The Haggard Herald

I've been thinking about Dad more this week and the reasons why I am grateful for him along with things he has taught me.  Oh I love "dear old dad" as he says. At my BYU graduation with Mom and Dad, April 2011. I teach the Sunday school class at church for the 10 and 11 year olds.  Today I shared Dad's caving story with them.  I bet Dad has other caving stories but there's only I ever remember him telling us and it is The Caving Story.  He and Mom were newly married and Mom was expecting her first baby.  It was a holiday (I think labor day) and he went caving with a couple friends.  He was only supposed to be gone a few hours but ended up missing all day.   So the story (at least as well as I remember him telling it) goes like this: he repelled into a large central room of caves.  There were lots of tunnels and places to go that were connected to the main room, like fingers connected to the palm of a hand.  So they went down o...

In May I decided it was time to let Maddie try being in a real class or two this summer.  So I signed her up for a spring creative dance class for three year olds at BYU as well as swim lessons at the Orem Fitness Center.   She loves her dance class; and she hates to leave me.  Last week she cried for twenty minutes while I tried to convince her it was time to go.  She didn't want me to leave her but the parents are supposed to hang out outside of the class.  I finally convinced her to go by promising that if her teacher would let me stay that I would and if she wouldn't then she didn't have to stay either.  Well we got there and of course her teacher let me stay.  And wouldn't you know the moment I walked Maddie over to the group (they were sitting around the teachers mat at the time) she never looked at me again.  The teacher asked something like, "Who knows some ways we can make our little Winnie-the-Pooh dance?" Maddie shot her hand up "I ...

So, a few months ago I opened a Etsy shop.  I love to make clothes.  Like, really, I love it.  It is so satisfying to make something that is cute and comfortable for myself or for the girls.  One day I was talking to Matt about how I'd like to design and make more children's clothes--both for Maddie and Lucy and also to try to sell.  So he said I should open an Etsy shop. Well this last Sunday afternoon I was looking at my phone and I saw a Etsy notification on it.  I clicked and my heart skipped a beat--I had actually sold something.  I smile as I write it.  It's not a huge deal but it was significant to me.  Somebody else liked one of my baby shirts enough to buy it.  With real money.  :) So Maddie and Lucy and I headed to BYU Monday morning to print (our old printer isn't working anymore) a thank you note and the shipping label from Cougar Creations and then handed that brown paper package over to the nice boy at the mail ...