Family History Expo CA with my Dad.

Heading home through the Sierras singing to the Carpenters with my Dad. "The best love songs are written with a broken *arm*" and my favorite, "It's a new day for those good old dreams."

We just had the best time in the Bay Area. Holly's Family History Expo was outstanding as usual. Pleasanton had the best crowd I think we've ever had. I so appreciated the nods of agreement while I was teaching and the excitement for the topics. It was so easy to lecture there because the people were so personable and eager to hear what we had to say. I so appreciated that. And it was great to tell people about Generation Maps and have them get all excited. After explaining to one woman what we could do for her, she exclaimed, "I'm so excited, I just have to give you a hug." :-)

And of course I always love to hang out with my blogger friends. I actually got to spend a little time in the blogger's lounge this time. A little anyway. It is a good thing I get to talk to these people online and read what is going on with them, because otherwise I'd hardly ever get to talk to them :-) L to R Kathryn Doyle, Elizabeth O'Neal, Denise Levenick, Amy Coffin, Your's Truly, Thomas MacEntee, Lisa Alzo, Holly Hansen, A.C. Ivory. These are such fantastic assets to the genealogy community. I don't know how they all do it, but I always learn so much about genealogy--and about life--from them. A special thanks to Amy Coffin, who helped me straighten out my Twitter account so that I can talk to everybody better.

And a very special thanks to Lisa Louise Cooke for the wonderful geneabloggers party Saturday night. I've found the person I aspire to be. What a sweet wonderful lady she is. And what a wonderful hostess. I'm so glad she let her hostess abilities shine for us. Look at the cake! And her beautiful home was a veritable museum of her family's history. We had a wonderful time. My Dad got to spend some time talking to her daughter and her husband and was so impressed with the whole family. Thank you so much Lisa.

My Mom and my daughter were supposed to come with me but after the wedding Mom decided she needed some rest and Dad needed a break. He grew up in the bay area, so it was really, really fun to bring him to this expo. He was a great help at the booth (My Mom and Dad have always been my best assets), but the best part was visiting where he grew up in El Cerrito. Here he is in front of 7708 Ricardo Court, where he lived when he was going to high school and when he married my Mom. My Grandfather, Alvin G Carpenter taught at UC Berkeley and they lived there for most of that time. It was nice to see the home was kept up and looked nice (even though the people who lived there had forgotten to close their garage. LOL)
Grandma and Grandpa also bought the house next door, later after my parents got married. The summer after I was born, they actually came home for the summer and I spent the summer living in this house next door. I wish I'd been old enough to enjoy the view. Both homes had an incredible view of the bay area, with views of both the bay bridge and the golden gate bridge. They were beautiful homes. I don't remember either house at all though because my grandparents followed my parents to Utah about the time I was 3 years old.
Dad had to go up and knock on the door, but even though the garage door was open and there were two cars there, no one came to the door. Dad was disappointed not to be able to meet the people who lived there now. It would have been nice to be able to thank them for taking good care of the house. Its funny how attached you can be to a house. It's sentimental to see it, and even though Dad doesn't have an attachment to it now, I kind of do. It's part of our history. I feel the same about the house I grew up in.

Then we went past Dad's high school. Dad was an El Cerrito Gaucho. In fact, he was student body president 50 years ago next year. The high school was actually rebuilt about 5 years ago. Dad was glad to see such a beautiful new building. We were there about the time that school let out and it was good to see so many nice, responsible looking kids. Dad ran in to the office, and bought a sweatshirt and blanket they had. "I was student body president here 50 years ago, do you have a sweatshirt I can buy? :-)" He's going to send one to his best friend from high school. It was good to see him having so much fun and to have so much with him. Dad reminisced alot about friends he had, and where everybody lived, and I got to listen to all sorts of stories. It is amazing to me how much different Dad's life, and thus my life could have been had small choices been different. Really makes you wonder about the grand scheme of things.

Best of all, I have a great new family history story/picture for the kids. Grandpa had to walk up some really steep hills to get home from school. Up high on the hillside in El Cerrito with great views, makes for some strenuous walks. Too bad it was only up hill one way. Up hill both ways would have gone better with the family legends.

Adding a member of the family

Happy 1 week Anniversary to my Little Sis!

My last sister to get married, Miss Emily, became Mrs. Emily Park last week on September 30th. It was the sweetest day I just have to blog about it. The two of them couldn't stop grinning, even when they were just standing around. My family of origin is now completely filled out. It still has me reeling to have our family change so much last year when my other two sisters got married. The family was the same for 16 years, and then all of the sudden over this last year there are three new members. But they've chosen well, and I really like these guys. Really, really like them.

The most beautiful thing is how happy Emily is. She was the most joyful looking bride I've ever seen. It is so good to see my little sis so blissful. Josh is a sweet compliment to her, and just as blissful. He is a great addition to our family. Emily kind of surprised us. She has dated lots and lots of guys over the years, some for a long time. With Josh, they only started dating a little while ago, and once they knew it was right they were only engaged for 8 weeks. It was fast, but I trust that she knew what she was looking for, and she knew when she had found it. And I can already see that Josh is a perfect match for her.
So there are now 5 amazing men who have been brave enough to marry the 5 sisters in my family. I have to show you the picture (above) that we took a couple of weeks ago when we were taking family pictures. They were all standing there looking at their phones, while we were putting the picture together, and it was such a perfect capture of their essence that we went ahead and staged the picture this way. (Apparently Colin (left) has AT&T :-) I think this is my all time favorite picture anywhere. It is amazing that we found 5 guys courageous enough to take us on. (And look how we've turned them all grey already :-)

The formidable women of my family.

