'm thankful for our good friends. They too have truly shown us how loved we are. And I'm thankful for the knowledge we have of a plan that will make our family complete again someday. I am thankful for so much that it would be virtually impossible to list it all here. Let's just suffice it to say that my heart is filled to the brim with gratitude.

It's a Miracle!

2009-09-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well, Monti and I found out yesterday that we are expecting another baby! We are overwhemingly happy!! After we lost Harry, our first thought was that we weren't sure we ever wanted to try that again. Then as time passed, and our wounds healed a little, we decided that of course we wanted more kids. But were still terrified of what results we might end up with.
Ultimately, we decided that we needed to put it in the Lord's hands and have faith that he wouldn't lead us astray, whatever path He led us down. We figured that with the extreme effort it took to get pregnant with Gracie and Harry, if the Lord saw fit to send us another baby without all the help, it would be a true miracle! And He has sent us another little miracle!!
I had a sneaking suspicion that something might be up last week when I was sick for several days in a row. I decided that if things stayed the same, I'd test on Monday. Friday night Monti and I were able to go to our ward temple night and we had a really amazing session. Hot and full, but also filled with the Spirit. So we stopped by Walmart on Friday night and picked up a test. Then Saturday morning, on Harry's 5 month birthday, I tested and got two beautiful little blue lines.
We enter this next adventure with trepidation and just a bit of outright fear. But we also have faith that the Lord knows best! And if He saw fit to send us this miracle, He can also take our fears and turn them into a faith inspiring experience. We just have to provide a little faith and He'll do the rest! So...keep us in your prayers...we can use all that we can get!!

A cabin in the pines...

2009-09-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

So, we had the opportunity last weekend to go up to Prescott with some very good friends of ours, Dan and Wendi Roberts. And yes, we took kids! Monti and I couldn't stand the thought of leaving Gracie and, believe it or not, the Roberts really like to have their kids along too. So it worked out perfect! We had so much fun!!

Our trip started out a little rocky. I had a bit of a nervous breakdown the night before. I called my mom at 1 in the morning and told her I'd changed my mind and didn't want to go anymore. But how was I going to tell Dan and Wendi? Well, being the wise and gentle mother, she calmed my nerves and told me to get some rest and I'd feel better in the morning. She was right.

We had a few errands to run and so got an early start on the day. We had to drop off our dog at my sister's house and since we were in Mesa anyway, decided to make a stop at the cemetery since we would miss our weekly Sunday visit. This is so off topic, but I know there are some of you who haven't had the chance to see Harry's head stone yet so I thought I'd post some pics. of it. We were so happy with how it turned out.

Anyway, after our errands were done we hurried home to load up and headed over to the Robert's. The drive up was easy going and fun. When we got into Prescott Valley, we were a little disappointed in how warm it still was. But we made the turn off onto Walker Rd. and the temperature started dropping significantly as we got closer to the cabin. Surprisingly it dropped almost a full 10 degrees in the few miles between town and the cabin. We met Larry, the owner of the cabin and one of the nicest guys you'll meet, and he told us to follow him on up the road. It's a bit of a ways off the main road and had a few turn offs so he wanted to make sure we could find it alright.

Well, as it turned out Wendi and Dan didn't see us make one of the turn offs. So as we were driving along we watched them go straight along the road we had just left. Monti and I weren't sure what to do. Should we stop and try to catch them? (BTW, no cell phone service up there) Or should we keep following Larry so that at least one of us knew how to get there and then go try to find the Roberts? We decided to keep following. Then, came the next little hiccup. The last, oh maybe, 100 feet of the road up is a very, VERY steep hill. And we didn't get a running start. So...our car stalled half way up...meaning we lost steering...and full use of the brakes...and we started rolling backward down a pretty steep incline. At this point I will not go into some of the things that may or may not have been said inside our little car. But one thing that was said was me yelling, "Stop Monti!! STOP! You have to stop!! We're about to go over!! STOP!" Well, we did stop. And just in time. I'm quite confident that it was more than luck that we stopped where we did. Our back tires were literally hanging over an edge. I got Gracie out and we stood there just gaping at how close to danger we'd come. All I could think was, "I knew we shouldn't have come!! I knew we shouldn't have come!!

The pictures don't do justice to how steep the drop off behind us was. It is definitely NOT level ground you see behind us. It's the hilll goinjg back up on the other side. Quite a drop!

