The life and exploits of the daring dashing devilishly handsome Samuel Ross Haggen

Sam here! howdy'all! Welp here I go...today I went to a one-act competition today and it was pretty rockin'. we placed first at sectionals and get to go to sub-sections! so thats pretty happy-making! I'm livin' the life over here in the nether realms of the USA. singing all the things and rockin' out on my euphonium. I'm making new friends all the time, but i wish mes soers etais ici avec moi! (my sister were here with me) I'm probably going to be teaching you all french slowly in all my blogs so....yah. such is life.

The one act is called gold star Ohio. Its about how the families of fallen marines deal with the loss and its a Heart ripper. today when we performed it, there wasn't a dry eye in the house! I play the part of Tim Rock and I like my part. Its hard to explain the show. Its like a documentary, but its a play. and I was in a theatre mood so I turned on my show tunes playlist. So here I am writing a blog post (cough, mom made me, cough). so yah this is Sam signing off!

Thankful Thursday

a day late...  

11.Sunshine

12. Seeds and patio furniture out at Menard"s. Love browsing Menard"s. Also, there were birdies singing and flying in the store.

13. My blooming hyacinth- hot pink and glorious smelling!

14. Dill pickle chips

15. A phenomenal alto (not renee Fleming, although I like her too) who brought tears to my eyes with her rendition of this  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d_8ovQHbF4

16. Seat warmers in my car

17. My people. Can't say it enough.

That's it for now

The Mom

Tea Parties and patterned pants

How about that title huh? Did it pull you in??? That was the hope... if it didn't then obviously you don't feel as strongly about tea parties and patterned pants as I do, ha! So, this has been a pretty darn good week! Full of ups and downs, I took care of all the adult things, sent all the emails, showed people who's boss!! So lets see though, the two most important things I wanted to share on the blog were actually about, pants and parties! Surprise! So, I'll give the bad news first, Living in Rexburg is squashing my soul. Especially when it comes to clothes, I literally try on everything I own every morning and feel like no matter what I wear people are going to judge me... It's getting to be a real problem. Due to some conversations I have had with some squares: I have to come to the conclusion that people must really think, I am trying to get people to look at me. Because last night when I unwisely asked my roommates what they though of a skirt they seemed to imply that when you wear something that is snug in the bum you are obviously trying to get people to look at your bum? But, news flash for the world, I am not trying to get people to look at my bum, in fact I'm quite irritated when people look at my bum!!!! Fun clothes make me happy and stretchy clothes just happen to make me look fabulous! So, I am going to try to just embrace myself and my style because if I changed my style I feel like I would be going against my personality. Not that I ever would change my style but Rexburg sure makes it hard to live. Any ways, that's my rant, so if anyone in our family has comments on this small rant/struggle, I would love to hear them! Thanks for that! 

Now the good news is, Heather and I had a "Tea Party" today which actually means, we had lunch but it was SO good! She made homemade squash soup and I made Heavenly Honey oatmeal bread. 

It was quite the feast! It was so nice to talk to a normal human who doesn't have weird Mormon views on literally everything! We talked about all the things :) 

And P.S. Here is a link to an absolutely awesome website and a article I mostly agree with! If you're interested! http://www.beautyredefined.net/guys-guide-to-seeing-women-not-objects/

Oh! Also, one more thing, so as you know I am an ambitious lady and I recently found out BYU-I is taking 80 students to a nobel peace prize conference next fall. The only requirement is you have to have an idea how to make the world a better more awesome place. 

My roommate told me about i because all of the videos I watch, apparently she has noticed they all are surrounded around... the same things. Making people feel awesome, trying to make the world a better place, and well... feminism. ha! So, I want to come up with a plan. So be brainstorming! okay! Mia out! Love you family!

Mandy here!

So...I don't really have much to say.  I am working hard at student teaching.  It's hard and frustrating and I want to quit a lot of times.  It's not what I was expecting at all.  I'm starting to think about what I want to do with the rest of my life though.

I will be getting a teaching job in the fall because that's the only thing I left for myself to do.  I'm trying to decide if I teach a few years, or if I go to grad school after one year.  I guess I can decide when I actually am teaching, but I've been thinking more and more about looking into performing and playing my horn for a living.  It is kind of one of the unattainable dream goals, but I feel like it's something I can do with a huge amount of work, and maybe a little bit of luck.  Maybe that's just crazy talk though.

I joined a community orchestra.  They are really bad, but it's somewhere to play so I'm happy with that for now.  It's also not a huge time commitment.