Emily is so creative and the whole wedding had a beautiful, classy, inspired feel to it. When I heard she was organizing everything in purples and greys and yellow, I thought that sounded kind of different, but everything was so beautiful. Kristen and I stood around wishing we had had purple themed weddings too. Especially when my favorite color is purple anyway.



And when she decided that she wanted a roof of parasols over the whole garden, I think we all wondered how that was going to work. (Especially my Dad.) But it was the hit of the evening. Josh and his friends spent 2 days putting it together for her. It was such a sweet tribute to his love for her. And when the lights went on it was spectacular. A beautiful frame for such a lovely evening with so many family and friends. It was of course so fun to get to see everyone I love so much.

And of course we did a bunch of giclees for them, I didn't get alot of pictures of all the prints but of course they were gorgeous. Like Amy, (Emily's twin) they looked like they should have been in a Bridal Magazine.

A great time was had by all. I love weddings. I love being able to see everyone. I wish we could have one every day. But I suppose they wouldn't be so special then.

New Blank Charts

A Gallery of Our New Blank Charts

You can order them, and all our other blank charts, for 1/2 off this week at www.generationmaps.com.

New Blank Charts and 4 Weeks of Sales

October is Sale Month at Generation Maps
We are launching new products and giving you a chance to stock up for the holidays. We know November is traditionally the time to be thankful, but we are so grateful for our wonderful clients that we've decided to jump the gun a little and declare October "Sale Month" for Generation Maps. Four of our biggest are coming this month. Thanks for your continued support.

• For this week--October 4th through the 10th, we have wonderful new blank charts we want to show off. So the first week of October blank charts are going to be 50% off. Just enter the code 1BC101050 at checkout.

If you were signed up for our newsletter you would know all about the other sales coming for each of the other weeks in October. Or you can watch here. I'll keep you informed.

Give us a call (801)836-6748 or drop us a line at info@generationmaps.com if we can help you place your order. We love helping you show off your family history. This month you'll also be able to save money off our already fabulous prices while you do it.

What we did over summer vacation: Our own family get togethers

Besides printing lots and lots of family reunion charts for other families, we got to go to a couple of our own family reunions this summer.

The first one was a family reunion for my Great Grandfather's family, Joseph Hatten Carpenter.
J. Hatten was my patriarchal great-grandfather, my father's father's father. He immigrated from England in 1886 via Australia and settled in Utah. He married my great-grandmother Matilda S. Alder June 12, 1889. He was a banker who spoke French, German, Spanish and Greek and kept a journal that he wrote in most every day of his life--a collection of 34 volumes until he died at the age of 103. It is probably from him that I have the family history gene. He wrote back and forth to England and Switzerland (his wife's lines) and collected records for 40,177 people who he pieced together without the aid of computers or even copy machines. We have 18 books of his genealogy work that as a family we are working together to digitize. He was a member of the National Genealogical Society, a Fellow of the Institute of American Genealogy, a member of the Society of Genealogists of London, and the Genealogical Society of Utah. I hope he would be proud to see me as Vice President of UGA now.

My cousin Mark Carpenter put together a wonderful family reunion. The great thing about this reunion was that it was in the small town where he settled and the place my Grandfather was born--Manti, Utah. I got to take my children to visit the places they lived and worked, and being a small town, things don't seem to have changed much. We went to the church my grandparents attended and had a nice picnic in the park. It was fun to watch the kids launch rockets with Mark's air compressor. Good to be able to get together with these cousins.


Then, just a couple of weeks ago, we got together with my mother's side of the family. Descendants of Viola Schwendiman and Douglas Romney. Not as much family history going on there but more making family history. We got my Mom out on the tube behind the boat, and I've never seen her having such a great time. She was laughing and kept yelling "I'm having the time of my life." She was so cute.

I did have one fabulous family history find at this get together though. My mother showed us a video of her great-grandparents at a family reunion in Idaho in 1938. I had no idea she had it. Unbelieveable. It is so amazing to have video of your family this old. My great-grandmother's brother was in his 20s at the time and has always been interested in movies and videos--ended up selling for JVC as a career. So he recorded this movie, and then later transferred it to video with an audio he had of the brothers singing. Now we are digitizing it to distribute it further. (A good lesson in how important migration is. I don't know where I'd get an 8mm film projector now.) Here is a part of the video. I love how they are playing lawn hockey with suits on at the park. My great great grandfather is one of the men in suits. And the Swiss songs on the audio are so sweet. A little later in the video he has still pictures of them with audio of each of the brother's talking and telling stories from their lives. It is so amazing to hear your great great grandfather laughing. I'll let you know when we get all the pieces posted to youtube.

What we did over summer vacation: Getting back into the groove.

We've done some fun races again this summer. Laurie and Kristy Buzbee and I have had some great fun practicing and participating in some biking and triathlon events.

We did one, two triathlons a couple of years ago. But last year I injured my knee and got to cheer Laurie and Kristy on instead of getting involved. Having participated, watching triathlons are really fun, but it makes you anxious to get going again.

So this year I injured my shoulder and was really frustrated at the first of the year. (Yes I'm getting old and falling apart.) I'm a horrible swimmer to start with and when you add a bad shoulder, it's impossible. With other health issues compounding the problems, it was a struggle this year but I persevered. No records were set but we had a great time. And I'm ready to keep moving into a better year next year.

I like the low-key easy going races. In July we did the Tour de Donut. In this fun race you do three laps, and in between each lap you get to eat donuts. 3 minutes are deducted from your time for each donut eaten so the winners actually end up with negative times. I didn't have any donuts--didn't sound good to me with the biking but it makes for a really fun atmosphere.

