Thanksgiving & Christmas

I realize it's been over a month since I've updated.... but in my defense, we've been really busy!!! I guess I'll start with Thanksgiving.... We went to AR this year.  We left on Thursday morning and had lunch with my father's side. We hung out a little and then had dinner with my mother's side. Cari, Mark, & Calloway didn't get in until Thursday afternoon.

On Friday, Cari and I took our cousins, Brianna & Lauren, shopping. Wyatt & I were going to meet my friends for lunch on Saturday, but the whole Campbell clan was sick so we only had lunch with Steph & Josh (& baby Cadence). It was so good to seem them!!!

We headed back home on Saturday evening. Then it was December! Mostly, we were busy with work and school (for Wyatt). The weekend before Christmas, we headed over to AR again. I took Brianna & Lauren shopping Saturday morning for their Christmas presents. Then, my Aunt Susan hosted a congratulations party for my Aunt LeAnn Saturday evening. We are all so proud of her for completing her degree!!!  Afterwards, Wyatt and I had dinner with mom & dad and headed back home.

For Christmas this year we decided that we would drive down to TX. Cari & Mark weren't going to be able to spend much time in NWA and they were going to be making a 2-day drive to Mark's family in NC. So, mom & dad and Wyatt & I decided we could save them the extra drive and get to spend more time with them. We headed down on Tuesday afternoon. Cari and I had a day of shopping planned for Wednesday. Then, mom & dad would be there Wednesday afternoon.

Wyatt and I went to IKEA Thursday morning. It started snowing while we were out and about. It was so pretty!!! I couldn't believe we actually had a white Christmas! We had Christmas with his family Thursday evening.

Then, Friday morning we got up and drove to Cari & Mark's for Christmas with my family. We got there mid-morning and Calloway was already ready to open presents!!! We had so much fun with her this year. She was so funny!!! The first is a gift from Nonna & Poppy. The second is from us for her Christmas & birthday.

After we opened presents, we had a little bit of a late lunch. They were in the process of changing Calloway's room from a nursery to a little girl's room. So after lunch, Mom was working on painting a tree on the wall and Cari & I worked on redoing the letters to Calloway's name that hang on the wall. Mark was playing on his laptop (I think), dad did Sudoku, and Wyatt took a nap! We headed back to Wyatt's grandmother's house that evening and just took it easy. We got up on Saturday morning and headed home. We were greeted with a lot of snow and ice!!!

We had a safe drive home, but we did have one close call. There was an explorer getting on the highway and started losing control on the on-ramp. Both us and the car in front of us had to maneuver to avoid the SUV. We were both successful and I think the driver of the explorer got it under control too. A few moments later, I was saying how scary that was and that I was glad we weren't as close as the other car. About that time, we pulled up beside the other car and the guy's jaw was still dropped open and his hand was over his heart! Wyatt and I both just busted up laughing 'cause it was exactly how we felt!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!!!! (& sorry this was so long...)

Update & More Jewelry

I've been making some more jewelry lately. It is so nice to have a little time now and then to have a little hobby. I've made another necklace and earring set and two bracelets. Here are some pics:

This first one is blue and green. I already know exactly what I am going to wear it with and can't wait!

Here's a close-up... I had to make the bail out of a butterfly. I think it turned out really cute.

This is the butterfly bracelet. Hopefully I can wear it with a lot of different colors.

And last but not least, the green and purple bracelet.

Other than the usual work and school (for Wyatt), we've not been up to much. Wyatt did go on a 5 day fishing trip and just got home today. I really missed him and am glad he's home! The first day or two was nice to have some me time, but that didn't last too long. I know the dogs missed him too because they were so happy to see me when I got home each evening. They were definitly ready to go outside too!

Last Saturday, I received a letter from Trans States Airlines saying they were taking voluntary recalls. I got a little excited about the possibility of going back to the airlines and flying jets again. Unfortunately, they did not get the additional flying they thought they were going to get, so they aren't recalling any furloughed pilots after all. It's a little disappointing, but right now isn't exactly the most ideal time to go back to the airlines - with the holidays coming up and all. Also, it would/will be a paycut, so it's not going to be an easy decision to make, when I have to make it for real!

