Elder Wanner's Mission: Part Two

After Brady was set apart we traveled as a family to St. George, Utah to meet Brady's birth mother and her family.  We spent the whole weekend with them and we are so thankful they are now part of our lives.  I won't use names for the children since I didn't get permission from parents.  One of the funnest parts of this visit was being in a room with lots of other people who have the same eye color as Brady.   It was neat to learn more about his birth and share more about his life.  I don't really have words for the feelings we all experienced.  I think this visit was especially tender for Jeanette and Rachel.  We are just so thankful for the sacrifices Rachel was willing to make so that Brady could be raised in our family and bring us so much joy.

 Brady and Rachel

 Rachel, Brady, and Brady's two half-siblings.

 Brady with one of his aunts and some cousins.

 Our birth family loves music as much as the Wanners do!  We even sang a little together.

 Brady with Rachel, Bob, and Patti - his birth grandparents.

The Wanners - minus Jeremy who had to stay home and work.

Elder Wanner's Mission: Part One

Brady was set apart for his mission on Thursday October 4th. What does set apart mean?

Setting apart is an ordinance in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whereby a person is formally chosen and blessed to carry out a specific calling or responsibility in the church.
Once a person has accepted the responsibility of holding a calling in the church and has been accepted by the members of the church for that position, one or more Melchizedek priesthood holders "set apart" the person to serve in that calling. The priesthood holders accomplish this by giving the person a priesthood blessing by the laying on of hands.  Generally, only general authorities and local leaders of stakes, wards, missions, district, and branches may set apart a member to serve in a position.

Brady was set apart by his stake president.  Brady will be serving as a full time missionary for the next two years in Las Vegas, Nevada.  He will commit to keep a strict code of conduct and spend all his waking hours studying, preaching, and learning to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sunday Shenanigans 09/30/12

 We are one week behind on our shenanigans due to a short trip to Seattle last weekend for Brady's mission farewell.  So this post is pictures from the past two weeks.  The girls are starting to understand that there is a baby growing in Mommy's tummy.  Now they always want balls or stuffed animals under their shirts to make baby bellies.

Lily after her second week of dance class.  She is loving her class and teachers.  We are so glad she can give dance a try this year.

 During our trip to Seattle we managed to forget to use the camera.  The temple and the girls in the car (on the way home) are the only ones we got.  Shortly after the picture in the car, Annie threw up all over herself.  It was not fun trying to check in at the airport with a baby smelling like vomit.  But we were so glad to spend the weekend with Brady.  And Mommy was glad to visit with both of her grandmothers.  

Grammy and Grampy met us at the Boise airport and treated us to lunch.  They girls were thrilled to go to McDonald's.  Lily calls it "Old MacDonald's".  After lunch and a lot of playtime, we drove past the Boise temple which is currently under renovation.  It will be open soon to the public for an open house.  If you would like to tour the temple (everyone is welcome, you do not have to be a member of our church) during the open house, let me know.

The day after we got home from Washington, we went to the zoo.  The zoo closes early around here because of the extremely cold winters.  Annie's favorite part of the zoo was the goats.  She even tried brushing them and petting them this time.

Annie got two owies this week.  The first was three splinters in her thumb after climbing on our back steps.  With some singing and dancing by Daddy and Lily and some minor surgery by Mommy, the splinters were removed.  Annie was excited to get a real owie with a real band-aid.  And she was very brave while Mommy extracted the splinters.  The second owie came from crashing heads with Lily on the trampoline.  Annie's chin bonked on Lily's head and Annie bit down hard on her tongue.  She was bleeding quite a bit.  but once we got her all cleaned and iced, the actual injury was not too big and she is healing quickly.

 Lily is having fun in dance class.  It is an intro to dance and movement class, so it is pretty relaxed.  Each week they work on a skill like marching to a beat, skipping, spinning, etc.  They are learning a routine to the song "Rockin' Robin".  Lily likes the part where they say "tweet-tweet!"

Annie is our little Punky Brewster when it comes to fashion.  She wants to choose her own clothes - especially socks and shoes.  Usually she wears two different shoes (put on the wrong feet).  Saturday she opted for matching shoes and mismatched, but coordinating, socks.  I wish I had pictures of some of the more outrageous styles she has put together.

 We had a Tex-Mex dinner on Friday night.  I chopped olives for our tacos but the girls wanted the whole olives instead.  We showed them how to put the olives on their fingers.  It was a big hit.  They are ready for the crudite platter at Thanksgiving.

