So Proud of My Hubby

Brandon deserves his own post for me to brag on him! He graduated with his bachelors degree in criminal justice a couple weeks ago! Woohoo! He dedicated himself to finishing this task and after years of sacrifice, HE DID IT! SO proud of him. He is such a good daddy and husband. Throughout his years of working on this degree he always did his best to not let it take away time from our family and instead would do his hours of homework and paper writing AFTER he would read stories to Zion and help me put the kiddos to bed..... what a guy! He is all about putting the needs and wants of his family before his own needs and wants. And I'm so thankful! We've been married almost 8 years and every day I love him more. So proud to be married to thus awesome man of God who leads our precious family so well. BleSSeD!!!

It's a Boy!

So very pleased to officially announce the upcoming arrival of our new little boy! Zion and Joelle get a brother!  Woohoo! We feel so blessed! He is healthy and very active. Praise God! I am 21.5 weeks along and feeling really good! Yay! Another blessing for sure. Joelle is SO active, I need all my energy just to attempt to keep up with her. :) We have lots of fun. Zion is doing fabulous in Kindergarten! We're loving every minute of it and feel so privileged to have the opportunity to educate him at home. I pray you are doing great today! Thanks for reading! :)

Beach for my Birthday!

My amazing hubby took me to the beach to celebrate my 28th Birthday! Woohoo! At the beach with my 2 amazing kiddos and my awesome husband = perfection. :) We had such a wonderful time. He even booked our last night at a hotel I'd loved with my family over 15 years ago.... RIGHT on the beach! (And since it'd been remodeled, it was even better than I remembered!)  It was Joey's first time at the beach, and while at first she HATED when her feet touched the sand, she warmed up to it and took off running full speed! And Zion LOVED jumping in the waves with his daddy. We even saw dolphins (Zion is sure they were sharks) on our last morning to top it all off. So blessed to have had the opportunity to go on such a wonderful trip with our family. Seeing the delight and joy on their faces was so fun. We can't wait to do it again! As Zion said when we were walking barefoot back to Pacific Shores Inn fit the last time, "bye beach! See you in a couple weeks!" :)

LEGOLAND

Woohoo! We conquered Legoland! It was SO fun! To see Zion's delight and amazement at the whole experience was awesome and worth every penny.

What a Nut

Joey is such a nut! :) Full of JOY. This is her new thing when you pull out the camera. She says, "CHEESE". So fun to watch her little personality developing into such a hysterical, joyful, spunky, laughter filled person. She already strives make others laugh. Love it.

Pre-Programmed

Zion: Why are there holes in the wheels of Ellie's toy?

Daddy: (purposely not giving the right answer) That's where you put the air in...

Zion: Dad, those are not inflatable tires!

Haha. Another recent conversation with Zion...

Mommy: See that big mushroom? You can just look at it.  Make sure you don't touch it.

Zion: Why? Can't we eat them? Like we ate them with dinner last night?

Mommy: No. Some mushrooms can make you very sick. Only the ones from the store are ok to eat. 

Zion: Oh, you mean they're poisonous....

LOL. This kid and his vocabulary. It's awesome.

I hate gum....

A very, very kind, giving, well-meaning lady at church gave Zion a pack of gum on Sunday. Thanking her I tucked it into the front pocket of his shirt(one of my favorite shirts, of course). Thinking to myself as I put it there.... "that's a bad idea. You're gonna forget it's there." Well, yup, I ignored that very wise thought. Ug. What a mess. And of course, mainly with Brandon's clothes. Oye.  I think I got it all off though, hopefully! Took me forever.  Vinegar is such good stuff! Took it off the inside of the washer immediately with hardly any elbow grease! Joey was VERY unhappy with the amount of time it took me to clean it up!

I love my view....

God is good and we are so blessed! I was just thinking how pretty my back view is... I managed to grow sunflowers and the big one is blooming, we got a new playground set(used for $80 bucks!-it's a $400 thing!), it's cloudy and I have a mountain view. BUT, as I took the picture, I realized my favorite view was in the foreground of the window... :). These 2 kiddos are awesome! Joelle just turned one, and as Zi's about to turn 5, I am SO thankful for the time I've had with them as the best view in the house! And I look forward to many many many more years with them as the main subjects in my picture window ! :)

Sahuarita House of Worship

About a year ago God clearly called Brandon and I, and my parents to be a part of a brand new thing here in Sahuarita-AZ. It was clearly His voice guiding and directing our steps. We had been a part of a bible study with our former youth Pastor, Henry Ayala, and when he asked what we thought about starting a church, we were all in! Every single step of opening the Sahuarita House of Worship has been God-led and it has been so awesome to just watch HIM work and see His plans fall into place! God is so good! Brandon's vision from almost 3 years ago, of the local BOWLING ALLEY being used for HIS glory, is now being lived out! The former bowling alley is now the Sahuarita House of Worship!! We officially had 80 people at our Easter Sunday service! Praise God! If you don't have a place to worship Jesus and fellowship with other Jesus-loving people, come see us! Sundays at 10am or Wednesdays, for an informal Bible study, at 7pm, come see what God has in store for YOU at the Sahuarita House of Worship! Also, if you know of any YOUTH, 6th -12th grade, send them our way! PULSE Youth has officially started on Wednesday nights at 7 with Brandon and I. God has AMAZING plans for southern AZ! As 1 Corinthians 2:9 states so awesomely: "No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him."

Check out our website here: www.sahuaritahouseofworship.org

It's far from done or perfect, but it's up and running!

Pima County Fair

Fun stuff! Zion entered 3 projects into the Pima County Fair! 2 Lego projects and a painted rock lion! We are so proud of him! Last night the fair opened and we got to go see his projects on display. His joy and excitement to find his stuff was SO memorable and fun! Plus, to find 3 BLUE ribbons on his projects that he worked so hard on was just icing on the cake! :) Fun fun! It also brought back so many fun memories of my brothers and I searching for our various projects. Good stuff! Zion LOVED the while experience. And he got a true fair experience. :) complete with Piggly wiggly fries, being the Orange team cheerleader for animal races and cheering on a turkey, and fair rides! His favorite part was riding in a ORANGE monster truck ride! :) While he was nervous about it at first, he LOVED IT, and begged to take me riding in it after his ride with daddy. :) In his own words, "IT WAS AWESOME!!" It was a bit chilly, but Ellie loved everything and didn't want to miss a thing. :) She especially enjoyed watching her brother jump around and dance in excitement as we walked around. :) Fun stuff!