Christmas 2010 Recap...and 2011 Challenge

We had a nice time celebrating our Savior's birth with family in the central part of the state. Good eats, sledding adventures, snowman making, birthday cupcakes for Jesus, and gift exchanging fun was had by all.

Another highlight that I neglected to capture on film was when my dad and I surprised my Uncle Jim on Christmas day at 12:01 a.m. You see, Uncle Jim and I have an annual competition to see who can say "Merry Christmas" to the other first (it started many moons ago when he called around 6:00 a.m. to wish dad a Merry Christmas and I happened to answer the phone). This year, like most others, Yours Truly prevailed. Craziest part was that we actually stayed and visited in the middle of the night until after 1:00 a.m.!

The challenge is on for 2011...until next year Uncle Jim!

Christmas 2010

From our family to yours, may you and your loved ones have a very blessed holiday. Merry Christmas...Happy Birthday Jesus!

Mele Kalikimaka Part 3

For the final update on our Hawaiian excursion we had to share about our zip line adventures. Obviously our Little Miss is too young to go zipping down cables draped high over deep valleys and waterfalls. Instead, her adventure that day involved babysitting Papa and Mimi and taking them to the pool at our resort. I hear she did a good job watching over them. While our girl was being responsible, her parents and the rest of our family were slightly irresponsible.

We headed to the northern rain-forested part of the island on a four hour "Ecoadventures Zip Line Tour". Together my aunt, uncle, brother, SIL, Mr. Wagner and I were hauled in the back of a unimog on a 4x4 adventure to get to the zip line course.

Crazy ride but fun!

Once there we adorned our harnesses and helmets (complete with nicknames for the day). My brother was appropriately named the "Joker".

Anticipating the start of the course

We had a blast. Our tour guides started us off slow on easier lines and worked us through 8 in total. The last line was over 1,047 ft long and was high over a deep valley, complete with a view of the ocean and a waterfall.

My bro, sis-in-law, aunt and Mr. Wagner waiting for my uncle to zip in and making bets on whether or not it will be a "bottoms up" landing...let's just say we all had a good laugh.

Since they build your confidence by starting on the easier lines, it is not even (all that) scary for those fearful of heights. Honestly. I admit that my adrenaline did get pumping a bit on the last line when you had to run and jump off the end of a cliff. All in the name of adventure...and thankfully, good safety harnesses.

(Seriously, we would definitely recommend the zip line tour. Click on the link here to see a short video clip of several of the zip lines).

Mele Kalikimaka Part 2

We are starting to recuperate from the early morning return trip home though we are all still on Hawaiian time (i.e., sleeping in much later than normal). Thought we would share a bit more from our trip...We traveled to and fro' with Papa and Mimi (my dad and stepmom) so the Little Miss was thrilled with the extra attention. My brother and SIL also traveled on the same flight over and the Little Miss enjoyed teasing her "Uncle Toad." My aunt and uncle were already on the island when we arrived and were gracious to host everyone and prepare many of our delicious meals.

Little Miss with Papa & Mimi

We enjoyed several snorkeling excursions (I'll spare you pictures because photos of me in a swimsuit just do not belong on the www). One evening we went to an area where sea turtles ("Honu") like to take refuge at sunset. We saw at least five near shore and one up close on the rocks. So amazing.

Watching the turtles and sunset before dinner at our favorite Kona Brewery

We headed north on the island the second day of our trip and traveled through Waimea and east to Akaka Falls and the town of Hilo. We happened to choose a rainy day to head to the rainier side of the island (what were we thinking?!). Of course just before we got to the falls it started to rain.

Akaka Falls, HI

It was just sprinkling on and off so we still decided to take the short hike to view the falls. Thankfully we managed to spend a few minutes there before getting caught in a torrential downpour. We were completely soaked but the view was worth it!

