Happy Holidays from the Wagner's

Happy Holidays from the Wagner's
Another year has come and gone.  I say it every year, but where does it go?  Time really does fly by... I will do my best to recap our year for you here.  Thanks once again to our resident photographer for documenting the year for us!

 

The year started with another Rodeo Art contest victory for Alayna!  She was chosen as a 1st grade winner for her school in the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Art Contest.  She was a winner last year as well.  This year's picture was a painting of a horse.  She never stops amazing us with her artistic ability.

We had visitors in February and March.  First Grandma Hopi came to visit in early February and watch the kids so Jen and I could both attend the technology conference in Austin again this year.  She stayed for about 2 weeks after she was finally able to get here!  She was supposed to fly in on a Thursday but was unable to get out of Sioux Falls due to snow.  Then she couldn't fly out on Friday because of ice here is Houston!  What are the odds....  She finally arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday.  We were all excited and relieved at the same time.  It was a great couple weeks here, especially for the kids.  They love it when we have visitors (hint, hint).

Grandpa Bump and Grandma Mae flew down to spend some of Spring Break with us.  It was great fun while they were here.  We traveled down to Galveston for a day and spent some time on the beach.  The rest of the time was spent mostly just hanging out at the house or doing some shopping.  I know those of you who know LaMae find it hard to believe, but we dragged her kicking and screaming to the stores.  As always, it was a great treat to have them here but one that didn't last as long as any of us wanted.  The days really flew by.

Spring brings another soccer season.  Both Alayna and Brayden played at the YMCA again this year.  They had another fantastic season!  Both of them try very hard and have fun while they do it.  They make us very proud.

Jen found some time to take some pictures for Brayden's 5th birthday.  She had them in their cowboy gear for this shoot.  We are very lucky these kids like to take pictures!

We found some time to relax by doing some fishing and taking a trip to Inks Lake State Park with our friends, the Cantu's, for a camping trip in early May.  The weather was gorgeous and so was the scenery!  Inks Lake is located in the hill country west of Austin.  They have cliffs to jump off of (Alayna loved it...Brayden wasn't so sure), canoes to rent, playgrounds, all kinds of stuff.  Longhorn Cavern is just a few miles from the campground so we ventured there for a day and spent a few hours (and miles) underground.  Simply beautiful.

Alayna finished her dance season with a recital at the end of the school year as well with Xtreme Dance.  She grew tremendously as a dancer this year.  You can really see a lot more emotion and personality coming out when she dances.  Once again...the artist in her shines.

 

Summer time can mean only one thing...ROAD TRIP!  We took our annual South Dakota trip again this year.  We kicked it off in Tabor with Czech Days.  It is always great seeing family and friends.  As the kids are getting older it means more rides for them on the midway.  Even Brayden is starting to get a little more adventurous.

This summer included a Wagner family trip into Minnesota to a cabin on Lake Superior.  Almost everyone was able to come...I believe there were 18 of us total!  Crazy time...lots of fun.   We went canoeing on Lake Superior...stepped in to put the canoes in and found out a little chilly to swim!  We spent some time hiking in Gooseberry Falls State Park (beautiful falls and much larger then normal from what we understand due to all the rain) and other trails around the area.  We spent a day in Duluth by the docks and were able to watch an ocean liner come in under the drawbridge.  That night we invaded Mark and Jeanne Herman's place and Larry and Kay helped treat us to a great fish fry.  Mark and Jeanne's area is more beautiful than I could have imagined.  Larry and Kay were in the process of building while we were there and their view is just as breath-taking.  

The Woonsocket leg of the trip was just as fun.  We were able to take a couple days and travel to our old stomping grounds in Aberdeen and meet up with most of Jen's side of the family.  We were able to visit Story Book Land and let the kids run around for a few hours.  We took a tour of Ben and Kristi's beautiful new home.  Once again we forced LaMae into some shopping (this time it was Robyn's fault).  It was fun catching up with everyone and letting all the nieces and nephews play.

4th of July brought the Woonsocket celebration.  A few of us took on the mini-triathlon this year.  We won't discuss winning or medals here because that just wouldn't be right.  We were all happy that our teams finished and  nobody was injured!  Lindy was honored as the parade marshal this year for his years of service as a teacher and volunteer in the community.  Fireworks were awesome as always and everyone had a great time.  

A couple other little voyages took us fishing on the Missouri River and Lake Mitchell.  Brayden amazed us with his fishing skills.  He will throw the line in, go play for awhile, then come back and reel a fish in.  Kid is lucky as can be!

 

The end of the year brought us another birthday.  One of Alayna's gifts this year was a chance to go with Jen to paint in a studio.  She LOVED it...and they both did a great job!  Jen, of course, found some time to take her 8 year pictures as well.  We also took a camping trip with the Cantu's to Jellystone Park for her birthday.  It has become an annual event so the kids can go trick-or-treating in early October at the campgrounds as well.  They also have a big waterpark and a haunted forest for everyone's pleasure.  It is a great place to go.

Full swing with kids' activities as well this fall.  We had soccer for both kids.  Alayna is in CCE and completed her first reconciliation this fall already.  She is also in dance again this year.  They are 5 and 8 and we had activities 4 nights a week this fall.  I just can't wait for them to get older so we can be more busy...

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with our friends, the Bristol's.  They were gracious enough to invite us over this year to spend the day, so we made the long journey (down about 5 houses) on Thanksgiving day.  The kids were even able to do a little swimming in their pool!  That's how you burn off the turkey...

We found time for our own Christmas photo shoot.  Jen has also been very busy as of late taking pictures for others the last month or so.  Everyone is gearing up for the holiday season!  She really enjoys it and is amazing at it!  She has an eye for it...must be where Alayna gets her aristic talent from.

Both kids are  having a great year in school.  We are blessed in that they both enjoy school and things seem to come easy for them.  Brayden is rocking Kindergarten and reading like he is in second grade already!  The boy amazes us and always wants his nose in a book.  Alayna has found a passion for the Magic Treehouse books.  She is tearing through them left and right.  Jen and I continue to plug away at our jobs.  Jen moved up to 2nd grade this year.  She is meeting a new challenge with teaching a different curriculum, but it excites her to start something new.  She is doing her normal wonderful job.  I continue to hop between 4 schools each week and train, teach, fix, do whatever I can to try to help out.

We hope this finds you all well and blessed with as much joy as we have.  As I have rambled on for WAY LONGER than I should have I will close with wishing everyone a happy holidays!  I hope ours paths cross sometime soon.