myHERITAGE HAPPENS

Time has come for closing ceremonies. The Winter 2010 GeneaBloggers Games have been a blast and I am so proud to have been a participant in them. As we parade around and close these ceremonies I wave and my flag proudly. Can you see it flying once again through the breeze? I am once again sharing my heritage, primarily Norwegian and Swedish but all in all a very proud American! I am about to receive my awards! Are you ready? I am presented with the following awards~ In the number two and number four categories I am awarded a Bronze Medal each. Wow two Bronze Medals! My accomplishments in the first category earned me a Silver Medal. Category number six came with a Gold Medal! Categories three and five have each earned me my highest medals, Diamonds! Thank you Thomas MacEntee for sponsoring these GeneaBlogger games. Another thank you goes footnoteMaven for designing our wonderful medals. I look forward to the next GeneaBlogger games. Will you be participating? Thank you fro stopping...

Great sadness indeed. I just read the post from Dick Eastman over at Eastman's Genealogy Online Newsletter announcing Roots Television will be ending after three years! Why is it we are never ready for news like this? I read Megan Smolenyak Smolenyaks announcement at EGON and have to admit it leaves me with a sad heart. However, I remember when George Morgan ended his blog and I was left with a sad heart also. George moved on to what is more beneficial for him, and we can find him writing columns for Dick Eastman's blog also. We still get a part of George, with his articles and lectures etc. As with other things, time moves on, we advance technologically and sometimes it just doesn't make sense to continue with something if there is a more advanced way of sharing or handling subject matter. I hope that is all it is for Roots Television, the fact that genealogy shows are making their way to television. Megan, I hope you know that what you have done with Roots Television was...

Time to see how I fared with the GeneaBloggers games. This was the last standing I posted, which was yesterday. #1- 21 sources = Silver Medal #2- task C, E = ????? #3- task A, B, D, E = Diamond #4- task E= Bronze #5- none #6- task A, F, G = Gold Since that particular post I can add these to the scores: #2 task A - backup plan for your digital research files and a security plan for your hard copies and photos. #5 task A - what my blog is about task C = write several posts in draft mode and pre-post, I wrote 4 posts. task E = using the new page listings, I set up a surname list. I actually did this a week or two ago. task D = a biographical sketch of my grandfather Harding. So, according to my records this is the medals I have earned: #1-Silver #2-Bronze #3-Diamond #4-Bronze #5-Diamond #6-Gold #2, was suppose to be done in sequence, A, B, C...etc. Because I didn't do one of the steps, task B, I will earn a bronze medal in this category. If I had accomplished task B ...

This weekend at the St. George, Utah Family History Expo you will find Generation Maps doing on site printing and free consultations with their new added addition, Family ChArtist. Family ChArtist is a web application, and is suppose to be very easy to use, just a click of the button. The program is set up to assist you with making beautiful charts. March 8 you will be able to log into generations.com and begin making your charts. For now, you can view the video tutorial here at Janet Havorka's site the Chart Chick . Mark Tucker of Think Genealogy introduces Family ChArtist in the the fifteen minute video tutorial. You can also view the tutorial on Mark's site here . I viewed this video and found it to be very exciting! The ease of the program makes this very inviting. I look forward to it's release and viewing more charts from this program. By clicking either of these links you will be able to view each of the future events where this product will be shown. I can't w...

It has come to my attention that some people have not seen any of the episodes of Faces of America. Last night was the third episode and actually for me, I saw an additional episode also. Did anyone else see the second program? It aired at least in the bay area, I know southern California wasn't able to tune in. I am assuming it was the fourth program, but I am not certain. I suppose I will know when it airs next Wednesday. Here is a link to the first three episodes. You should start with the first episode and watch each program in sequence. The final show airs next week, at least in most areas. There is a sequence, so it is to your advantage to watch the programs in order. I am biting my tongue as far as the second program I saw last night. I do not wish to ruin the program for anyone. You need to watch them all for yourself. The second program last night was a GREAT show, I just can't figure out why it was airing in the Bay Area last night. Maybe it won't be on here nex...