Sometimes I wonder about y ability to be a good (music) teacher.  Those kinds of teachers are so good at caring (even if they don't and are just pretending...) There is a girl who has a "Wo is me" personality.  My teacher is so good at listening.  I just want to tell her everyone's life is hard, quit complaining.  I've never been very good at that sort of thing.  I always ignore sympathy fishers...

I'm super excited for next week! I'm going down to St. George for UMEA! Hopefully it's awesome.  And it will be good to have a long weekend full of fun! and friends!

Last week I went to a Guster concert.  It was AMAZING!!! childhood dream fulfilled.  Their last song during their encore, they completely unplugged and sang Jesus on the Radio acoustically, they even pulled out the banjo.   It was some serious magic.  I've never experienced the magic that was created during that song.  On Saturday I'm going to the Utah Symphony! For Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben.  No Joke, Strauss wrote pretty much the best music ever, at least for the horns :)

So to leave you here is a horn quartet of The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

If that doesn't do it for you here is what I'm listening to now, it's a beautiful song, I played it for my junior recital minus the orchestra :) Another French piece...like always...

Reading a book is fun to do!

I know my day was yesterday, but I wanted to show the video I just took.  Even though the camera is pointed at Henry the whole time, you can still hear Gabe.  I think it shows their personalities in a fun way. "Run run run, jump!"

Sick

I'm sick.  I've had a little bit of a cold all week, but this morning I woke up with so much gunk in my chest and throat that I couldn't speak.  Now I just have a super low bass voice.

It's really a shame too, because Hogle zoo was having a free day today, and we were going to go with all of the other moms and kids in our playgroup.  Then we were going to have a game night with some friends this evening.  It would have been a fun day, but I didn't want to infect the whole neighborhood.  Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow.  I have a relief society activity and volleyball tomorrow evening.

Life is happy right now.

Sure, we don't have a car or a computer, or any money... haha, but those things bring convenience,  not happiness.  For the first time in my life, outside of family, I feel like I belong.  We live in a fantastic ward and community.  These are my people.  Obviously no one is perfect, but I feel like this is how Heavenly Father wants us to live, and treat each other.  I wish I could tell you about each individual person, but I'm typing on my phone, and that would be highly impractical. Each of us is good at different things and has different view points, but we all try our hardest to use those things to help and love each other.  I think I have more friends in my life right now than I have in rest of my life put together.

Another thing that makes life so happy is being a wife and a mom.  I was made for this gig.  I don't think it detracts from who I am as an individual.  I think it only adds to it, and makes me better.  Yeah, there are hard times where I just want to hide from everyone, but I am so grateful for my family.  I love that I get to play with my boys all day.  I would have a really hard time if I had to leave for work.  I left gabe at a friends house for preschool on monday, and it was only 2 hours, but it felt so weird.  He loved it by the way.  I am just so grateful for all of the people in my life, including all of you!

Love you all!

Emma

It's Not My Turn

It's not my turn to blog, but I relearned something

 that I thought was worth sharing.

One of my goals this year is to have personal

 morning prayer and scripture study.

Can I just tell you that it is a lot harder

 to be diligent about this than you would think?

It is absurdly hard!

Anyway, what I have learned is this:

My life is better (truly!) when I do it.

My life does not change. 

But my heart does.

Revolutionary!

Mom

Saturday is a special Day

Heyo!

This picture is actually from Friday, not Saturday.

Still, close enough. 

I am sure you can tell that is St. Francis Xavier, right behind our house.

I have been trying to get out and walk on the nicer days.

It was definitely a nicer day.

Dad and I went out to Lake Maria hiking.

Check out this awesome giant fungus we found in the woods!

It was a winter fun day so there was snow shoeing, disc golf,

fat tire bikes, broom ball, animal track bingo, and winter camping.

Can you tell it was really an outing for children? Haha.

Oh well.

It was still really fun.

We went on a two and a half mile hike,

leaving behind the children's loud frivolity, and it was awesome!

I sure love being in nature.

Sam wasn't with us because he was at the one act festival, 

which they won, of course.

Anyway, it was great.

Just a little peek at our day.

Hope yours was good too!

Love you,

Mom

PS I am pumped about this addition to our blog. 

Happy, indeed!

Tuesdays to Mondays

Family!

Mom and I switched days since Mondays are way better than Tuesdays for me. I have a full lesson day on Mondays now! Two home-school kids and a full after school block. Which is exciting. I started one of my new students today (I have 4 including her starting in February) and I'm really excited about teaching her, but she started with Simply Music which is similar to Suzuki. So any thoughts about helping her and me switch to a more traditional approach without us getting discouraged would be wonderful. She's an adorable human- with a great F scale. Yay!

