Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

We hope your day is filled with the love of family and friends.

May we all remember the babe who humbled himself

and began his life in a lowly stable.

As our Little Miss likes to say, Happy Birthday Jesus!

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11)

Christmas Dress 2009

As mentioned last year, one of the joys of having a little girl is finding just the right Christmas dress. I have to take advantage of this time as there are only a couple more years before the Little Miss will likely get too independent to humor her mommy's fashion tastes.

I think the Little Miss looks adorable in her simple red velvet jumper dress. To top it off, the dress cost a mere $3.00 as a previously-worn bargain! I was tempted to buy a second holiday dress because this one was such a great deal. I had just enough will-power to hold off but I've already got my eyes on a new dress for next year! Just waiting for the post-Christmas sales...

(Sorry Mr. Wagner, it won't be quite the deal that this outfit was but think of the $$ we saved this year. A girl has to do what a girl has to do, you know!)

Slippin' Up

If you thought accidentally wearing my slippers to the Little Miss' gymnastics class (twice) was bad...

My slippers decided to repent as they attended church for the very first time today. Yep, just a mile out from the sanctuary I realized that I still had on my beloved Haflinger slippers. Mr. Wagner wasn't about to turn the car around and drive home just so I could retrieve more fashionable footwear. Slipper-clad and all, I strode [un]confidently into church. This could be a trend in the making. I'm certain college students who noticed were thinking, "I've got to get myself a pair of those shoes. That gal is just so cool!" Like, totally.

Christmas Goodies

Every year during the holidays we do like many of you, make (and ingest) a significant number of Christmas goodies. I'm certain that Jesus wants us to enjoy his birthday after all which means it's just fine to enjoy the sweetness of the month. Plus, if you give a lot of treats away, you're sharing the calories...umm, I mean...love of the season.

Who doesn't enjoy family traditions of special treats during the holidays? In our family's history there are thumbprint cookies, snowballs, peanut butter balls, Santa's buttons, fudge, sugar cookies...the list goes on and on. I baked many of the above last year to give away to neighbors and co-workers. This year, I decided to simplify and stuck to two tasty holiday treats.

My favorite of all favorites are Chocolate Peppermint Bars. This recipe comes from Mr. Wagner's late Grandma Lola. I remember a friend's mom in high school making similar treats and was ecstatic to find out that they are a Wagner family tradition.

Oreo Cookie Truffles were a first for me this year but will be part of our ongoing family tradition. These are pretty, tasty, and even better...super easy! Happy baking!

Chocolate Peppermint Bars

Brownie Crust:
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
16 oz can of Hersey's syrup
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbs milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
green food coloring

Ganache topping:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter

Mix together the brownie ingredients and bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes in a greased 9x13 pan. Allow to completely cool. Beat the frosting ingredients together, adding several drops of green food coloring to reach the desired light green color. Frost the cooled brownies. Melt together the chocolate chips and butter, stir until smooth, and then spread over the frosting layer.

Oreo Cookie Truffles

1 lbs of Oreo cookies
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 lbs white chocolate chips

Crush cookies until they are fine crumbs (I ground them using a food processor). Mix crumbs with cream cheese until well combined and a stiff dough forms. Roll into small balls and refrigerate or freeze until firm. Melt white chocolate chips over low heat or in the microwave. Dip Oreo balls into the chocolate and place on waxed paper to dry. These can be sprinkled with chocolate jimmies or melted milk chocolate for decoration.


What are YOUR favorite holiday recipes?

Midwest Part 2: Grandpa's John Deere Girl

While a few weeks have now gone by since our trip to visit the Wagner side of our family, we couldn't resist a post about our little "John Deere Girl". First, we must explain that an assumed trait of all Wagner grandchildren is a love for farm equipment. Second, all Wagner grandchildren are required to learn to drive a tractor with their Grandpa.

Little Miss got her first experience driving the old John Deere "B" putt-putt tractor with her Grandpa at Thanksgiving. Based on her reaction, suffice it to say this tractor ride was the highlight of our girl's vacation.

Grandpa got the tractor ready and the trailer hooked up for our "hay ride". With Grandpa and our girl in the driver's seat, the rest of us climbed into the trailer for the ride (side note: the trailer is actually a manure spreader but they promised me they use it to haul logs rather than manure...good thing!).

