Hoggard Herald

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Emma's First Day of First Grade

On August 17th 2009 Emma entered the first grade at American Heritage Academy in Cottonwood, Arizona. She was so thrilled to finally start school again that she woke up at 5:30 got dressed, made her bed and was ready by 6:15. The next two hours were complete torture for her. She was way excited to have Ms. Plapp be her teacher. She did get a "first grade" haircut- I about cried when they chopped 9 inches of hair off- but it is what she wanted. GOOD LUCK EMMA!!!!

Ryan's Second Birthday

Yipee! Ryan turned two. We had doughnuts for breakfast and decorated the house with Mickey Mouse. He was spoiled the whole day with gifts and cards and lots of love from his family. He loved every opportunity to talk on the phone, and we were able to go to triward Elders Quorum BBQ at the lake. He just figured it was a huge birthday party for him and was as happy as ever.

Here are a few snapshots of his wonderful day. We sure love you Ryan!!

Here are his first presents - still being all careful.

By the last he was tearing it up

(We are hopeful of a bed transition soon)

Another very successful present- boys sure love to build and destroy and build. . .

Here is his birthday cake-complete with burning candles!

He had them completely blown out before we had the song sung. Silly kid!

Happy Birthday Ryan Lawrence Hoggard

Multi Stake Youth Conference 2009

What do you get when you combine the youth from 5 stakes in Northern Arizona? A Whole lot a FUN!

We met up at Fort Tuthill in Flagstaff on Friday night to set up camp. YES- we slept in tents and used port-a-potties. Then we hiked a mile for dinner and a huge barn dance! Imagine 500 youth in a barn with loud music- it was the neatest thing ever! The leaders I hung out with were awesome and despite my belly I danced. I stayed up half the night listening to teenage girls giggle and because I forgot my pillow.

On Saturday we woke and had a stake fireside, breakfast, and then were "herded" into groups of Ten. I was lucky enough to be a captain of 10 and took my group who were from Cottonwood, Flagstaff, Holbrook, Winslow, and Page to 5 different stations for group activities and lessons. We bonded and I gave them each a dog tag I had made. After lunch they went and cleaned a trail for a service project, I went to a leadership training meeting with Sister Dibbs (Pres. Monsons daughter!) We cleaned up camp, had dinner and for a finale we went and listened to Michelle Bear sing and Sister Dibbs talk. It was a wonderful experience- one I will not forget!

I am so proud of my 9 girls! As well as our stake- we truly stood out and were leaders as well as the loudest group- so full of spirit- way to go Cottonwood!! A weird thing to is the church sent down a camera crew from Salt Lake to film the entire conference. Maybe we will make it into a movie :)

**The only bummer deal was that I didn't get more pictures- but I did walk nearly 10 miles! I love the enthusiasm of the youth and how much they influence my life to bad they will never fully understand the impact that they really do have on not just us leaders but the WORLD.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Green Eggs and Ham

Emma successfully read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss, and to celebrate we made exactly that for dinner! She was one proud girl!! Reading sure does open a whole new world to kids and it is such a blessing to watch her grow and desire that knowledge- Keep it up Emma!!

You know you are in need of some entertainment when you hire "Stanley Steemer" to clean your carpets and your kids are so excited they sit on the counter to watch. Sean asked the poor guy a million questions including "Where is your servant? You don't have one?"

After camping in a four man tent for 9 years- we finally decided that we needed to upgrade. I'm no dummy and so I wanted a tent with lots of room so I bought this 3 room 10 man tent so that we may all sleep peacefully. Hehe- the kids just love it!

Making Cookies

One day we decided to make cookies. There are too many of us now to just pull up chairs to the counter. So I got out a large orange extension cord so that my Kitchen Aid could reach the table. We then proceed to have a ton of fun resulting in a large mess and some really yummy cookies.

Here are my cute little chefs!

The ingredients

Seans favorite part

Ryan has one of the longest tongues I have ever seen!

One proud moment!

She is intentionally showing off her teeth! She is missing quite a few and the new ones have no room to come in. Poor thing is a definite candidate for braces!

Summer Swimming

When you live in Arizona one way to cool down is to jump into a cool pool. Now the people watching on the sidelines a.k.a. Mom and Ryan just melted. Emma and Sean survived four straight weeks of Swim Lessons at the Cottonwood Aquatic Center. Sean hit a bump in the road around week 2 and didn't want to go anymore, but when the next session began with his friend Ryland Sorenson his attitude quickly changed! Emma finally gained the courage and ability to become a fish this summer. She has grown in confidence and started to trust the lifeguards enough to actually learn. Sean has started to enjoy the water, he is still hesitant but is more willing to go in for awhile. Ryan on the other hand is a Sean of two years ago- "Don't even put me near that water!"

Sean passing his "guppy" class- Good Job Sean!

Smile for the camera!

Emma before the 5 second "bob"

The actual "BOB" in the deep end!

Ryan with his constant "GO Mom GO"

Emma and Sean's final day of swim lessons

One reason for Emma's success this summer! Sterling

Must it always come down to boys :)

Sean's 4th Birthday

June 23rd, 2009

Today Sean happily turned 4 years old! He woke up to presents and recieved tons of Transformer stuff. Then went to swim lessons and preceeded to tell everyone how he was a big boy now! That evening we invited the Evan's to join us at Vinnies Pizza for a small birthday party. Him and Will are good friends.

We are very grateful to have Sean in our family, he is tenderhearted and very quick to smile and make others happy. He enjoys dressing up, playing with transformers, wearing cowboy boots, eating poptarts, watching movies and asking tons of questions!