We did another biathlon in Laurie's neighborhood which went well. She lives in a beautiful area. I made the mistake of stopping to check my bike and telling Laurie I'd catch up. Won't do that again.
And last weekend we did the Share a Smile triathlon. I didn't actually do the swim, so it was a biathlon for me, but that was great because then we could do the bike and run (read: walk) together. I don't know if I'll ever try to do a triathlon in the morning and give 2 lectures at a genealogy conference in the afternoon again (Sandy Family History Expo)--my brain was pretty fried. But it felt good. And it was the best reaction ever was when Christy Fillerup asked how it had gone that morning and I moved my sweater to show her the number they had written on my arm. I said "Went well. Have the body art to prove it." And next to her, A.C. Ivory got this funny look on his face and said, "What *DID* you do this morning?" Priceless.

I so love biking, and Kim and I have enjoyed lots of walks together this summer. We live in a great place with lots of trails around and it gives us a good break from the computers where we can talk about plans for the company. And all summer I've been working on "Killer Hill" by my house for bike practices. I took some pictures for you this morning. "Killer hill" is just before the mouth of the canyon going up to the right in this first picture. I've seen people go up that hill and always thought that would be the ultimate if I could do that. I'm happy to report that Killer Hill has now been conquered by Janet Hovorka. Oh yeah.

What we did over summer vacation: developing curriculum for Salt Lake Community College.

I spent some time this summer getting ready for my workshops at SLCC this fall. I'm teaching two sets of workshops.

1) the Genealogy Classes:
All workshops are held on Thursdays at the SLCC Miller Campus in MPDC 118, 5:30 pm - 7:20 pm. Cost $20 More Information and Registration.

• September 9th and September 16th Comparing Genealogy Software Programs. Class compares PAF & Family Insight, RootsMagic, Legacy Family Tree, Ancestral Quest, Family Tree Maker & the Master Genealogist. Learn about the advantages and disadvantages of each so that you can find one that fits your needs.
• September 23rd and September 30th Making New FamilySearch easier with certified genealogy software programs. Learn which genealogy software companies are working with New FamilySearch, and the advantages of using certified software.
• October 21st and October 28th The New FamilySearch Affiliate Program. Learn about the New FamilySearch Affiliate program, which genealogy companies are working with New FamilySearch (other than desktop software companies).
• November 4th Social Networking for the Genealogist. Learn how to use various social networking applications such as blogging, facebook, twitter, videos, podcasts, etc to connect with other genealogists.
• November 18th Introduction to Genealogy Resources on the Internet. Learn about subscription and free websites available for family history research, as well as how to evaluate & record information found on the internet using genealogy standards for source citations.

2) the Social Media Marketing Classes:

Whether you are a large business seeking to engage your consumer base, a small business looking for an inexpensive way to market, or an individual looking for a date, a mate, or a job, Social Media can change the way you interact with your world and make you more successful. In this set of classes, students will gain experience with 6 kinds of social media and learn about the new rules of marketing. The level playing field for social interaction applies to everyone from corporate entities to individuals.

Mode of Instruction: Each session has two parts of direct instruction and then two parts of guided practice. The first ½ hour of the class will be instruction and demonstration on a social media technology. In the second ½ hour, students will gain hands on experience in the technology for that session. The third ½ hour will be spent discussing marketing concepts that apply to social networking. And the fourth ½ hour will be spent on action items regarding the marketing concepts introduced.

1. September 14th Blogging and Social Media Community Rules, Social Capital/Whuffie
2. September 21st Facebook and Twitter, and How to stand out in the social media crowd
3. September 28th Podcasts, and How to reach out to create more social media contacts
4. October 5th Youtube, and Finding social media communities
5. October 12th Webinars, and Creating a marketing strategy, Evaluating ROI, R&D using Social Media
6. October 19th Newsletters and Integrating the technologies together, Time management for Social Networking.

To sign up for the social media classes,contact Kathy Jonsson at 801-957-5383, or email her at kathy.jonsson(at)slcc.edu. These workshops are held on Tuesdays at the SLCC Miller Campus in MPDC 118, 5:30 pm - 7:20 pm. Cost $20

What we did over summer vacation: UGA is blossoming

I've been working alot at my job as Vice President of the Utah Genealogical Association this summer too. UGA is coming into a Renaissance with alot of exciting happenings going on. I'm so enjoying my duties there and the associations I get to have. I've learned 200% more this year about myself as a genealogist by becoming more involved in UGA.

Here are some of the goings on: (with thanks to A.C. Ivory for his contributions to the newsletter.)

• Fall Membership Meeting

Come join us for a fun night filled with food, fun, and friends! The annual membership meeting will be held October 19, 2010 at 7pm at The Gathering Place in Gardner Village (1100 West 7800 South, West Jordan, UT).
We will be launching our brand new UGA Virtual Chapter! Tickets are available for purchase on the UGA website. Plates are $25 per person with a choice of either Gardner Chicken, Pan Seared Salmon, or Vegetarian/Special Needs Meal.

• Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy

Planning for the well-respected SLIG conference is underway and the conference is filling faster than it did last year so you'll want to get signed up right away. (Kudos to Dean Hunter and Adele Marcum and their team). The 2011 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy will be held 10-14 Jan 2011 in Salt Lake City, Utah at the downtown Radisson Hotel located at 215 West South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah.

