Merry Christmas!!!

So I totally failed on mailing out christmas cards with a newsletter this year. . . so I'm doing my best with a blog post instead! ;)

2012 finds us still in Fair Oaks, California. This is the longest we have lived in one place and needless to say, WE LOVE IT! This Christmas marks the beginning of our 3rd year in California and so far and it's been a truly wonderful time.

This year has been an interesting life journey for us so far. We started off the year with Adam getting out of the Army and starting a job with his class A license, driving for Werner Enterprises. After over a month on the road with only 4 hours of home time, Adam decided he'd rather be home with his girls- especially having only recently returned from year long deployment.

After that he began working for a cable installation contractor. After a few months we decided to save some money by having Adam stay home with Mercedes while I continued my full time job managing the Great Clips salon in Fair Oaks.

Adam also joined an Army reserve unit for some part time income and benefits. He's been enjoying his time at home with Mercedes and she's been loving having daddy home full time! Meanwhile Adam has been busy testing and applying to various positions with California corrections/highway patrol/police departments. Perhaps 2013 could hold some amazing career advances for him! We shall see. . .

I've been busy as always continuing my job as a salon manager! This was a great year in the salon, due to the salons amazing performance I was able to attend the Great Clips 30th anniversary convention in Minneapolis 100% free. The salon received 2 awards which I had the honor of receiving at the convention. I also was selected out of thousands of managers to compete in a "Create The Cut" competition. It was judged by hair professionals who judge competitions around the world! Although I did not win one of the gargantuan trophies awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place- I did advance through the first 2 parts of the competition and as part of the top 10 competitors I was able to participate in an on stage hair show in front of the entire convention! The competition involved cutting on a mannequin and role play interacting with a customer in the salon. I have to say it was loads of fun and also a huge confidence booster making it to the top 10!

Mercedes has been happy and healthy as always, growing amazingly fast and leaving toddlerhood behind her completely. She enjoyed our hot summer learning to swim and playing at Folsom Lake. And of course a few trips to the beach!

We also made a long awaited decision. . . to try for baby #2! On August 3rd we found out we were expecting, but unfortunately my pregnancy ended in Miscarriage on September 7th 2012. We were all heart broken. Thankfully my body healed fast and much to our surprise on October 13th we found out I was already pregnant again. We could hardly believe it at first but a few blood tests later and it was confirmed that a healthy pregnancy was just getting started! There's been a few scary moments, but every blood test and ultrasound has showed better than average results. I'm now at the very beginning of the 2nd trimester and while paranoia has been a struggle, I couldn't be happier that our rainbow baby (internet term for a baby conceived post-loss) is growing big and due to arrive by June 28th 2013!

While 2012 hasn't been without it's challenges, I'm so grateful for another amazing year of learning to truly enjoy life, even when things don't go as planned or desired. (More of that to come on my blog!) It sure is a relief to focus on all the great things in life! Needless to say we're very excited for 2013. There's some very exciting things coming our way and possibly some big changes. It will be interesting to see how the year plays out! Regardless of what happens I know we will be one thrilled family when our June bug arrives.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Lots of Love,

The Valslers