Grandpa even let Little Miss take the wheel. She loved driving and did a great job. Our girl made both her Grandpa and her Daddy so proud.

Yes, a love for John Deere runs deep in the Wagner family. We don't even mind the green and yellow colors, as long as they stay on tractors or the Packers. We did have to counter-act the colors though with our fashionable and well-coordinated orange outfits.

(OK, so really we're dressed that way because it was hunting season and we didn't want to be targets for the local hunters. We still think the orange looks nice and must say, Go Beavs!).

Midwest Part 1: A "Good" Little Mishap

We woke early the morning we left for our Midwest family vacation in order to catch the airport shuttle from our hotel. Being the careful, meticulous people that we are, we had our girl set to go and our luggage ready to load just as the driver arrived. Mr. Wagner then rushed back to our hotel room to lug the car seat down while Yours Truly gave our excessive luggage to the driver to load. We all settled into the full shuttle and minutes later, were unloaded like a herd of cattle at the terminal. It was only during the commotion of unloading that we realized that we'd left our sole carry-on bag in the lobby of the hotel (OK, I admit...it was actually me who left the bag). Mr. Wagner was kind enough to keep the blame to a minimum as he jumped back into the shuttle to retrieve the bag while the Little Miss and I stayed to check into the flight.

Little did we know at the time that God had a plan all along. As Mr. Wagner was profusely apologizing to the driver on their way back to the hotel, the driver replied something to the effect of "Oh, don't worry about it. You can only imagine the things that people leave. I've had to go back to the hotel to retrieve wedding rings...you name it!".

Wedding rings? Really? Ummmm...Mr. Wagner looked down suddenly realizing that he'd taken his off in the hotel room and it was not on his finger. Yesiree, I like to think that God allowed my bag-forgetting-mishap just so my dear hubby would have the opportunity to go back and retrieve his symbol of wedded bliss. It was a good thing because Mr. Wagner couldn't exactly hold a grudge when he got back to the airport...

Don't you just love when God shows His sense of humor?

(As for the flight, yes indeed, we all still made it on time).

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving...a few days late...from the West Coast Wagners!

We've been gallivanting around the Midwest the past week and had a wonderful time visiting Mr. Wagner's side of our family. It had been a few years since the last time the Wagner siblings and their families were all home at the same time.

There are now five grandchildren in the family. Little Owen holds his own with all these girls!
Mr. Wagner also has a lot of extended family in the area so we were able to enjoy several get-togethers with everyone. I always leave the Midwest feeling so blessed to be part of such a strong God-fearing family!

We're still recovering from our early morning hour return so I'll have to write more about our visit later. For now, we'll leave you these photos that Mr. Wagner's cousin took while we were there (Thanks a bunch Ken!).

Afternoon Tea with the Ladies

The Little Miss and Yours Truly enjoyed a nice "afternoon tea" with our dear friends Mel, Joani and baby Allison. We started off with Raspberry Sorbet and then were served delicious scones with clotted cream, lemon curd and homemade jam. The tasty tea time was topped off by a tower of treats including an assortment of finger sandwiches, vegetable tartlets, and sweets. I enjoyed a steaming pot of Cinnamon Spiced tea while the Little Miss had "Warm Chocolate" (she corrects me when I ask if she wants "hot" chocolate).

Dressed for the occasion

Lovely time with the ladies: Joani, baby Alli, and Mel

Notice the "dainty" bites...please don't tell Miss Manners

I love that the Little Miss enjoys tea time and am looking forward to sharing many more tea parties with our girl and good friends. We're still working on convincing Mr. Wagner that he should join us. I have not doubt that after seeing pictures of the tasty treats, even our Mr. could easily be tempted to join us at the tea house (though we may be sworn to secrecy if he does!).

You Go Girl!

One of my project managers from work was selected to appear on a mere little show called Oprah a couple of weeks ago. The show aired today and I have to say, I'm still smiling inside when I think of how courageous Melanie had to be. So proud of her! I told her to enjoy her 15 minutes of fame this week because it's back to reality come next Monday. Melanie got to fly to LA and then to Chicago for the taping all while I was locked in a stuffy classroom for a week studying for my PMP exam!!!! Not that I'm bitter or anything...

Melanie is the one in black next to...oh I forget...who is that lady in the yellow sweater?

