Coloring Contest

Hailey was a winner in the Rocklin Hot Chili Cool Cars coloring contest. She got to go to McDonald's and have an ice cream cone with the other winners. She also got a goody bag full of fun stuff. She was so thrilled to take Mommy Jean along with her. She was very proud!

Visitors

We were so lucky to have the Borchert family come visit us last weekend. We did so many fun things. We hadn't seen any of the kids since last February so it was fun to see how big they'd all gotten. The Friday they were here was Halloween and during the day we went to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm in Wheatland, CA. It is Hailey's favorite place! She talks about it all year long. In fact, when I was pregnant with Miley we'd tell her that the baby would come close to pumpkin time. I think she was secretly more excited for the pumpkins than the baby:) Anyways, the kids got to feed the goats. Kenna was the funniest to watch! What a girl! Baby Maggie wasn't scared at all. It was pretty cute. Just a fun thought...can you image a goat at Amanda's house - now that would make for funny tv - love ya Mand! We took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch and picked pumpkins. (they're rotting on the side of my house by the way) We ate some yummy pumpkin treats and headed home in time to get ready for trick-or-treating.

Hailey was a princess. Ash made the costume for her and did a great job! Miley was a ghost - her first Halloween. Check out the pics of all the kids in their cute costumes!

Saturday we picked up cupcakes at our favorite cupcake store - Icing on the Cupcake. It's Hailey's 2nd most favorite place! We brought them home, cut them up into sections and shared all of the different flavors. (As if the kids didn't already have enough sugar in them) We went bowling Saturday night and had a ton of fun.

Sunday was Miley's Blessing and ended up being a pretty cool Sunday. Austin, Ben and my dad were able to stand in the circle. Not only did Austin do a great job but to our ward's surprise, our Bishop was released and we got a whole new bishopric. We're sad we live too far away to have everybody there but maybe someday we'll be back closer.

Monday was the hard day. There were lots of tears when the kids had to leave. Hailey misses them everyday. It was really special for Hailey to have one on one time with her cousins.

Miley Jo

Our beautiful baby girl Miley Jo was born August 12, 2008. She weighed 8 pounds 5 oz. and was 21 1/4 inches long. She was born at 6:18 am. She has the most gorgeous red hair and tons of it! Hailey confessed a few weeks after we brought the baby home that she didn't think Miley's hair was pretty at the hospital but now she loves it and thinks it's beautiful.

She is the best baby! I thought she would be the hard one to take care of - oh boy was I wrong! The first few weeks were pretty hairy with big sis! It sure must be tough for a 3 year old to wrap her head around this huge change. Thank goodness my mom is so close. She helped me step back and realize that it was going to take time to get everybody adjusted. Now Miley is 13 weeks old and life has really calmed down. Hailey loves her little sister but still wants her alone time with daddy. Miley sleeps through the night and really only cries when she's hungry or wet. She rolled over for the first time last week and keeps getting better and better at it as the days go on. Here's some pictures of when she was first born. They sure do change quickly!

Blooming Words

Blooming Words is finally up and running! It's been over a year of hard work to make this happen. It's been quite the learning process and we feel we've barely scratched the surface. For those reading this that don't know what I'm talking about, we've started a vinyl lettering business. By 'we' I mean my mom, my sister and me. We've turned out to be quite the team. Learning new computer programs, learning how to work our equipment, staying up countless nights (while kids are sleeping) designing artwork just begins to tell the story of this last year.

Austin had 2 knee surgeries and a broken front tooth that needed an implant, Hailey turned 3 (now almost 4), we moved twice in 2 months - that's a fun story! ...and oh yeah, I had a baby. Beautiful Miley Jo.

I get to go back to work this week - which brings mixed feelings. It's good to be able to get out of the house a little but I still hate leaving my babies. They're in good hands so I feel very grateful I don't have to worry about them.

Check out our site at bloomingwords.com!