Posted on January 9, 2012
three days before christmas disney never even was a thought in our head. i got a text from my mom at a super late hour for her and it read “would it be Crazy to go to disney??” fortunately i happen to be married to a disney freak. he drove over to moms about 3/4 of a second after i read the text outloud to him, and within a couple of hours i got the text from him “we are ALL going to DISNEY!!!!!!!”. last minute flight plans to get zack to his grandma in memphis were made. as much as we wanted to take zack, disney at new years is just really Not a place for a two year old. and looking back it was the BEST decision. he will go one day, it just was too early right now. so while richie flew to memphis and then to orlando, we all, and i mean ALL, mom, larry, britt, mae, jaden, josh, brennan, and i, drove the 12 hours south to orlando. (yes, most of our life it seems is on the road… its almost normal now!) after getting to our awesome rooms, we got a debriefing from richie on the schedule for the next day, and off we went to bed so anxious for the next morning to come! now, it must be explained that when you go to disney with richie, you go FULL SPEED AHEAD!! the man has a plan, and it includes us Running most of the time. but its awesome because he makes Sure we get to see Everything without waiting in lines. he’s the king of the fast pass, and he knows exactly where to be when. he could TOTALLY be a professional disney guide… given the family was in shape and had good shoes! the weather was in the 70s the whole time and because of that and the fact new years was on a weekend it was Packed. but we got really skilled at the nine person family train, manuvering thru the crowd like a machine! i say all this so you understand why most of my pictures were the backs of everyone. i was the one with the camera, and i was usually at the back because of it! if you haven’t ever been to disney at christmas, i Highly recommend it!!! the castle all lit up in christmas lights will take your breath away!!! and the christmas parade at magic kingdom was Awesome!! and new years at epcot…. WOW!!! but be prepared, its Packed on NYE. we had to hold our spot for the firework show for FOUR HOURS. the show over the lake was incredible!! i didn’t get pictures of it however because it was SO packed, there wasn’t any way i could get my camera out and lift it up to take pics. we do have some video from our iphones tho! it was three PACKED days. we were so proud of all the kids, who never complained once about being tired despite the speed from the leader! 
to be able to spend three days with my parents and ALL the kids (minus zack, and i can’t imagine pushing a stroller thru those crowds!) at DISNEY, was more than we could have ever dreamed!!!! thank you connie for keeping zack so we could enjoy our trip a little easier! and thank you to my parents for making this happen for our family! its a trip none of us will ever forget!!!
yeah. he's excited. disney freak. <3
just in the gates... richie and josh had already taken off to get fast passes for space mountain...
i was a little obsessed with the castle!!
one Hour us girls waited in line to see arial... all in love, all in love... <3
my FAV part of the parade!! these soldiers were AMAZING!!!!
words or pictures can't even describe how magnificant the castle was!!
day two... MGM!
best roller coaster Ever! and thanks to the fast passes we walked right past all the two hour line waiters! thank you richie!!!
go go go GO GOOOOOO!
LOVE THIS WOMAN!!! so thankful to have her in my life everyday!!
josh, brenn, richie and i went to animal kingdom for a few hours fri afternoon! thus my "animal pose". richie hadn't had time to form his "crane pose"! but its in the instagram pics at the bottom! ha!!
disney really does have some awesome parades!!
one picture from the light area at MGM! wow!!!!
day three... epcot!! along with one tenth of the world population. wowzers!
the only picture of ALL of us!
we also took a TON of pics with our iphones! here is a big ol collage of some of our instagram iphone pics!!
Posted on December 22, 2011
so here we go… year three of the staggs family christmas card!!! whats on my wish list this year?? an ALICE!!! so grateful for the laughter and the love and the noise and even the messes that fill this house! it may not always be easy, but its our amazing little world, and we are so thankful for each other and couldn’t ever ask for a more perfect family…. <3 <3 <3
Posted on December 5, 2011
this is an INSANE time of year for all photographers, and its no different over here at the staggs house! and while it’d be easy for me to continue with working 14 and 16 hour days, when the kids are all here we take time to just be a regular family. yes, we are no “typical family” by any stretch of the meaning, but we are OUR FAMILY. in our house typically the girls are in their room or in the kitchen and theres never a shortage of constant laughter! and 24 hours a day, those girls are no more than an arms length away from each other…. and the boys, they are on the computer. or on the playstation. or on the ipad. or on our iphones. every minute pretty much. they are perfect together, perfect for each other, and perfectly happy just being boys. jaden gets kinda split between the girls and the boys, spending some time annoying the boys, and then some time trying to be a big girl with brittany and maegan. and then theres zack, who they ALL fight over, and who they All love. this thanksgiving, we got to have my sister and her husband and their two kids here!! so it was a house full, but we loved every minute of it!! its lots of noise. lots of food. lots of laughter. lots of chaos. but we wouldn’t trade any of it. we are so blessed to have this family…. and we never take it for granted. no matter if its only a few days, you’d be surprised how much we can pack into our time!! here are some pictures of our time this thanksgiving break…
zack and my nephew carter... two two year old boys : )
my neice, addison. four years old. <3
he's a lover... wonder where he got THAT from??!
see. arms length or less. always.