Mele Kalikimaka Part I

We celebrated Christmas early "Hawaiian style" with a trip to the Big Island with my side of our family. The rain followed us for the first couple of days but the weather turned sunny and warm the rest of the week. We had a blast snorkeling, ziplining, playing at the beach, and hanging out at the pool. Since we didn't get home until 2:00 a.m. this morning I am going to keep this short and sweet and will share more about our trip later. Mele Kalikimaka!

This top was our girl's Christmas dress two years ago when we were last on the Big Island.

'Tis the Season

Photo courtesy of Joani Curtis

I enjoy this time of the year more than I ever have now that I am a mom. I have many wonderful Christmas memories from my own childhood but there is nothing like seeing the joy on your own daughter's face as she experiences the holidays and learns about the birth of our Savior. Each year we have been adding to the family traditions that we share to celebrate and here are some of the special activities we enjoy:

1. Advent Calendar - Counting down the days to Christmas, we have a special advent calendar from Nana. Sweets, stickers, bible verses and promise notes are just some of the secret treasures to be found each day.
2. Dressing Up - As long as my young girl allows, I will enjoy dressing her up in a special Christmas dress. This year was extra special because we got together with friends to take a few pictures of the girls in their dresses. You can read more about it here.
3. Christmas Tea - A new tradition started this year was to take my girl to afternoon tea to welcome the start of the season. I don't think I will ever tire of taking my girl to tea.
4. Storybook Land - We enjoy going as a family to view "Storybook Land" which includes lights and stuffed animal displays of all the fairy tales, fables and Disney stories you can imagine. They also have elaborate toy trains and giant doll houses to view.
5. Giving - One thing I really want to continue to build into our family tradition is giving to a local charity or family in need each year. This year we bought clothes for a young girl.
6. Baking - There are certain treats that are special to bake each holiday season. I'm looking forward to sharing the experience later this month with my girl and her daddy is looking forward to testing the results.
7. Christmas Story - The Little Miss loves hearing about Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. We enjoy reading the Christmas story throughout the month. It's especially fun with our girl at this age because she likes to put a towel on her head and pretend to be Mary. Ahhhh, my heart sings at her childlike faith.

What are some holiday traditions that you enjoy with your family this season?

Let It Snow!

Fluffy white flakes don't often fall from the sky in these parts (just big, wet raindrops) but when they do, it is always a wonderful surprise! We woke this morning to an inch or two of snow so the Little Miss and Yours Truly stayed home, bundled up and had fun playing outside with our good friends, the Donne family.When we returned indoors we warmed up with "warm chocolate" (as it is called by the Little Miss) and cider. I couldn't resist breaking my own rule about not decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving...within minutes of coming inside, out came the decorations and holiday music! The tree will have to wait until after Mr. Wagner returns tonight from his work travels. Do you think it is too obvious of a hint for him to see the lights, tree stand and tree skirt all waiting by the front door?

The Nutcracker

The Little Miss and I kicked off our holiday season with a date to the Nutcracker last night. My ballerina girl absolutely loved the performance and was riveted on the dancers and costumes all evening. I adored it just as much however my favorite part was watching the Little Miss twirl and play ballerina all the way to the car on our way home. Her excitement and joy made my heart sing and was a sure sign she enjoyed the outing! I'm looking forward to seeing more ballets with my girl and hope to make the Nutcracker a holiday tradition. As for Mr. Wagner, pretty sure he was actually thankful to be out of the state working so he could get out of going to the ballet (don't worry, we'll make sure he gets the opportunity to join his girls next year!).

Growing Up

We had the honor of visiting with our "old" friend Dani and her family this weekend. Dani was like a little sister to both Mr. Wagner and I during our college days and was key in spurring Mr. Wagner to (finally) take the initiative with Yours Truly. Not to mention that we were with Dani and her family at the lake when Mr. Wagner and I decided on our girl's name. Needless to say, Dani means a lot to us and we are so thankful that God has given her a wonderful husband and three handsome sons!

Speaking of handsome sons, their oldest (Josiah) is the same age as our Little Miss. The picture below shows our girl with Josiah just a few days after she came home from the hospital (she's almost 3 months old and he's a little over a month).


