Chip off the Lowe block!!!!!!

Compare this picture of Papa when he was little to the first black and white and tell me he isn't of my lineage!

Chevis doing his sit-ups.

These files are so big I can only download one at a time. Here's a color pose. This little guy just makes you want to smile.

Me and my dog!!!!

Here's another picture of Michael. Isn't he cute?

We had the privilege of having Brendon , Taylor an d
Michael for dinner today. Of course, I had to take a few
pictures of the cute little guy. He cooperated pretty well.

I Have Zero Butterflies!

"I have zero butterflies!" That is what Kennedy said last night as we were trying to "calm her nerves" about her first day of kindergarten. Turns out she didn't need any soothing. In fact, we explained that since it was the first day we would drive her to school and see her to her new classroom. She did not like that information and insisted on riding the bus to and from school. She boarded the bus at 7:18 this morning. We then got into the car and drove to the school to make sure she got there ok and to deliver some school supplies and her nap mat to the teacher. When we got there she was sitting calmly in her seat with no fear or worries apparent. What a brave girl. She really had zero butterflies (they must have all been in my stomach).

I'm not an old dog.

Hey, look! I figured out how to color an object in a black and white photo today. Who said an old dog can't learn new tricks? Josh and Alyssa would be so proud of me. Here's a wierd story that you won't believe. Hermana Dutson (Danielle) has a Filippino companion who was sent to the MTC to learn Spanish. Her call is to Arcadia, California. She comes from a very large family in the Philippines and she doesn't get any mail from home. So this Filippino part of me says to write to her. I did and asked her to tell me about herself, where she was from and something about her family. The reply came a couple of days ago, very short, but she used pretty good English considering she speaks very little of the language. She said she was baptized in the Tuguegarao Stake, Ward 2. Now that's the ward we attended while we were on our mission. What are the chances of that? She knows President Donato, the Stake President while we were there and probably myriads of the same people we know. The chances of a Filippino being sent to the States are practically nil, and the chances of her being sent to a companion who is a relative of the Lowe Couple are even less. It's a very small world and I'm thinking there is a lesson in it to be learned. I'm working on figuring it out. Don't you just love reading the letters from our missionaries? It's going to be a glorious two years. Let's have some more posts. I miss hearing from everybody. I can hardly wait to get some pictures of Tyff's new home.

Our Trip to Beaver

The last weekend of July, Brendon and I went on a camping adventure to Beaver Mountain. We got there on Wednesday, stopped by the cheese factory then headed up to Big John's Flat. Even though there was a lot of people there, we were still able to find a secluded spot away from everyone. Grandma and Grandpa came up on Thursday and we enjoyed, mine and Brendon's favorite, BLT's with cheese and fresh corn on the cob.

This was Grandpa giving us a BIG smile!

On Friday we went for a nice wheeler ride. Michael fell asleep about ten minutes into the two hour ride. We rode all over that mountain, and still left thousands of trails untouched. Right as we were getting back from the ride, Mom and Dad arrived. After a quick meal, we loaded up the fishing gear and headed to Puffer Lake. Michael just loved riding around on Papa's shoulders.

As we were heading up to Puffer Lake, Dad was ahead of us on the main road and was waving us to go ahead of him. When we got closer he yelled "Its a BEAR!" and sure enough there was a black bear on the side of the road enjoying his dinner. I immediately grabbed the camera and hit record. We were able to get some really good still shots from the video. We are planning on sending the video into channel 2 for their Roughin It show on Saturday nights, but we haven't figured out how to send video. (can anyone help me?)

When we visited Three Creeks, we found a row boat just chillin on the bank. So of course we had to try it out. I watched Brendon take it for a spin and was totally content with staying on the edge, but he insisted that I try it out. It was my first time ever being in a row boat and I had a good time.

The rest of the weekend consisted of riding and relaxing. Some of our friends came up and we all fell in love with the mountain. It was kinda funny, because Brendon and I were so worried about the air conditioning in our trailer thinking it was going to be hot and it didn't get above 70 the whole time we were there.

We definitely want to plan a return trip and we want to plan a camping trip with the whole family sometime.

It's In Me Blood!