Gratefully, Larry came back down with some chain and towed us up onto safer ground, where we could restart the car and carefully back down the hill to give it a running start. While they were hooking up the chains, Gracie and I walked back down to the place we'd last seen Wendi and Dan and were able to get just enough reception on the cell phone to tell them to come back. They found us and we headed back to the stuck Saturn. I was unable to get to my camera, as it was in the back hatch of our car and I wasn't about to go digging around in there, so Wendi grabbed her camera and snapped a few shots of our "near death experience". We were SO lucky that Dan and Wendi hadn't made that turn off. Heaven only knows what would have happened if they'd been right behind us when we stalled.

Well, thankfully, I was wrong. We should have gone and the rest of the weekend was a total BLAST!! We got on up to the cabin and got unloaded, then decided to check everything out. It was awesome! Everything was exactly how I had hoped. Monti and I stayed in the little loft bedroom and there was a porch right off of it. With a swing!! Ah, so relaxing!

Yes, that is Wendi leaning way over and trying to hide from the camera! I guess it didn't work. :) Sooner or later the bugs started coming out, and soon thereafter the bats, which quickly drove me inside. The kids watched TV for a while and the grown ups sat and talked.

Then it was bed time for the kids and game time for the adults!! WOO HOO! We played a really fun game called Things and got some pretty big laughs out of it!! Anyone who may believe Dan to be a mild mannered, quiet guy...play this game with him!!! You will quickly be relieved of that misconception. We stayed up until almost 4 in the morning, playing and laughing and talking. It was AWESOME! We thought we knew each other pretty well, but we still learned alot about each other.

The next day the kids spent almost the ENTIRE day outside playing in the dirt and having a total blast!!! They got filthy dirty and it was so good for them.

Us big people spent some time outside and some in playing the Wii. Whatever you do, do NOT listen to Dan and Monti's fish stories about how they won in golf. Just nod and allow them to boost their self esteem and then go back to the truth. Wendi and I NEVER lose. ;) Then Monti and Dan went out to grill.

Yes, that is Dan leaning way over and trying to hide from the camera!! I guess it runs in the family!! After dinner, the kids all got desperately needed baths. Gracie was one filthy girl!! She looks like Pig Pen from Peanuts. And if you'd seen her in person, you could've witnessed the actual cloud of dirt following her everywhere.

Then, after a long day of playing hard EVERYBODY crashed. We put the kids to bed and stayed up late again playing cards and talking. What fun we had mocking Dan's card playing abilities!! He's a good sport and we had a BLAST!

On Sunday the Robert's had to head for home. We were sad to see them go. We'd enjoyed spending the weekend with them, but Dan had to get back for work and the kids had school on Monday morning. So we waved goodbye to them and hello to Tracie and Rob and their family and my parents and Ali and Vicki. Mom and dad had rented a room in a hotel in Prescott, but Tracie and family got to stay with us there at the cabin!! We had another fun filled day of playing outside and just having a really good time.

Monday morning we packed up and got ready to leave. Gracie spent the morning searching for a "magic skick". She finally found one and was so proud of her discovery.

We dreaded going home and instead went into Prescott and spent an hour or so at a museum there. The Sharlot Hall museum. It was really neat! Then trekked over to a park for a picnic, where it proceeded to pour rain. Believe it or not it was kinda fun. Then we loaded up one last time and set our sights on home. It was a really amazing weekend spent with alot of the people we love the most!! Couldn't ask for much more. We can't wait to do it again!

Harry's Movie

2009-06-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

For those of you haven't had the chance to see Harry's movie, here it is. I am so glad that we have this to remember his sweet few days. It is so precious to us. We feel like it's a chance for people to get to know our sweet boy. And it reminds us how amazing it was to have him in our lives even for a little while.

Baby Harry

2009-05-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

Basically everyone who might be reading this blog knows our story. Our little Harry came into the world on April 19 at 3:42 am and left us to return to Heavenly Father on April 24 at 5:22 pm. His short life has forever touched our hearts and changed our family. He was beautiful and perfect. And we miss him immensely.

We wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you. Thank you to those who prayed with us and fasted with us. To those who came to our house and cleaned while we were at the hospital with our sweet boy. To those who came to the hospital to see him and get to know him. To those who couldn't because it broke their hearts. To those who brought food and comfort to our home. To those who donated so that we could afford to bury him and continue with life without the added stress of knowing how we were going to pay bills. For those who donated time and talent to help us in so many other ways. There are too many things to list. Too many people who helped in quiet, loving ways to make Harry's time here and the days since he's been gone easier and better. There is no way to say thank you enough for all of the support. Just know that it fills our hearts and we love you.

Stubborn Baby!!

2009-03-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well, as most of you know, our baby is NOT laying in the right direction. For several weeks he was transverse (laying side to side across my tummy). Which was not a good thing. So, not being too concerned because I was still fairly early on (29 weeks), I decided to look around and see if there was anything online that might be done to help him in the right direction. I found a few yoga exercises and started trying them out. At my next midwife appt. (32 weeks) he had turned somewhat, into the breech position. :) Not really helpful. At this point, my midwife said that we needed to start being even a little more proactive on turning him in the right direction. So she recommended a chiropractor who specializes in the Webster Technique. It's a combination of adjustments that help to open the pelvis and loosen the ligaments. It's actually VERY good for all pregnant women, but is especially good at turning breech babies. It has like a 90% success rate. Of course that's for non stubborn, non Randall babies. So for 2 weeks I have been seeing this chiropractor and doing some exercises that she "prescribed" to go along with the adjustments. These exercises consist of kneeling on the edge of my couch and putting my head down on the ground for 10 full minutes, every other hour. This is supposed to help gravity lift the baby up and out of my pelvis and allow him free reign to move in any direction, specifically head down. And, surprise of all surprises, he still hasn't turned. STINKER! We have another appointment today with the midwife, so we're praying really hard that a miracle will happen and this little guy will decide he wants to be obedient and do what he's supposed to do. We shall see!

Doing my favorite thing...Inversions!!

2 year Pics.

2009-02-19T13:57:00.000-08:00

We took Gracie down to get her 2 year old pictures taken last week. And as is our luck, she was in a rotten mood. It took us close to an hour to get done with the sitting, but we ended up with some super cute shots. It's a good thing mommy's memory is short lived. A year from now I will look back and all I will see are cute pictures instead of remembering the nightmare of getting them finished. The girl is terribly photgenic when she decides to cooperate! Gotta love her!

What a princess!!

Our little island girl!

The big number 2!

Happy Birthday Gracie!

2009-01-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

Gracie turned 2 on January 18th!! And we had a royal princess party in honor of her highness on the 16th. All little girls came dressed as princesses and we painted a big castle on a sheet to hang on the wall. Gracie was super excited about having her own castle and refused to let us take it down for days afterward. (Actually it just came down last night.)

The royal birthday cake...shaped like a castle, of course!

We made crowns from poster board and all the princesses decorated them with markers, crayons, and stick on jewels.

Then we played pin the crown on Princess Ariel.

And sang Happy Birthday and blew out the candles. She was a pro and blew it out all on her own!

This week, my brother and his wife went out of town on a cruise and Monti and Gracie and I get to stay with their kiddos. For the first part of the week we stayed at their house and Gracie has had a blast playing with her cousins. The other night Chandler got to play Guitar Hero on the Wii and Gracie decided she wanted to join in the fun. So she borrowed Cousin Harley's Hannah Montana guitar and started rockin' out!!

Christmas, New Years, and a Bonfire

2009-01-06T13:38:00.001-08:00

We got to spend Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Stewarts house with (almost) all of Gracie's Aunts and Uncles and cousins. We had soo much fun playing with everybody and visiting with Uncle Tim and Aunt Shu and their family who were in from Texas. Gracie got to dress up in her "Tanta Ho Ho" dress and we curled her hair. Knowing that it wouldn't last for long, we snapped some pictures before she went off to play!

We got to sit together as a family and listen to Grandma tell us a story. Then we sang Christmas carols and Gracie sang as loud as anyone else. (Even if she didn't know all the words!)

"CHEESE!"

Hanging out with Daddy.

Then we did our annual Nativity play and Gracie was an angel! She looked so cute and really played the part, for all of about 5 minutes.

She wasn't too sure about sitting on Santa's lap, but from across the room she thought he was fantastic and couldn't quit calling his name.

Baby Harry's first chance to sit on Santa's lap!

