From the Haugen Heart

Schedule an Appointment The secret to  a relaxed experience with Santa is that we schedule appointments. There is no waiting in line and plenty of time to talk to Santa and calm frazzled nerves. He will be here all day on December 10 but the appointment times are filling fast so send us an email or call 503-838-5416 if you would like to schedule.  How Much Is It?   This event is really affordable. You can purchase a 4x5 print for just $12, or a package for $35-$65.  Come on and join the fun! 

Honestly, I am not a big shopper so I generally avoid the malls and big retail stores on Thanksgiving weekend. If I have to pay full retail for socks on a different day, I will. That got me thinking. Wouldn't it be great if you could Shop Local while still cozying up to the fire in your jammies on the day after Thanksgiving? You can do just that by purchasing gift certificates to Haugen's online! We are having our own Black Friday and Cyber Monday special. Just go to our online shopping cart and purchase gift certificates for all your friends and family for 25% off the face value. We can even mail the certificates to you. Wow, that's easy. Now that is MY idea of a great way to shop!

Time to party! I have a number of small business owners that will be coming to the studio and sharing the fun stuff that they do. You can do a little Christmas shopping, sip some wine, get a massage, and have some fun with friends. FAQ's There is NO CHARGE for this event. Seriously. We were just wanting to say thank you to our clients and meet some new people along the way. We would love it if you supported the vendors by doing a little Christmas shopping and buying a raffle ticket would be awesome (see the next paragraph) but if you want to come and just hang out, that would be great, too. We will be selling raffle tickets for a gift basket full of goodies. Funds received will go to support Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep . This is an organization that provides beautiful photographs to parents suffering from the loss of a baby. If you plan to come, give us an RSVP so we know how much food to buy!

40 years? You have got to be kidding! Neil's high school reunion was this summer and a good time was had by all. (He is the handsome devil in the white shirt standing on the right.) The Blues Brothers gave us a command performance and we danced and partied like it was 1971 (well, almost.) Big thanks to Danny Bisgarrd and the crew for putting this all together. I did not go to McNary (my reunion for West Albany is next year) but this group gets together every five years and have really made me feel welcome.

We have a family reunion every Labor Day weekend. My parents, siblings, and as many nieces, nephews and grand kids as we can manage converge on Sunriver to enjoy the warm sunshine and hiking in the beautiful Oregon Cascades. When my father turned 40 he started climbing mountains and he has scaled every significant peak in the northwest. There were many family backpacking trips during the summer as I was growing up and a love of the outdoors was instilled in each of us. Most of these trips were to the Cascades and it just might be the nostalgia that keeps pulling me back to the high mountains, clear lakes, Douglas fir and Ponderosa Pine. My father is 93 now and doesn't climb mountains anymore but he is still an avid hiker. The trails my sister chooses for him are shorter and gentler than he would have chosen 15 years ago. 15 years ago, my sister and I couldn't keep up with him. Now we get to spend time visiting with him as we stroll at a more leisurely pace. This year we hi...

Lars spent the summer learning how to bake cakes for 4H..... and we have the waist lines to show for it! In a six week period we consumed three chocolate birthday cakes, two angelfood cakes, one 7 layer torte and two Rootbeer cakes. That was a lot of cake. Lars can now separate egg whites like a pro, whip up a 7 layer torte that will melt in your mouth and learned how to bake a moist and yummy Root Beer Cake. Lars with his other 4H projects: Our dog, Aphrodite, and his Holland Lop, Cheez-it. When I announced that his Angel Food Cake and Root Beer Cake both won blue ribbons at the Polk County Fair, the requests for the Root Beer cake recipe started flooding in. I am not one to hold secret family recipes close to my chest so I thought I would share. Blue Ribbon Root Beer Cake                                  ...

The dress slipped quickly over Megan's head and the transformation from kicked back mama to wedding diva began. "Will I be flashing everybody when I bend over?... Will it work to have this rose in my hair?" In spite of the white gown and all the primping, Megan was determined to have a low stress day. The makeup was natural, the hairstyle: simple, the shoes: comfortable.... and Amy was there at her side to fix what needed to be fixed and to be the calm voice of experience. The two moms were flitting about outside, fixing this, helping with that like two hummingbirds lighting on this flower and then that. The two dads moved with  the calm assurance of those that have been through this before and the knowledge that no matter what else happened, Ryan and Megan would soon be officially starting their life together. Ryan wiped the perspiration from his brow. It took some convincing, but we finally assured him that there were other people that could finish getting three yea...