Photo "courtesy" of Oprah.com

Celebrating Orange & Black Day

We are spoiled with the Booth family living just a block from us. Granted it's only temporarily while they build their new home, but for now, we're taking advantage of the close proximity! We all had fun this morning when we rode our bikes downtown with the kiddos in tow. Of course it wasn't all about getting exercise; our real goal was to find breakfast!
After refueling at Starbucks, with the Little Miss all bundled up in her Lady Bug costume (another cute Sophie hand-me-down!), we rode our bikes over to watch the OSU Homecoming parade. What better way to celebrate the day, Orange and Black in every way!

Go Beavers!

A Special Treat at the Pumpkin Patch

Thanks for being patient Dear Readers, the West Coast Wagners are back! It was tough but our family survived the week apart (a huge thank you goes out to Grandma Wagner for coming out to help. Little Miss loved playing with her BFF!).

Now that life is settling back to normal, we took advantage of a beautiful Fall day and made our annual family trip to a local pumpkin patch. We enjoyed steaming hot apple cider and homemade doughnuts while we waited for the hay ride to begin.

An old John Deere tractor took us out to the pumpkin patch where the Little Miss found the perfect little pumpkin.

The highlight of our trip wasn't that cute pumpkin though. The real excitement started when our girl got invited to drive the big green Deere! She wasn't too sure at first but settled in when she realized that her daddy would get to drive it with her. The other 15+ people on the hay ride weren't certain about a three year-old driving but they soon realized that the Wagner family has a lot of talent when it comes to driving farm equipment!

It's hard to say who was more excited after the tractor ride, our girl or her daddy. I'd say it was pretty much a toss-up because they were both beaming!

One thing I know for certain, these two sure do make this mommy proud!

Stay Tuned

Sorry to be so absent in blogsphere lately! Yours Truly has been putting in extra hours at work in addition to studying for a big test next week. I'm starting to feel like I'm back in grad school (but am praising the Lord that I'm really not!). Good news is that this is only a temporary state and life should return to "normal" after next week. We are looking forward to a week-long visit from Grandma (aka, Mr. Wagner's Mom) starting this weekend. I'll be away at a class most of the time she's here but I know the Little Miss is super excited for her BFF and favorite playmate to arrive!

Stay tuned for more after next week...In the meantime, please feel free to pray for this emotional-wreck-of-a-mama if you think of it! I'm so not looking forward to being away from my fam for so long. I have no doubt that Mr. Wagner will do just fine caring for our girl and it's an extra blessing to know Grandma will also be around to lend a hand. Still, the hotel better have a lot of extra Kleenex boxes available for my room!

A Little Roadtrip

While Mr. Wagner is enjoying TAWG and the fellowship, teaching and high-cholesterol producing food at a men's retreat here...

The Little Miss and I made the road trip down to visit Nana. A visit to this end of the state is never complete without a drive through the lovely, quaint town of Jacksonville (seriously one of the cutest towns ever). We also made sure to eat lunch at our favorite Ashland eatery in Papa's honor.

Hope Mr. Wagner is learning a lot at the retreat because I'm working hard parenting our girl alone. She is such a handful (OK, so those of you who know her recognize that I'm exaggerating just a weeeeee bit...Come on, I'm going for the sympathy vote here people!).

Sticking To It

Have you gotten your seasonal flu vaccine yet?

I've had several people ask me what I think about the flu vaccines (both seasonal and H1N1). Having worked in healthcare and emergency preparedness for years, I'll be the first to admit that I'm biased. From a public health perspective, I am all for getting vaccinated and doing our small part to help protect ourselves and minimize the spread of disease. I remember being hospitalized as a child with the Russian flu and would like to avoid the same experience with my own child. At the same time, I appreciate that the choice should be personal and left up to individuals.

Please, make it a priority to take the time to review the facts and then do what you feel is right for you and your family. The West Coast Wagners have all been "stuck". Little Miss didn't even notice and was just excited about the Dora band-aid.

There you have it folks, that's my opinion and I'm "sticking" to it.

Just Checking In...

