Let's Cram Everything Into 3 Weeks!!

Life has been insane the last several weeks. So crazy in fact, that this isn’t Christie at all. Yep, it’s Josh. So sit right back you’ll hear a tale, from a long time ago, in a Georgia far, far away… 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.