2011 SLIG Course Descriptions.
2011 SLIG Evening Course Descriptions.
2011 SLIG Course Instructors.

SLIG Course Registration fees: $320 by 30 October 2010, thereafter $345. UGA members will receive a coupon for member pricing. All coupons used by members will be verified by membership staff. Includes course materials, an orientation breakfast and the Friday night banquet. Evening classes and additional dinner tickets are extra. To register, click here.

Hotel: SLIG participants are encouraged to stay at the Radisson Downtown using the "UGA" promotional code after selecting the arrival/departure dates. Discounted rooms are limited so be sure to sign up soon!

For more information, visit the UGA Website.

• Publicity

And speaking of the website, the publicity committee is going strong consolidating UGA's branding and social networking avenues. They've designed a beautiful new logo and branding look, and the board recently approved the move of all UGA internet interests being registered under UGAgenealogy and the new tagline of Education*Networking*Preservation to express what we do. Kudos to Heather Henderson and her team.

Conferences
If you missed us at the Sandy Family History Expo last week, come see us at the following conferences that are coming up!

1. Ogden Family History Conference September 11, 2010 Weber State University
2. ICAPGEN Conference October 22-23, 2010 Salt Lake City Downtown Radisson Hotel

UGA Is Going Social
You might have noticed within the last week that UGA has a new Facebook page. Along with a new Facebook page UGA is going to be rolling out with a whole new line of social media including Twitter, GenealogyWise, and many more. Be sure to watch the newsletter and on Facebook for further announcements.

UGA Membership Survey
UGA will be sending out a short survey to the members this week and we would really appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to help us understand our members and what they want to help them with their genealogy research. If you don't get one--you need to sign up to be a member. We want to know what you are looking for in a genealogy society and we want to be there to fill that need.

• Education

The Education Committee has been working on a Virtual Chapter that will be launching later this year as well as an Intermediate Genealogist Education Program. We will soon have a virtual delivery system that will not only facilitate the virtual chapter and education program, but also long distance meetings and chapter speakers. Kudos to Barry Ewell and his team.

• Crossroads

The UGA Crossroads Journal is being polished up and ready to be sent. If you haven't seen a copy of this beautiful, well respected journal, you're missing a great resource on genealogy best practices, Utah history and the happenings of the genealogy community. Yours truly has a fun new article in it that is a precursor to some lectures I'll be presenting next year. But you'll have to subscribe to get it. Kudos to Christy Fillerup for all her hard work and to the committee for their great publication.

• Get Involved!

Are you interested in getting more involved with UGA? UGA is looking for a Historian as well as Membership/Chapter Committees. For more info, contact me.

• Chapter Meetings

The Salt Lake Chapter is starting again to have monthly meetings. Be sure to keep an eye out for upcoming meeting dates on the newsletter, facebook, and the blog! If you are interested in starting a chapter meeting in your area, contact Christy at christy.fillerup(at)gmail.com. A chapter is also being organized in Cedar City. To join contact Pamela at pdchatfield(at)gmail.com

What we did over summer vacation: Conferences (read: Parties :-)

So one of the last things that I wrote, that has been nagging at me all summer, was that I would keep you posted on what happened at the Southern California Genealogy Society Conference. Well, that conference has come and gone, along with many others. Oh what a blast we have had. It is so fun to get out and go to conferences and meet with you. It always energizes us.

SCGS is always such a blast. The bloggers that we get to hang out with there are a party. And you can never have too much bling in Burbank so we have way too much fun. Apparently I need to be looking for a tiara for next year--let me know if you have a good source. It is good to see all the bloggers, and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Kim and our son Adam went to Colorado without me this time. Adam is now taller than me, and smarter than me on the computer, and I'm sure he's cuter than me too--so that sounded like a good idea. I missed seeing everyone there, but the younger kids had an opportunity to be in a parade here at home and we couldn't pass that up. (Sometimes it is hard to balance doing family history with making family history :-) We have been showing off Family ChArtist and the feedback has been good. People are always amazed at how quick and easy it is to put together a chart and that the 8.5x11s are free. We've done alot of tweaking over the course of the summer and still have more to do. We'd love to hear any suggestions you have.

Last year conferences were all about running into new online friends. They are now all great old friends. But one of the greatest things about conferences this summer was running into old friends from real life. This is a picture of Lorna Rice and I from SCGS. She was my Primary School teacher when I was only 5 years old. Apparently I look enough the same that she recognized me ?!? No, her daughter had been reading my blog and they recognized some of my writings about my family. It was so fun to see her and even more fun to see that she was a genealogist.

And then there were all the people I accosted for help with the Utah Genealogical Association. Gena Ortega has been a great help, and A.C. Ivory (both below) has been such an energy with the Salt Lake Chapter and the Publicity Committee. If you are interested and I haven't gotten a hold of you yet, let me know. UGA is doing some fantastic things--but I'll save that for another blog post.

The BYU conference a couple of weeks ago was great as well. There were several wonderful new presentations on the future of FamilySearch and how to deal with this new database. We had planned to split up with BYU and the Kansas City Expo both being the same week, but orders were coming in so thick that we had to make sure we could take care of customers. So we decided to stick with the conference closer to home. We were sorry to miss out on the event (and the barbeque) in KC, but I am happy to report that we did get every order out this summer by the time the person needed it. Thanks to all the extra help we've had--Erin has been a lifesaver. She has taken to reading my mind now and I don't know where we got so lucky to find someone like her.

And so on to the next conference (ahem, party). We set up this Thursday for the Salt Lake Family History Expo. Holly says, "Kids are going back to school. Now's the time to think about what you can do to improve your genealogy skills. One way to do that is by attending an Expo where you can hear genealogical experts present on techniques to help you break down your brick walls. You can meet with vendors and learn about new products and websites. You can ask a professional genealogist for help on your toughest research question at the Ask-the-Pros booth. You can network with other researchers and maybe even meet a new cousin." And of course come see us at the Generation Maps booth and say Hi.