That's about all that's been going on with the Wagners.... I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!

Memphis

Every now and then one of my students needs to do a long cross-country flight as part of their training - one of which has to be 5 hours long. It works out just about perfectly to fly to Memphis, TN. I've made the flight several times, but it's never worked out for me to meet up with Steph, one of my best friends who lives there.

Well, I had a student coming up on the cross-country lesson and got the bright idea that we would do it last Wednesday when Steph was scheduled to have her baby. I wanted to surprise her with my visit, so I contacted Josh, her husband, and got all the info. I needed. As it turned out, we didn't get the airplane and the weather would have prevented us from going anyways. I was really disappointed and sad that it didn't work out 'cause it would have been so much fun and just perfect. I called Steph and admitted what we had been planning and she was surprised, but said it was definitly the thought that counted. What she didn't know was that we had already rescheduled the flight to make another go at it!

After clearing it with Josh, we got it rescheduled for Tuesday. They made the schedule Sunday and we got the airplane!!!! Then, Tuesday came and it was looking a little iffy, but turned out to be good weather! So, my student, his girlfriend, a friend of their's, and I loaded up and headed toward Memphis. We got there a little before 7 and I called Josh to let him know we would be there in about 15 minutes. He told Steph someone from church was coming over. We got to their house and I knocked on the door. Josh opened the door and stood to the side so she could see who it was. The look on her face was priceless!!!! We had succeeded in surprising her!!! It was so good to see her and baby Cadence. We had a really good little visit. Here are a few pics:

After we left their house, we headed downtown to eat at Rendezvouz. Apparently it is world famous for its ribs, but I had never heard of it. It was pretty good, but I wouldn't say it was the best barbecue I've ever had. Then, we had the long flight home. I didn't get home until about 2:15 Wednesday morning and boy was I tired for work on Wednesday! It was definitly worth it to get to see my girls!!!

Art & Jewelry

I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post... I have been meaning to post something, but I get busy or forget and then decide I'll do it "tomorrow". So, here I am trying to play catch up. We haven't been up to much, just staying busy with work and normal, every day life.

This past weekend was just about perfect. We met up with one of my best friends from high school and her husband for dinner and a movie. We went to see Couple's Retreat. It was hilarious!! We had such a good time and are already planning our next get together.

Then, Wyatt left early Saturday morning to go on a 2 day fishing trip. I slept in until I woke up; it was so nice to not have to set the alarm. I pretty much lazied around all morning. I watched a couple of movies and just took it easy. I didn't even take a shower until 3!!! I started painting a canvas for the guest bedroom. I got the four side ones finished Saturday evening. I worked on the middle one Sunday, but didn't paint it until tonight. I think it turned out pretty good for my first one!

I can't wait to hang it on the wall and see how it looks!

A few weeks ago, I was in the mood to make something. So, I pulled out my beads and made a necklace and earring set. I used to make stuff all the time, but just haven't had the time to lately. I plan to make some more jewelry in the coming weeks, so I'll be sure and post pics of those too.

Anyway, I thinks that's all for now... Hopefully it won't be so long next time. Hope everyone has a good second half of the week!

A Birthday and Cake, but not birthday cake!

Birthday: Yesterday was my dear hubby's birthday... Happy Birthday Sweets!!! We didn't do much 'cause we are both still recovering from all the work we did the past several months on our house. So, we are quite happy to be lazy and just hang out. I did take him out to eat and he chose Chinese. That was pretty much it.

Cake: If you remeber on our 1 year anniversary, we hadn't tried our 1-year-old-top-layer of frozen wedding cake. Well, this week I called Merritt's Bakery and asked about what the proper procedure was for thawing frozen cake. We decided to wait until this weekend to try it. So, Friday evening when I got home from work, I carefully unwrapped the frozen cake and put it into the refigerator to begin its 24 hour thaw. This is what it looked like:

Then, this morning I set (or sat, I can't remember which..) it out to begin to uncool from being in the refigerator, 'cause no one wants cold cake!!! After we got home from church, it looked like this:

I told Wyatt it looked like it was undressing!!! I couldn't resist the urge to touch it. So, I kind of very carefully poked part of the "naked" part. It was surprisingly kind of spongy. Not at all like the way I expected it to be after being frozen for a year! I asked him when he wanted to try it and he said let's wait until later. By the way he said it, I really wan't sure later would ever arrive! He also said he'd try it after I did. I told him we had to eat it at the same time. So, finally after dinner he agreed we could try it. I got a knife and cut us a slice. I was trying to get the icing off and he said I didn't have to make it look pretty 'cause he wasn't going to eat more than a little bite. Anyways, you're probably wondering how 1-year-old-top-layer of thawed wedding cake tastes....

