Introducing: My Family History!

The 89th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy asks us to compose a poem that tells of our family history. It can rhyme, not rhyme, be funny, serious, illustrated or not. It is however suppose to be appropriate as an introduction for a book or a video.

There have been some significant changes in the Carnival of Genealogy and the entries accepted. Because there are so many genealogy blogs now, Jasia has limited the number of articles she will print to each edition of the COG. She has also would like to keep the COG "upscale." There are over 800 blogs and I can totally understand her decisions. I had fun writing this little ditty. I will enter it, and see what happens. Even if it doesn't make it into the the COG, I am able to share it with you here. Hope you enjoy!

Introducing: My Family History

If I may, let me introduce to you

A bit of history and genealogy too.

This book will explain what I have learned

and why my passion continues to burn.

From Norwegian descent I mainly derive

I have been studying how I came alive.

Blom, Westby, Jonsen and Johansen too

Are a few of the surnames that brought me to you.

Trysil, Lier, Kragaro and more

A few places in Norway I have explored.

Nordic heritage, language and religion

Have all been a part of this, my mission.

Stemming both from rich and poor

My ancestors seemed to really want more.

They came to America with the big dream

Of living their lives in a land supreme.

Settling in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and all

These families grew as some were to recall.

Norwegian language stayed with my grandparents

Descendants there after... it wasn't apparent.

The documents I've uncovered, pictures too

Will be shared with everyone of you.

There are some surprises both happy and sad

If you don't read this, you'll wish you had!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

"A Bloggers Best Friend" Award

On January 22, 2010, while I was away on vacation, Lori from the Genealogy and Me blog awarded me with this most special award. Here is what she wrote:

" Lori said...

You have been so supportive of my "Genealogy and Me" blog that I wanted to thank you in a special way.
Thanks to Robin at My Two Blessings (www.mytwoblessings.com/ I discovered the "A Blogger's Best Friend" award created by "Bandit" at the world from down here (http://theworldfromdownhere.blogspot.com/2009/04/drumroll-please.html) According to Bandit, the "A Blogger's Best Friend Award" shall be given to your most loyal blog readers. Thus, the award should be given to a follower of yours who takes the time to comment regularly on many of your posts. In addition his or her blog should be creative, funny and always entertaining. Upon receiving this award, pass it along to two fellow bloggers who fit this criteria."

The following link will show you who else Lori has chosen to give this award to! http://genealogyandme.blogspot.com/2010/01/presenting-my-bloggers-best-friend.html#comment-form

What can I say to Lori? Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Other than this, I just can't come up with the appropriate words to explain to you how this made me feel. I have been so very fortunate to have so many special friends and followers since the inception of my blog. Having been on vacation and not posting but twice in two weeks, I would have thought my blog would have been forgotten. Coming home and receiving so many awards is just the type of thing that makes a person want to continue where they left off.

At this time I would also like to thank all of my followers and supporters. Without you sometimes we bloggers wonder why we do what we do. Times like this are a big part of why it makes it all worth while! Again, I would like to give extra special thanks to Lori, you sure made my day!

Now to pass this along to only two others that I feel fit the criteria for this award. I find this very difficult to do, however those I don't choose I hope will be chosen somewhere along the line, I am rooting for you all!

My two choices will be Taylorstales-Genealogy and Cemetery Explorers. Each of these have continually posted comments on my blog since they have become aware of it. I consider them to be a bloggers best friend and appreciate their comments and the time they spend on my blog. Thank you both!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Happy 101 Award, Two Times more!

I came home from vacation to find that I was awarded not once, but twice again the Happy 101 Award! What a surprise that was! I would like to thank Mavis from Georgia Black Crackers and Sheri from Family Twigs for making my welcome home such a delight! I am blushing....and feel so very honored. Thank you Mavis and Sheri!

I was first given this award by Becky at Grace and Glory. You can see I already filled the requirements of this award at that time on my post here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Vacation Has Expired

I have made my way back home after a wonderful two week vacation. Vacations are always so nice, but I do look forward to returning home. After about 10 days I start missing my family. This vacation was scheduled fairly close with the vacation to Costa Rica in November. Two and a half weeks in Costa Rica, getting ready for Christmas, packing up from Christmas and another two week vacation has sure made the last three months fly by!

We had a wonderful cruise and a fantastic time in Cabo. We parasailed in Puerto Vallarta, toured and shopped in Mazatlan and "Zip Lined" in Cabo. We were entertained by many great shows on the cruise and ate to our hearts content, plus some. I was pampered with massages and pedicures, lounged in the sun, and enjoyed a "few" tropical drinks. I am absolutely amazed at how much I slept, how much sun I received and how awesome snorkeling was with the most beautiful fish I have ever seen.

