Cardinals...

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSSA JOY!!!

Alyssa turns 3 today! ...and what a big girls she is. She's started to have so many opinions and thoughts on everything lately. It's been so neat to see her little brain working so hard and growing so fast. :) She is so cute with her little sister ('Boo-Bear'). They are starting to play with baby dolls together, read books on her bed together, and their new thing to do is watch Barney together. I love how they are learning to interact with one another and can't wait to see their relationship continue to grow. We are so blessed to have her in our life...thank you Lord!

Quick story about my BIG GIRL:

Something happened today that just proves how big she is (or at least thinks she is). Nate took the girls to the mall play area this morning and while playing, a boy came up to her and said, "look mom, a baby." Nate found this out because he hears Alyssa screaming across the play area, "daddy I am NOT a BABY!!!" Confused, he went over to her to find out why she was yelling that. When he got there, the mom of the little boy kept apologizing over and over (because she felt so bad because Alyssa was SO upset about it). She said that her little 2 year old boy just calls every baby/child a baby. Alyssa did not understand and just kept saying, "I'm a BIG girl, not a BABY!!!"

BOOOOO Cardinals!!!

Okay, so even though they didn't win I'm going to post about the Cardinals! ...because I'm just in awe that with 2 minutes left and only 4 yards to get a first down, you PUNT IT! COME ON!!!!!!! With these kinds of calls, no wonder we are pathetic year after year after year!!!

"Can I pray too???"

Alyssa's been so cute lately when we pray...she'll ask, "can I pray too?" Usually her prayers are short and sweet...for example, if it's dinner time she'll say "thank you God for our food, amen."

So, tonight Nate and I were both praying for her and thanking God for the 3 wonderful years we've had with her...for example, "thank you Lord for Alyssa" etc., etc. When we were done she asks if she can pray too. We look at each other like ok sure, but wondering what is she going to pray for...and then she says, "thank you God for me."

My girls are getting SO big!

One of Emi's favorite things is trying to put shoes on. She absolutely loves shoes and anytime she gets her hands on a pair she sits right down to try and put them on.

Alyssa has just recently been getting herself dressed sometimes. For such a long time we tried, but she just didn't get it (or want to get it), so now when I walk in and she's in new clothes it shocks me! This morning she was playing in her room before I got her dressed and when I went in I found her in this cute little dress and asking for a matching headband. What a cutie pie!

Blessed be Your Name!

I love this song so much...even though it is hard to apply in tough situations:

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name

So today I decided to let Emi bring Alyssa's Cabbage Patch baby (Haylee), that she got when Emi was born, in to a restaurant for lunch. Well...it didn't end up back in the car with us. :( I went back to the place we ate and all the surrounding restaurants (just in case it had dropped on the way in), but no luck! Alyssa cried all the way home, saying "baby Haylee, I want baby Haylee!"...it was very sad! It was such a great opportunity to teach her these precious words though. Although...she responded just like I have so many times in the past! I told her God gives us things, that we don't deserve, and we need to say "Thank you!" ...but then He can also take them away and we need to be okay with that even though it is sad sometimes. And to that she said, "I don't like that!" (Oh how I have felt the same way so many times!) ...but we did continue in our conversation and she was able to finally tell God thank you for the time that she had with Haylee and ask that He please help her find Haylee. (through the tears that is!)

The Cards Won AGAIN!!!

So we're starting the season at 2-0, which is not a big deal for some teams, but it is for the Cards ....

IT'S THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1991!!! Can you believe it??? How pathetic is that?!?!

...well, maybe this means we're actually going to have a good season this year! :-)

Tagged by Pam...

I'm so sorry it's taken me soooo long to do this Pam! Here goes...

20 years ago I was 9 and living in Maine. I don't remember too much other than I played soccer, basketball, and softball. One fun thing I remember from that time is that my friends and I use to ride our bikes all around our neighborhood all summer, and in the afternoons we would try to find the ice cream truck by following the music. For some reason that was really fun!

10 years ago I had lived in AZ for about 2 1/2 years. Nate and I had been dating for about 8 months and I was going to MCC in preparation of getting in to ASU for Sports Marketing. I had become a Christian about 3 1/2 years prior while living in Maine, and was now going to Grace Community Church in Tempe. Although not growing a lot at that point, God was preparing Nate and I for a church move. It was at that new church that God really started to draw me closer to Him! Other than that we pretty much just hung out w/our friends ALL the time, playing volleyball or going to coffee. I was working at an apartment community, the first of many! ...and had just moved out on my own for the first time!