Here's a picture of the two from this past weekend. Crazy how fast four years goes by and how much they change.

These two are pretty cute if I do say so myself! Truth be told, while this picture looks like they had a lot of fun playing, the Little Miss just couldn't understand why Josiah and his brothers wanted to play with our train set when she really wanted them to play upstairs with her more "girly" toys. My dear girl, this is not the first time boys will break your heart (though this mama is sure praying for God's protection)!

Fancy Butterfly Fairy

Our church does a great job hosting a large Harvest Carnival for the local community each year on Halloween. Bouncy houses, petting zoo, horse and wagon rides, bible stories, fun games, costumes, and free food...We are always blessed by all who serve and share the light of Christ on a night that is typically filled with darkness.

Our girl dressed up as a Fancy Butterfly Fairy. We pulled together her outfit by raiding her dress-up clothes so thanks to Nana for the dress and Gr'ma for the pink boa! The sparkly pink shoes? Those are actually her cowboy boots. If only I could pull off barn boots that stylish.
A huge "thank you" goes out to Pastor Sean and all those who planned and served at the carnival!

Fall Comfort

One thing I really enjoy about Fall is getting to cook warm comfort sorts of food to help sooth the cooler days. I also enjoy searching for new recipes and like using ingredients that represent the season. I found the tasty recipe below during a recent search of Allrecipes.com and was not disappointed. I know it sounds strange but it's really very good...not to mention super easy and healthy! I modified it a bit from the original recipe based on the reviews so here's the recipe with a Southwestern twist:

Pumpkin Turkey Chili

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound ground turkey
2 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
2 tablespoons chili powder

2 to 4 tsp Cumin (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 dash salt
Optional toppings: sour ream and shredded Cheddar cheese

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and saute the onion, green bell pepper, and garlic until tender. Stir in the turkey, and cook until evenly brown. Drain, and mix in tomatoes, pumpkin, beans and corn. Season with chili powder, cummin, pepper, and salt. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. May serve topped with Cheddar cheese and sour cream. Happy eating!

Ladies Weekend Getaway

Mr. Wagner and the Little Miss enjoyed a "Daddy/Daughter Date Weekend" while Yours Truly and 5 girlfriends headed to the central part of our state for a lovely ladies weekend getaway. Our first stop?....

A rest area of course! Would you expect anything less from a van full of women? While others were using the commode, I had to get a picture of the beautiful Fall view. We had a fun weekend eating out a local breweries, indulging in tasty cupcakes, shopping and most importantly, talking...and talking...and talking! The highlight of our trip was definitely our hour-long massages, a "must-do-again" weekend! Thanks to all the great husbands who stayed back to watch the kiddos. Is it too soon to start planning our 2011 ladies weekend getaway?!

Much Needed R&R

We had a much needed, restful weekend in the Wagner household and it was ohhhh so lovely! What did we do? Not much! We did have one fun family outing where we celebrated a birthday with friends over dinner. Other than that, we ran some errands and mostly just enjoyed being home together.

Sometimes less is more and in this case, our family needed some downtime. The only thing I would have changed about the weekend was the outcome of the Beaver game. That wasn't exactly a "restful" game to watch (35-34 in 2x OT) but I guess you can't have everything!

Opening Season

We really enjoy celebrating Autumn with visits to local pumpkin patches and had a great opening season trip this weekend. The day could not have been more perfect. After a stop by Starbucks and Noah's Bagels (love their pumpkin bagels at this time of year!), we were literally the first to show up at a local farm for the hayride out to pick a pumpkin.

The Little Miss and her good friend Logan were the only kiddos so they each got to take a long turn helping to drive the tractor.The Little Miss always loves driving a John Deere with her daddy! Looking forward to more pumpkin patch visits to come!

Roughing It: Part 2

As you can see from the last post, we "suffered" while on vacation with our friends. In all seriousness, we had a great time, regardless of the weather not fully cooperating. We shopped, talked, played, watched movies and just all around enjoyed each other's company. Of course if you ask the guys, they'll likely say the highlight was watching the Beaver game in the theater room.

