Christmas Letter 2010

Sorry we couldn't send this out to everyone, but we hope enjoy it!

Dear Friends and Family,

As I have been looking at pictures and reflecting on what has happened this year, I realized how blessed we are. Sure we have had and will continue to have our ups and downs, but thankfully we have the Savior in our lives to help us through those times.

Jeremy and I both started the year training for various events. Jeremy did his first 150-mile desert dirt bike race and LOVED it! I went out to California City where it was held and the kids and I were his pit crew. We put paper hearts on his gas cans and cheered him on as he came through the pits each lap.

My sister and I trained and did a ½ marathon in Agoura in March. It was a great experience and I’ll hopefully do it again this March. I enjoyed the training: getting up early on Saturdays to get in my “long runs” and then trading babysitting every other day with my sister so we could both train. Running has helped me in all different areas of life and I didn’t think I would ever enjoy it as much as I do, being a swimmer at heart.

Cozette (age10) was able to save up money and get sponsors from family to send her to Sacramento, CA for a fourth grade field trip. She got to fly on an airplane with her classmates and teachers and tour the capital for one day as they learned about government and the gold rush. I have to say I was a bit nervous, but thankfully a member of our ward went with the class and made me feel much better! Cozette is enjoying playing the piano and wanted to play the trumpet this year in band and is doing very well! She also loves to dance and create things.

Atalie (age 8) made a big decision this year to get baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We are so proud of her and have enjoyed teaching her in primary this year. Jeremy and I were able to team-teach her class. She is a very good student and is picking up Spanish like she has always known it. She is excelling in dance and can do the splits. She was the first girl in her class to make it onto the “splits” wall! She is very helpful to me as is Cozette and I tell them all the time “I couldn’t do it without you."

We just finished reading the first two Harry Potter books with the kids and that has been a growing experience for us to read with them and talk about good and bad and just enjoying the time together. We’d bring it in the car everywhere we went in case we had time to read. It’s been a lot of fun.

Wyatt turned five in October and we decided to let him go to one more year of preschool before starting kindergarten next year. He loves preschool. He now knows all his letters and their sounds and has really picked up writing over night. He loves anything musical and really enjoys anything physical as well. He can ride a two-wheeled bike with ease and also started riding his three-wheeled dirt bike by himself this last desert trip. He’s amazing to watch and we especially love to watch him “break dance”. He is such a good big brother to Scotty and is a sweet boy, for the most part!

Scotty, who is two and you know it, is a great little boy. He is picking up talking and tries new words everyday. Right before his birthday, we were at the park playing on the slide when Wyatt decided it was his turn to go down even though Scotty was at the bottom of it. He slid down right into Scotty’s leg and broke it! Wyatt is so strong and doesn’t know it and apparently he hit Scotty’s tibia (shin bone) just right that it caused a fracture. He had on a little blue cast for about 4 ½ weeks. Ironically, he got it off on Wyatt’s birthday. He adapted so easily and was even walking on it by the last week and a half that he had it on. He is a very happy and smiley guy and very entertaining to watch dance and run around.

We are truly blessed with wonderful children, even when we want to tear our hair out! We couldn’t be happier and are so grateful to have one another as well. We hope you all have a wonderful new year and a Merry Christmas. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the true meaning for this time of year and as we follow him, we will find true joy.

Love,

The Wagers

Jeremy, Ditte, Cozette, Atalie, Wyatt and Scotty

Random Photos from the Fall

This is from our latest desert trip over Thanksgiving. It was so fun being able to ride with the kids. The girls were confident enough to ride on their own and so was Wyatt. The only trouble with the ATC is that his thumb would get tired so he didn't last too long. His Pappy was so patient following him around and taking him and Scotty for rides. It was probably our most fun trip yet. Thank goodness we had our trailer! Otherwise I think we might have frozen. It got down into the 20's at night!
Kirst at our trunk or treat the night before Halloween. We parked our van right next to theirs.
Our cute pumpkins!
Indiana Jones was at our van! ;)
We had a Tiger Lily, Superman, Pippy Longstocking and a cowboy (for the 3rd year in a row!)
Wyatt and his chums at his 5th birthday party. They had a great time in the Lovstedt's backyard with a treasure hunt, pinata and making some Halloween crafts.
Penny and Wyatt at their party. They share the same birthday, just a year apart.
Scotty with part of the pinata on his head and a sucker in his mouth!
Kids waiting for the pinata...
Indiana Jones (he even had his own theme music!) and Hermione Granger
Crossing the railroad tracks at Carpinteria with Gramma and Gramps. We went camping there for three wonderful days over fall break. Jeremy was with us for one night and a day and then my dad was there the other night and day. It was heaven. No crowds and gorgeous weather!


