From the Haugen Heart

It was my birthday when Neil proposed. He hadn't planned an elaborate event with a brass band or skywriting, "Will you marry me?" But he did have his heart set on asking me on my birthday. The problem was, I had other plans that did not include him. I got a chance to go on vacation with my family so I was miles away. Not to be deterred or delayed, Neil gave me a call. This was before the advent of cell phones so I was on a land line sitting in my sister's living room when he "popped the question." In my mind, there were serious things to discuss before I could answer that question and we certainly couldn't do it long distance and with my family listening in. So I made him agonize for three days until we could be together. The discussion didn't last long. We married young, at the age of 21 (well he was 21 and I was just short of it). We didn’t know much about planning a wedding but we launched into the process of wedding planning with gusto. ...

A beauty contest? Really? in 2013? First a little history: This is the 35th year for the contest. It all began in 1979 with 9 contestants and we called it the "Baby Beautiful Contest". The contestants weren't all babies and personality and expression were always more important than beauty, but we just liked the alliteration of "Baby Beautiful" so we stuc k with it for a long time . The problem was, the name said that it was for babies and we were including children as old as 12 ! The name also said that it was a beauty contest when personality, expression, and a great story were what really counted. Now we include siblings, parents, and even great grandparents and because story telling is an important piece, art takes precedence over beauty. Sometimes the face doesn't even show.   One of the winners was from the first year of the contest was in the studio recently with his new baby boy (how cool is that!) He is an awesome Daddy: "Anyone co...