Unfortunately we never did get a "group" picture so the best I can do is post pics of 3 of the 4 families that attended (we were missing the Booths on this particular outing but have to give them a special shout out and thanks for finding the beautiful house!).

The Curtis Family

Our annual trips actually started with them; the rest of us enjoyed exploring AK together while we all traveled there for their wedding. They missed out since they were on their honeymoon. Not sure why they chose that over staying with the group?! Now they are joined with sweet Allison, isn't she just too adorable in her "fashionable" outfit?The Bronson Family
They brought the latest addition to the bunch...Baby Zeke is snuggled away in the brown sling. We love this family and our Little Miss sure enjoyed playing with Emma throughout the weekend!


West Coast Wagners

OK, so you know us but we had to post this pic. What you can't see in this is that the Little Miss is soaking wet...she LOVES playing in the waves. We tend to forget what a blessing it is to live so close to the beautiful Pacific ocean!

Roughing It: Part 1

This past week was busy with Mr. Wagner off to Florida right after we returned from our annual vacation with good friends. Thankfully he made it home safe and sound so I'm now getting around to writing about our vacation adventure. Like last year, we really roughed it for the Booth-Bronson-Curtis-Wagner family trip. It would be hard to top how rough we had it this year in fact.

From the tiny 4600 sf cabin on a mere 12 wooded acres...

To the "little" kitchen that tied to an outdoor kitchen/BBQ...

The place only had two whirlpool tubs and just one flat screen TV in most every room...

The roughest part (especially for the guys) was that it only had one movie theater room in the whole place. One...can you believe it?

Rough it was I tell you, oh so very rough. Next year we may need to rent Buckingham Palace to compare.

(In all seriousness, if you are interested in a great place for a group to stay on the Oregon Coast, we highly recommend The Pleasanton in Bandon, OR).

One Cute Fan

I know I'm partial but I'm thinking these pics taken by our dear friend Joani sure do capture one cute Oregon State Beavers fan! This former-cheerleader mommy is honestly hoping our girl chooses soccer or another sport with uniforms that offer more coverage but if she chooses to cheer, I'll support her. Who knows, since she just measured in the 80th percentile in height at her 4 year appointment, she may be a basketball player! Love, love, love this girl.

Fancy Nancy Fun

We celebrated our girl's birthday this past weekend with close friends and family. While we don't spend much on birthday gifts, we do try each year to organize a fun, family-friendly event. Many of the invitees were key in praying for our girl and I during her birth so it's well worth the effort to celebrate together.

The "soiree" (that's fancy for party) was based on Fancy Nancy's favorite things. We decorated with fuchsia, French and flowers. Boas and beads were plentiful. The young girls came dressed in their frilly outfits and the adults added "accessories" to their attire as they entered the bash.

The hors d'oeuvres and frilly toothpicks were plentiful (don't feel too bad for the guys who had to deal with the frills and dressing up..we had manly meatballs and little smokies to help balance out the tea sandwiches!). We even had a "parfait bar" in addition to pink sprinkled cupcakes for dessert.

The kids had fun in the "day spa" area, trying on lotions and pretending to put on makeup. They made fruit-loop/licorice bracelets and had fun swinging at the flower-shaped pinata.

The highlight of the party was when our friend Anna Marie came in dressed as "grown up Fancy Nancy". She read a Fancy Nancy story to the kids with "Frenchie" her (fake) poodle and did a great job entertaining us all.

The party was a success and most of all, our girl was blessed. Thank you to all who celebrated with us (in person or in prayer!).

(Sorry I didn't get better pics, my camera isn't working the greatest. Mr. Wagner, hint...hint...hint. Thanks to Wally Curtis for capturing some of the special moments above).

Happy Birthday Little Miss!

Happy Birthday wishes go out to our very favorite girl! My heart melts when I look at these pictures. To think that our tiny 2.5 lbs baby is now a beautiful, joy-filled young girl. One cannot help but know that God is truly good. Thank you Jesus, thank you.