We spent the two weeks with many friends. There were fourteen in our cruise group, and three others we spent the week with in Cabo. Actually, I spent the second week with four men in a penthouse in Cabo...sorry, what happens in Cabo...well, you know how that saying goes...

Thank you to all family and friends who made this vacation so marvelous, it never would have been the same without you!

Now, back to real life. But, before I hit the normal routine, I need to unpack, grocery shop, do laundry, visit with my family and all in all, get my wits about me! Let's see how long it takes for me to get back in some sort of routine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success with all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Fruit

Fruit. Farmer's Market, San Jose, Costa Rica. November, 2009. Digital Image. Held by Cheryl. [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2010

Wordless Wednesday ~ The Feet

My grandsons feet at three months old. February 2007. Scanned image. Held my Cheryl [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California 2010

Title edited 1/24/10; left out the "d" in Wordless. Will blame it on rushing away for my two week vacation...

Cruising the Mexican Riviera!

This morning I am flying out to board a ship for a Mexican Riviera Cruise! I am looking forward to the trip very much, vacations are always wonderful. There is a group of us going, mostly friends from one of the Harley Chapters I belong to. A couple of relatives are making the trip as well. The scheduled stops are Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo. When we dock in Cabo, my husband and I are leaving the ship and spending a week in Cabo with friends of ours who have a suite in one of the resorts. In fact it will be the same place we were at a year ago.

So, since I will be cruising, I will not be posting to my blog, or Twittering, or playing with Facebook. I have been told the cost of using the internet on the ship is outrageous. I have debated about even bringing my laptop, but I just can't imagine not having it for two weeks. When in Cabo, I will have plenty of my own free time to play. Still, I do not plan to pay for internet service while in Cabo either. (But you never know, I could possibly change my mind while I am there, maybe I will have withdrawls, been there and done that before!) The guys will be fishing a lot and I will be the only female there. Sun and fun! I hope to download pictures, and catch up reading a book and some of my genealogy magazines. I am also bringing along a craft project I have been working on for way to long. Sunbathing, relaxing, swimming and a spa trip or two also will be on my agenda.

I had hoped to do some pre-posting of articles for while I was away, however time did not allow for me to do so. I only found enough time to pre-post a couple Wordless Wednesday's. So, when you see them remember it doesn't mean I am back yet!

If you are looking for reading material while I am gone, you can always scroll through and read any of my past posts. Or, there are many bloggers, over 800, listed at GeneaBloggers in the Genealogy Blog Roll, who are posting to their sites. Check out the link, you may find another new blog or two to follow! January's edition of Shades has been posted which is a must read! I haven't had the opportunity to read it yet, but I KNOW it is great, previous issues have been outstanding!

I will miss posting to my blog, but will try not to think about it to much while I am gone. Hope you all have a great couple of weeks.

Hasta Luego!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Happy 101 Award from Becky at Grace and Glory!

Becky at Grace and Glory surprised me this morning with this Happy 101 Award. Thank you Becky! What a wonderful surprise! I appreciate you thinking of me!

The responsibilities that go with this award are as follows. I am to list 10 things that make me happy.

1. My grandchildren, the prince and princess.

2. My children and son in law.

3. My husband and all he does for me.

4. Not having to work.

5. Genealogy.

6. Doing any of my several crafts.

7. My laptop.

8. All of my wonderful friends, online and offline.

9. All of my extended family.

10. Reading

Now I am to choose 10 other bloggers to pass this award to, yes only 10. For this I will choose

1. Ginisology

2. Flipside

3. Genealogy and Me

4. Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories

5. Greta's Genealogy Blog

6. Apple's Tree

7. The Educated Genealogist

8. Tracing My Roots

9. Genealogy and Me

10. Twigs of Yore

Please, if you haven't already checked out these blogs, do so! They are wonderful blogs. And, don't forget to leave a comment and let them know you have been by! Us bloggers are very appreciative when comments are left and we find out you have been checking us out!

Thank you again Becky! Now, I best be on my way to let these bloggers know I have nominated them for the Happy 101 Award!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Treasure Chest Thursday ~ Full of Memories

On this date nine years ago my mother passed away. Today I am filled with memories of her and her life. Although we didn't always see eye to eye, we were pretty close. I am the eldest of the children and she was always the toughest on me. Isn't that the way? As an adult I have grown to understand many situations I couldn't understand as a child. Mom always did the best she knew how, just as most mother's do, especially since none of us are given "classes" on how to be perfect parents.

My mother didn't want us to follow in some of the same footsteps she had taken as a teenager. None of us did, so she must have done something right. She never explained her feelings to us so understanding her rhymes and reasons for what she would implement was near impossible.