...with you all Dear Readers! Sorry we've been absent for awhile. We've been busy in the yard (editor's note: Clarification, Mr. Wagner has been busy and the results are nice!). Yours Truly has been working a lot of extra hours the past few weeks (thankfully most of which have been from home). Work is crazy because it's budget season so household chores, exercise, blogs, sleep and a well-functioning brain have pretty much gone by the wayside. As I write, Mr. Wagner is taking our Little Miss on a "daddy/daughter date" so her mommy can get a much needed reprieve. Isn't he just the best?! Now I just have to decide how best to use my time, finish the dishes or veg in front of a computer? (Obviously the dishes are still sitting in the sink!).

Time to sign off to watch some mindless pop culture on TV! Since I can't remember when I last just sat down to watch television (that wasn't meant for a three year-old), I'd best be taking advantage of the downtime.

Catch up with you soon, ciao for now!

Happy 3rd Birthday Miracle Girl!

Our Little Miss officially turned the big THREE today! We recognize how blessed we are to have our sweet "Miracle Girl" and have no doubt that God has amazing plans in store for her. In some ways it seems like just yesterday that she was our teeny, tiny 2.5 pound baby. In reality, our "baby" has turned into a little girl.

(Photo courtesy of Wally Curtis; cake by Jessicakes; dress created by Joani)

We celebrated this past weekend with a party for family (including all of our "adopted" family members) in the area. She had a terrific time with everyone and only wishes her birthday could last longer. Little Miss looked adorable in the darling flower dress that our friend Joani made for her. Thanks Joani!

I'd like to say that I made her spectacular birthday cake but you are far too smart to fall for that bluff dear Readers! In truth, a friend from college (Jessica @ Jessicakes) honored us with the incredible garden-themed cake. You can read more about her creation here. It's extra special because Jessica is also the infamous photographer behind the first pictures of the Little Miss when she was just a few days old. Thanks Jessica!

(Photo courtesy of Jessica Harris)

Our teeny, tiny preemie has officially grown into a healthy, thriving, amazing little girl. Thank you Jesus!!!

Little Miss Independent

Turning three years-old seems to have changed our Little Miss almost overnight into "Miss Independent". It first hit Yours Truly last week when I took her "big girl" gymnastics. We've had her enrolled in a parent-child class since last Spring which allowed us to participate with her. As a three year-old, she "graduated" to a class with just the other kiddos and a teacher. The parents are relegated to a viewing area. The teacher told me that the transition may be hard at first and could take several weeks so I was prepared for the worst. I was wrong. Our Little Miss, the one who typically likes to be held during the warm-up session, just took hold of the teacher's hand and walked right in, sans mommy. I got a bit choked up as I was left to watch from afar. I was the proudest parent there while also being hit with the realization that our girl is truly growing up.

The next independent streak came today when the Little Miss insisted over and over that she get to ride Lucky "all by myself". While she's ridden the big guy numerous times, it's always been with me holding her securely as we ride along together. That was not to be today. We took Papa and Mimie out to the barn with us and they got to witness our girl's first "solo" ride. We started off with her just sitting on Lucky while he was tied up:

I was going to leave it at just sitting but she declared that she really wanted to "walk" too. Our brave girl is now ready for her first official "Lead Line" class at a horse show!

What an amazing blessing to get to witness our girl learning to ride on the very same horse I learned on 24 years ago! Not to mention it being extra special to have her Papa there with us, after all the years and years he spent watching and supporting me with Lucky.

Dear Mr. Wagner is feeling anxious because there's now no doubt that there's another horse-lover in this family!

The End Of An Era

Last week marked the end of an era in my professional career. My boss, Bob, whom I started working for in 2001, officially retired and will be greatly missed. Bob and I had a very unique working relationship; we were more like father/daughter and deeply respected each other. That family-style relationship also exhibited itself in numerous "lively" debates and pranks (like decorating his office pink for his birthday).


I worked for Bob for about 6 months before I moved away to complete my post-graduate fellowship. A couple of years later, I received an e-mail from Bob asking if I'd be interested in returning to work for the organization I'd previously left. My initial thought was "No way!" but after a lot of prayer and "wrestling" with God, He made it clear that I should take the offer. I would not be where I am today without having had Bob's unwavering support. Most importantly, I should thank Bob for being an instrument to help bring me back to the area so I could reconnect with Mr. Wagner. Without his job offer, I may not have been the Mrs. to my Mr. Thank you Bob and Happy Retirement!

