The Haggard Herald

For those of you who didn't hear, Matt and Madeleine and I went to Alabama and stayed with my cousins for about a week.  My mom and dad and Alicia and company drove up from Florida and met us there.  My parents stayed with my mom's sister and brother-in-law, Judy and Ken.  Alicia's family stayed where we stayed, with my cousin Wendy and family. A little background: Wendy had triplets thirteen years ago.  When they were about six months old Alicia and I went to help out for a couple of weeks.  It was so much fun that I went back once or twice a year until I came out here to go to BYU.  Alabama, and Wendy and Tony's house specifically, became my second home. Earlier this year I told Matt that we were way overdue for going to Alabama and we needed to go; he was excited at the prospect of meeting everyone that he's heard so much about.  They are southern through-and-through.  They love football and cheer for the Crimson Tide.  Uncle Ken makes...

Today at dinner Madeleine asked for a cup.  She's very cute.  She said "ka, ka" and was looking towards the refrigerator.  She has her own little sort of half laugh that she uses to affirm when I guess right what it is she wants.  So I went and got her a cup and filled it with about an inch of water and brought it to her.  She drank from it really well and drank almost all of it.  She reached for it and so I helped her get the last sip out of it.  She reached for it again so I poured a bit of water from my cup into hers and tried to help her drink.  She didn't want to drink it though; she wanted to hold it.  I didn't want her to hold it.  I knew it was going to be poured out and not drunk.  She was insistent on holding it though and for a brief moment we both had our hands on it trying to get it away from the other.  She was pulling it in a rapid side-to-side motion.  I realized what was happening and let go, amused. ...

Mom and Dad, our flowers have grown a ton since you helped us plant them back in May.  The marigolds and dusty millers especially are thriving.  The zenias in some spots are also great.  The basil still isn't doing terrific.  I wonder why?  Madeleine and I were sitting outside last night and so I took a few pictures for you. Also noteworthy is that Madeleine can take 4-5 steps by herself now.  She crawls up onto the step going out of the great room then sits down and scoots back to the edge where she stands up and runs to Matt or me if we're within a few feet of her.  It's pretty cute.  She's getting more daring and occasionally lets go of whatever she's holding on to when she's standing.  The other day she let go of the gate at the foot of our stairs.  That one worried me because if she'd fallen it would have been onto the tile; she just stood there smiling, triumphantly.  She's also very good at crawling up stai...

I made a shirt for Madeleine.  I found a couple blogs about sewing , particularly kids clothes, and I am itching to try a handful of various ideas and patterns.  This was the first one: Meanwhile, Matt and I celebrated our two year, two month, two day anniversary.  I think we might have eaten an icecream but I can't actually remember?  I just know that I realized it was 2-2-2 and I announced we were going to take a picture.  He played along great. I've also been working on a quilt for Jax.  The sailboat fabric was supposed to be the backing for McKay's quilt but I knew Alicia wanted to make matching quilts for the boys and it just seemed too cute to go on the back when it could be made into another quilt top...  it used to just be a sailboat on blue fabric.  Then it started evolving...  That paper thing is the outline of a whale.  I sewed the big guy on yesterday and finished sewing the whole top togeth...

Sunday evening I was doing a little research of family history.  From Mom's records I could see that she knew who Nana's parents were but that was as far back as she had posted on familysearch.  Then I found this: In case you can't tell what this is, it's a marriage register from the town of Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts.  The year is 1897 and #30 is Norman Muse and Agnes Doucette.  Take a look at what's there.  Occupations (stone worker and shoe-lining maker), place of birth, parents (including mother's maiden name), and who married them.  Pretty cool, huh?   I found it at like, 11:15pm, gasped when I realized what it contains, and stared in awe as Matt came over to see what surprised me.  Then I did the next logical thing.  I called Mom even though it was 1:15am in Florida.  :)  Don't worry, she was actually still up and had emailed me a few minutes prior... also about family history.   Then she said, "I h...