It was important to my mother to make sure the family gathered together for all birthdays Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. She had a fear that as we became adults we wouldn't spend time together and be a family. When everyone is in town and around we do spend time together on these most important dates, you can relax mom.

I have had a couple of serious surgeries in my life and my mother was right there taking care of me. One of these surgeries I was young and living at home, but the other I was married and had two children. She came to my home and cooked and cleaned and helped me so much. What made this most special was that she had her own health issues (she had Fibromyalgia) but drove to my home, tackled stairs, and did my hard work for me. I know she went home in pain and thoroughly exhausted.

I picked up my nephew from school this afternoon and as we were driving home he saw a weeping willow tree and stated he loved those trees. I asked him if he knew it was grandmas favorite tree. He said yes, his mother tells him that every time they pass one. So sad, he never knew his grandmother. It is interesting that we pass this tree every day and this is the first time the subject has come up. I feel mom has heard my mind reminiscing about her today and wanted me to know she was aware. This tree became most prominent in our conversation. Miss you mom...

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Do You Remember When?

Picture of telephone taken at The National Museum in San Jose, Costa Rica, Nov. 2009. Digital image. Held by Cheryl [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2010

Tombstone Tuesday ~ William E. Hohimer

William E. Hohimer was born March 1, 1846 in Benton Missouri. He passed away May 7, 1932. He is buried in Lawson Cemetery, in Yale, Payne, Oklahoma. This is my second great grandfather.

Supposedly, the name Hohimer is altered from the German name Hochheim. My research doesn't go back to the name variations yet but then it hasn't gone back to Germany yet either.

William was married twice. His first marriage was to Margaret Catherine Woodward. Together they had seven children. Margaret and three of their children died of typhoid fever. Margaret passed away in 1879. William then married Louvina Shouse with whom he had one more child. My line follows the children of William and Margaret.

William had a fairly long life having lived until he the age of 86. He was a private in the 17th Kansas Infantry and received a pension . Watch for more about William!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Homemade Gifts - Picture Books and More

Are you one to make homemade gifts? I made a few this past year. I used to make many each year, but life took over and there was never enough time, until now, a time called retirement! Although I haven't been as crafty as I would have liked this past year I did make a few things.

The most important of those that I made were photo books. I put together one for my father early last year for his birthday. It focused on his ancestors and his life up until he met my mother. Each of my sisters received one for their birthdays also. My sisters loved them and they generated many questions. Now they are wanting the next volume, and wondering if I will be doing a photo book of my mother and her family.

For Christmas I did a photo book of my granddaughter's first year. I had done the same for my grandsons first year. These also went over very well. I don't know what it is about these picture books, but I love them! I think it is the convenience, organization, color and simplicity of them. Ease to get to is another thing. You can display a book a lot easier than a photo album.

There are many companies that make photo books. Because it is the first of the year, I thought I would give you some food for thought in case you might have an opportunity to use one of these as a gift. It is never to early to start picking out those photos, layouts, colors and words to make a memorable photo book for your next gift! The books really aren't expensive, unless you add a lot of pages. Over the past three years I have bought twelve of these books. I am now wondering, what should my next book be? Hum, I have a couple thoughts already!

A couple of the other memorable gifts I made was for my daughters. I made them each a photo album of our trip to Costa Rica in early 2008. On our trip there last year I found some awesome Costa Rican photo albums, which gave me the idea. I knew neither of them had put anything physically together for that trip. Each album held one hundred photos and I made them unique to each daughter. They loved their albums I know because they each had to sit and go through the whole darn thing when they opened them.

My craftiness continued but I am not so sure anything else I made would be worthy of becoming an heirloom. Blowing up pictures and framing them, making outfits for the prince and princess... they were fun, but I am sure they won't be around forever.

I have a few ideas of what I'd like to make this year. Hopefully my husband will receive a Harley quilt from me later this year. He has always wanted one. This could be an heirloom, one never knows. Oh and yes, I need to make some Christmas stockings for all of the added family members there have been in the last five years. But first, before I start any new projects, I have a couple old ones still to finish!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

SNGF ~ Best Genealogy Moment of 2009

Randy Seaver at GeneaMusings asked the genealogy blogging community what was their best genealogy moment in 2009. This question was posted for this weeks "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun." I have thought about it off and on all day long and have come to the conclusion that this hasn't been fun! Sorry, Randy, for me it was work!

I suppose I just don't have one major element that pops out for me that I can say, "Ah ha, that is it! That was my best Genealogy moment for the year!" So, instead I thought of several genealogy moments I have had and chose one, the one I felt came the closest to that "Ah ha" moment.