And then if you are in Ogden Utah on September 11th, or Pleasanton California on October 8th and 9th, or at the ICAPGEN conference in Salt Lake on October 22nd and 23rd, come say hi there too.

What we did over summer vacation: work work work :-)

I'm officially a binge blogger now. Orders got so thick this summer that the blogging had to take a rest. It was a fantastic summer for us though and we helped tons of people display their family history. I'll catch you up on what we've been doing in the next couple of posts.

Here are a few of the comments we have enjoyed:

• I wish you could have seen and heard my wife's expression when she saw the chart with her family.
• Thank you so much for your efforts, especially over such a busy weekend. The chart is beautiful and will be very well received at the Iowa reunion on July 10. I’m hoping that many of the younger ones will look at it, study it, and leave with a better understanding of relationships. I will soon be 72 years of age and wish that something like this would have been available in the 1940s when I was a youngster. You are performing a wonderful service. The results of your work will live on for decades and decades.
• Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have been holding my breath since I ordered the 11’ X 3’ wall chart for our family reunion. It arrived earlier than I expected and it is beautiful. The quality is so much better than we had thought it would be. This was worth every penny. All of our work is now ready for the family to enjoy.
• The charts arrived. We love them and I can't wait to show my mother in law. Thanks sooo much for a wonderful job.

It's been funny. With the launch of Family ChArtist, we weren't sure how our company would change, but there has been even more requests for custom charts and descendant charts than ever before. Probably because we are the one place where you can have a genealogy chart designed just the way you want it--every time. And family reunion season is always great for us. We love doing those huge inexpensive charts that help you gather more information at the big family get together or the beautiful family representations that help everyone envision their history with lots of pictures.

I so enjoy helping people bring their family closer together. As busy as we've been this summer, I can't imagine working on anything more fulfilling. We love being able to help you show off your family.

Come see us in sunny CA

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.
If you're goin my way, I wanna ride it all night long.
--Rascal Flatts

Crank up the tunes. It's conference season again.
--Janet

We're on the road again. Life is sweet. While not as inventive as the RootsMagic Guys, I do still have a couple of pictures for you for as hint about where we are going. I have sweet family history there--so it's like I'm going home. I've talked about this before. I don't have to go quite as far as Lisa Alzo (she's in Slovakia and slept in her great-grandfather's house last night. I'm so excited for her. I'm sure she'll be blogging about it when she gets back.)

7878 Naylor Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90045. That's where my mother grew up. And that's where I spent the best part of my summers as a child. We'd leave poor Dad working and take off for long stretches of the summer to my Maternal Grandparent's house. I learned to rollerskate on the bumpy sidewalk out in front. We watched Winnie the Pooh videos in the back bedroom, and there is not a sound I would love more to hear today than my grandfather singing "yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me" again.

Mom was the ultimate beach babe. She went to summer school so that she and her friends could walk to the beach afterward. My best claim to fame has always been that Mom went to high school with the Turtles and sang in accapella choir with them. Beach Boys music is our family soundtrack but when I told Mom I was going to write about her Gidget days she said "whatever." Yeah. She's still got some Gidget in her.
My grandparents moved from there in 1989, but I can still smell the jasmine outside the kitchen window, wonder what the can of hominy was in the pantry, taste the bottled water that was delivered once a week, and feel Grandpa's favorite coconut cookies that stayed soft in the humidity. I even remember the zip code though I often can't remember my phone number.

One of the four generations who've ridden the Santa Monica Pier Carousel.

Today though, we have new great memories of LA. It is the site of the Southern California Genealogy Society Conference every June which has become a mecca for the blogger community. I get to see all the wonderful friends that I talk to on facebook, twitter, genealogywise and the blogs. It is alot like a family reunion, catching up with people you don't get to see enough.

I am doing 3 classes. If you are around the So. Cal area I'd love to see you at the Burbank Marriott. I'm teaching How to Interest Your Family In Their Family History from 3-4pm on Friday. Digital Archiving from 8:30-9:30 Saturday morning, and Easy Online Genealogy Chart Creation with Family ChArtist from 2-3 on Sunday. And of course Kim and I will be at the booth too. Come say Hi.

Lisa Louise Cooke sent me this too:
Hi Janet,

Hope you're doing great. I just wanted to send you a quick note and see if you would be wiling to let your readers know about the free live Genealogy Gems Podcast <www.genealogygems.com> we'll be presenting at Jamboree on Sat. June 12 at 1:00 in the Pavilion. I've got some great guests lined up:

• Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective
• Suzanne Russo Adams, Ancestry talking about her research on Who Do You Think You Are?
• Chris Haley

I put together a 2 minute video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlZM_Xjcrwk

We're going to be giving away lots of very cool prizes throughout the show too!

And Daniel Horowitz is back on his West Coast Genealogy Tour II. You can
learn the latest technology developments going on at My Heritage and receive a FREE copy of the software "Family Tree Builder" at his lectures.

It's going to be a blast. I'll keep you posted with pictures and such.

Another FamilySearch award for Generation Maps

While I was too exhausted to write much after BYU and NGS (5 lectures in two days and 2 booths and 3 conferences in the overlapping 5 days) there is one thing I MUST tell you about. We are one of the very few companies now to hold TWO (count 'em TWO) FamilySearch software awards. Press release follows.