 Mia, Mandy and I went to The Pearl Fishers yesterday! It was great. It was so nice to enjoy professional level music. (And sit in a gorgeous theater to enjoy it.) It's a teeny cast and they did a really great job. I was a little surprised by the soprano's lack of coloratura, but her technique in her middle range was to die for. Gorgeous. I may have cried a couple times...
This is the picture they use for the Pearl Fishers on the Utah Opera website:

Here's the synopsis and more info on it:

There were so many old people. And half the old ladies had scarves draped around their shoulders. Much elegance!  So opera!   They greeted each other excitedly in the bathroom too. Haha! And one of the best moments of the whole day was when Mia and I were following this older couple to the parking garage when everything was done and the man (like in his 70s-80's) stopped in front of the line of cars trying to get out to the road and opened his coat like he was flashing everyone in the line. He made a face to go with it. It was hilarious.

We had delicious soup and bread from Emma after and... we didn't take any pictures. Oops! So here's one that gave me great delight that I found browsing the internet tonight. Isn't he cute!?

It was nice to see all my sisters. I hope your Monday was happy!

Fabulous Friday

Hello Family! So if you haven't yet heard we are continuing our family prayer traditions only on the blog! We all have a day! This idea just came to me yesterday and I'm preeettty excited about it. SO, this week has been pretty darn good. First things first though, today in my Ed Psych class we talked about.... STUDENT TEACHING IN UGANDA!!!!!! Yeah, I know, I can barely believe it myself. So in case you're wondering yes it is safe and yes it would be amazing. Seriously, it's the dream. In case you don't know where Uganda is I included a picture.

And yes again... it is right next to the equator. It's not an official thing yet but my teacher Brother Wilson said it is totally possible and he would make it happen. I don't even know if they need music teachers but it sounds like an amazing opportunity. It's also at a university, but the people who talked about it in my class today said the university students are more at a freshman in high school level. I really want to go!!! The housing is completely free, I would just have to pay to get there and to feed myself. They also welcome you to bring a spouse, if they can also teach classes. But really all they require is for you to be smart almost graduated college students!!! SO COOL! Anywho, so those are my latest ambitions.  Thats really the only cool thing that is happening in my life right now but there will be more later! 

Oh P.S. This awesome kid: (The one on the left)

Left his scriptures (that also happened to have his debit card) In a cab during an emergency transfer!!! So pray that he finds them!!! 

And finally, here is a quote I think we could all use today! I love you family!

This Frenchie and her baby believe in you!

Love Mia!

Thankful Thursday

Hi Peeps

Today was supposed to be a really good day.

 It turned out to be less awesome than I hoped.

It happens.

Life happens.

Still, the day had a saving grace-

Dad came home and had lunch with me.

It was really fun. 

We have hit this place in life where we are starting to 

talk about dreams again.

You know, things we would like to do in the future.

For a really good while we were so busy being the parents

that there was little time for having dreams of our own.

When we first started talking about things we were seriously rusty!

Bu now it is super fun!

And it felt like a cheat- getting away with something,

having lunch together in the middle of the day

 in the middle of the week.

Good times!

So I have been thinking for a while about how to cultivate

more gratitude in my life.

It came to me to start keeping track here once each week.

I hope that you will join me on Thankful Thursdays, 

perhaps in the comments?

The pictures above are just a few of the 

things that I am Thankful for.

Here are some more:

1. My family. Always and forever

2. Clean sheets. The bomb!

3. Bright sunny winter days

4. Homemade bread. Cause yum!

5. Chat. If you are family you know who I mean.

6. Something green growing in the winter. 

Grandma bought me a hyacinth and I can't wait for it to bloom. 

They smell amazing!

7. My cute house

8. My camera (Thank you, Mia!)

9. Unexpected lunch with my husband

10. Peace. My house is peaceful and it feels heavenly.

What are you thankful for today?

Love you to the moon and back!

Mom

Winter Dinner in Forest City, and How To Be a Human

Hi All! 

Yesterday Dad and I went out to forest City to the 

annual Stockade Dinner. Sam decided to stay

 at church since he has missed The Stockade

 the last couple of years.

It was an absolutely stunning Minnesota winter day.

The sun was shining, the sky was blue,

 and it was so pleasantly mild outside.

As you know it is a beautiful drive out there.

It was fun to visit with the many people we see at

 the stockade.It was also fun to try

 to figure out who they are and what they do

 there when they are not in pioneer garb.

We had hors d'oeuvres and lemonade 

(others had beer. Lots of beer.)

We sat with the other musicians and had a really great dinner.