Wyatt enjoyed "surfing". Jeremy also started pulling the kids back and forth, skimming the water. He sure got a workout from that!


Big dork jumping off the lifeguard tower....

Studly guy!

Jeremy had all the kids jumping off the lifeguard tower and took their pictures. They had a great time trying to do karate and dance moves in the air.




Watching the seals next to the oil pier. There were a whole bunch on the beach that day.
Coming down the big hill at the pumpkin patch.

Scotty's cast the night before he got it off.
Else and Cristin at the apple farm in Tehachapi. Not ideal weather, but the kids had fun!

Cute Luke and Wyatt with their empty bags flowing in the wind!

Washington Road trip August 14-23, 2010

To save myself the time and frustration of trying to get these from in order, you'll have to scroll to the bottom to see the start of our trip. Overall it was a great trip. A LOT of driving, but fun. If we had to do it again, we would take more time to get up there so we wouldn't have to drive about 8 hours each day. But we still saw some great sites and more importantly got to be with great people!

Lake Shasta the day before we got home. It looked sooo inviting in the hot weather!
Going over Shasta Lake
Mount Shasta which you can see from Oregon, it's so tall!
Us celebrating Cozette's birthday, on her birthday somewhere just north of Medford, OR.
We stopped at a rest stop to have dinner for Cozette. She wanted Mac and Cheese! This was the best we could do since we were still about 2 hours away from the KOA we were spending the night at.
Mount St. Helen's was worth the stop and the video you see of the volcano erupting! Just amazing!
Cozette wanted a stop watch for her birthday. Kelly was so nice to do the birthday shopping for me while we were at Fort Flagler. Thanks Kel! You made Cozette feel very special!
Having abelskivers for dinner at Kelly's since we left fairly early the next morning. She was the best hostess ever!!

Jack and Wyatt
Cozette and Atalie
Sam with his party hat going under his nose!
Going from the Olympic Peninsula over to the Kitsap. The water was sooooo beautiful!
We saw lots of deer and elk around.
JD and Ann and their kids at the Wager Reunion
Addie, Alexis, Cozette, Wyatt, Scotty, Izzy, and Atalie

All these cousins had a great time playing. I'm bummed I didn't get more pictures of Aunts and Uncles and other cousins.
Our crew that drove up together. It was so nice to caravan with Jeremy's parents.

Some of the buildings at Fort Flagler, WA overlooking the Puget Sound

Ann and JD outside of our "barracks". Down at the far end of the building was our kitchen where we cooked all our meals and had game tournaments for "Hand and Foot", Settlers of Katan and we had one outdoor game called Kubb that Jeremy and I won! It is a Scandinavian throwing game that was very fun.
Alexis at the beach trying to make a plaster of paris creation. Unfortunately most of them didn't set up, but it was fun trying! Cozette was extremely disappointed since she even stood guard by hers for about an hour making sure no kids stepped on it.

Cozette standing guard.
Nana and Cozette
Jerm and Atalie





Can you tell that Cozette took this picture? We went for a bike ride around the fort to get a little exercise. The girls went back after one part, so me and Scotty did some further exploring on the other side of the peninsula.
Beautiful girls at the RV park we stayed at in Lakeside, OR

A Port in Oregon where we stopped to have dinner.

Going through the Redwoods in Northern California on the 101. Such gorgeous scenery!
We thought all these Tsunami warning signs were interesting...



We stopped above Willits at the "drive-thru" tree. Of course we were way to big to go through it, but we enjoyed the stop. The girls and I are suckers for gift shops as well. Although I don't usually buy anything. I just like to look at all the treasures!




Checking our brake controller in Ukiah, CA on our 2nd day of the trip.

Watching movies on the itouch was a big hit in the van. They also loved the bags and snacks that Nana made for them with coloring books, games, etc...I'm so grateful that she's so creative!
Fairgrounds where we stayed in Ukiah. This is Nana and Pappy's rig
Our rig. The van did great the whole way! Thanks, Lucky! (that's our van's name since she's green)
Our first night in the Santa Maria LDS church parking lot after Mette's open house up there.