From the Haugen Heart

Have you ever had an ache, an inner longing that just wouldn’t go away? Deep within me I have had a need to create for as long as I can remember. Music was the first outlet for me. My mother dutifully took me to piano lessons as she had with my older siblings and I struggled with commanding my childish fingers to do as they were told. One day a corner was turned and I began to feel the music. I loved to play with LOTS of expression. My mother saw the rising interest and bought season tickets for the two of us to the local fine arts series of concerts and took me to the Shakespeare Festival. I never told her because I didn’t fully know it myself, but I didn’t want to just sit there and watch, I wanted to do it. I wanted to act, I wanted to sing. I wanted to dance. As I grew, I became frustrated that my hands and my voice couldn’t reproduce the art that was inside of me. I became an elementary music teacher. It was a practical choice. As I was growing up, photography was a part of my lif...

We are excited to be launching a new and improved children's contest this year! Details to come in Febuary. You won't want to miss out!!

2008 was a year of joy and sorrow in our family, of an ending and a new beginning. Neil’s father, Bob, passed from this life in April at the age of 88. He was known by his friends and family as an avid bowler (he quit when he could no longer maintain a 190 average) and as a storyteller. He had so many wonderful stories of growing up near Minot, North Dakota; a year of living with an Aunt in Canada (after his mother died when he was 8), and getting beat up during recess by the Canadian school children for singing a revised version of “God Save the King”; traveling with his father, Nels, to Norway for several months when he was 9; pitching semi-pro baseball for money (during the Depression) at age 15; and antics with his friend, “Storley”, during WWII. The end came peacefully at home, with his wife Alice and children (Jackie and Neil) by his side, holding his hand. He will be remembered by us as a very loving father and grandfather. The joy came with Nels and Dannielle’s wedding Dec. 19 ...