Then Bob spoke about how things went this last year

 and goals for the future. They are adding

 a food place out by the land office to help take 

some of the burden off of the food places inside.

The Stockade has gotten so big!

Also, a private company has hired The Stockade for

 Friday afternoon for the next two years.

That means it is now a three day event rather than two.

Crazy!

They handed out a few pictures and this is one of them.

The color is a little off because it was obviously

 a bright sunny day, and I scanned it crooked.

 I still love it a lot!

The only thing that would make it better would be if Sam was in it.

I am assuming he is there in spirit. 

What a happy place this has been for us. 

I am so grateful for being included and for the part it 

has played in us drawing closer as a family.

I know there are times when we all feel like aliens

 in this hard world.Even (or maybe especially) 

among the other humans.

I just want you to remember a couple of things:

 We are all aliens here. 

We are Heavenly Father's children, 

and as such we belong in a much kinder

 and more heavenly place.

For some reason we sometimes are allowed to

 see a broader view of this world.

I can't explain it but I know that it is a gift.

 Please don't ever change to fit better in this world.

Please be the kind, considerate, loving, 

aware people that you are.

I think Bob and Betty are a really great example 

of that. I really believe that a big reason 

The Stockade has become so successful is

 because of the love and kindness and

 inclusiveness that they show to everyone.

They are such an example of The Light of Christ.

I found this awesome quote from Maya Angelou

 and thought it fit perfectly.

Do that!

I love our family so much.

I love you and am proud of the people you choose to be.

Love, 

Mom

PS We got to drive across the old bridge today.

Fun!

And the view up and down the river was glorious.

The Symphony of Life

I found this amazing bit of writing by William Henry Channing. Have you ever heard of him?
I am probably admitting my ignorance by telling you that I never had.
However, I can recognize something lovely when I read it.
It actually makes me think of the 13th Article of Faith,
 in that we seek for the virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy things.
This is the kind of person I want to be. These are the things that I want to seek for.
I hope you can hear the beauty and eloquence in his words. 

Love you!

Mom

“To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather 

than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy,

 not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think 

quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars and birds, to 

babes and sages, with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, to all 

bravely await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the 

spiritual unbidden and unconscious grow up through the 

common. This is to be my symphony.” 

― William Henry Channing

Living The Life

Happy New Year Family!

We had a little different New Year's Day.

Still awesome.

We have had a party the

 last couple of years, but it didn't work this 

time, so we did our own thing.

Part of that "own thing" was to go

 to the lake, skating.

And it was marvelous.

Short, because of achy feet.

But marvelous.

Mia being awesome

It was a really beautiful winter day in the upper 20's.

More awesomeness

We are so fortunate to live where we do.

We had the place almost to ourselves.

We wondered if we were super scary, because

 the few people who were there left when we came.

 Haha!

I really love that they put a Christmas tree in the rink.

I wished I could skate so much!

Doing a dance?

My Dr. says I can skate next year.

A little fancy dancy?

So fancy

something was clearly amusing

Like Dad's double hat?

I especially like this one of Mandy and Mia.

Classic Dad: a little crack-the-whip

I love this one!

Strike a pose

I just hung around the snowy perimeter of the rink.

I didn't want to take the chance of slipping.

Ouch!

Mom and Mia selfie.

Ah yeah!

The Mom and The Dad

Disclaimer: I don't know this guy.

I pretended to take a picture of King's house so he wouldn't 

think I was a creep. It is just such a classic Minnesota

winter picture I couldn't resist.

And there's King's House so I am not a liar. 

We asked a former teacher of Sam's to take a family photo for us.

I couldn't even help but take some sky pictures.

It was just so dramatic and lovely.

We live in such a beautiful place.

Again with the classic Minnesota

The skating rink at beautiful buffalo Lake

I will hopefully get some Christmas pictures posted here as well.

I was just so happy with these pictures I wanted to share them

right away. 

I am sad for Christmas break to end, sad for Dad to go back to 

work, sad for Mandy and Mia to head back out west.

 I guess all good things come to an end?

I am already looking forward to next year when we can hopefully

 be all together as a family.

But.

I do find it exciting this time of year:

The new beginning

the fresh start

the renewal.

I like the idea of starting again. I know with

the sacrament that we have that opportunity

every week, but I feel it so keenly at the new year.

Also,

we spent some time talking about setting 

goals and then actually doing it.

One of the goals we set for the whole family, is to

go to the temple in August and do a baptism session.

If you don't have a recommend start working on it so 

we can all go together.

Good idea?

We thought so.

Love you all like crazy!

Mom