For Immediate Release

19 May 2010

2010 FamilySearch Software Award Recipients Announced

SALT LAKE CITY—Recipients of the 2010 FamilySearch Software Awards were announced at the FamilySearch Developers Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 14 recipients were recognized for their outstanding and innovative work in advancing products and technologies that integrate with FamilySearch’s emerging suite of products and services.

The annual FamilySearch Software Awards has been established to encourage and recognize software development that benefits the growing demands and needs of family history consumers. “The awards formally recognize the software achievements of those developers and companies that are making important contributions to the family history and genealogy industry,” said Gordon Clarke, FamilySearch developer services product manager.

The Best New Product awards were given to applicants in different platform categories. Products with specific features deemed important to the growth of the industry received the Best New Feature award. Community Player awards recognized individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the software developer community.

The following recipients were announced and awards presented at the FamilySearch Developers Conference:

Best New Product Awards

· The MagiKey for the “Best New Windows” product

· Arcalife for the “Best New Web site”

· MobileTree for “Best New Mobile” product

· FamilyInsight for “Best New Macintosh” product

Best New Feature Awards

· OurFamilogy for “Best Research” feature

· SharingTime for “Best Collaboration” feature

· Genetree for “Best DNA” feature

· Ancestral Hunt for the “Best Geo-Mapping” feature

· FamilyPursuit for the “Best Groups” feature

· Photoloom for the “Best Media” feature

· FamilyChArtist for the “Best Print” feature

· AppleTree for the “Best Celebrity Tree” feature

Community Player Awards

· Gaylon Finlay, Incline Software, “Bug Hunter” award

· Michael Booth and Bruce Buzbee, Roots Magic, “Trailblazer” award

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons can access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Catching up

Well apparently I'm a binge blogger lately. It's all Sheri Fenley's fault. At NGS she happened to show me that she hadn't posted for a while and I thought, "Well if the great Shirley has her quiet moments, I probably should too." You have to watch out for us blondes. LOL. Now I need a picture of a bottle of ketchup like the Ancestry Insider uses.

Really, it was a mixture of doing some writing (articles and the start of a book (!?!)), doing some reading (below), some minor health problems (just annoying), not to mention the exhaustion of doing the BYU and NGS conferences back to back. A great time was had by all, and we're all rested up and back on track. And of course Generation Maps is busy as usual. If you haven't gotten your family reunion chart in to us for this summer, be sure to get it in soon. It's already shaping up to be a great season.

Among other things, I read Elizabeth Shown Mills historical fiction work Isle of Canes. I haven't looked at how other reviewers treated it, but I was extremely impressed. I don't know that the writing flowed all that terribly well, but it was an impressive example of professional genealogy work. Though it was a work of fiction, you could tell the massive amounts of research that had gone into the book. She knew the people, she knew the neighbors, she knew all the surrounding information and she knew it well enough to make you care deeply about these people. It was a beautiful, heart-wrenching story. Amazing book and incredible genealogy investigation.

I've also been working on UGA projects. Here is a quick update on some of those:

1)SLIG registration opens June 10th

Get in on the ground floor. Registration for the 2011 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy opens at 9 AM MST Thursday, June 10, 2010 online at www.inofuga.org. Some of the country’s best genealogical educators are gathering to help you gain expertise in a flash with small class sizes and hands-on research. Whether you are a beginner or are looking for advanced skills, you can’t afford to miss this wonderful opportunity to learn from the experts. Register early as all class are expected to fill to capacity.

The 2011 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy will be held 10-14 Jan 2011 at the downtown Radisson Hotel located at 215 West South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah. Registration is $320 before 30 October 2010, thereafter $345. UGA members can use the coupon “SLIG2011” before October 30^th for the member pricing of $280. All coupons used by members will be verified by membership staff. Registration includes course materials, an orientation breakfast and the Friday night banquet. Evening classes and additional dinner tickets are extra.

Courses for 2011 include:

• American Records and Research: Focusing on Localities with Paula Stuart-Warren, CG
• NEHGS part1 --New England and New York with D. Joshua Taylor
• Irish Family History Research with David Ouimette, CG
• Research of France and her Former Colonies with Earl Charvet
• Researching in Washington, DC, without Leaving Home with Rick and Pam Sayre, CG, CGL
• Professional Paths and Income in Genealogy with Kory Meyerink, MLS, AG, FUGA
• Internet Tools & Techniques with Barbara Renick
• Producing a Quality Family Narrative with John Philip Colletta, Ph.D., FUGA
• Advanced Methodology with Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA
• Accreditation and Certification with Apryl Cox, AG and Connie Lenzen, CG
• Problem Solving with Judith Hansen, MLS, AG

and 2)Hold the date. Mark your calendar October 15th 2010 for our UGA membership meeting and open house gala. This banquet will launch our 40^th anniversary renaissance year with the first meeting of our new virtual chapter so plan to attend online even if you can’t be in Salt Lake City. Along with dinner and a speaker, there will be displays and discussions about our new Speaker’s Bureau, the new Intermediate Genealogist Education Program, and our new chapter initiatives as well as many other activities to launch us into the next steps in UGA’s history. More information will be forthcoming.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Top eight sites to see.

So. To wrap it all up, out of all the suggestions I've given you, what do you really need to see to experience Salt Lake City?

• Temple Square and the Beehive House. Likewise the Church History museum. All right next to the FHL
• Since it is spring, you have to drive down and see Thanksgiving Point and the tulips (Alternately, if you come back in the fall you need to drive the Alpine Loop.)
• Second South tour that I talked about earlier.
• This is the Place
• Kennecott Bingham Copper Mine
• And you can't come to Salt Lake without going out to see the Great Salt Lake, duh. Antelope Island is a unique place to explore.
• Also check out the Humanitarian Center of the LDS church.
• and there is still skiing at Snowbird.

