Merry Christmas!

So in an attempt to post something to make up for not posting in a while, we'll start with something easy. I really need to catch up on quite a bit but here's a {MERRY CHRISTMAS} to all of our friends and family! We love ya!

Resident Firefighter Neilson

We sent Austin off this morning for his first 24 hour shift at Station 70 in Lincoln, CA. Keep your fingers crossed for him. Here's his 'first day of school' pictures I made him pose for.

GAP 30% off

So I ran like the wind from the hotel business and I work for Gap.com now. They do this friends and family promotion each year. This year they're doing a 30% off Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Piperlime and Athleta. The coupon is valid Nov. 12-15 and can be used multiple times in store and (1) time online. Each coupon has a unique discount code and I have a total of 25 paper coupons and 25 more coupons I can send by email. First come first serve. If you want one (or a few) let me know and I'll get them sent out right away.

{Cupcake & Ladybug}

THANKS ASH! The costumes turned out so great! We had to start while there was still daylight because I had to go to work (bummer!!!) but at least I got to be with them for a little bit. We started out in our old neighborhood so that Hailey could visit a few friends and I'd be close to work so I could stay with the kids a bit longer. It didn't take long for Miley to catch on. The video cracks me up. The girls ended up with so much candy. Our teeth are going to rot out for sure. Big Sissie showing Miley the ropes. This cupcake is super sweet! Anybody seen my antennas? I think this won best costume in the neighborhood!

Hot Chili Booth

This year we participated in the Hot Chili Cool Cars event for the Chamber of Commerce. We set up a booth for Blooming Words. The booth turned out so cute that I wanted to post some pics. Anybody needing gifts...contact us for a friends and family discount!

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

One of our favorite fall traditions. This place is so great. Admission is free and there's so much to do. And the bakery is amazing!

Sharing the {Good NEWS!}

#1.) Paul Cardall received his heart transplant today! Read more about him at mytricuspidatresia.blogspot.com. I don't personally know him but he and his family are such an inspiration. !Fair warning! You may need a box of tissues as you read his posts.

#2.) Austin just received the call that he was accepted into the Placer County Fire residency program. It's different than a volunteer. They are issued uniforms and badges and when they are on duty, they are treated as any other fireman at the scene. Volunteers aren't allowed to go into the fire and do many of the things that a 'normal' firefighter would do and that's why this program is so cool. So he'll work several 24 hour shifts per month and get really good on-th-job training.

It's a good day.

Lucky Girl - She takes after her {DAD}

Miley went in last week for her 12 month check-up. Here's the stats...

31.5" Tall (Off the charts meaning her dot is above the 95th percentile curve. Hailey is 38" tall so it's kinda funny - she is so going to be taller than her sister by next year!

19.9 lbs. (40%)

I can't remember what her head measured but it was at 75%

The doctor was totally surprised to see her walking {running} around the office and said the most a 12 month is expected to do developmentally is crawl really well or maybe start standing up next to a sofa. He also said that she should start saying 'mama' and 'dada' by 18 months. OK...She's had that mastered for a while now and her new word is 'happy'. But you can't say it just once - you have to say it over and over again really stressing the 'y' sound. She also just started nodding her head yes and no. She tries to nod while she's walking and throws herself off balance - it's so funny to watch. I know, I know - I'll be hating the word 'no' pretty dang soon but for right now, it's super cute!

UNO!

My baby just turned 1 on August 12th. I can't believe it! She's a professional walker and finally has some teeth. She has 5 that pretty much all came in at once. She makes the cutest little sounds. Her kisses are my favorite! She doesn't give them out freely but when she does, I wish I could somehow bottle it up and save it forever! She really loves to play now. I remember Hailey loved bags. She would gather stuff from all over and collect it in bags or purses. Miley's thing is pens. She loves them! She's been coloring for a few months now. It's hilarious to watch her hold the pen and scribble on paper {or should we say Tata's stone fireplace}. Thank heavens for the internet. It shows that other moms have the same simple pleasures of removing pen. Yikes! The solution...about 8 paper towels thick - drizzle with hydrogen peroxide and squish into the surface of the stain. It magically draws it out. Whew! There was a lot of pen.

We had a little party for her. We had pizza and set her in a high chair to dig in to her cake. It took a little pursuading. She was more interested in the sprinkles on top at first. She caught on though. Messy baby by the end of the night!

Before the mess!

Thinking about it...

Picking off the sprinkles

Sweet little face

Messy girl

Immediately went into the kitchen sink for a bath!

