My Office Mess....Hopefully soon to be My Organized Familiy History Zone!

Here is the entrance to my messy office...soon to be my super family history zone.  This spot here is my garbage sorting zone.  My small shredder is near the window.  If I had more money I'd buy a bigger shredder.  But this little one has been used greatly in our recent moves.  Perhaps soon the smaller one will be OK anyways, as I've shredded most of my life already.  All the years that we lived in our old house I would gather all the bills and pay stubs from each month and place them in an envelope and put them in our attic.  11 years of bills were shredded in that little shredder.  Mostly by me in the three months before we moved.  Ugh!  So now I really don't have as much shredding to do.  The piles of folders, thats 12 years of family history research.  All the information is now on line at either Ancestry.com or The LDS Family Tree.  So I'm going through everything to find out what I need to keep and what can go.  I also decided not to throw any paper away until both sides are used so I'm sorting and stacking all paper up to reuse.  I'll save money and trees by not buying more printer paper.

The purple tub has my spring and summer clothes in it.  I actually need to put it in the closet next to this room.  Along with the packing bags and sleeping bags.  Ah see there in the front is the handy box of trash bags.  I'll be needing lots of those. So eventually in front of this window I would like to put up the bottom half of the bunk beds we bought, and then put pillows along the window, and show case all the quilts that my mom has made me through all the years.  And when I need a break from family history research I can curl up and read a book.  That's the dream anyways.

Boxes and tubs oh my.  What can possibly be in all these boxes and tubs.  Well most are filled with family history information I've collected, and old family photo's.  Some have scrap booking supplies, others have gifts from our wedding.  I'm not sure what to do with the two place settings of china, the box of silver candle sticks, and crystal vases.  I also collected these angel figurines.  I think way before I had children, as all the angels are carrying babies.  I'm letting my husband sell those on e-bay.  So I have to go through all these boxes.  I want to put all the old family photo's in albums and make sure I have names and dates for future generations to see.  And also scan them all into my computer.  I have a lot of work ahead of me!

I love the big windows in the office.  I hope to transform this one into a garden for my cat.  I keep telling my mom about these windows and she can not picture them.  So now I can show her what my big windows look like.

Here is my $200.00 desk that I got for $32.00.  This is where I'll be working away some day.  Though most of the time I work upstairs on the lap top.

My book case which may actually be moved out to the living room.  Since most of the books are the kids.  One thing I'm doing this year is letting all my magazine subscriptions expire.  Oh my goodness, I get too many magazines.  And I have piles of them everywhere.  They are going!

Here is the view from the desk to the entrance of the office.  Ugh!  A few weeks ago this office was actually pretty neat.  Then I pulled the 18 boxes of Christmas Crap out!  Yes I have 18 tubs of Christmas stuff and that is going to be gone through this winter too.  And while pulling all that out of the closet, I decided to pull all my family history stuff out too.  I need a good winter project.  Finally I can actually go down and work on it and not feel overwhelmed.  I just do a little every day.  Actually I've emptied quiet a few tubs already! But Ugh!

Here is the Closet in the office.  I've put out all my old horses from my childhood.  All my scrap books, and then there is more junk to go through.  Ugh!  Ugh!  One of the angels that I'm keeping.  What a mess.  I hope neatness comes soon.

Here is my helper.  She wants to go out to her soon to be kitty garden.  But it is too cold and there are plants growing out there that I'm not sure she should be nibbling on.  She is not happy with me that I have not let her out.  She likes to sit on anything I am working on.  She is such good company.
Well Mom, now when I tell you I'm off to clean my office you will actually understand why I must do this.  Want to come and help?
G.G.

Kimberly = From the Royal Fortress Meadow

In celebration of my special day I thought I'd put some photo's of me through the years on line.  I also looked up what my name means on those baby name websites.  I like the fact that my name means "From the Royal Forest or From The Royal Fortress Meadow. This First Photo was taken when I was 5 years old.