Thanks to my social networking class for the ideas.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Bringing the Family

So what is there to do if you are bringing the family? I hope you are--and I hope you have signed up for the Kids Camp that is going on on Saturday. It is my passion in life to envelop my children in the larger picture--an extended family, and teach them about their heritage. And what better way than to bring them to a genealogy conference?

So--since I am telling you about traveling to Salt Lake, what is there for the family to do in and around the conference?

Two great resources are one trax stop, or about a two block walk west from the conference over at the Gateway Center. The Clark Planetarium is a favorite of our family's. There are interactive displays about the planets, laser shows and an Imax theatre, but my kids' favorite is "Newton's Daydream," a two story audio-kinetic maze of balls and bells and whistles that you can interact with. Exhibits are free, times and prices for the shows are at the website.

Likewise at the Gateway Center is the children's museum known as the Discovery Gateway. This museum is perfect for the 5-10 year old crowd, but all ages can find something interesting here. There is an interactive town with a store, farm and house and construction zone, a play area "beehive" of interactive ball chutes, a media center where kids can produce a newscast, a story telling stage with puppets and costumes, and much much more. Hours are Monday - Thursday 10 am - 6 pm, Friday and Saturday 10 am - 8 pm, and Sunday Noon - 6 pm. General admission is $8.50

Up emigration canyon on the eastern side of Salt Lake City, Hogle Zoo covers 42 acres with over 800 animals. This is the perfect time of year to visit the zoo--not to hot or cold, and lots of baby animals. If you are sticking around until May 15th, a new exhibit called "Natures Nightmares" is opening with all sorts of "scary" animals. Don't know if I'm going to go see that one (I'm typically squeamish) but of course you should ;-).

I already talked about the Tracy Aviary, located on seven wooded acres of Liberty Park, it is the nation's oldest public aviary. This bird park hosts a collection of 400 birds including many endangered species. During the summer guests can see a free-flying bird show and hand feed colorful parrots at the Lory Walk exhibit. Admission is nominal and all proceeds benefit the birds. Open year-round. 589 East 1300 South. 801-596-8500.

My all time favorite places to take the kids though are the historical sites I already listed for you. This Is The Place Heritage Park, The Beehive House, and the Heber Creeper. I hope as I spend time with them, and invest them in their history, they will become genealogists too. Good luck creating your own genealogical descendants.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Day Trip Provo

I've already told you about the Family History Library at BYU and the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. I'm going to give you a few other places to make a day trip out of Utah County. I think the Family History Library and the gardens would be the perfect day. So I'm pretty much just going to give you a few places to eat.

Thanksgiving Point has a really good restaurant called the Harvest Restaurant. It has fresh good food and the walls of the restaurant are painted with fun "trompe l'oeil" art on the walls. Right next to Thanksgiving Point is another favorite burger place--JCW's. A little further south on the BYU campus is the Museum of Art Cafe. The Cafe is only open from 11 to 2 for lunches, but they have wonderful salads and an amazing cold raspberry soup. Other fun places to stop include Cabelas where you can see the wildlife displays and aquariums and dine on buffalo or ostrich at the High Uintas grill. And if you ever come later in the fall, the most beautiful place on earth to see the leaves change is the Alpine Loop drive between American Fork Canyon (stop and see Timpanogos Cave) and Provo Canyon (home of Sundance Ski Resort).

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Day Trip Park City

Although Dear Myrtle already posted a bit about Park City's Historical Museum, I thought I would add my $.02.

Park City makes a fun day trip from Salt Lake. The ski areas have just closed for the season, but there are still lots of fun attractions to visit. The Olympic Park has tours and rides and a fun zip line that opens May 8th, the Tanger Factory Outlet is a great place for shopping deals and Main Street is a good place to wander through art galleries and especially enjoy the nightlife. Park City is about a 40 minute drive up Parley's Canyon on the I-80 freeway.

If you go, you have to eat at Stein Erickson or Grub Steak, both pricey but absolutely legendary.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--Day Trip Ogden

Ogden is about a 45 minute drive north on the I-15 freeway. I suppose I'm partial to Ogden for a family history day trip because my maternal grandfather's parents settled in Ogden for a time. But it has an amazing railroad history that is most fascinating. You can take the FrontRunner train up to Ogden in about 45 minutes and it will drop you off just a block or so from the Union Station. In 1869 when the transcontinental railroad was connected at Promontory Utah, Ogden became the central hub of transportation in the intermountain west. The station is not in use for trains anymore but houses three interesting museums: the John M Browning Firearms Museum, The Utah State Railroad Museum and the Browning-Kimball Classic Car museum. The station is open Monday-Saturday 10am to 5 pm and admission for all three museums is $5.

Or, if you would rather learn about Airplane history, make the stop on the way up to Ogden at Hill Air Force base and visit the Hill Aerospace Museum. The museum boasts one of the largest collections of vintage aircraft with over 90 military aircraft and military aerospace vehicles. Exhibits take you through the dawn of the airplane and the history of the Air Force with interesting stories about the people who were involved. The museum is open 9:30 am to 4:00 pm seven days a week and admission is free but donations are appreciated.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--What's Playing Now?

I know you are all going to be busy with the multitude of events surrounding the conference. But I thought I'd let you in on a couple of the other events going on in Salt Lake next week.