Countdown time! There is only one more day to participate in the Winter 2010 GeneaBloggers Games! Time has gone much to fast! I want to give an update on my participation, evaluate it and see what I may be able to accomplish through tomorrow. So far this is what I have accomplished~ #1- 21 sources = Silver Medal #2- task C, E = ????? #3- task A, B, D, E = Diamond #4- task E= Bronze #5- none #6- task A, F, G = Gold I am not sure how to read #2. I understand it as finishing each task in order to bring you the next medal. Maybe I have to finish some tasks in between? Or does it mean you earn the reward for each of the tasks completed? There definitely is room and a few hours left to improve. Let's see what I can possibly accomplish. It would be nice to complete a task for #5 and maybe get each medal to the next level. Can I do it? Find out tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Vicki Everhart from BeNotForgot made this wonderful tribute for the winners of Family Tree Magazine's Top Forty Blogs. This was so wonderfully done I wanted to share it with you. Beautiful Vicki! Thank you so much for sharing. Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

I was just checking out TweetDeck and catching up on all the "news" before I went for my walk when I saw Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak (yes, this is her real name for those of you who are unaware) tweet "Congratulations to those on the #FT40! Genealogy Insider - Announcing the Family Tree Magazine 40 Best #Genealogy Blogs" You may remember back in October of last year when I posted this~ I am so very honored to have had my blog nominated for the "40 Best Genealogy Blogs" with Family Tree Magazine! (I love this "Nomination Wordle Cloud" that Vicki at Be Not Forgotten made!) For me this was quite the compliment! The company Heritage Happens was with on this list! Wow! The cream of the crop, and I was among them! I have accomplished so much more than I ever anticipated upon starting my blog. I appreciated the nomination soooo very much! Thank you to those who nominated me! I went ahead and sent a "Retweet" of Megans tweet, congratulating all ...

I went to bed last night (or early this morning) and wondered to myself...if I enter 90 source citations, can I earn three gold medals? Or, do I earn one diamond and one platinum? Or, do I just earn one platinum? All of these thoughts were because of my wishful thinking for these GeneaBlogger Winter Games. I felt so proud that I had entered some sources last night, and thought about how many more I really need to do. Maybe I should just focus on citations for the games? Maybe I could earn each available medal just for that category! What an awesome feeling that would be to enter 150 source citations, and earn a bronze, silver, gold, diamond and platinum medal all in one category! I am dreaming on I am afraid. I visioned accomplishing so much with the Winter Games, and yet over half of the games are already over. I can honestly say I did do a few more citations, 10 to be exact (a total of 21) which brings me to a silver medal in that category. The little free time I may have had to work...

This day (Sat) is almost over, it is 3 minutes to midnight as I write this post. I did want to say that I was able to enter a few source citations on my tree tonight. I entered eleven sources/citations, and yet have so many more to accomplish for my own personal satisfaction. I found that entering ten citations earns a bronze medal, so that is what I have earned today, a bronze medal! My standings at this point are: Gold Medal - 1 Bronze Medal - 2 Hopefully I will have a day this week to really concentrate on accomplishing more in these games. At this point though, I am very happy I was able to do something today! Chipping away a little at a time... Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Wow, I haven't been able to attend these Games as much as I would have liked thus far. A week has already flown by. Life sometimes gets in the way of genealogy, but I can say I have been busy collecting information on an ancestor of mine who won gold in the Olympics! More on that later however. Thus far, in the GeneaBloggers Games I have earned: #6 = A Gold Medal ( Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness!) #4 = A Bronze Medal ( “Expand Your Knowledge”) I really hope to accomplish much more this week and I am looking forward to earning more medals! Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