In Honor of the OSU Football Season Kick-Off...and Jack

Our dear friend Joani took this picture of the Little Miss and baby Allison last week, after we decorated OSU themed cookies (and a few anti-UO cookies for our favorite Duck friend, Jack). You can read more about our fun time here. Most exciting about this picture is that it's the first time our girl held a "real" baby. She absolutely loves babies and baby dolls (and the car seats/carriers that they often come in) so she was beaming from the moment she got to touch little Alli. Love these girls.

Go Beavs!

Family Pictures

Emily, a good friend of a good friend (following that?), took pictures of our family this past weekend. She posted a few on her blog plus she blessed us with special words about our Miracle Girl. Really, you should check it out here. Thanks Emily!

Photo by James Lyn Photography

New 'Do

Little Miss got her first official haircut at a salon yesterday. While I've trimmed her hair a few times over the years, I finally decided it was time to get her a real 'do from someone who actually knows what they are doing.

Our girl sat so still in the chair and was very brave. She did a great job while the beautician combed out her tangles. A few minutes into the cut, I could see tears welling up in her eyes so we took a quick break, she got mommy hugs and even better, a HUGE lollipop treat from the ladies at the salon. The smile was immediately back in place!

Several stylists had fun with her curls. Which reminds me of a silly question I was asked the other day. A lady asked me if our girl's hair was permed. Seriously? What almost three year-old would sit still long enough to have her hair permed?!

What's for Dinner?

The other evening I told Little Miss, "Daddy is cooking dinner". Our girl promptly replied, "But I don't want pizza!".

In the Wagner household, Daddy "cooking" is code for "bringing home takeout of some sort". What can we say, our Little Miss catches on quickly.

(In his defense, Mr. Wagner does make the best whole wheat banana pancakes I've ever tasted and he can work wonders with the BBQ! Oh, and he has the perfect PB&J sandwich mastered)

A Weekend In Review

Mr. Wagner woke up more than slightly green in the gills on Friday so we started our weekend with an urgent visit to the doctor’s office. The doctor ordered rest and Gatorade and told him the burrito (and subsequent food poisoning) he had ingested the day prior would soon pass.

Saturday morning brought with it a full recovery so Mr. Wagner, Little Miss and Yours Truly headed to visit the family member we ban to the barn. Lucky was ecstatic to see us (after he was haltered and pulled away from his beloved grassy breakfast) and patiently allowed the Little Miss a gentle ride.

Later in the day, while the Little Miss was in dreamland enjoying an afternoon snooze, Yours Truly headed out of doors to partake in the special talent that most women share (i.e., shop). Gifts needed to be bought for a long awaited wedding, and party supplies were purchased for the upcoming celebration of our girl’s birthday.

With a seat full of bags as proof of a successful outing, Yours Truly drove home enjoying the power of her dearest Mr. Wagner’s “man truck”. After a downward glance, less than a mile from home, Yours Truly realized that she was speeding and started to slow. Flashing lights and a short stop later, Yours Truly was given a warning and graciously thanked Mr. Nice Officer (having a clean driving record appears to have been the saving grace).

Sunday brought with it speedy repentance and a joyful morning of celebrating our Savior. Pastor Rob exhorted us all with the reminder that “children are a heritage [gift] from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Psalm 127). This Mr. and Mrs. Wagner are not soon to forget as our Little Miss made sure to remind us with her extraordinary debut. At that time, we knew we were blessed with a miracle but oh how much more we now know, the real miracle is our girl’s sweetness and gentle soul.

Market Fresh

One of my favorite things about Summer and the small town in which we reside is the weekly Farmer's Market. I simply adore it.

In addition to people-watching, street musicians, and a festival-like atmosphere, the bushels and baskets of fresh, organic produce are dreamy. Today's purchases included cherry tomatoes, a sweet cucumber, leafy green spinach, fingerling potatoes, carrots, zucchini, a sweet onion, fresh corn, strawberries, and a bag of roasted hazelnuts. We can't forget the soft whole wheat pretzel we snacked on while shopping. I look forward to that tasty treat each time we go!

The only thing better would be the ability to grow and make all of this ourselves. Then again, that would take a lot of time...dirt...and work (Not to mention actually having a green thumb and extra land). While we are planning to attempt a small garden next year, we'll always look forward to our local Farmer's Market visits!

