John's First Injury, Gratitude Journal, Provident Living Ward Activity (described in a letter to Elder Jacob Shepard, my brother)

Today I watched the movie, "The Mountain of the Lord," it's about the building of the Salt Lake Temple and it is inspiring. (And I also finally learned why Seth and his brother Jacob often say in a low voice, "Nay, that's old mans work." It's from that movie! I finally get it) I felt especially inspired by Pres. Woodruff's keeping a journal every day of his life since he joined the church. I want to be like him. It is difficult at the end of the day when I feel so tired. But he says something that really hit me, he said something like, "Obedience to God's commandments is never easy, it was never meant to be." Our home teacher challenged us to keep a journal every day for a month and write down something that we are thankful for. It is helping me and Seth to remember the Lord's hand in our lives and to recognize what He has done for us. 

I am the Provident Living Specialist in our ward, and I am trying to help people become more prepared and self-reliant. We planned a ward activity which we carried out yesterday. It ended up being much more than I could chew, but the Lord helped us get through it and it all worked out ok. It was such a blessing that many people who agreed to help came through with their part of the work. It is so true that many hands make light work. We helped people build their own Rocket Stoves out of 4 tin cans, and a number 10 can so they will have something to use to cook without power, and then we had a workshop about staying warm and cooking without power. Many said it was a great success, and I am glad. I was so thankful my visiting teaching companion, Katie Taylor watched John for all 6 hours that we were at the church! God sent us lots of help. Needless to say we are so exhausted.

Mom and Dad are coming to visit us this weekend. We are excited. I know they are so anxious to see Baby John! John is 1 year old now! He is crawling so fast, pulling up to standing a lot, clapping, starting to sign words, loves to play the piano and read every book he can get his hands on. 

Sometimes I find him playing happily by himself, just turning the pages of his board books. Sometimes he laughs to himself when he reads, he loves it so much! 

This is John's current favorite book. It is the first one he always pulls off the shelf. It has all sorts of fun things. He especially loves the flaps (which will probably not live much longer with the way he loves them so aggressively).

Our little explorer had his first 2 injuries this week. First he climbed on top of the suitcase that we had blocking the stairs, and it toppled over and he fell with his face into the stairs! I was upstairs, and it was so scary! I flew down the stairs, and picked him up, and his mouth was full of blood, and he was screaming. I was in the middle of a work shift (grading essays online), and I felt like panicking! Thankfully, my wonderful duplex neighbor Beth Winder was home, and I raced over and banged on her door, and told her I didn't know what to do and that I needed help. She really stayed calm and collected, and helped me calm down, and we checked John's teeth which were thankfully fine, and the cut that he had inside his upper lip which looked bad, but maybe not stitch worthy. She helped me clean John up and distract him with some books and toys, and took care of him while I called my shift leader who was so understanding as well. When I got back 10 min later, John was playing with Beth's daughter Stella and Beth was reading them books. John was crawling around, playing,putting things in his mouth! (he is such an oral baby. He has to put everything in his mouth all the time) He really bounced back quickly and I was so grateful for that and for all of the help I had. He bit his bottom lip today, so both lips are even with injuries, poor baby. He doesn't seem to mind though, he's tough. John is the joy of our lives, and we love him so much. He is such a blessing to us, and I am also thankful to be married to my best friend, he's an excellent Dad.

 John loves to climb into, onto, around and over things. In his play room that we constructed out of half of our sunroom, John likes to explore.

 I said to Seth, John really finds a way into a lot of places, and Seth replied in a cheesy way, "Especially into your heart!" But although it may sound cliche, it is so true. He has climbed right into our hearts and is there to stay.

Happy 1st Birthday John!!! 7-31-13

John loves to crawl, but he is especially fond of keeping the toys that he likes in his hands while he does so. So he has developed this crawl to solve his problem. I have seen him crawl with no less than 3 different toys in his hands. He is very talented.

We have also had to seriously babyproof the house. John is very good at opening drawers, doors and cabinets and at getting into mischief in general.

John had his first real hair cut, (we had to handle a bit of a baby mullet and hair growing over his ears a while back, but that wasn't as big as this hair cut), on this one I had to even out all of his hair and trim around his ears, and his bangs, and in the back. It was a dangerous feat, and for this one I had to pull out all the stops and put him in front of the TV. Normally, this is not allowed, but when it comes to TV or a stab wound, we will choose TV. He was mesmerized, and did very well, I even cut his fingernails and toenails too! So I've found that there is a small place for the TV in our baby's life - as a safety precaution.

Mr. Tippy Toes Mozart

John is also our little piano prodigy. He loves to stand on his tiptoes and play the piano (well...he's always standing on his tiptoes, really). Sometimes John plays the piano and sings to us at the same time. We are so proud :)

This was John's birthday bath, his last one in the baby tub. He has now graduated to the big tub. He loves taking baths! He is our little fish.

And we had to get some pictures of him in his "Birthday Suit" as my mom would call it!

Opening birthday presents! We had to space them out, one each day. So it was kind of a birthday week. John loved the wrapping paper. Thank you, thank you to those who gave John such generous gifts! He has had so much fun reading his new books and playing with his toys!

He loves to laugh and laugh and laugh. It is my favorite sound. It brings so much joy to us to hear him laugh!

Unfortunately with all of John's developments have come more falls. But he's a good sport and usually rolls out of them pretty well.

You can kind of see John's 4 top teeth in this one.

He's finally learned how to chew on food! (He has always been great at chewing on toys). And now he can feed himself which is great!

