Welcome to the Wonderful Wagners' Blog! Joel and I decided we should start writing down all of the fun things that happen to us...before we have kids. That means we need to play a little catch up and go all the way back to the summer of 2008...that's when Joel and I met. :) (My best friend, Missy Parks, introduced us...Thanks Miss!!!) Our first date was at Starbucks and we chatted there for hours. We decided to extend our date because we wanted to see each other again before Joel and his family left for Yosemite the next day. (I think I officially fell in love with Joel when I saw him in this picture at Yosemite...)
For part two of our first date, we had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and watched Pearl Harbor at Joel's house. It was the BEST first date ever (...good job Joel)! We both knew we had something special from the very beginning. God has truly blessed our relationship since then. :)
Here are just a few of the fun things we did together while we were dating...
 |
| Water skiing and tubing at the lake |
 |
| Camping with Joel's awesome family |
 |
| Ugly Sweater Christmas Party with Jenna, Trevor, and Sar-Bear |
 |
| Desert Botanical Gardens |
 |
| Snowboarding at Sunrise to celebrate John's birthday |
We got engaged at the Royal Palms Resort on February 4th, 2009. Joel surprised me by inviting both of our families to be there for the big event! He reserved a special room at T Cook's Restaurant to celebrate in style with a fun and fancy dinner there.
Then we all got to enjoy the amazing Lion King Play later that night. It was a very memorable event. :)
Here are a few pictures of some fun things we did between our engagement and our wedding...
 |
| Disneyland! |
 |
| California Mission Inn with Joel's family |
 |
| Sedona day trip to look for wedding venues |
 |
| Beautiful Wisconsin |
 |
| Fun times with Zach and Elaina |
 |
| Philip and Rachel's amazing wedding in Milwaukee, WI |
 |
| Our last wedding as single people...I caught the bouquet and Joel caught the garter! I guess we were meant to have the next wedding (...two weeks later!) |
 |
| Our Engagement Photos! |
 |
| Kacey Luvi created our amazing wedding invitations and took all of our beautiful engagement and wedding photos...I would definitely recommend her to anyone! :) |
We got married on July 11th, 2009 in Chandler, Arizona. It was a BEAUTIFUL day!
 |
| Our awesome wedding party! (Best Man: Philip Bischoff...Matron of Honor: Missy Parks...Groomsmen: Cody Johnson, Jason Penunuri, Brent Riesop, and Zach Wendt...Bridesmaids: Sarah Slade, Lisa Shepherd, Jenna Wagner, and Rachel Bischoff...Flower Girl: Teda Shepherd...Ring Bearer...Dane Shepherd...Ushers: Zach Shepherd and Trevor Slade...We love you all!!!) |
 |
| Lisa, Zach, Teda, Dane, (Jett is sleeping inside), Cindy (mom), Phil (dad), Trevor, and Sarah (...with Baby Dallas on the way!) |
 |
| Uncle Cameron, Aunt Kim, Olivia, Amanda, Grandpa Cooke, Cindy (mom), and Phil (dad) |
 |
| Grandma and Grandpa Hoffner |
 |
| Jenna, Debbie (mom), and Loren (dad) |
 |
| Grandma and Grandpa MacDonald |
 |
| My Grandma Hoffner gave me a very special hat pin to put in my bouquet to represent my "something old"...It was absolutely perfect! Thank you, Grandma!!! |
 |
| "Find Your Seat With This Sweet" |
 |
| Grandpa Hoffner read 1 Corinthians 13 during our wedding ceremony. Thank you so much!!! :) |
 |
| It's official...we're married!!! |
 |
| Thanks Phil! |
 |
| Thanks Missy! |
 |
| Thanks Pastor Jeff!!! |
Our honeymoon was perfect...we went on a seven day cruise to Alaska and Canada!!!
It was right in the middle of the hottest part of the summer here, so it was the perfect time to go up north. We had a blast on our cruise!
Here are some other fun things we've done since then...
 |
| Disneyland...again! :) |
 |
| Joel and his dad both shot some HUGE elk in 2009! |
 |
| ...I took care of them when they got home :) |
 |
| Kayaking on the Colorado River |
 |
| Our 1st Anniversary trip to San Diego! |
 |
| 7-11 was celebrating their anniversary too, so we got FREE slushies on our anniversary trip. (One of the many perks of getting married on such a memorable day...7-11!) I will also never forget the adorable Jude Parks' birthday--Missy and Austin's cute little boy--because he was born on our 1st anniversary! Happy Birthday Jude! :) |
 |
| We stayed at a fun boutique hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter...everything we did was within walking distance! |
 |
| We could see the baseball park from our hotel! |
 |
| We went to the San Diego Zoo |
 |
| We sat in a cozy little hammock by the water at Seaport Village and enjoyed the view for hours. (We also played games in this cute little bookstore there and I beat Joel several times at checkers...woohoo!!!) |
 |
| On our last day there we toured the USS Midway (...Joel was being really silly on the ship...I love that man!) We had a lot of fun on our 1st anniversary trip!!! :) |