Redhead, get it? Thanks Mommy Jean and Papa

And our cake. YUM

A year ago! Time flies!

Big sissy holding Miley for the first time.

Change of Address {Again!}

So this is our 4th home we've lived in here in NorCal. At least this one was our choice. (#1 & #2 were not exactly pleasant experiences!) #3 was much better. Only 3 houses down from Tata and Papo. #4 One big happy family. We've moved in with my mom and dad into their new house. It's one of the few homes in all of California that has a basement. Thanks Mom and Dad for this little arrangement. It's such a gorgeous home. I'll post more pics of it later but here's a view from the backyard.

If only moving was really this much fun!

Austin's Graduation

It's a month past due but Austin is done with the Fire Academy! Our life has been crazy since the moment he graduated - more of that madness to come:)

So Aaron, his older brother, called us a few days before the graduation and said he was coming. So fun to have him here. We went to Outback on Saturday night for a little grad party with the girls and my mom and dad.

Sunday was the big day down at the Crest Theater in downtown Sacramento. The place was soooo cool! It was an old theater that had been re-done. I guess I was picturing a hot auditorium with folding chairs but it was nothing like that at all. Grandma Vickie and Papa Frank drove all the way from Utah to surprise Austin for his graduation. It was the first time that Frank had seen Miley. It was fun to have them there. Since the moving truck (yeah, don't worry...we've moved again!) was showing up bright and early to pick up our furniture, Aaron got to sleep on an air mattress and G&G Neilson stayed at the hotel I work at.

Back to details about the graduation. (My mind is all scrambled. I have about 10 posts I need to do and they're all mushing together in my head!) Every class does a class present to all of the Captains and DI's. Austin's class took rusted axes and sanded them by hand to make them pretty again. They had each DI's name burned into the wooden handle. Then they got a piece of steel donated from the twin towers and had a plaque engraved with all 400+ firefighters that died that day. A class from
'07 made a bell out of an old style metal air tank. Austin's class did a tribute to a Captain that died in the last year or so and had his badge welded onto the bell. It was pretty neat! A lot of hard work went into these project aside from the fact that they were at school everyday for about 6 months straight. Their class also won the fittest class ever. It was a really special day. Austin will have memories of this Academy for a long time.
Miley had finally gone to sleep so we didn't want to chance waking her to take a pic. So here's 3/4 of our family!

This is the piece of steel from 9/11.

Class of 09-6. Started with 51 recruits and graduated 35.

Nobody is as excited as Hailey to have her daddy home!

The countdown is on!

Only two more weeks from today and Austin will officially be a Fire Academy Graduate!

Hailey's Playlist

So for those who don't know, Hailey can sing most any country song on the radio. She gets new favorites all the time. It's hilarious! Once I get off my retard box I'll post some video of her singing. Here's some of her favorites!
1. Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me
2. Anything Taylor Swift
3. Zach Brown Band - Cold Coke (It's says cold beer but we made up our own
version)
4. Keith Urban - Kiss A Girl
5. Miley Cyrus - The Climb
6. Miley Cyrus - Hoedown Throwdown (Pop-It Lock It Dance Included!)
7. Lady Antebellum - I Run
8. Kelly Pickler - The Best Days of Your Life
9. SUGARLAND - All I Want To Do
10. Blake Shelton - Home

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

The Disney Store at our mall re-opened in a new location and had a Grand Opening with Mickey and Minnie. I assumed it would be like Santa at the mall. Stand in line for a few minutes and then be on your merry way. Think Again! The line wrapped around a dozen times and stretched all the way to the other end of the mall. It started at noon and we got there about quarter 'till. I coudln't believe it. These parents were crazy! They must have been there since early that morning. Kids had armfuls of stuff to have signed. Some things just aren't that worth it to me. We got a picture of Hailey with Minnie and Mickey - kind of. You can see the happy couple in the background. Good enough for me. We were in and out of there in 10 minutes.

BFF

Hailey has a new BFF {Kaylee}. Kaylee is a year older than Hailey but they have so much fun. I can't believe I was younger than Hailey when I met my BFF {Joni}. To be 4 again. Here's the two hard at work...