CHRISTMAS TREE TIME!!!! not enough time to go cut a tree... so we supported our local tree peeps instead!
"what we doin bit?"
thank you tree man for taking our picture with our tree!! xxoo
loading up the tree. and as usual, its a boys wrestling match in the front seat... ;- )
"...i'm sexy and i know it...." yup, thats my hottie husband!!
yes, brenn's sticker is coming off... think its time for a new set for us this christmas! britt and josh did those for us two years ago! super sweet!!
our mantle! yes i have to finish my numbers on the stockings! its on "the list"! along with some new paint and some CURTAINS i hope!!
and thats about all we could pack in in two days! whew!! and can you believe it??? a whole post without any pictures of richie and i kissing?!! ok… i can’t have that happening…. so here are a few iphone pics!
and thats a wrap!! xxxoxox, JaR and the Whole Gang!! : )
Posted on November 8, 2011
this is our zackary. his bold personality is starting to come forth as hes starting to talk more and more now! he will repeat Everything you say. he’s completely enamored by all his brothers and sisters, who all agree he’s THE coolest kid. ever. so here he is… refusing to look at the camera. but still cute as he can be! (all the other kids are running behind us yelling “CRAPPIT” which to zack is the funniest word in the vocabulary world. so even tho he Looks like an only child, he’s most certainly not…)
ALL of em.... even Grandma and Maw who came to visit!! <3
Posted on October 21, 2011
a majority of every single day is spent at our desk in front of the big machine, but what do we do the Other parts of the day?? heres a journal of what a usual day is for us, a big ol family!
so this particular day i had the pleasure of britt as my sidekick! so here we start out on our list of errands!
first stop (well second actually, first we had to pick up mae's friend sam) was heritage high school for maegan's colorguard practice
the three girls... britt, mae, and sam!
the heritage huskies on the field!!
mae was SOOO excited to have her sister get to watch her for the first time!
for those of you who haven't met her, this is sporty spice! aka "sporty". we LOVE her! best car EVA!
this is a Regular stop for us. almost daily. our sweet little post office is inside the Ace Hardware. : )
my girl theresa! we are so lucky to have the most awesomest people we deal with every day!
that day i was mailing out a package to jeanine and an info packet to cate and tim!
this is jason! between him and theresa they always do whatever they can for us! such great great people!!
my Other place i always seem to be visiting.... the bank. i Love BB&T and its the only bank i've ever banked at. it also happens to be the bank my mom works at, but she's not at this branch.
the drive thru... this is my view a lot.
and ANOTHER place i visit often... four afternoons a week... destiny dance. this is where jaden dances. LOVE these people as well! jaden takes ballet, jazz, and hip hop. this was for a ballet practice.
another majorly important part of my life... my IPHONE! and it usually sits right here on my lap. this is a call from my love. he calls me "maggie d" because my middle name when i was born is margaret.
the boys. this is them 90% of the time. we are SO lucky to have the girls as best friends and the boys as completely inseparable. we bought them "little big planet" for christmas sev years ago and they continue to love it as much now as they did then! brenn just has to have josh tell him what to do sometimes!
so there you have it… a typical friday afternoon in the staggs world… we are so fortunate for everything we have, and we try to never take it for granted. its busy. its always going and going. theres lots of laughter. lots of work. lots of transporting. lots of food. lots of cleaning. and Lots and Lots of love….. <3
Posted on September 16, 2011
one thing i love about richie is his drive to always know more, learn more, experiment more… to learn WHY something is, not just be content that it is (i am queen of contentment). and lately, its film. so i got my old film camera i actually started my business with and started carrying it with me and shooting it every so often. here are some of the images from my last roll…. and yes, i still look at the back of the camera every time i take a shot…. (all shots developed by richie)
this is one of our brides, kerry. i actually totally forgot i took this that day! oopsey!
guess i should have warned you these are all totally random. i tend to take one shot and move on... this is Z and his fav sippy cup!
my dancer, jaden (on left)
ahhhh my bus ride.... QUITE the experience. this was at the high point bus stop. fortunately this man was SO nice to me and made me feel less like i was about to be drugged and sold in some foreign country....
my feet at the bus station
taken from my seat. i was trying to get a highway sign in there but it didn't work. that bus was Movin!
bren and jaden coming home from school... z Loves this part of the day!!
Z with his fav things... his owl, his muddy (muddy the mudcat), and a book... <3
Posted on September 2, 2011
so zack is two now. and he’s Every bit of in the “terrible twos”…. he can be an angel at times. and then at others… well he’s two. frustrated because he can’t have it all his way. frustrated because he can’t use words very well to Tell us what he wants. and frankly, most of the time, i’d rather Not know what he’s thinking! haha so out in the garage today, as he sprinted around the yard with his brothers bow, and i was trying to corral him INSIDE so we could leave to go to the pool, i ended up Dragging him along the floor with him screaming at the top of his lungs. fortunately for me, and unfortunately for him, i had a camera in my hands. so while this may not mean much to all of you… i love this because its our life right now. but oh how i love that lil guy!!