• The Temptations are at the Abravanel Hall next weekend right next to the Family History Library and the Salt Palace.
• 42nd Street is playing at the Pioneer Theatre Company up at the University of Utah.
• Hale Centre Theatre--a local favorite theater in the round--is showing The Three Musketeers.
• If Thursday night's performance leaves you wanting for more, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has several other events including organ recitals and their longest-running network television program Music and the Spoken Word started in 1929.
• The Salt Lake Acting Company is performing Charm.
• Pirates of the Car-Rib-eee-An Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Fun is being performed by the ever comical Desert Star Playhouse.
• Regular movies can be seen downtown at the Mexaplex 12 at the Gateway Shopping Center.
• And various other art shows and concerts can be found at the Now Playing Utah website.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--the weather/what should I pack.

We've been getting hit with erratic spring showers today. At one point the hail looked like snowballs on the windshield, then 10 minutes later it was a light shower. Common for spring, they don't last very long.

According to the weather channel, I have good news for Sheri. By this Saturday there are no more plans for showers. So Sheri, you might want to bring a sweater or a light jacket for cold classrooms and late night walks. But you can leave your coats and probably your umbrella at home. That should leave you more room for shoes. :-)

And Dick, I guess you have more room for electronics, and Randy you should be able to fit in more t-shirts. See you soon.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--The Beautiful Mountains

The first thing you notice when you come to Salt Lake City is our beautiful mountains. You can see on this great satellite picture that they surround the Salt Lake Valley with the Great Salt Lake (and Antelope Island) in the Northwest corner of the valley. Downtown Salt Lake is in the Northern part of the valley and the suburbs stretch out to the south. You can see on the satellite image the I-15 main freeway corridor stretching through the middle of the valley (the white line) and down before you come to Utah Lake is the Point of the Mountain where the mountains come together before heading down into Utah Valley.

Salt Lake sits on the western edge of the Rockies. The mountains provide great opportunities for recreation such as rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking and of course skiing. The highest mountain in the valley is Twin Peaks, which reaches 11,330 feet. This stretch of mountains with it's cities to the North of Salt Lake (Bountiful, Layton, Ogden, etc.) and it's cities to the South of Salt Lake (Alpine, Orem, Provo, etc.) are commonly called the "Wasatch front." The Oquirrh mountains that border the western edge of the valley are the home to Kennecott Copper Mine, the largest copper mine in the world. You can always tell where you are on the Wasatch front because the big mountains are to the East and the smaller mountains (the Oquirrh mountains) are to the west. And in fact once you spend a bit of time on the Wasatch front, you miss that instant location guide when you leave.

The main part of the valley is just over 100 square miles. City Creek, Emigration, Millcreek, Parley's, Big Cottonwood, and Little Cottonwood are the main canyons that stretch off to the East. Several of them are full of ski resorts. You can tell if the valley was cut by a stream or by a glacier by looking to see if the mouth of the canyon comes to a v or a u. U shaped canyons were cut by glaciers and V shaped canyons were cut by the river.

The valley was formed by Lake Bonneville, ancient lake that stretched out to the West. The foothills at the base of the mountains, or locally called the "benches," were once the beaches of this huge lake. At its largest, it was almost as large as Lake Michigan. Eventually though, the lake dried up and what is left of it is now the Great Salt Lake. Lake Bonneville's former beaches are now exclusive properties for homes with a sweeping view of the valley--especially beautiful at night.

Elevation in the valley is 4,330 feet/1,320 meters above sea level. There is usually clean fresh air except for when clouds get trapped up against the mountain and create an inversion. High elevation makes it harder to breathe while you are exercising (making it a great place for athletes to train) and alcohol has a stronger effect. It is good to drink more water to help with elevation adjustment. And you should add a little more flour to cakes so that they rise right. The valley isn't high enough to cause any real altitude problems in travelers.

I love being able to look up at the snow capped mountains when the summer starts to heat up. There will still be snow at the top when you arrive making the view just beautiful. But you'll be able to enjoy the warm spring weather and beautiful plants starting to wake up in the valley below.

Janet's Guide to Salt Lake City--When are you leaving?

The registrations for NGS look great and we are exited to have lots of people coming from everywhere. While we have driven and flown many of these distances to meet with you, here are some mileage estimates for you since you are coming our way this time.

• New York City to Salt Lake City is about 2190 miles
• Oklahoma City to Salt Lake City is about 1100 miles
• St Louis to Salt Lake City is about 1360 miles
• San Diego to Salt Lake City is about 760 miles
• Seattle to Salt Lake City is about 850 miles
• Phoenix to Salt Lake City is about 650 miles
• Nashville to Salt Lake City is about 1700 miles
• Las Vegas to Salt Lake City is about 420 miles
• Grand Junction to Salt Lake City is about 290 miles
• Detroit to Salt Lake City is about 1670 miles
• El Paso to Salt Lake City is about 870 miles
• Houston to Salt Lake City is about 1440 miles
• Kansas City to Salt Lake City is about 1110 miles
• Columbus to Salt Lake City is about 1680 miles
• Cheyenne to Salt Lake City is about 440 miles
• Boston to Salt Lake City is about 2380 miles
• Atlanta to Salt Lake City is about 1930 miles
• Billings to Salt Lake City is about 640 miles
• Boise to Salt Lake City is about 340 miles
• Albuquerque to Salt Lake City is about 600 miles
• Anchorage to Salt Lake City is about 3416 miles
• Ottawa to Salt Lake City is about 2957 miles
• Vancouver to Salt Lake City is about 1292 miles
• Toronto to Salt Lake City is about 1671 miles

I actually love driving and getting to see the sites along the way. If you aren't so inclined, I hope you are flying. But if you are driving, there is another great list of driving distances from many of the western national and state parks.

We're vacuuming the red carpet. We'll see you soon.