5 years ago I had been married to Nate for 2 1/2 years and we lived in, what was then, a little town called Higley (which I think is now just part of Gilbert). At this point we had both of our pups, Tyson & Bailey. I was working at University of Phoenix Online as an Admissions Counselor. Nate and I were at East Valley Bible Church Tempe. No babies yet, but just wait until the next section. ;)

3 years ago we were about to welcome our first baby...Alyssa Joy! (it'll be 3 years in exactly 1 week) Nate was in Japan for work and got back home with 4 days to spare! I quit Univ. of Phoenix this week...which was WONDERFUL! We had been in the house that we are currently in for about a year at this point and Nate had been at Nissan for a little over a year.

1 year ago we had a beautiful 10 week old baby girl and we were preparing to go on an amazing family vacation to New England...most of the time spent in Maine. We spent lots of time on the beach, watching the ocean, and of course eating LOTS of LOBSTER!!! :)

Today I started the day reading at Starbuck's and am now enjoying watching LOTS of football (GO CARDS!) and can't wait until church tonight, where for the first time Alyssa will be able to come to worship with us before going to her big girl class! :)

Tomorrow the girls and I will be going to story time and then when Daddy gets home we're going over a friend's house for dinner and Monday Night Football! :) It should be a great Monday!

Next year I have no idea where we'll be or what we'll be doing??? My plan is that Alyssa will start preschool, but we'll have to wait and see what God has planned for us. Nate would love to move to another country w/his job one day (sooner than later), but I'm not sure when or if that will happen. After working on my first lesson from Bible Study Fellowship this week I am reminded that God knows the plans for all the days of our lives...and am sooo comforted that He is in control and not me!

I tag Theresa, Melissa, Andrea, Sarah, Michelle, and Lexi!

Just like the bed???

Here's how a conversation between Alyssa and I went today in the car...

A: Where's Jesus?
J: In Heaven...and with us everywhere.
A: I don't want to go to Heaven.
J: Why?
A: I just don't want to.
J: We should want that more than anything. God decides when we get to go and when we get there it's going to be so amazing.
A: Is it hot there? Is it cold there?
J: It'll be just right!
A: Just like the bed?
J: ??????? (...light bulb goes on and I think I have a clue what she is talking about!) What do you mean Alyssa?
A: Goldilocks and the 3 bears (The last bed she tried was, 'Just Right'!)
J: Yup, just like that! ;)

GO CARDS!!!

I had to post this right away before it changes... Cardinals have a winning season so far!!! ;-)
(and we play the Dolphins next week so, even though it's hard to imagine, we could actually start the season 2-0!)

It was such a good game and to celebrate I dressed the girls up in their Cardinals attire for church...although I didn't get a picture, oops! Maybe they'll win one more game this year so I can dress them up again! ;)

My Book List

So most of you know that I'm not really a 'reader'. I just have never really enjoyed it...until recently!

God has been convicting me of using my time more wisely (for me that means less reality tv and more time learning about Him). It motivated me to finally finish a couple books that I have been reading for, well let's just say a LONG time. ...but they were soooo good that it made me want to keep reading and I'm loving it!!! I'm actually enjoying sitting down with a book so much that it's taking me away from projects around the house...so now I need to pray that God will help me balance everything! ;)

"Boo Bear", "What's in the Mouth", " 'Lo' "

So Nate and I were just talking last night about how cute it is that Alyssa calls her sister Boo Bear. (It's a nickname that somehow we've come up with over the past year for her, but Alyssa calls her by that name all the time and even introduces her to people like that.) So anyways, today we were at Costco and while we were checking out the people at the store kept asking Alyssa what her baby sister's name was and I kept hearing her say "Boo Bear"...and then they would look at me with a weird look. It was pretty funny!

A new phrase that Alyssa has is "What's in the mouth?". She recently has been able to have gum and so anytime she sees any of us chewing anything she always asks us what's in our mouths...she'll stop whatever she's doing and get real serious and ask "what's in the mouth?" I love how she notices everything now...and the way she words things. ;)

Last thing is Boo's (aka Emily's) new thing. She loves to pretend she's talking on the phone. She has a play phone, but really anything will do. She'll just hold whatever up to her ear and say "Lo!" and then walk around pretending to talk. She's getting so BIG!!!

These girls are such precious gifts...it's so fun to think about all these little things they do! :)

1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10???

Alyssa's been doing some funny thing with numbers lately.

1st of all if I ask her how much of something she'll say... "1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10!!!" ...or she'll just skip to the "7, 8, 9, 10!" It's pretty cute. She just knows that's more than 1 or 2 so she wants that many! ;)

2nd of all her birthday is in one month so we've been talking about how she'll be turning 3, but whenever we ask her how old she is now she'll say '1' and then how old she will be she says '6'??? I have no idea where 6 came from, but she'll be 6, I'm 6, Grandma's 6, etc.! She's growing up too quickly. ;)

***explanation of the crazy picture... She's had her build-a-bear (aka Briya Bear) since Christmas, but all of a sudden today she wanted to dress Briya and have her and Briya wear matching hats. She even wanted to take Briya to play group and wear her hat inside during play group. Too cute, I had to take a picture. :)

Psalm 16:7

"I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me."