John has really loved going apple picking with us this month. He likes to pat the apples, touch the leaves and hold a piece of apple in his hand to gnaw on.

I've been meaning to post this Birthday post for a long time, but I haven't yet because I've wanted to wait until I had plenty of time to write down what John means to us, some profound words to express how much we love him, and how much joy he has brought into our lives. But I realize there would never be time sufficient to express all that in a blog post, so I'll just have to tell him every day in every chance I get that he has brightened every moment of our days, that our most ardent desire is for his safety and happiness, that we learn so much from him, like how to love unconditionally, how to see the good in everyone, how to smile and laugh and enjoy life, how to learn and grow every day. We are amazed that we have been entrusted to care for such a special spirit. 5 and a half years now doesn't seem as long to wait for a son so precious and loving and happy and wonderful. We knew God had something great in store for us, but we never could have known what a joy John would be. We have a son, our little son John. We are deeply grateful every day. 

We love you John!

Visit with Aunt Claire and Aunt Martha 7-7-13

2 of my awesome, beautiful sisters came to visit us, and it was so fun to see them!

 Claire had been in Oregon for most of our trip, so we were very glad to catch her at the tail end.  Claire came to hang out with us at Seth's mom's house too, and she played volleyball and tore it up. Everyone was impressed with her skills! 
 And we got to go to Carson Ford's (my cousin Kyle's son) baptism with Martha, and then to the Ford's for a nice visit.

And they came over again to Jeena's for breakfast on the day we were supposed to leave UT....and it was a nice breakfast, but then we all got sick. Sorry Claire and Martha! That was no fun. Hope you have recovered! We are still working on that.

John loves his Aunt Martha and Aunt Claire! And so do we :)

Service Project - Weeding Grandma Jeena's Garden 7-6-13

 I've fallen behind in my posts, as always. So much life happens, I just can't document all of it. But here are some fun pics of the Wagner Reunion service project. We helped Grandma Jeena weed her garden. Despite the heat, everyone had lots of fun.

 I helped Aunt Sarah watch the little ones, and went around to take pictures.

 There was a lot of "bafoonery" occuring, as Seth would call it. No, that's not a word, Seth made it up. He's pretty proud of it too.

 The kids and Jacob's girlfriend Natalie commenced the water fighting, and Uncle Jacob continued it.

 I just have to say that Seth is one fast weeder. Another service project later in the week was weeding Great Grandma Johnson's garden. I heard Seth was out there weeding at the speed of light. I couldn't go because I got whiplash at 7 Peaks Water Park, on the first slide I went on... it was sad...oh so sad. Don't go on the half pipe if you go there! You may be sadly disappointed, and injured. I was grateful Seth could give me a Priesthood Blessing, and it said that I would recover, and this injury would have no lasting effects. That was reassuring. I'm still a little sore, but things are getting better, and yoga is helping.

Some of the guys also helped Jeff set up the Brimhalls new swing set.

 Nothing says family togetherness like working in the garden. I love this quote from Pres. Spencer W. Kimball, We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. Study the best methods of providing your own foods. Make your garden as neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities.¹⁰

I hope that we understand that, while having a garden … is often useful in reducing food costs and making available delicious fresh fruits and vegetables, it does much more than this. Who can gauge the value of that special chat between daughter and Dad as they weed or water the garden? How do we evaluate the good that comes from the obvious lessons of planting, cultivating, and the eternal law of the harvest? And how do we measure the family togetherness and cooperating that must accompany successful canning? Yes, we are laying up resources in store, but perhaps the greater good is contained in the lessons of life we learn as we live providently. ¹¹ https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-spencer-w-kimball/chapter-11

John's First Time Apple Picking! Eddy Fruit Farm

We went to Eddy Fruit Farm last Saturday. It was John's first time picking apples. Well, we went last year, but unfortunately, they didn't have apples to pick because of a late frost. So we were even more excited this year! They didn't disappoint. We also stopped by Pattersons too...but it's not our fav - too expensive and less about the product and more about the show... we are so loyal to Eddy. And we hope to be back many times this year! 

John loved eating, holding and patting the apples. He was all smiles!

 He sure fits in because we love this activity. The apples are so good and so inexpensive, and so fun to pick yourself! I am thankful to have opportunities like this to spend as a family, enjoy nature, and the wonderful food that God has blessed us with. It really is a miracle, and it is awesome to see where food really comes from.

Happy apple picking and eating!

Adventures with Beth and Stella

We are fortunate to have the best neighbors ever! Beth and Bob Winder, and their daughter Stella live on the other side of our duplex, and we get to hang out often. Babysitting swaps are a wonderful plus to our arrangement, and John and Stella are pals. They just light up and laugh when they see each other.

It's fun to go on adventures with Beth and Stella! On John's birthday, we went to walk around Shaker Lakes and enjoy the beautiful old trees and huge unique homes.

 At the bridge on the lake, there were a bunch of ducks, and even more big fish swimming near the surface. John was transfixed! I couldn't get him to let go of the railing. He loved it!

 We saw lots of dogs on walks with their owners, and a very friendly bunny. John was excited about that.

 And yesterday we went to the Cleveland Zoo! It was John's first time. He really loved looking at the animals (especially if they were close up and moving around)

We saw a bunch of different animals.

 Stella is one of John's favorite things to see though. I have so much fun talking to Beth, and it is great to have a friend so close by to share in all the new learning experiences of motherhood.

 The babies' favorite was definitely the grizzly bears! There were 2 of them playing together in the water, and John was so happy to see them he clapped. :) He really loved the seals too, they were very playful. Next year, we'll bring daddy, and I am sure John will love the zoo even more!