This morning I had Music and the Spoken Word playing on the radio while we dressed for church.  Lily climbed into our bed, covered herself with all the blankets, and listened to the whole program.  She is starting to gain an appreciation for beautiful music. 

That's all for the Halls this week!

I love technology!

What happens when Jeremy wins a prize on the radio, Christine tries to leave him a message about it, and his cell phone converts the voice mail into a text message?  See below.

Text conversion =

Hey Frank is too large pepperoni pizza crazy Brett a crazy dizzy Roxanne at you later pop that’s what be bit too much family was wondering if we could eight get somebody else to invite to come with us and if you then place so call me back when you get this message thanks bye

Actual message =

Hey! Your prize is two large pepperoni pizzas, a crazy bread, a crazy dipping sauce, and a two liter of pop.  That sounds like a bit too much for our family. So I was wondering if we could think of somebody else to invite to come with us and decide on the place. So call me back when you’re done with lunch.  Thanks bye.

Awesome right?  The text is EXACTLY what I said! Not!  

Our cell phone plan is trying to get us to use a voicemail to text conversion service.  Christine opted out, but Jeremy's phone just started doing it.  He can still hear the original message - thank goodness - but now he gets an “awesome” text message for each voicemail he receives.  Where would we be without technology? 

Sunday Shenanigans 09/16/12

Not a lot of pictures this week.  I kind of took it easy and kept things quiet in our lives.  My uncle Peter passed away last Sunday.  I was feeling emotional and tired most of Monday and Tuesday.  I wanted to be near my mom and be with our extended family.  I think Lily was getting worried about me, so I put on my happy face and got back in the game.  Later in the week, the weather was great so I knew I had to get the girls out for some play time.  We went out for a picnic Tuesday afternoon.  On Wednesday we went to the park with our friend Sarah.  We ended up staying at the park for 3 and a half hours.  I think we all needed the fresh air.

Thursday was busy with gymnastics and Lily's first dance class.  The studio I took her to was highly recommended.  Lily really liked it.  She loves dancing.

 Friday morning Jeremy was listening to the radio on his way to work.  The station was looking for a man to call in and play "Battle of the Sexes".  Jeremy decided to give it a shot.  He won!  We got free pizza, breadsticks and soda for dinner. 

Today Lily gave her first talk in Primary.  She did an amazing job!  She wasn't nervous at all.  She spoke right into the microphone and looked out at the congregation.  Her subject was - I show my love for Heavenly Father and Jesus when I keep the commandments.  She chose to speak about "honor thy father and thy mother".  We love our precious miracle!

Sunday Shenanigans 09/09/12

We have a big announcement this week in our family.  We are having another baby!  I haven't been feeling great, but I also have not been too sick.  Just really tired and a lot of heartburn and nausea.  I am due on April 2nd.  I have a feeling I'll be celebrating my birthday in the hospital this year.  My doctor is willing to let me try a VBAC delivery eventhough I have already had two c-sections.  I am hoping for a successful delivery because recovering from a c-section is difficult.  This is a picture of our little cutie at nine weeks.  We won't know the gender until November so stay posted!

Some fun at the park last Sunday evening.  It wasn't cold - Annie just loves to wear hats.

 On Labor Day we took a family bike ride on the greenbelt in Idaho Falls.  The girls are starting to feel a little squished in the bike trailer now that Annie is bigger, but they still had fun.

We stopped at the temple and walked the grounds a little.  We also enjoyed some downtown scenery before riding to a nice park for a picnic lunch.

After lunch, we took the girls down to the river to play.  The beach is smooth lava rock.  It felt warm and was really comfortable to sit and play on.  Plus there was a nice little channel that the kids could splash in without being in the main current of the river.

Annie loved squishing the sandy mud between her little toes.

Our raspberries are really coming on.  We've been making muffins, pancakes, and our new favorite - raspberry milkshakes!  We had them four nights in a row.  Annie really gets into her shakes........

On Thursday night, Daddy and Mommy built the girls a rocket ship out of cardboard boxes.  We cut doors and windows and made triangle shaped rocket boosters on one end.  The girls have been playing in it nonstop.  It is really funny to hear the things they imagine.

Friday night we decided to make a cake.  Not just any cake.  A chocolate zucchini cake.  Lily was mostly excited about the frosting.  She really loves frosting and sprinkles.

That's all from us this week.  We are feeling especially blessed and happy!  Who wouldn't with a rocket ship, chocolate frosting and fresh raspberries?