Christmas morning she wore her princess dresses everywhere and reapplied makeup every 2-3 minutes!

And what princess is complete without her very own bed to sleep in?

Taking a nap Christmas afternoon with mommy. We were pretty exhausted!

New Year's Eve we spent with the Stewarts again and Gracie thought it was the coolest thing ever that we got to bang pots and yell at the top of our lungs!

Every year we have a big bonfire at our house to burn our Christmas trees. This year was no exception. We had the whole family over and after the trees were burned, we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for S'mores.

Hangin' with her gal pals and cousins Shelby, Harley, Tatum and Hayden!! She loves those girls!

Roasting hot dogs with Daddy.

It's a...

2008-12-21T15:21:00.000-08:00

Well we had our ultrasound on Wednesday and found out the gender of our baby. However, with a little smirk on my face I'll leave it to your ability to distinguish an ultrasound picture to figure it out.

Tee hee!!! His very first nudey pictures! Just wait til his first date, you can rest assured that this and the oncoming bathtub pictures will be brought out!!

We also took family pictures on Saturday and I think that my nerves will return to normal sometime next week. We actually had several turn out really cute. But any mom who has ever taken family pictures with an almost 2 year (especially a rather rambunctious one) knows it can take it's toll on mommy. Thank goodness for digital cameras where we can erase all the ones with me fighting with her!!

Even a princess can be a pirate sometimes!!

Getting ready for pictures with her hair in curlers, she decided to "drink" my candle. (Not while it was lit.) By the time I got it away from her it had left a little mustache. I think she looks like the joker.

"I'm so funny!"

The Polar Express

2008-12-05T17:42:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, we had the fantastic opportunity to head up to Williams to take a ride on the Polar Express. We ended up with more excitement than we bargained for, but with the Randall clan when is that new? We got to our hotel about 6:15 pm and hurried to get changed so we could be to the Train Depot in time to grab a bite to eat before departing for the North Pole at 8. As I said, when do plans ever turn out right? Gracie was very grumpy and not terribly happy about getting dressed or taking pics. This should have been my first clue. The camera hog didn't want the spotlight? As you can see she was not happy about posing.

Well, we hurried to the car and I (of course) forgot something in the hotel room UPSTAIRS! So I rushed back to get it and returned to find that Gracie had thrown up all over. And I mean ALL OVER!! She was covered, the car seat was covered, her coat was covered. So with another mad dash up to the room for clean jammies, a quick wipe down of the seat, and a loan of cousin Max's spare jacket we were on our way again, certain that it was only from gagging on mucus. We made it to the restaurant by 7:10 and thought we might just have enough time to eat and still make it since we were just across the courtyard from the train. We ordered and waited and waited and waited some more. At this point this pregnant mama was hungry and grumpy and getting more so by the minute! The waitress finally brought out my food, just in time for another projectile vomit from Gracie. (By the way, Yes, part of my food was covered in Gracie puke!!!) Fighting hysteria, I dragged Gracie to the bathroom and wiped her only pair of clean clothes down with a paper towel and tried to remember why we had thought this would be fun. Needless to say, by the time I had disposed of the larger chunks of throw up from Gracie and my clothes, I had only enough time to have the waitress put my remaining food (thank you Vicki for cleaning off the vomit covered section) into a doggie bag and run for the train. Gratefully, the train ride was uneventful puking wise and Gracie had a total blast seeing Santa!! I cheered up and we settled in to enjoy the ride.

Getting ready to board, (that's my uneaten dinner in Monti's hand) And trying to keep warm!!

Gracie was so excited to be on a CHOO CHOO! She just climbed all over trying to get different views of the passing countryside. And of course getting to sit by "Natah" was an added bonus. As you can see she seemed to be feeling better and really had fun.

"Hi Auntie Tracie!!"

As you can also see, a little bit of cocoa and a cookie in mommy's empty tummy helped settle me down too. Singing Christmas carols got us all in better spirits and got us ready for the BIG moment!

You should have seen Gracie dance a jig when Santa came walking into our car. She stood up on her daddy's lap and waved and cheered and kept telling us over and over "Santa! Santa!!" When he got to Gracie the delay on my camera kicked in and I only snapped one after he had given her the bell! But she was so precious!! No shyness, no crying just complete and utter adoration! She took her bell and said thank you and then just gawked as he handed the other kids their bells.

