Hard at Work

Here's proof, we are working hard on the yard! OK, so the "we" in that is fairly one-sided but hey, someone has to babysit right? Don't feel too bad for Mr. Wagner. As you can see, my manly man has been having fun renting and running various sorts of mechanical thingy-ma-bobbers to get the job done (only, he'd cringe at my use of the term "thingy-ma-bobber". He tells me that this is actually called a "trencher"). Now you can see why he's the mechanical engineer in the family.

Back In The Saddle Again

The Little Miss was back in the saddle again this weekend, this time with much more enthusiasm. She seemed to like my English saddle better than the Western one we'd borrowed the last time. A girl after my own heart! Maybe she will be a Hunter/Jumper after all? We walked over a few cavalettis (i.e., poles on the ground). We'll save the jumps until next year (ha, ha).In addition to riding Lucky, we had a fun weekend with my dad and stepmom visiting. As always, the Little Miss couldn't get enough of her "Papa". She forgets about her own parents when he's around (this could come in handy when we are all together in HI for a family vacation this winter).

Speaking of being back in the saddle again, Mr. Wagner will be doing the same tomorrow. His style of saddle however comes in the form of a "driver's seat" and a "yellow school bus". He's taking the high school group from church to their retreat on the southern part of the coast. While most people would be intimidated by the task, he's looking forward to it. It's been far too long since he's gotten to be the infamous Bus Driver for a youth group. How does he handle it you ask? It's all about the ear plugs.

Simple Ways to Save

With gas prices hovering around $4.25/gallon in our area and the price of food and most other essentials rising at seemingly-out-of-control rates, our family has been trying to find more and more ways to save a few dollars wherever we can.

A few money-saving ideas that we've been incorporating lately:

• Carpooling most days that both Mr. Wagner and I work, and on other days...


• Mr. Wagner has been trying to ride his bike to work a couple times/week, combining the commute with exercise.


• Eliminating "extended" cable several months ago. No more FoodNetwork, HGTV or TLC for me and no more History Channel for Hubby. It was a sad state around here at first but we've since adjusted well (though our movie rental fees have now increased which may be enough to justify a Netflix subscription soon).


• Buying fewer organic items. This has been the most difficult change for me. I'm still convinced organic is a healthy lifestyle choice and will continue to purchase the most highly recommended items to buy organic whenver possible.


• Decreasing my Dutch Bros. drive-by habit (speaking of "healthy"). I'm more of a green tea drinker now. There are still times at work that I crave coffee (and need the caffeine boost) so for the most part, I'm trying to stick to the free slime brewed at the office (with the addition of lots of flavored coffee-mate, it's not too bad).


• Clipping more coupons and checking out Personal Finance and Simple Living ideas at sites like this.

These are just a few small steps that we've been taking. We could certainly do much more to be better stewards of His resources. In a way, I don't mind that gas prices are leading us to make choices that are better for our environment and I like thinking of ways to be more resourceful. I'm interested in knowing what others are doing as well.

How is today's economy affecting the way that your family spends money? Are you driving less? Traveling less? Eating out less? What, if anything, are you and your family doing to save more?

Photo courtesy of www.freefoto.com

Holiday BBQ Fun

Happy 4th of July (a day late) from the West Coast Wagners! Like the decorations and beautiful flowers we had outside our house for the holiday?
OK, so I'm fibbing. First clue, those flowers are alive. In truth, we celebrated the holiday at a BBQ that Seth & Anna Marie Sanders hosted. As you can see, Anna Marie did a terrific job decorating for the day and the Sander's yard looked amazing with all the colorful flowers.

Our Little Miss had fun playing with "Grandma Cara Lynn" and "Papa Virgil". Cara Lynn watches our girl on Thursdays and since the Little Miss has them wrapped around her finger, she pretty much adores them (as do her parents).

Cara Lynn made several fabulous pies and a beautiful berry tart for the event. The Little Miss enjoyed partaking in dessert off of both her parent's plates and then...

She knew she could get more sweets from Grandma Cara Lynn. Tucker (pretty much the world's-coolest-dog), had the same idea. As you can see, the Little Miss thought she should have first priority.

Good news for Tucker, Grandma Cara Lynn played fair and made sure to toss him a bite or two as well. They sure were two cute little beggars!

A Weekend To Remember

It's been a weekend full of fun activities in the Wagner household. Did we get to work on this? Ummm...no. There's always next weekend (or the one...or two...or three after that).

Since it was a scorcher, we had to take advantage of water activities. On Friday night, we met up with my Aunt & Uncle for a tasty dinner downtown. Afterwards, we all headed over to the city fountain where the Little Miss had a blast playing.

On Saturday, Mr. Wagner got up early for a mountain bike ride with the guys while the Little Miss and I went for a run near the river. Later that day, Mr. Wagner and Paramedic Jon took the kiddos to our neighborhood pool while....


Janelle and I had a "Girls Day Out" at the Olympic Track & Field Trials. It was hot but well worth the heat. We had a lot of fun watching the events and checking out the Festival. We even managed to sneak in dinner out afterwards before we headed home. Thank you Sara for blessing us with the last minute ticket surprise! And thanks to our hubbys for babysitting!

On Sunday we had our first outdoor church service of the summer. We also ventured back to the neighborhood pool with the Booths, Hansons and McAlisters. It seemed like the rest of the neighborhood had the same idea. Regardless, the kids liked playing in the water and we enjoyed spending time with good friends.

It's sure going to be tough to top this weekend's events but summer is just beginning and we're going to make the most of it. And yes, we will eventually get back to these.

Practice Makes Perfect

Since we missed the photo opt the first time our Little Miss got to ride Lucky, we made sure to bring the camera this past weekend when we made a family trip out to the barn. Go figure she wasn't quite as fearless this time out (smart kiddo knew her Daddy was close by and could come save her). The ride was cut short due to a few tears but Lucky didn't seem to notice.

While the ride may not have been our girl's highlight of the trip, I was thrilled to get to share my horse with the Little Miss. Once she was off she did decide she liked Lucky again and kept wanting to tell him "hi" and "cluck-cluck" (didn't you know horses "cluck"?). What can I say, she's a girl so she's bound to change her mind frequently. I'm not giving up hope on our future equestrian, we'll have plenty of opportunities to practice.

It's Officially Here!

Summer, oh how I love thee. Welcome my friend. Your sunny days and clear skies have been truly missed. When I think of you, I envision beautiful flowers (not in our yard obviously) and my mouth waters as I imagine the yummy scent of meat grilling on the BBQ. We have a lot of dates planned, you and I. I'm looking forward to picnics in the park, camping trips, hiking and mountain-biking, berry picking and eating, riding my horse, swimming in the neighborhood pool, and maybe even water skiing at the lake.

What are your favorite things about Summer?