Our Story

Everyone has a story. After almost 16 years of being together Randy and I have quite a few of them. Some are good and some are bad. Today I am going to give you a short hand version of our story from when we first met until now. 

Randy and I met in August of 1996 when I started attending the church that his family were members of. His little brother invited me to a youth service one Wednesday night and introduced me to everyone including Randy. We started talking at church more and I eventually gave him my number. That led to long conversations on the phone and we became good friends. 

In June of 1997 I was babysitting with my cousin Rashel and we were talking to Randy (as usual). Rashel was on the phone with him and said "You guys act like your boyfriend/girlfriend already why don't you just make it official?!" Then she asked me if I would go out with him. I said yes and we were officially dating. The next day Randy called and said that he didn't feel right about how that happened and thought he should ask me himself. He did and again I said yes. We are not exactly sure what day that was on but we do know that it was the end of June so we decided that we would just make July 1st our officially dating anniversary date! 

We dated for awhile and things were good. I mean I was 13 (even though I lied and told him I was 14..oops. lol) and he was 16 so it was a typical juvenile relationship. We mostly saw each other at church or church outings and talked on the phone..A LOT. He came out and met my family and totally hit it off with my aunt, uncle and little cousin Sabrina. She was only 5 at the time and she fell in love. Randy quickly became her "buddy" and every time I got on the phone with him she had to talk too. They were really close and I sometimes have to remind him that he is NOT her father because he is very overprotective of her like she is his own.

In August of 1998 I started attending Apache Junction High School. It took me the WHOLE summer to talk my grandparents into letting me do that but finally they said OK. I was almost 15 and Randy was almost 18. We were still dating and he was the main reason why I wanted to go there. I loved seeing him everyday! 

We found out we were pregnant on October 5th of that year. (my moms 40th birthday...happy birthday mom grandma! haha its laughable now but not so much then) It was very hard telling my Nana that I was pregnant. They were supportive but boy was she mad at Randy! She did not speak to him until Christmas Day. It was my family tradition to go to The Mining Camp restaurant for dinner and she had allowed me to invite him. My aunt drove us and he was SO nervous as we got out of the car. She walked right up to him with no expression on her face at all and looked him right in the eye. I think he thought she was gonna hit him or something but instead she gave him a big hug and told him that she loved him and that he better take care of us! 

We were very young and many people speculated about our situation. Everyone had an opinion. I heard numerous times "He isn't going to stick around" or "It will never work out!" or "He is going to abandon you and that baby with nothing". All of that was very hard to hear at a young age. Especially since I grew up with my biological father not in the picture. But I never doubted Randy like that. From the moment I told him I was pregnant to this very day not once has he ever tried to walk away from his children.  Yes, we have had many highs and lows but he has always been there for his kids!

April 13, 1999 Colten was born! Wow! We had created this amazing little gift from God and he could not have been more perfect! Randy and I were thrust into the world of being new parents and I think we did pretty well. I was living with my aunt and uncle at my grandparents house and Randy stayed with us often. When Colten was a little over 4 months old my uncle came to us and said that my Nana was worried that I would get pregnant again and it didn't look good for Randy to be "living" with us so he couldn't stay there anymore. 2 days later I made the decision to pack Colten and I up and move in with Randy and his parents. I did not want to live separate from the father of my baby. After the initial freak out from my family they accepted what I wanted and dealt with it. 

February 15 2002, 2 months after my 18th birthday, I became Mrs. Randy Tipton. We had just gotten our own little apartment and things were going great. Colten was 3 and doing well so we decided to start trying again. Everyone thought we were crazy but we wanted a little girl!

December 6th 2002, on my 19th birthday, Katelyn was born. I had wanted a little girl SO very badly and we finally got her. She was awesome and Colten was such a great big brother. 

In 2004 I had decided that I didn't want to work at a daycare for the rest of my life so I went back to school and got my GED. Randy was working for a construction company and loved his job. After getting my GED I was unsure what I wanted to do so I just stuck with the daycare thing. Obviously I was good with kids. LOL 

In November of 2006 I decided that I was going to go to school to be a Medical Assistant with my best friend Colette. I was focused and excited. Randy and I were doing ok but we had decided that we were not going to have anymore kids. July of 2007 I graduated with Colette from Everest College with honors as a Medical Assistant. We were both around 4 months pregnant. Birth control doesn't work well when you are on an antibiotic and a weightloss prescription. 

Caden Wyatt was born on November 16 2007, a week before Miss Hailey. (Colette's little girl) Even though he wasn't planned he was a perfect fit for our family and we all loved him very much! He quickly became spoiled rotten!

For the next 3 years Randy and I went through our ups and downs and in May of 2010 we decided we needed a change. We decided to dedicate our lives back to God and put the past behind us. We moved our family to Texas. It was hard at first and I hated it but eventually we settled in and we found a good church and things started to change. We became closer as a family and Randy and I in our marriage. All was going well but I felt lonely. Randy had been asking to have another baby. I didn't want to because three is a handful but Randy had a good job and things were going well so I gave in.

On December 21, 2011 our little family of 5 grew to 6. Waylon was a welcomed addition to our family and I can't imagine my life with out him in it! The only bad part was our family in Arizona was missing out on seeing him grow and we were longing for what we left 2 and 1/2 years ago so we made the move back to Arizona. 

This brings us to the present time. You can go back and read my blog from the beginning and it will help you fill in some of the holes but I will give you a fair warning, I only started getting serious about blogging recently so not a lot is documented. :( 

None the less I hope you choose to follow us along on our journey. I am unsure of where God is taking us but I have faith that it will be good.  

XOXO