Giclée--Final sale for the Month of October

Starting today, October 25th through the 31st. Canvas Giclee will be 50% off the last week of October. Submit your picture of your favorite trick-or-treaters, or any other family or family history picture. We'll print you a beautiful art piece to enjoy for many years to come. Just enter the code 3CG103150 at check out.

A giclée(zhee-CLAY) is an individually produced, high-resolution, high-fidelity reproduction done on a special large format printer. Giclée are produced from digital images or scans of existing artwork. Also, since many artists now produce only digital art, there is no "original" that can be hung on a wall. Giclée solve that problem, while creating a whole new vibrant medium for art.

Generation Maps produces your favorite photograph on high-grade artist canvas to create the texture and feel of an oil painting. Giclée are perfect for family history photos because the texture fools the eye and softens a grainy antique picture. They are a truly personalized work of art.

Generation Maps offers three options for ordering and displaying your canvas giclée.

First, you can order the canvas alone, sent to you rolled up in a tube. This option is great if you are planning to do special framing yourself or if you have another option in mind for display. Sizes range from 8x8 inches to 36x48 inches, and come in popular contemporary looking squares or traditional rectangles. If you want a size that isn't listed, you can call us for special sizing options.











Second, you can order the canvas mounted on to 5mm (3/16 inch)thick foamcore. This is a great option for framing if you already have a frame you know you want to use.















Or Third, you can order the canvas stretched on stretcher bars like a piece of art. This most archival option is great for high quality framing or even for hanging without a frame. The stretcher bars are 1/2 inch thick on the sides, so be sure to tell us whether you want to the image to wrap around the sides (leave an extra 1/2 inch on each side) or whether you want white or black sides.

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. Hopefully you have taken advantage of our sales this month to save money off our already fabulous prices while you do it.

Holiday Deadlines

What do you get the person who has everything? A beautiful Generation Maps Genealogy Chart of course.

The Holiday deadlines for this year are:

• Chanukah international November 8th
• Chanukah regular November 17th
• Chanukah rush November 24th
• Christmas international December 1st
• Christmas regular December 13th
  
• Christmas rush December 20th

There is no better way to tell Mom and Dad thank you, and tell your siblings and children you are glad they are part of the family. Let us help you make this holiday special. With 1/2 off any extra copy, you can have everyone on the chart and it won't cost you too much either.

And with all the sales we have going on this month, now is a great time to get those holiday gifts all taken care of so that you can relax and enjoy the season. Let us know what we can do to help you make it easy.

Guest Blogger--Happy Customer

Another happy customer.

"I spent several days looking for the right genealogy printing company, and I couldn't be happier that my search ended with Generation Maps. I asked Generation Maps to do a fairly large and complex chart showing all 209 of my known ancestors and they came through with flying colors. They helped my put together my 13 generation chart and showed extreme patience along the way making sure that the details of my 15 years of work were displayed accurately and attractively."

Gary B.
Mill Valley, California

Thanks for the feedback Gary. We are so pleased to be able to help you display all your hard work. And thanks for letting us show off your chart.

Our third week of sales

October 18th through the 24th. Our best sale yet on our online tool Family ChArtist. With new graphics to help you make the perfect genealogy chart. Go in and create your own masterpiece and take 50% off your whole order. Just enter 2FC101750 in the promotional code field at check out. This screaming deal is only good for this week. October 18th through the 25th.

A great way to share your family history with your non-genealogist family for the holiday season. Their family history might benefit them because:

• Family History bonds families together.
• It will strengthen their relationship with you.
• Family History can give a sense of belonging.
• They will have a stronger sense of who they are.
• Family History can create a loving, safe environment.
• They will know that there are people who love them and worked so that they could have a nice life.
• Family History can give them something to live up to.
• Tell them about the good qualities in their family
• Family History can inspire a sense of gratitude.
• They will know how much easier life is now.
• Family History can help them with their problems.
• Somebody has probably been there before and survived it.
• Family History can give them a broader, more unselfish perspective.
• They will see the bigger picture of the span of life.
• Family History encourages good skills.
• Logic, detective skills, writing, communication, organization.
• Family History gives a context for other knowledge.
• History geography, languages, religion, culture—Margaret Mitchell, Alex Haley, inspired by their family history.
• You could use some help.
• They might break through your brick wall someday.
• It will be moving for you to see the span of your family reaching out/down.
• My perspective on my life, history, and the span of our family is amazing when I see my children involved.
• You may find someone who will carry it on.
• No one will care about your research work more than your own family can

Let us help you get them involved. And at 50% off, you can't beat it with a stick. :-)

The second week of our Month of Sales

It's October 11th and through the 17th is our next October sale. We want to give you a chance to experience (or experience again) our magnificent customer service with our decorative custom charts. Just submit a file with our free consultation or email info@generationmaps.com to get started. We are offering a Second Copy Free for any chart started the second week of October, just give us the code 4FCDC3972 when you submit your order.

Let me show you a few custom charts we've done to get your creative juices flowing.We'd love to help you create one for your family to show them what you have researched. We always love to help you share your family history with your family.

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.