Back in August a second cousin found me, we made contact through Facebook. From that moment forward I have been gathering so much information on my WESTBY line. I have collected many pictures and stories thanks to this cousin who got me in contact with another cousin who has done genealogy for many years. I had very little on this line, but shared what I did have with my new found cousin. I am continuing to receive new information all the time. I am so grateful and look forward to receiving emails from her. This particular days happening has continued to grow with every passing day since then. I even found out I have a relative in Norway who speaks English! (Physical letter to this relative is high on my to do list now that the Holidays are over. Hope to have it done next week.)

What could be better than a genealogy moment that keeps on giving and giving and giving?

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Sentimental Sunday ~ (Walters) Palmer

Mary Elizabeth (Walters) Palmer was born February 20, 1945 in Merced, California. She lived a very short life as she died when she was only 42 years old. She was my husband's first wife and I worked with her for about a year, so I knew her as well.

Liz, as she was known, lived in Arkansas at the time of her death. She was about to move back to California when she was murdered. She was brought back to Livermore, California to be buried. Services were held on June 2, 1987.

Naturally, because she was a part of my husband's life and my life also, we both have history, emotions and sentiments regarding her life and her death. Unbelievably, it has almost been twenty three years since her services. My family still suffers when reminiscing about her. She however, suffers no more.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

New Years Back Up!

I have done mine, have you done yours? Computer data back up is what I am talking about! Nice way to start the new year, knowing all of your time consuming, hard work is protected! New year, new decade and I feel safe, my data is all backed up! That is a great feeling. Those who have lost data especially know what a great feeling this is. Thankfully, I have never lost my data and I hope I never experience anything so tragic, especially without a backup.

But I have to tell you, I did panic for a minute or two. I have a couple of methods of back up I use. I use Carbonite online as one of my methods. A few months ago I received a new laptop. It took me a long time to transfer everything, what I wanted and how I wanted it, plus I needed to learn Windows Vista. It was all a bit trying for this non-electronic gal. Eventually, I got through the task.

Today as I went to back up my files, I realized I hadn't seen Carbonite lately and couldn't remember seeing back ups with it or anything since I have been on the new laptop. Ok, time to dig in and find out what was going on! Had I renewed it? Was my data backed up there? Wow, I really did panic I tell you. All for naught however. Thank goodness! I am paid through June 2010, I did download it on my computer and everything is 100% backed up! I can not tell you what a relief that is! The thought of: Thinking I had it, my laptop crashing and finding out I didn't have it scared the beegeebers out of me!

Thankfully I do have a second backup which is done through Seagate. The scenario I panicked with actually wouldn't have been a real issue if it had truly happened, because I have a second backup method. Seagate is a portable system I have at home. Thanks to GeneaBloggers reminders I generally accomplish the task of physically making sure each month my data is protected. Because I do it often it takes no time at all to back up each month.

Spending a few minutes and a few dollars a month is well worth the stress if you have a tragedy, such as a computer crash, flood or earthquake etc. Do you have sufficient backup for your genealogy program, files, photos etc? Can you imagine loosing all of your data? Is it worth it?

If you are not backing up, and this means using more than one method also, it is time to do some research and find what systems might work best for you. And, if you haven't checked out your systems in awhile, you had better do that also. Don't just take for granted everything is working properly. I would hate to see you end up in the position I panicked over!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

It Popped in My Head!

Thank goodness it popped in my head before it was to late!

I was sitting here sewing the first outfit for my granddaughter, the princess. It is a pants set and I just finished sewing on the word "Love" across the front of the top. While doing this, it dawned on me that I haven't taken a picture of the princess in the dress I was christened in yet! I panicked as I thought of when I took the picture of my daughter in that dress. I believe she was about 6-8 months old. The princess is almost nine months old!

I jumped up and ran to get the dress. I knew right where it was! Wow, I haven't looked at this in a long long time! It is actually a slip, and then a dress and then a coat! Three pieces. I didn't remember that. Nowhere on any of these garments do I see a size, but it looks like it will fit the princess still!

I unfortunately don't ever remember seeing a photo of myself in this dress, but I do have the photo of my daughter in it. My goal this week will be to take a picture of the princess in it and see if I can find a picture of myself in it. (Good luck to me!) If and when all is said and done, I will post pictures. In fact, I do think that when all is said and done I will have to post those pictures for Treasure Chest Thursday! I believe this dress just may be the "oldest" thing I own!

Sewing quietly as I was, several things have popped in my mind. I think I need to do this more often! Can you imagine when the princess owns this christening dress and the pictures she will have? Oh to be a fly on the wall then...

Do you have any pictures you have forgotten you wanted to take? Spend some quiet time doing something and see if there is one that pops in your head!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!