Hey! Long time, no blog!
In order to update the blog, and actually finish, here's the shortened version of the last 6 months. Here goes.
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Thanksgiving was wonderful! We went to Tasha Hale's Parent's house and Kenzie played with Ellie while Thomas, Tasha, Josh, and I played games after inhaling a most delicious dinner! Kudos to Tasha's parents!
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Our car (Chevy Tahoe) finally was registered in GA! It was a triumph for my pregnant body to be able to travel all over the north Atlanta area finding a good mechanic and going to the Emmissions countless times. It took $600 dollars and a lot of huff and puff to get it registered. Wow am I glad that's over! However, I WILL be posting more about this because no one (especially a woman 8 months pregnant with a toddler) should have to go through this but learn from my experience.
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The biggest event of the year was at the hospital when I got to hold my baby Grant Wayne seconds after he was born. He is the cutest things, well, since Kenzie I guess! But he has the biggest spirit and looking at him is like chocolate melting in your mouth! Grant is so adorable! He was 9lb. 3oz. 21in. I labored until a 9, then received an epidural. Four hours later, I "pushed" (breathed down) 10 minutes and he came. I loved walking around the hospital with him and really loved the photographer coming to the hospital room to capture the picture above. He was a still is a happy (BIG!) baby. My mom came a week early and stayed a while which helped a ton! McKenzie stayed entertained quite well with 'Waka waka' and 'Cotton eye joe' to help.
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Christmas was a blast, it was strange to cook our own dinner but very rewarding. I loved the simplicity of the day and how my mom pretty much delivered all our presents as a favor to Santa. ;)
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Jamie and Sara came from Missouri for a week to see Grant. It was a lot of fun to have them and show off our chunky hunk. Sara made me an amazingly creamy birthday cake and they watched the kids while Josh and I went on a date. Joshua finished Kenzie's "Big Bed" while they were here too! He did such a good job, Kenzie loves it!
McKenzie's birthday was fun, she got to go to Nursery which beat out Chucky Cheese or anything else. It's her favorite! Her cake was the easiest thing I could think of and luckily her favorite book at the time. She loves to sing the ABCs and Twinkle little Star, but now, since Grant, her favorite is 'I Am a Child of God'. I love it when she sings it in the grocery store! People stop and listen and knod their heads and go.
My present for my birthday/Christmas/Anniversary/Valentines, and possibly birthday next year is a piano! A Casio PX 130 digital. I love it! It has made me so relieved and relaxed to have a piano again! And it's made my calling to play in Relief Society much easier. Thank you Josh!! Oh, and I carried it up our three flights of stairs all by myself! Fist pump!
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We just got back from an amazing Spring break vacation to Missouri! It really was like a vacation, it was so nice! It was wonderful to bless Grant with so much family around, all from so far away. Just being at my in-laws made it so most of Josh's family was there. My parents dead headed from Kansas City on their way to South Dakota for the day, Grandma and Grandpa Jackson had flown in for a visit, and Grandpa Foster was there too. It was quite a big circle with Cousin Gene included.
It was a beautiful blessing. Short and sweet with very specific blessings. After church, we did a picture marathon. Grant wore the same blessing outfit that Josh wore, I thought that was very special. I wanted to take a picture outside the Stake center in front of the same bush that Josh was posed in front of for his blessing and Missionary picture, but I was a year too late. It was mostly destroyed in the Joplin tornado last May. But the people inside survived! And they are rebuilding on the same property! If you want to learn more, they have a few Facebook pages about stories and relief.
Back in December, we flew out to Utah for Christmas and Stephanie and Stephen’s wedding. The flight out there was riddled with detours, reroutes and illness. Luckily, we were rerouted to Phoenix where Darissa and Roark put us up in a nice hotel for the night. It seemed they had the same idea for festive infection as we did. They were a life saver… four actually!
As soon as we arrived in Utah, we proceeded to defy death as we pulled a 360 going down the freeway. Thankfully Sharon handled the car with grace and poise, unlike its occupants. Thanks Sharon for keeping us alive!
A big shout out to Richard, Sharon and Katie for putting us up at their houses and putting up with our eccentricities. I just saved 15% or more by switching to staying with family!
Christmas Eve graced us with two feet of beautiful snow. Richard and I seemed to be the only ones inclined to go out and play in it though. The women-folk said something about not wanting a snowball to the face or some other unpatriotic nonsense. Eventually, we prevailed and they came out. Christie white-washed me too, without any provocation!
Christmas Day was fantastic! Christie gave me the best present any man has ever received from his wife… You may now call me Captain. McKenzie now has a Tangled princess of her own and Grant is the crusader of Gotham… but only at night. McKenzie was very helpful in unwrapping everyone else’s presents too. Her favorite gift was probably anything that Grant got; cars, fire truck and tractors. That’s my girl! Opening presents was topped off by the 2nd annual Bagley Nerf War. Once again Richard hoarded the ammunition and Stephanie got creamed!
Stephen and Stephanie’s wedding was beautiful! It was wonderful to be in the temple with Christie’s family again. The reception was a blast! McKenzie had a little too much. The lady at the food table said she had 20 glasses of chocolate milk, each with a new cup. The last one I caught her with was a wine goblet… we are going to have to keep an eye on her. We had a great time seeing family and dancing the night away. McKenzie took her 2nd cousin Degan out onto the dance floor. They made quite the adorable little couple, spinning around the room holding hands. That is, until Degan shouted, “We all fall down!” With the loud music, I guess we didn’t hear the rest of the words.
Flying out to Missouri was much less eventful, most of us were well and we were only delayed once. Arriving in Missouri we found my parents waiting outside in their big red battle tank with banners flying. Their four-wheel drive came in handy. Kristen and Mackay were also visiting from Utah. This was the first time the whole family was together since McKenzie and Grant were blessed. Props to mom and dad for finding enough space in the house for 14 people, four of which were under three! Thanks Chelsea, Sara, Jacob and Emily for giving up your rooms!
We had a blast getting everyone together. I think McKenzie took about a day to get over her terror at Henry’s more active version of playing. Afterwards, they were fast friends. The only one who was truly traumatized was Lizzy, my family’s little terrier. She may have toddler-induced PTSD. Hopefully she will get some peace now. For Christmas, I gave Jacob a matching shirt… America is just that much safer folks. McKenzie finally got her own kitchen set. Looks like we will have to start washing our own dishes again.
Traveling home was perfectly uneventful. We finally stumbled through our front door three weeks after we left. McKenzie walked through the house and said, “Daddy, this is our house! Daddy, do you remember this couch?!” I replied that I did and then collapsed on it.
Thank you to everyone in the Bagley and Foster sides of our family. We had a wonderful Christmas vacation and are so grateful you made it such a great experience for us. We hope you had as much fun as we did.