Praise God for His Word! I love this promise that, by knowing His Word and having it written on our hearts, He will instruct us even at night...after long exhausting days!

Congratulations Happygod!!!

Happygod became a US Citizen today...CONGRATULATIONS!!! Here are some pics of the ceremony today, his smile says it all. :-)


Those are all the people who became an US citizen today

Happygod filling out all his paperwork.


Celebrating with one HAPPY Happygod! :)

Some more fun things the girls are doing & saying...

Emily has started saying 'uh-oh' which is so cute and she almost always shakes her head yes or no when you ask her a question...it usually doesn't match what the correct answer should be though! ;)

She also has started doing a cute thing when I pick her up when she wakes up. I always give her a big tight hug and say 'mmmmmmm' and she's just started doing it back. She'll hug me tight and say 'mmmmm' until I let her go. Aaahhh, just melts my heart!

Also, most of her 'words' (aka sounds) are 'ma' or 'ba' (they do sound different depending on what she's asking for, but probably only to me) ;) , but yesterday she actually said the word 'ball' so that was pretty exciting!

I remembered a few more cute things Alyssa has been doing and since I already forgot them when posting the previous post I figured I better write them down now before I forget them again...

So I'm not sure if this one is cute or just plain strange! She is always saying that things are getting her, like she hear's a garbage truck and even if she can't see it she yells, 'the garbage truck is getting me' or if we're outside walking w/out shoes she yells 'the ants are getting me' and so on and so on. Very odd!

In regards to the previous 'Ariel/Eric' post, she has now changed to Cinderella. Everything is related to Cinderella...birds making noises must be the same birds that wake up Cinderella, any castle (or even just a big house) HAS to of course be Cinderella's house, if someone is dressed up they must be wearing Cinderella's dress and her hair is of course just like Cinderella's, and she really loves saying 'bippity boppity boo'. What a cutie pie!

She has also started to say things like 'mommy i'm going to do'_' later or tomorrow or after naps...or she'll say all three together. For instance, 'mommy, later tomorrow after naps we can watch Cinderella, okay?' or 'tomorrow we'll go to swim lessons' (which we haven't taken in over a month now!) or 'later after naps Mercy come over and sleep in my Cinderella sleeping bag, okay?' (of course that one is w/a big smile on her face).

...and the final one actually was said correctly for the first time today, but I'm still posting what she has been saying up until today because it was too cute. Everytime we pass McDonald's she yells 'Mom, there's Mc-A-Donald's!' I'm not sure where the 'A' came from, but it is really cute...or it WAS really cute while it lasted. ;)

Family trip to Prescott

This past weekend we went up to a cabin in Prescott with Nate's parents and brother's family (Eric, Wendy, Zach, Emma, & Ava). We enjoyed nice weather, good food, and a little bit of relaxation. ;)

Enjoying some homemade/microwavable s'mores...I think the girls liked them! ;)

The Herbrandson boys!

Alyssa loved being with her cousin Emma! They just ran around and giggled all day. :)

Emma's trying REALLY hard to get Alyssa to look at the camera! ;)

Funny Alyssa...

Alyssa has said a couple funny things lately that I thought I better write down to remember. :-)

First, she's always asking what everyone's name is (kids names, their mommy's names, people driving by, etc., etc.), so... we're watching the Olympics - men's gymnastics - and she said 'what's the little man's name'. I don't know why, but that was really funny to me. She definitely doesn't say that when we watch football! ;)

Second, when she eats something good she turns to me and says 'mommy, this is delicious!' It hasn't been while eating anything I've made, but it's still cute.

Third, while watching football, there was a play where they were all running around chasing a guy, I guess it looked like they were running in circles because Alyssa turns to me and asks 'are they playing ring-around-the-rosie?'

Lastly (not sure how funny this is, but it is a constant part of our conversations so I figured I'd document it), I here 'WHY?' way too many times during the day! :) I try really hard to stay patient and teach her the things she's asking 'why' about, but boy is it tiring the 4th, 5th, 6th, etc. time I hear it in the same conversation that really didn't even need a 'why' in the first place!

Weekend away w/friends!

This past w/e we went up to a cabin near Show Low w/some of our friends that we've been friends with since high school (some of them have been friends since kindergarten!). We all had a great time just hanging out enjoying each other's company, playing games, the cooler weather, running in the grass (which my girls acted like they have never done before!), and reading. It was very fun!!!

FOOTBALL IS HERE!!! :-)

That is all I pretty much have to say... I'm just SOOOO excited!

I hope you all enjoy the 1st preseason game today!