"Bye, Bye Santa! Love you!" and that's a direct quote.

All in all, even with the chaos, the puking (including all night after getting back to the hotel), the not eating from noon til 10:30, the late night run to the laundromat that ended up being closed, it was a pretty nice weekend. We got to spend a lot of quality time with people we love and see the Big Guy himself. Believe it or not it really got the Christmas spirit ignited in me and got me ready for the oncoming season, with all its chaotic fun and trauma. We love Christmas and our little Gracie is teaching us how much more we can get out of it with her in our lives!! Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-05T17:10:00.000-08:00

Our family had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with both of our families. First, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Stewarts house and had a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch with all of those Stewart cousins. It was fun to watch Gracie discover all the new tastes of Thanksgiving. Although this was her 2nd Turkey Day, last year (with only 2 teeth) she didn't really eat much more than potatoes and gravy. This year she was initiated into the all of the fabulous tastes of the holidays!!

I think her favorite was pie!! She couldn't keep her little fingers out of them and spent more than a few minutes in time out for digging in whole pies. It was pretty cute, even of I had to be the mean mommy and tell her no.

After dinner with the Stewarts we headed over for the evening with the Randall's. Again Gracie had a blast playing with all of her cousins. However, it had been a rather eventful day and (without a nap) Gracie was rather overwhelmed and grumpy. So we called it a rather early night and headed home with full tummies and thankful hearts for the many blessings that we call family!

Halloween

2008-11-14T17:57:00.000-08:00

We had soooo much fun carving pumpkins!! We found a book of Disney princess patterns and of course we had to have it. Our first pumpkin we carved in time for our ward Trunk or Treat on the 25 th. It was ARIEL!!! Then we got a chance to carve Cinderella for our actual Halloween pumpkin. I think Gracie's favorite part was the scooping of the goo. Go Gracie! Mommy hates it.

Gracie was the cutest Flapper you have ever seen! We had a ton of fun curling her hair and dressing her up like a little doll!! There were actually a lot of people who didn't know what she was, but oh well. We thought she looked adorable. Believe it or not she never touched the headpiece. I told her it was a crown and it never left her head!! And it was the cutest thing in the world to hear her say "Tic a tee"!

Busy Week

2008-10-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

So, last week was a busy week for us. Consequently, I am only just adding this post! First of all, on the 8th, Monti and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary! It seems weird that I'm old enough to have been married for 9 years and at the same time, I can't remember life without Monti. I would be a really rotten wife if I didn't take the time to say what a great hubby I have. He is so sweet and thoughtful and a super great dad. One of my favorite past times is to sit and watch him and Gracie play. She loves her daddy and I love her daddy too. He is truly the love of my life. And I would be a really rotten friend if I didn't say thank you to all my favorite ladies for the gift card they gave us. It made the night absolutely perfect!! You guys are awesome!!

The next thing that happened last week was that we had to put our little puppy Maya down. she had been sick for about a month, having seizures. And finally reached the point on Thursday night that she couldn't eat or drink and couldn't even move. We decided that we couldn't just watch her die of dehydration and that it would be much more humane to let her go with some comfort and peace. Our friend Becca who is a vet tech came and picked her up Saturday night. Then we were able to get her from Becca Sunday morning and we buried her in my mom and dad's backyard. She was a sweet, sweet puppy and we will miss her! Gracie still wanders around the house saying "Maya, Maya?" Then when we tell her Maya had to go bye bye and she cries. And subsequently I cry. It was a hard situation that was made a little better by Becca's kindness. We are so grateful to her.

Dinosaurs!!

2008-09-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

My sister got tickets to take her family to see Walking with Dinosaurs. Unfortunately her husband was unable to get out of work at the last minute. However, fortunately that left an unused ticket and they invited Gracie and I to tag along. Gracie absolutely adores her cousins, so an outing with them was cool enough. But the show was incredible. Gracie was absolutely mesmerized by the whole thing. She wasn't even afraid of the T-Rex! Super cool special effects and what other chance do you get to be up close to these awesome animals. We had a BLAST! Thank you Tracie and Rob and kids for inviting us along.

Exciting News!