I guess I'll always be a photographer. I can't stand not being active in the sport. So I asked Tanille Hutchings (Jackie's daughter) if she would like me to take some pictures of Gracee Joy in "the bowl". After the bowl session, Tanille put on her blessing dress which was one Tanille wore when she was a baby. But Gracee Joy wasn't blessed until she was five months old and it was almost too small. This was the last shot when I threw my lace curtain over her head and she looked at me like, "You mean I'm done?" Isn't she cute?

Chemo treatment one

Just wanted to let everyone know that my mom's first treatment (last Thursday) went well. She didn't get sick at all and was back at work on Monday. She goes in next week to have her blood taken and as long as all is well, she will start her next treatment on that Thursday. Thank you all for all your support! I appreciate the texts, facebook, and blog comments! Love you all!

Letters anyone?

I sent Josh's letter by e-mail to a few of you today. I wasn't sure how many people wanted to receive his letters. If you do, let me know by e-mail so I can make sure that I have your current e-mail address. Mine is jarand89@msn.com.

Update

I just had a conversation with my mother this morning and she is starting her chemo today. She gets to do it every other Thursday in Cedar. That is a good thing cause she won't have to travel to St. George to do it. She is still thinking about going to Arizona to another kind of treatment. The center is called Envita, its in Scottsdale, and they will help pump her up with vitamins and help her immune system. So, today is the begining. I'll keep you posted on her progress.

It's official. Elder Randall entered the MTC today. We were able to keep the tears to a minimum, although we'd shed enough the previous few days to make up for it.

Tuesday evening, Josh received a wonderful blessing from our Stake President, who came to our house to set him apart. We're proud of him, and know that he'll make an excellent missionary. Here's his address at the MTC if anyone would like to drop him a line:

Elder Joshua Jeffrey Randall

MTC Mailbox #90-1006

Canada Halifax Mission

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, UT 84604-1793

Project Life Cycle

You recall me blog titled “Scope Creep”. I am currently experiencing another phenomenon that has a work parallel. Here is my view of the “Project Cycle” at work.

1) The need for a system re-write and/or enhancement is identified. Sometimes, the need is mandated by the FCC or other regulatory bodies.
2) The project is assigned to a business owner. In my example, I’ll use Finance as the owner.
3) The owner writes requirements, which describes what the end product looks like.
4) Requirements are handed off to Information Technology (IT), the programmers.
5) IT provides a cost estimate (sometimes IT will UNDERESTIMATE the cost because they want the work, then the will blame cost overruns on Finance).
6) Finance writes a business case, which includes a cost / benefit analysis.
7) Management reviews the business case.
8) The case is either approved or rejected.
9) If approved, IT and Finance agree to a timeline and the work begins.

The cycle is pretty straightforward. However, there are always unforeseen problems that creep up. When it looks like the project is off track, things start to unravel and the finger pointing begins. Unfortunately, IT has the trump card. “We aren’t going to make our deadline because your requirements weren’t detailed enough”. Yes, I have been burned on this one on more than one occasion.

My home business case:
1) Project description: Two Bedroom Makeover.
2) Business Owner: Me
3) Requirements: Remove popcorn from the ceilings in Jared’s room and guest bedroom, apply texture to the ceilings and paint ceilings, walls, doors and baseboards.
4) Hours Estimate: 35 hours (mentally calculated by me)
5) Cost/benefit analysis done by me. $140 in materials, labor is “free”. Benefit is updated bedrooms at minimal cost.
6) Project is approved by me (my intent was to surprise Kristin, so she wasn’t consulted)
7) Timeline is jointly reviewed and approved by me and me. Deadline is set for August 12th, the day before I fly back to Utah.

Once I cleared all the self talk red tape and started work, it didn’t take me too long to realize I have some IT tendencies myself, I underestimated the work it would take to finish the project. My biggest error was to not factor in the “enabler affect”. Without my enabler (Kristin), I have had to deal with extraneous activities such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, mail and shopping. After a week of evening work and a full Saturday, the project is about 35% complete. The project is in trouble and the finger pointing has started. Of course all finger pointing begins and ends with ME. I anticipate putting in some late nights this coming week. I don’t even want to think about next Saturday!