......well, we both took and bite.... and...... looked at each other.... and both said..... NOT TOO BAD!!!! Then, we took another bite. We were both really shocked at how good it tasted. We wound up eating the whole slice I cut!!!! I don't think it is quite as good as it was a year ago, but it isn't far from it! Of course, I had to keep telling myself to keep an open mind and not think about the fact that it was frozen. I almost wasn't believing my tastebuds. I think I might even eat another piece tomorrow. So, if you were wondeirng, now you know!

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!! Mine is looking like it is going to be pretty busy.

Our 1 Year Anniversary!

Today is our 1st anniversary! I can't believe it has already been 1 year!!! Where did the time go?!?!?! Hopefully, future years won't seem to go by so quickly, but I'm afraid they will.

This past weekend, we went to AR to visit my family and friends. While we were there, I decided I should try my wedding dress on to see if it still fit. I figured it probably would because I haven't changed much. It still fit!!! I love my wedding dress and wish I didn't just get to wear it once. I suggested I could wear it out to eat for dinner Saturday evening, but everyone else thought I'd be a little overdressed!!! Anyways, here's a picture:

We didn't really do anything super fun and exciting to celebrate our big day. We basically took it easy and spent the day being lazy. It was a nice change of pace after all the remodeling we've been doing. I'm glad we're both happy just hanging out and don't always have to be going and doing stuff to enjoy each other's company. We did go out to dinner at Red Lobster. Our waitress was nice enough to take a picture of us.

We haven't tried our frozen top layer of wedding cake yet because I forgot to call the bakery to find out the proper procedure for thawing the cake. I've heard it isn't that great, but I'll let you know how it turns out.

Happy Anniversary to the best man in the world and perfect match for me!!! I love you with all my heart and I'm looking forward to our future together! I love you Sweets!!!

What we've been "UP" to...

Let's see... over the past month and a half, we've remodeled the kitchen and bathroom, repainted the hallway, relandscaped the yard, painted the trim on the house, repaired some siding, and reshingled the roof. All in addition to our full time jobs!!! Needless to say, we've been BUSY!!!! What's the reason for all this craziness?!!? Well, we are trying to sell our house so we can get one a little bigger.

I have before and after pictures of all of our projects, but for this post, I have the ones from this past weekend. I'll post the others later (when I figure out where the other memory card is...). We thought we were done with the "big" projects, until we decided that the roof was probably going to need replaced since we weren't sure how long it had been. So, since we are pretty big do-it-yourselfers, we decided we'd do it ourselves. We didn't really want to pay double to have someone else do it. I asked my dad if he knew how to do it and he did. So being the amazingly wonderful father he is, he offered to come help us. He came over Friday afternoon and needed to go back home Saturday. We were hoping we could work on it a while Friday afternoon/evening and then finish it up Saturday by early afternoon. Boy were we wrong!!!!

We had extra help come Friday afternoon to get the shingles up on the roof - thank goodness we didn't have to move all those bundles by ourselves!!! We got a good start Friday evening, but not as far as we would have liked to. We got up early Saturday morning and started around 7:30. We worked ALL day with only a few breaks here and there. We had to stop when it got dark and that's when dad had to head home. So, Wyatt and I got back on the roof by 8:00 Sunday morning and worked for a better part of the day. Neither of us were feeling that great after having worked all day Saturday. Actually, we felt like a couple of old people - moving slower than normal and achy all over. We finished around 4:30 and we're pretty sure the angelic choir could be heard singing the Hallelujah chorus!!! We've decided that we don't like roofing... We're pretty sure we'll pay someone next time!