Cupcakes Galore

The Little Miss and I again abandoned Mr. Wagner for a girls outing in the PDX area with my long-time friend Amy and her sweet baby girl, Abby. While Mr. Wagner spent the day with his "man chores" around the house, we had fun hiking the Wildwood Trail in Forest Park. We were tempted to try the whole 30 miles (not really) but turned back after about an hour because we were on a mission. Our goal was to find the best cupcake in Portland.

After a yummy lunch at Henry's, we headed to Cupcake Jones. There we ordered mini versions of their red velvet, PB&J, root beer float, downtown cupcake brown, vanilla pearl and chocolate mint cupcakes. After testing a couple and saving the rest, we headed to our next destination, Saint Cupcake (where we finally remembered the camera). We enjoyed the lovely decor and ordered carrot cake, red velvet, fudge topped and chocolate chip cupcakes.

Abby sure liked the fudge-covered cupcake. She's already a super happy and smiley baby, this just added extra to her sweetness!

The Little Miss was ecstatic to get two "special treats" at two different stops all within 20 minutes! Good thing both places sold "mini" versions so we didn't feel TOO bad about feeding the kiddos all that sugar.

Which PDX cupcake bakery is tops? Our final verdict was that we had inconclusive evidence; we MUST try more.

Mountain Escape

Yes, the West Coast Wagners are still around. We've just been recovering from the annual Bronson-Booth-Wagner Family Vacation. This year, our destination was Mount Hood.

We hiked, mountain biked, chatted, watched the little ones play, and ate (and ate more). We really roughed it; this was the camping trip of ALL camping trips.

We wanted to stay in tents but instead were forced to rent a spacious new condo (We Wagners sacrificed even more and were stuck with the massive master suite). I would have chosen a camp stove or smokey bonfire over this gourmet kitchen for sure.

The large television? Never got used because we were camping after all! (except for a movie ...or two...oh and to check baseball scores and the news once in a great while).

This view off the condo deck? Who would want to look out at tall trees, luscious green vegetation and listen to the sounds of a flowing creek? Puleeez...give me houses-stacked-on-top-of-each-other and loud neighbors any day.

When the weather turned to rain later in the weekend, we had to drive a whole 45 minutes to visit the quaint town of Hood River. The sun was shining and the views were gorgeous but we of course didn't notice any of that. We had no choice but to go on a long walk up the old highway overlooking the incredible Columbia River Gorge. Our sweet husbands struggled to push our kiddos along in their Chariots (Note: these guys have been friends for so long they have to coordinate with each other). You can tell by the picture they were suffering, can't you?

It was a hard vacation, that's for sure. It is a good thing that we are avid outdoors men and women otherwise, we may not have survived the elements. We will have to treat ourselves and find something that is actually luxurious next year.

(Speaking of next year, we're hoping to add Curtis to the list of names in this annual vacation. It makes sense since the whole tradition started with their wedding in AK. The Booths, Bronsons, and Wagners all had fun exploring that great state together and haven't ever understood why Mark and Joani chose to go on their honeymoon instead of joining in our trip, can you imagine?! This year we gave them a bye considering they just had a new baby. Next year we'll force...I mean...invite...them to come).

Happy Birthay U.S.A!

We hope you and your families enjoyed your 4th of July! We started our day off right with a mountain bike ride with the Booths (thanks to the guys for pulling the kiddos up the mountain in their Chariots!). After our ride we all headed downtown, caught the tail end of a parade, perused the local Farmer's Market and then enjoyed lunch out. This evening we had a nice time of fellowship with good friends and food at the Hansons holiday BBQ. What a wonderful way to celebrate Independence Day!

Watch Where You're Walking

You may have thought that this was bad however I "one upped" myself yesterday when the Little Miss and I were out walking on a trail near our home.

This time I had the lovely experience of stepping on a large (though thankfully harmless) snake. No, this was not a mere garter snake. While I have yet to actually figured out the type, this snake was several inches in circumference and was at least three feet long. If you think this is just another "I caught a fish THIS big" story, here's proof; I managed to step full force on Mr. Snake with both the heel of one foot and the toe of the other. Regardless, he survived, seemingly unaffected as he slithered off. Of COURSE I wasn't just "unaffected"!!! As soon as the realization set in that I was stepping on something squishy, large and alive, I leaped into the air like a high jumper in training. Mid-air I looked down and immediately followed with a loud scream when I saw what "it" was. Unfortunately this time there were no witnesses who can confirm the snake's significant mass and attest to my Olympic qualifying leaping abilities. The Little Miss was with me but she was safely snuggled away in her Chariot (Praise the Lord!).