A brand new carnival is kicking off in the Genealogy World! The Carnival of African-American Genealogy has named this to be it's first theme: " Restore My Name – Slave Records and Genealogy Research." March 19th is when you can expect to read this very first edition. Submissions to the carnival will be accepted through March 12th. Luckie over at Our Georgia Roots will be hosting this event. If you are interested in entering a post for this carnival and/or have interest in becoming a future host of the carnival you can find more information at Luckies post here . This is very exciting news to have a new carnival! I am helping to spread the word. Congratulations to all involved! I know I am looking forward to reading this carnival next month, how about you? Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

For this posting of the Winter 2010 GeneaBlogger Games I am sharing my Wordle Surname Visual! #4 - Expand your knowledge- Task E: Create a surname visualization using Wordle , Word It Out or a similar application. Post the graphic to your blog. I chose to use Wordle to make my surname visual. I have been wanting to make one of these for a while so it was a natural for me to do this at the beginning of the games! It was fun! Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

I had fun and played with the Winter 2010 Games a bit today! #6. Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness , seemed to be my calling today. Task A: Comment on a new (to you) genealogy blog. See the New Genealogy Blogs tag at GeneaBloggers for the newest blogs. I have been trying to make it a practice, even before these games started, to leave messages on new to me blogs, along with posting more comments on the blogs I already am aware of. Today though I chose a new to me blog, Family History for Beginners and left a message. I believe it is great timing for this blog, with the new TV shows enlightening others to our fabulous hobby! Task F: Join a genealogical, historical, heritage or lineage society. It just so happens my membership to two of the genealogy societies that I belong to are up for renewal. I belong to my local genealogical society and the California Genealogical Society, and both memberships have and/or are expiring. My check for the local society has been...

Heritage Happens is very excited and proud to be a part of the Winter 2010 GeneaBlogger Games! Can you see me proudly carrying my flag? I am sharing my Norwegian, Swedish and American Heritage. I have decided to enter in these competitions: Go Back and Site Your Sources! Back Up Your Data! Organize Your Research! Expand Your Knowledge! Write Write Write! Reach Out And Perform Genealogical Acts Of Kindness! Or, in other words, each of the six categories! Of course I would love to strive for the Platinum Medal in all categories, but is that realistic for me, really? Remember you can view the categories and medal requirements here in case you are not sure what they entail. My plan is to at least strive for a gold medal in each category. I would like to win at least one Diamond and one of the Platinum Medals. In what category I may win these is a mystery to me. I believe it will depend on which category I get most involved in. I know I will strive for the best of my ability in all categor...

Here is the complete list of the Competition Categories of which we may choose to enter, along with what it takes to earn the various medals. COMPETITION CATEGORIES – WINTER 2010 GB GAMES 1. Go Back and Cite Your Sources! We all know how important our research is – but it is only worth the evidence that supports it! Have you ever looked at an entry in your database and wondered, “Where did that come from?” or “How can that be?” All events can and should be backed up by linking them to sources and evidence using a consistent and clear citation format. Create proper citations of sources for as many events possible using either Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills or How to Cite Sources by John Wiley. Qualifications for “Go Back and Cite Your Sources!”: 10 Citations – Bronze Medal 20 Citations – Silver Medal 30 Citations – Gold Medal 40 Citations – Diamond Medal 50 Citations – Platinum Medal 2. Back Up Your Data! Backup data t...

Here is my Heritage Flag I created for the Winter 2010 GeneaBloggers Games. As you can see, the majority of the flag is the Norwegian flag, which is red, white and blue. The colors of the Norwegian flag represent democracy: they feature in the democratic states (France, Us and Britain ) Blue may also represent Sweden. The cross represents Christianity. Next you see an insert of the American flag. The red in this flag represents Valor; the blood spilled for independence. The white represents liberty; purity and the blue represents justice; loyalty; perseverance . The fifty stars represent the individual states; the heavens. The thirteen stripes represent the original colonies, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia. The second inserted flag is the Swedish flag. The colors of this flag originate from the Swedish Coat of Arms. The cross represents the Scandinavian c...