Memorial Day Weekend

It's been a long time since I last posted. Life is busy! Anyways, here's some pics of our Memorial Day Weekend in Tahoe. We had a great little condo and spent lots of time in the pool and at the beach. I've decided though that the beach is such a hassle! You pretty much have to pack your whole life in a bag...get annoyed when someone steps on your towel and gets sand all over...buy shovels and buckets to then have to bring them home...and clean out SAND for the next month. Oh yeah, try to spray sunscreen and then not have sand stick to you. It's impossible! It's as annoying as trying to keep hair from sticking to your lips after you just put chapstick on and the wind is blowing. Despite my love/hate relationship with the beach, we really did have a great time. Here's some pics of our much needed get-a-way. Did I mention I need another one any day now?
Sleeping kids are so peaceful!Our drive up the pass. Anyone seen my big yellow crane?Our poor kids have no chance of ever being tan. Neutrogena just came out with SPF 100. Yipee!
Digging for treasures...Cute summer bum cheeks. I love 'em!!Our happy girlThat's one way to learnI love this girl to pieces!Thirsty!

Recruit 81...Or in other words AUSTIN

So in some ways the time has really flown and in other ways it feels like he'll never be done with the Academy. Tomorrow will start week 16 out of 24. He's still really loving it. I really don't know how he does it. He's up by 5am every single day of the week and works all day and then goes to school. It's not like he has a kick back, take it easy kind of job. It's hard work. Then he gets to go throw ladders against a building all night and their physical training is like an episode of Biggest Loser - no, not the makeover one - the one where Jillian tortures the contestants until they puke or start crying and sweat is puddling on the floor forming a new reservoir. Today they are getting into Hazmat stuff. If it's not bad enough that they have to wear the Hazmat suit over their regular turnout gear, it is supposed to be 105 degrees today.

The drill instructors and captains have given the recruits Memorial Day weekend off. I took the weekend off work too and we are getting the heck outta here for a couple days. It is a much needed break. I can't say too much because I'm keeping the destination a secret from Austin. But I'll post pictures after we get back.
Anyways, life is busy but it's good. I'm so proud of Austin. He works so hard so that hopefully in the near future, he can have a great career and I can stay home with the girls.



Their class is referred to as 09-6 so they did this cool push up thing...

Flattering Plagerism

So every now and then I check up on the competition to see what they're offering. There's some really creative stuff out there and I have so many ideas in my little brain that I cannot create fast enough. So tonight I was browsing through some competitors sites and came across (wall stamp . net)--> I typed it this way on purpose - I'm not giving these guys an inbound link. I see at the top that there's a tab for their blog and I decide to click on it. Wow! They are truly original. Curious? You should first check out http://www.bloomingwords.com/Default.aspx?ID=69 then go to the site I mentioned above and click on their blog tab. Look similar? They totally took pictures from our website and made up some random story and posted it as their own. Here's the cute little story they made up...

I love to go to people’s homes and see unique decor, especially in the kitchen. I’m constantly amazed at how often vinyl lettering can be used in home decor. Aside from the traditional wall words, vinyl lettering can create some really unique home decor, even in the kitchen. Recently I was at a friends home and saw some really unique decor items in her kitchen. She had some very nice vines along the top of her kitchen cabinets with a nice home decor sign that featured a quote about hot bread (butter 25cents extra), along with some other items. However, what reallly caught my eye were some decorative plates she had next to her stove, right under her spice rack. They were simple ceramic plates that matched the decor of her kitchen, but the plates had printed on them different vegetables, such as tomato, onion, olive, etc. They were on plate stands, and the lettering and graphics were painted on. I thought, “how easy would this be to recreate using vinyl lettering?” So, I went to the store, bought a couple of colored plates that matched my decor ($2.00 each) and recreated the decorative plates using vinyl letters. When all was said and done, I had recreated the same decorative plates at a fraction (about 1/4) of the cost that my friend paid for her decorative plates.

Really!? Mom is excited because she has a friend now that she didn't know she had (those plates are in her kitchen). It's really funny that I stumbled across this the same day they posted it. Weird. Anyways, I'm not sure if I should email them or just post a comment on our vinyl blog because you know they'll be back again. It would be kinda fun to mess with them a little. I know...I should email them and say I really liked the vinyl on the plates and wanted to know how to order. Hmmm...it's going to be hard to create something you don't have. They're really good at making up stories so it could be interesting. I know, I know, I should play nice and not say anything at all but what's the fun in that!

I love this age!

Miley is everywhere now. I turn my back for one second and she's up the first flight of stairs. Her favorite place (other than Hailey's closet full of goodies) is under the kitchen table. She's grown taller in the last month or so because her head used to clear the table and now she bonks it everytime. Here's Miley saying Hi to everyone from her favorite spot. She's also holding on to the couch and walking from one end to the other. As long as she's got something to hold on to, she's good as gone.