Burgers, Wonderwoman and the Olympics; Oh it's Labor Day Weekend alright!

If you have ever met my husband, you know we are different in one major way. I love spontaneous change and he is a hardcore traditionalist.
The thought of redecorating a room, moving and trying a new recipe with random ingredients always sound appealing and refresh me. While for him, he prefers the security of whats already happening, wears 6 shirts over and over, loves to watch the same christmas movies he's loved since he was 7, and will order one burger prepared the same way from Fuddruckers.

I'll let you figure out who ordered what. 

We're a conundrum of sorts.
And while we are so opposite, my husbands' love for traditions is beginning to rub off on me in the best of ways. The familiarity of what is good begins to give me thoughts like  "I hope this never changes". This last weekend was full of moments like that. Ones i wanted to soak in, stop time, and just re-live  again and again.

We spent the weekend in Sierra Vista, one of my love's favorite places on earth.  His hometown that consists not only of his childhood home, but all of the memories that were the springboard for most of his traditions that have carried on through adulthood.  Its the place where driving down streets brings up memories " This is where I was after i chased a rabbit into the dessert and realized i was lost" and "That used to be the little skate park where I first started playing Hockey". 


Sierra Vista is a smaller border town south of Tucson, where time seems to slow just as bit as does the speed limit and eagerness to get places and accomplish a to- do list. Unless the list consists of cardgames  on a patio filled with blooming flowers and finishing an entire book. When we are in Sierra Vista, its like all the fretts of daily life seem to just kind of melt away as we are surrounded be the Huachuaca mountains to the west and open land all around. Its a breath of fresh air.

There's something so nice about checking your phone, only to see there's no calls to be returned or emails that are urgent. 

This Labor day weekend was no exception. We headed down Friday night, and spent three glorious days living out life full of things that have quickly come to be favorites that we look forward to... traditions if you will. : ) The first being right when we enter the Wagner house. It happens everytime we arrive. Though its nearly 11pm, there are fresh brownies waiting, along with bowls of fruit, rice krispie treats and a momma that wants to make sure everyone is full and happy. Its just how it is, and I'm pretty sure that Ricky is convinced that homeade goodies upon coming home are a birthright. 

Joanne is a fantastic mom in so many ways, and one of the things I admire about her most is her willingness to serve and put herself second. She is the only person i have ever met that literally says " YAY!" when her team looses in cards because she is genuinely happy the other team won. Who does that? She is an amazing and selfless woman. 

A new wave of traditions have hit within the past year, the Wagner competitions. We started it last year at Thanksgiving and have just continued it each time we visit.  And each time, everyone seems up for whatever crazy challenge we lay down. 


Just throw the world "Olympics" into a sentence and I'm pretty sure any male will de-robe and step up to the challenge. The Wagner men did this weekend as we threw the first EVER  Wagner Summer Olympics; diving edition. We came up with crazy dive categories like "Best death dive" and "Dive with Dream hands". We just kind of made up what they meant as we went along. Joanne and I were the judges handing out scores to each competitor, and it made for a very entertaining afternoon filled with grown men doing things i never thought possible.

Stories that get passed down are also a big part of tradition; one that is infamous in the Wagner household is a picture of the brothers when they were little dressed as superheros. Ricky was Iceman, and Jason was none other than Wonderwoman. Yes. Wonderwoman. And this weekend Ricky along with his 34 year old protein shake drinking,  horse riding border patrol agent brother acted out that beloved family legend.
But no Olympic event is complete until the award ceremonies. We took it really serious, stepped it up this year, and awarded each champion ruby encrusted (plastic) necklaces representing their places.The best part, they all wore them way past the event and well into the evening. None of them seemed to want to take it off? I can't blame em.

On top of all the fun, we also watched as our Godson Andrew Ellison was baptized! It was a celebration surrounded by close family and friends. This is something Jesus commanded us to do, and Christians have been doing for over 2000 years as we decide to give our life to Christ. It was great to be a part of, and even better as we continued conversations on the ride home with Joanne and Michael who have been reading and studying the bible. We talked and later baptized them that day as well! What a great day for the kingdom. 

Ryan with his son Andrew. 

With little Joseph Ellison, the newest member of the fam. 

So while I will probably always be a mover, a redecorator and an initiator of change...I slowly begin to appreciate the things that repeat themselves, that become comfortable, expected and known. I'll take the porchside card games, the spiritual celebrations and brownies. Actually, I'll have two brownies.