Want to know the real irony in the story? I was actually looking up at black birds in the trees thinking, "please don't splat!", thus the reason I missed seeing the serpent to begin with.

Lesson Learned: Don't let your fears get the best of you. No matter the circumstances around you, always keep your eyes on the road ahead.

Dusting Off The Shoes

A few people have asked how my half marathon training is going. If you're one of them, you know my response is typically a guilty look followed by, "Ummm...yeah...well...it's NOT."

While I am technically registered for a race this coming weekend, I admit, I'm going to be one of those slacker "no shows". I do have a reasonable excuse; I've been dealing with a chronic foot injury and have been out of commission as far as running goes for the past few months, per doctor's orders. Honestly though, I haven't exactly made it a priority to exercise consistently using other means either. I really have no valid excuse (considering that my other man, Mr. Elliptical, is parked in our bedroom and often sits gazing at me as I awake in the morning).

All that to say, no race in the near future. I'm resetting my expectations and am starting again slowly. I dusted off my tennies and have "run" a few times the past couple of weeks. Notice the quotes; My "running" these days is more of a walk/jog combo considering I'm starting over from ground zero, or more apropos, ground negative one. My feet feel like lead and oh how I cannot wait to have the joy of running back (right now I mostly just feel the PAIN). Lord, body, feet, and mind willing...

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there and most especially, to our own Mr. Wagner. The Little Miss and Yours Truly are So. Very. Blessed.

Mr. Wagner, you are an incredible father and have been from the very beginning. From mastering your first diaper change (you deserve extra credit points for having to do it through an incubator)...

...you have always jumped right in and helped with everything as we parent our sweet girl together. You love and protect your "Daddy's girl" like no other.

You even let our girly-girl do your hair and are in fact playing tea with her as I write this. Don't worry my dearest Mr. Wagner, your girl is sure to love tractors and will always enjoy great outdoor adventures with you.

Mr. Wagner, you are the best. The Little Miss and I are so thankful that you are a Father who truly reflects our Heavenly Father. We love you!

Happy (Almost) Friday!

(Thanks go out to JuRita, the infamous photographer!)

I Would Do It All Again

Not a day goes by where I don't stop and think of how incredibly blessed I am to be the Mrs. of my Mr. Wagner. If I knew then all that I now know, I would still say "I do" with great pleasure and not a moment of hesitation.

I've always been told that marriage is a major adjustment. With you Mr. Wagner, it was as if the final piece of a beautiful puzzle was put in place. The transition felt completely natural and exactly right from the beginning. Of course a good marriage takes continual effort but I'm convinced it will feel effortless when we keep Jesus at the center.

I love you Mr. Wagner and would marry you all over again. I look forward to sharing many, many, many more years to come.

Happy Anniversary!

Blog On

Some may wonder if bloggers are going to go by the wayside now that Facebook has become the "in" trend. I sure hope not. Blogging is a great way to document a family journal, express opinions and exercise creative thinking.

One of the best benefits of participating in the blogging community is exposure to a number of creative ideas. For example, I discovered that even dish soap could look pretty from a post shared by Kelly at Sketching Life. I found a similar bottle at Bed Bath and Beyond and vava-voom, our soap looks sophisticated!



I enjoy trying recipes that the Pioneer Woman shares on her cooking blog, including this delicious Bolognese Sauce (i.e., "Spaghetti Sauce" for us simple-folk). I've had fun checking out the cake creations at Jessicakes (and can't help but envy Jessica's new found talent).

Since I started blogging, I discovered Etsy, a website where people can sell their homemade goods. Being that I'm not the most crafty of gals, I'm more in tune with being a "buyer" from this site. Specifically, I really like briar.claire, a seller who makes the cutest girls hair clips. I bought a few for our Little Miss and will surely be buying more.
Most importantly, I've learned about specific prayer needs through blogging. Prayer requests from complete strangers and yet real people with real needs. Our family was so blessed by the many prayers that were uttered on our behalf when our Little Miss was born, many from people we've never met. It's now our turn to pay it forward.

Blog on friends!