2008-09-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

So Monti and I found out yesterday that we are expecting another baby!! We are so excited and a little bit surprised. We have been going to see a fertility specialist and the doctors had told us that I hadn't and wouldn't ovulate this month. However, we had been praying and fasting along with many of our friends and family and I guess Heavenly Father knows better than those doctors. So here we are with a modern day miracle on our hands! I can't mention this news without telling all of you who fasted and prayed for us, Thank You so much for all of your love and support. You have helped to bring this special gift to our lives. We Love you!! I started all of my medications (Heparin shots twice a day, progesterone cream, Baby Aspirin, Metformin, etc.) last night. Having 4 miscarriages under our belt and only one healthy pregnancy, we are always worried. But we have faith that everything will turn out as the Lord wants it. So keep us in your prayers. We can definitely still use them.

Labor Day

2008-09-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

We were able have dinner with Monti's family at his sister Maria's house on Labor Day. We really enjoyed having the opportunity to chat with his siblings and parents and Gracie had an absolute BLAST playing with her cousins. She spent the majority of her time going up and down the stairs over and over again. Her cousin Brianna patiently followed her so I didn't need to worry about her falling.

Gracie's 18 months!

2008-08-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't want to see more pictures of the cutest baby ever?! O.K. So I may be a little biased but...I'm a proud mommy. So we had some free pictures coming from Kiddie Kandids and they had to be done before July 31, and Gracie was turning 18 months, so what other excuse did I need to get pictures right? Believe it or not she cried through the whole sitting, but we still ended up with some cute ones!

You have no idea (well some of you may) how hard it is to get an 18 month old to just hold the flower, don't look at it, don't eat it, don't smell it, don't throw it etc. But we finally snapped it really quick and ended up with this darling picture. (It's my favorite one!)

Then we decided looking at the flower was actually pretty darn cute! So...
When Gracie is having a bit of a tantrum,(I know it's impossible to even think of) I can usually get her to calm down by telling her to fold her arms and be reverent. Consequently, we ended up with these two pictures. She even decided to be extra cute in the last one. It's not the BEST picture ever but I couldn't resist how innocent and sweet she looks with her shoulders raised and that cute little impish grin!
AAAH! Love that girl!!

My introduction to the blogging world

2008-08-07T11:54:00.001-07:00

O.K., O.K I am now officially a blogger. My friends have been nagging me for months to start a blog and I have been rebelling. I didn't have time, I didn't know how...I had every excuse in the book. Then, my sister Tracie started in on me and resistance was futile. So here it is...The Randall Blog. I will preemptively state that I am not responsible for how long it goes without updates, I'm still working on keeping a steady journal. Since this is so long overdue, I thought I'd start with 2008 in pictures. And since I'm certain noone wants to see me over and over, most of the pictures will be of our adorable daughter Gracie, with Monti and I mixed in here and there. Enjoy!!

Merry Christmas!

2008-08-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

Christmas is our favorite time of year, so I had to start here even though it's technically not part of 2008.
Gracie was literally the star of the show! She played the Star of Bethlehem in our family's nativity play.
Santa freaked her out a little, so mommy stayed close by to help out.
Gracie is not a morning person!! Christmas morning was no exception.
Later in the day, she crashed. She always like to snuggle and her good friend Maya is always happy to help!

Happy New Year!

2008-08-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

Karaoke with daddy on New Year's Eve.
Banging pots to ring in the New Year!

Higher and Higher

2008-08-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

Playing with daddy is one of Gracie's favorite things in the world!

Birthday Princess

2008-08-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

Blowing out the candles on her first birthday cake.
She LOVED the presents!

Let them eat cake!

2008-08-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

She started out clean...
...but with Gracie it never lasts long.

I think she enjoyed it!

Good buddies

2008-08-07T11:25:00.001-07:00

Gracie loves to read to Maya.

So sick!

2008-08-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

In early May Gracie got a really nasty case of the flu that lasted for about a week.
After losing about 4 lbs. and getting severely dehydrated, she was admitted to the hospital. She hated it! That makes 3 of us!

Doing chores

2008-08-07T11:21:00.001-07:00

She's always such a big help with the laundry!

A sad month

2008-08-07T11:19:00.001-07:00

Monti lost both of his grandparents on his dad's side within a month of each other. Gratefully we were able to make the trip to Monticello, UT for both funerals. They will be missed!

Summertime fun!

2008-08-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

We love to go swimming at Auntie Tracie's house. The heat never seems to bother Gracie. She'd be outside all day long if I'd let her!