These pictures are from Saturday morning. Wyatt was so funny - he did NOT like being on the roof! I was a little uneasy at first, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. It was just funny to watch him.




You can see they've gotten a little over half-way up the front.


Dad and Wyatt trying to figure out which way to go next....

These are the before pictures of the back... I haven't gotten any afters yet.



These are from Sunday.... we were almost done. I was cutting more caps. I spent most of Saturday in that spot where I cut 300 caps, along with the 1/2's, 1's, 1 & 1/2's, and 2's that dad and Wyatt needed. I had to cut another 20 caps Sunday. So, for those of you who don't believe I was right up there with the guys - here's your proof!!!


This last one is a pretty good view of the "after" (minus the few pieces of trash you can see on that front part). We did really well estimating how many shingles we'd need. We had 2 full bundles left over to take back. As for shingles, we only had 3 halves left and 1 cap that was a little messed up. So, I thought we did really well!

Now, hopefully all we have to do is keep the house clean. That is, if we can get some people to come look at it. We've had a lot of people viewing it on craigs list and the blog I made for it. Please pray that the right people will see it and want to come take a look. We found a house we loved and had a contingency offer on it, but someone else came in and made an offer without a contingency. So, we were disappointed about that. We're trusting God that the right buyer will come and the right house for us will be available.

4th of July

I didn't realize how long it had been since my last post... Sorry. Actually, there hasn't been much going on to post about, so you really aren't missing anything.! We've just been busy with work. Spartan actually closed completely Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so I got a whole 3 day weekend!!! Usually, they will allow us to fly everyday except the actual holiday. So, I wind up working the days they are open. This was the first 3 day weekend I've had in a LOOOONG time! I can't remember when my last one was. Needless to say, it was long overdue and I'm definitly looking forward to the next one!

Friday morning I got the bright idea to paint my nails red, white, & blue. Well, actually the idea came a couple of days before, but I didn't have time to do it until Friday morning. I used to paint my nails all the time, but my job isn't the most nail-friendly job. So usually I just keep a clear coat on them. Here's a picture of my patriotic creation:
I thought they turned out pretty cute. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but that my be partially due to my perfectionism (not sure that's even a word!!).

Friday evening, Stephanie, Josh, Wyatt, and I went over to Brandon & Miranda's house for dinner and just to hang out. It was so great to see my best friends again. I definitly miss spending time with them. We had a wonderful meal of tenderloin, corn-on-the-cob, squash, and chips & dip. Then, we had cupcakes, brownies, and ice cream for dessert. We brought a watermelon, but never cut into it (kind of forgot about it in the freezer!!). As the sun was setting, we went out back to enjoy the cool evening. Several of their neighbors started shooting off fireworks. So, we enjoyed the free show, but the company even more (at least I did!). Here are a few pictures we took:I wanted to get one of all of us, but I forgot... I had so much fun seeing my friends again!!! I miss ya girlies!!! Can't wait for next time! Love ya!

New Car

Last weekend, Wyatt and I drove over to NWA to pick up our new car. This was after I spent most of my Tuesday on the phone with 2 dealers to try and get a good deal, between insurance calls of course! First, here's what I got to drive for the week...

Good 'ole Buick Lucerne... it had a good ride though! One of the other instructor's asked if it was my grandmother's car!!! I thought that was pretty funny!! I did feel like I was driving a boat, especially compared my little civic, well my old civic!!

So, here it is... our new car!!!

Now, I just have to learn how to drive it... It is a Civic SI with manual transmission and I've never learned how to drive one, I've only ever had automatics. So, Wyatt gets to enjoy it for a few weeks until I learn. I'm back to driving the Santa Fe for now. I had my first driving lesson today, and let's just say I need a few more, well may be lots more!!! I would get the hang of it and then let the clutch out too fast and stall it. I would be ok if I never had to stop. We don't need stop signs, right?!?! Then, Wyatt had me stop on a hill... Yep, had trouble with that! I told him we should just move somewhere flat, like Kansas. He didn't seem to think that was too good of an idea. Oh well, I'll keep getting driving lessons and hopefully be able to drive it in a few weeks, or maybe a year!!! Hope everyone has a great week!