Photos courtesy of Emy Lyn Photography

Turning the Big 0-4!

Our girl's big day is coming up and we are sure excited to celebrate with close friends and family! Hope those of you that are in the area and are able to make the celebration are ready to get fancy!

Just Around the Corner

Is it truly the first day of September already....seriously?! Where oh where has our dear Summer gone? I love the relaxing days and activities of the summer months but have to say, I am looking forward to Fall. It appears the change in season is just around the corner. The geese are already flying overhead and the mornings are getting cooler. Pumpkin patches, glowing golden days and college football, here we come!

P.S. Just for you Jack, Duck hunting is also a sport that starts in the Fall...let the games begin. Go Beavs!

Midwest Madness

We just returned from the Midwest where we were visiting Mr. Wagner's side of our family. We had a terrific time with Gr'pa and Gr'ma, great grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and are so blessed to have such a close extended family.

One of Mr. Wagner's favorite pastimes when visiting "home" is to work outside with his dad and brother. It's not all just hard labor since the guys get to take turns driving the tractors and four wheeler while working.

Speaking of tractors, the Little Miss and her cousins each took a turn teaching their Gr'pa how to drive. With all of those lessons I'm sure he'll get the hang of it one of these days!

Here are the infamous driving instructors. As you can see, Owen took the job most seriously. Speaking of Owen, my favorite quote of the trip was when I reminded the Little Miss that he is her cousin. She replied and said, "No he's not...he's just a BOY."

It's no wonder our girl is confused about having a boy as a cousin since the rest of her cousins are girls. The "girlie girls" had fun playing with their new Hello Kitty makeup kits. Here they are made up, just before entertaining us with the first of several fashion shows.

Last but definitely not least, the girls had a lot of fun learning to cook with their sweet Gr'ma. Here Gr'ma and the Little Miss are making cute "rag doll" salads. The girls also had fun making cookies together. Gr'ma faithfully played with the kiddos all week, from tea parties to dress-up to games and necklace making, there was much fun to be had!

We had a wonderful visit and had a tough time saying "good-bye". We are thankful for all of the memories we have to think about until the next time...So. Much. Fun!

Memories in the Making

Each year, shortly before our girl's birthday, "we" like to schedule family pictures (Interpretation: The we is really me. According to Mr. Wagner, getting professional pictures taken ranks right down there with painting, cleaning toilets and picking berries...several of his least favorite activities). My darling hubby kindly appeased me with the memory-making this year and was very patient with the whole process. Thank you Mr. Wagner!

For more samples of our family pics, check out this link. Thanks go out to Emily for again taking great photos of our family and for making the experience fun!

P.S. For the record, Mr. Wagner does take his fair turn cleaning our toilets. As for his love (or lack thereof) of painting? We just paid a college student to paint the Little Miss' room so it's now finished and was well worth the extra bucks! More pics to come of that once we finish decorating.

Still Growing!

Some of you may be wondering if our yard is still thriving and well. We are proud to say that indeed it is! Our family has truly enjoyed our backyard this summer and we are loving the beautiful flowers, green grass and our little garden.

We have had some "lessons learned" in the process. I know I'll be planting fewer marigolds next year. I like them because they are hardy and last a long time but they sure can take over! My favorite flower of the summer has been the Shasta Daisies...so simple and yet lovely.

This is my favorite flowerpot, love how the red zinnia spread (that was just one plant) and contrasts with the deep purple petunias.

Our garden has been faithfully producing this summer too. We eat a lot of broccoli in the Wagner household so I thought I'd give them a try this year. Who knew the plants would grow so grand! I've been blanching what we don't eat right away and freezing it (we tested it and it is so much better than store-bought frozen broccoli).

We planted two tomato plants of differing types, both of which have a lot of tomatoes on them yet have not ripened (we planted them a bit late in the season but I'm guessing they should ripen in the next couple of weeks). We've also enjoyed fresh zucchini (I knew even we would be successful with that!) and have carrots that are still growing. We're sure enjoying this new gardening adventure!