Happy Holidays!

On Christmas Eve, Santa stopped by the Randall home!

The next morning, we woke up to a spitting sound on the baby monitor around 8am.

We went in and got our slobbery baby and brought her to the family room.

She began to open gifts, and she loved it!

When she got bored of unwrapping, we gave her some peanut butter cup and a bottle.

We then took our time to open our gifts!

Our big family gift was an ipad! 

(Taken with our new ipad.)

Santa spoiled all of us for Christmas! 

We got fun things that we really wanted!

Shane received an indoor/outdoor grill, new pillow, beanies, chopsticks, and a few other fun things!

Candice received a Brita pitcher, mirror, curtains, maxi skirt, socks, and some other fun things!

Valarie really got spoiled! She received a walker, dinosaur ball toy, books, blocks, a doll, and lots of other awesome things!

Shane and I both got the same iphone case in our stockings. I'm trying to show it off here, but got distracted by a kiss!

Once we finished opening our gifts, we took some pictures of our Santa baby!

We then packed up our gifts for our families and left for my parent's house.

My parents gave us some fun things, but my favorite was what they gave Val! She got a pack n' play! It's perfect for containing her safely in our family room and portable so we can take it on vacations with us! I'm super excited about this! 

Valarie loves her seahorse her aunt Marci gave her!

After my parent's house, we went to Shane's parents and visited everyone. 

Val's aunt Celeste gave her a pair of sunglasses. When we tried them on her, she began grabbing at the air in front of her face, as if she was trying to figure out why it went dark. It was pretty adorable.

The last house we went to was my grandparent's. We went in the evening so most of the extended family had come and gone. It was nice because we were able to relax and talk with my grandma and grandpa. I love visiting their house!

When we got home, after a very busy day, we had to clean up our big mess!

We also tried out Valarie's pack n' play. She loves it!

What a fun Christmas we had, and what a perfect first Christmas for our little one! I feel so blessed to have the husband and baby that I do, and all the family that I have in my life. 

Happy Holidays to all!

Year In Review

For those who don't know, it's been a pretty awesome year for the Randall family.


In January, I turned 23 years old. We didn't celebrate because we were saving money for our little one that was due to join our family in June, and we were about to move to a new apartment. I didn't mind, I'm not a big birthday person.

In February, we moved into our new apartment in Daybreak in South Jordan. It's a beautiful, 2 bedroom basement and couldn't be more perfect for us!

In March, Shane finally quit working at Arctic Circle. Two jobs was beginning to be too much for him and he needed time to sleep! We also got a Costco membership this month! (I'm actually guessing the time frame for this entire month, I honestly don't remember when he quit and when we got our membership. Oops.)

In April, we went on our last vacation before having our baby! We went to St. George with my parents and little sister. We had a blast hanging out and spending fun family time together!

In May, I quit my full time job at Dura-Tuff, but continued working part time at Sizzler until two days before having Valarie. It was so hard to leave Dura-Tuff! I loved that job and loved the people I work with, but it was what I needed to do in order to make everything work out the way we wanted it to with the new baby.

Up until the end of May, we'd watched my big ol' belly grow and grow, until it got so big I looked like I was about to pop!

Valarie Violet Anne Randall was born at 39 weeks on May 28, 2013 at 12:23pm. She was breech so she was born via C-section. She weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 19 inches long. My experience was the best and I wouldn't have changed a single thing. Valarie came out perfect, healthy, and gorgeous. This was the day my life changed forever, and I love it.

June and July were spent getting to know baby Val. I healed from the surgery and didn't work. Shane worked full time, but two days a week were spent working from home. Valarie had her first visit to the lake on the Fourth of July.

Shane turned 26 in July. He got a lot of rasta and Bob Marley things, and my parents gave him a bike! We celebrated with a simple date night to Texas Roadhouse and R.I.P.D.

Valarie was blessed by Shane on August 4, 2013. He did a great job!

At the end of August, Val got her ears pierced by a family friend. Shane didn't know I was taking her to get them done, and he was not happy when we came home with the new jewelry in her ears. He grew to love them and he eventually forgave me for getting them done.

In September, Shane went back to school at the University of Utah. He's so close to his Bachelors, so he decided to go back and just get it done. I began teaching preschool with my mom. It's her final year so she's letting me teach with her so I can learn all I need to know about starting my own preschool in the next couple of years.

In October, we got to take Valarie to my aunt and uncle's pumpkin patch. She also got to dress up for her first Halloween as a pink monster! She looked pretty adorable!

In November, Valarie had a lot of firsts. First Thanksgiving, first vacation (to Park City,) first time swimming, and first time in snow!

By December, Val had finally learned to sit up all by herself. Some other milestones she's had are learning to hold her head up, roll over, army crawl, and eat real food!

Shane and I celebrated our second anniversary on December 1st up in Park City, we're still happier than ever and so in love!

Valarie got to help set up our Christmas tree and she got to meet Santa! In just a few days she'll be celebrating her first Christmas and I am super excited!

As you can probably tell, our life now revolves around our sweet little Valarie, and we wouldn't have it any other way. She makes us happier than we ever thought was possible. Being a mom is the greatest experience and I continue to learn new things every day! I'm so proud to be the mother of this adorable girl and wife of my handsome husband!

I am so excited for 2014 and can't wait to find out what new adventures, experiences, and fun it holds!

Oh So Many Pictures

Val is 5 and a half months old! What??! I don't understand where this time is going! It seems like just yesterday that I was in Riverton hospital, holding my little newborn. She's gotten so big and developed such a little personality since that day!

Getting kisses from her mama.

Hanging out with dad at night and mom during the day!

She eats all kinds of food now; sweet potato, green beans, carrots, and even a french fry!

Look who has two teeth coming in!

Taken on the day she turned 5 months old.

She loves stuffed animals! Her favorite is a green bunny I got at a baby shower for her. She talks to them, squeezes them, and loves rubbing her face against them.

Valarie loves her sleep. She sleeps from around 10pm to 7-8am. She also takes several long naps during the day. If she's tired, she can fall asleep anywhere, in any position. Just like her dad!

Us just being, us.

Love birds!

Hipster baby?

I'm part of a group on Facebook of moms who all had babies this May and June, (there's 110 of us,) and we all sent a book to one other member. Valarie got a very colorful Dr. Seus book and she loves it!

We visited a pumpkin patch that had a corn pit. So fun!

For Val's first Halloween she dressed as a monster! We went to our ward carnival and took some pictures in a pumpkin!

Valarie is finally big enough to sit in high chairs and shopping carts, (as long as she's buckled in.)

She's the provider of our household.

I kid.

She tries hard to sit up on her own, but can't hold it longer than a few seconds.

Jeffrey came up from school for his birthday. We miss him!

Just a cute picture Shane took.