Once Upon a Time . . .

. . . in a kingdom not to far away, a boy named Travis met a girl named Jenni.

Travis could not resist asking her on a date two weeks after they met. From that time on they have been together.

After seven months of dating, laughing, talking, and becoming best friends, Sir Travis asked Lady Jennifer to be his bride. She agreed and on December 29th, 2004 they were married for time and all eternity.

A year passed and they added to their family a man child to continue the noble name of Hogman (also insuring that Jenni would not be beheaded). He was named Kyler.

Two years after that they added another man child to the family. They called him Eldon.

The 29th of December commorated the four year anniversary of such a blessed union. And a blessed union it indeed is.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all of you . . .

a Very, Very Merry Christmas . . .

and Happy Holidays!

From the Hogmans!

Sacrament Meeting Mishap

This is Travis.

It is because of him that we have this story. On Sunday Travis was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting. Therefore his wife, we will call her Jenni, had the two boys by herself. Not a problem she thought. As she sat down where she would be sitting during the meeting she realized in horror that she had left both binkie and bottle at home! Fear was replaced by determination as the meeting began. Half way through the meeting the youngest of their children began to cry. Jenni calmly took the hand of the two year old and with baby in arm went out into the hall. Immediately baby stopped crying and the two year old rushed to the drinking fountian. It was then that Jenni noticed her two year old doing a very familiar dance. So she started to walk down the hall in the direction of the bathroom. Half way there she announced her intentions. This resulted in a "No Potty Mama!" and the two year old turned around and walked the other way. Jenni having read parenting books did not chase after him but instead started counting . . . her son barely glanced at her as he walked through the door back into the chapel. Jenni was appalled! She walked swiftly (for you do not run in the church) to the door and watched her two year old walking up the aisle and waving at everyone he was passing. She was hissing "Get back here . . .One, two, three". Two year old just looked back and flashed a smile and went to where they had been sitting. Jenni thinking that this must mean that he is going to sit down, followed him to their seats. On seeing his mother approaching, two year old kept walking to the aisle on the other side and then proceeding walking out the other door. Jenni sat down trying to think what the parenting books would recommend to do. On upon looking up to the stand to make eye contact with her other half, noticed that he and his second counselor trying hard not to laugh. So Jenni thought "When two year old doesn't see me following him, he'll come back." Well minutes passed and he did not return. She cautiously looked behind her to find everyone looking at her and shrugging their shoulders. So she again stood up with baby in arm and went out the door. A man sitting out on a chair just silently pointed to up stairs. So Jenni went up the stairs and cornered the two year old in a classroom. It is best that we leave the story here but know that after which the two year old kept his arms folded and obeyed his mother.

A Quick Thanks

There are times in your life when things happen and you get a small glimpse of the workings of the Lord. There are people that are in your life that just seem to know those times when you need them the most. You don't have to tell them you are struggling, you don't have to tell them that you need someone, you don't have to let them know what they need to do . . . they just know. It is for those tender mercies I am extremely thankful and make me hope that I listen to the spirit and know when I can be the tender mercy for others. So thank you to those who were my tender mercies this week.

Our Trip!!

So sorry to have taken so long to get some pictures of our trip up but we had some technical difficulty with our internet. But here they finally are . . .and there are a lot of them! Also they are not in any particular order, but they do show a little bit of what we did while we were there.

Kyler getting ready to fly. Both the boys did great on both flights. Kyler loved the whole experience!

We always love to go to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). It is the most amazing place ever where they kids can go play and explore. It's even fun for us adults. As you can see Travis is organizing the toys in the water area- what a blast!

Another place we must go to when we visit is the Portland Zoo!! Best zoo ever. It was great because so many of us got to go and so the kids just ran around and had a blast. It is such a neat zoo. And they were getting the lights ready for the Christmas season so we got a small preview.

We hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls this time. This is us at the bottom so you can see what we hiked . . .well I just noticed it doesn't show the whole Falls, but it's taller then that and we hiked it!! It was gorgeous! Oh such a fun day with family. The kids were climbing up trees on the trails and just having a great time.

On Travis' birthday we went up to Camp Baldwin where he was a Scout Leader. It was fun to hike around and actually see the places that he talks about.

This is Eldon and Keaton. They are a month a part . . . Eldon is older and smaller. But I think they're going to be friends.

We were able to go to each of the sister's home and spend some time with them. With the Martinson's we played Solarquest . . . it's like an Outer Space Monopoly. Goran and Travis were loving it, Ingela and I well we enjoyed the company!

Great Grandma Wheeler, my mother-in-laws mom. We got to spend some time with her and Kyler just adored her.

Kayla, Kyler, and Alana were all born in 2006.

We went to the Raceway in Portland were they do lights that cars can drive through. Kyler loved watching from the sun roof.

Thanksgiving dinner (Kyler was at the kids table . . .we didn't forget him at home or anything).

We went out to the beach and spent two days. You can't see it but behind us is the lighthouse that Travis and I got engaged. Also while we were there we were able to watch some seals enjoying the waves, it's amazing to see them out of the zoo and enjoying life in the wild.

The night before we left all the kids did the Nativity. It was a great way to end the trip. Kyler was in inn keeper and Eldon was a wise man.

We had so much fun with family, oh man it was so great to be there and the time went so fast! Thanks Hogmans, you really know how to party!