I never knew what my name meant when growing up.  It wasn't until I was having children of my own that I even learned that names have meaning.  And I never knew until I was twenty five that I was a child of God.  I am a Royal Daughter of God.  And if you are reading this and do not know of your own worth, you too are a spirit child of God.  We are all royal children.  If only we could all know and treat others with the worth that we really have.  This photo was from when I was in 4th grade.

My love as a youth was horses.  Everything was horses.  I was going to grow up and own horses.  Of course that did not happen but I spent many years working with horses and loved every minute of it.  On some of the baby name websites they also give your Soul urge.  I have a Soul Urge Number 5.   They say people with this name have a deep inner desire for travel and adventure, and want to set their own pace in life without being governed by tradition.

My dream job would be to work for a Family History company and travel to places looking for peoples ancestors.  I'd love to go to Scotland and see where my ancestors came from.  I tease my husband that if he dies before me I'll sell all his things and move to Scotland for a year.  I was the only one of our family who was excited to move.  I had been itching to move and be somewhere else.  It has been such an adventure.

One of my favorite Disney princess songs is by Belle in Beauty and the Beast " I want adventure in the great wide somewhere."  In fact I kept singing that to my children and husband as we got ready to move.  While they still miss New Jersey, I have been enjoying the adventure of Utah.  Driving to Arizona was also just great.  I hope that we drive to California at some point too.  This is my new blog photo.  I've finally found a photo that I like of myself.  So I have removed my Meg Ryan "You've Got Mail" Photo.  I still very much feel like Kathleen Kelly in "You've Got Mail."  I love that movie. 

In the next few weeks I hope to get myself more organized and start really getting my Family History information in order.  I've got so much work to do.  I hope you have enjoyed this little post about me.

G.G.  I'm thinking G.G. may mean Genealogy Girl now instead of Garden Girl.  Life is always about change...

I Can't Wait to Work on Black Friday... Hope you all go shopping!

I work retail.  I'm going to be working BLACK FRIDAY, and I just want you all to know that I hope lots of people go out and shop.  For me it is a really fun day to work.  It's busy, and crazy and the day goes by so fast.  It went by so fast last year I can't even remember it.  I remember the year before because I was cleaning up the toy department all night.  I see people posting that we should support workers who don't want to work on Thanksgiving night or Black Friday.  When I was hired it was told to me that everyone works Back Friday. I plan around the work days that are busy.
My family had Thanksgiving two weeks ago.  It was great family time together.  My birthday is on Black Friday.  I'm bringing cake in to share with my co-workers.  My family and I will find another day to celebrate when it is less busy.  Once you are past 20 you don't celebrate your birthday anyways is what I think.  The holidays are the biggest sales time for retail stores, its when you get the best work hours.  I've told my bosses to have me work as many hours as possible.  I'd like to pay a few bills down.  And they have been kind enough to give me lots of hours.  I've told my husband I'll see you sometime in February.  Because I work in the return center my busiest time is from after Christmas to the middle of January.  I like to be a top employee.  I like to work hard and not complain.  In this economy I'm just glad to have a job.  So please go out and shop!  I'll see you on Black Friday with a smile on my face :)
G.G.

Taking a different road home.... Our Arizona trip part 3

On our trip home we passed a lot of Cati.  I thought they were really cool looking.  One thing we saw was lots of Elk and deer crossing signs too.  I really wanted to see some wild life.  On the way home we did see lots of deer and were very lucky not to run into one that happened to walk in front of us on the road.

Most of the time on the ride back we saw nothing but the desert and the road.  But here are some photos I took.

I think this is what I thought it would look like in the desert.  There were area's that did have lots of grass and horses, and cattle though.

There were lots of mountain areas too.

Here is the Navajo Bridge.  My daughter got on the bridge looked down and promptly walked off.  They didn't have the fencing like the Glen Canyon Bridge and she was a little scared that she could fall over the edge.

Looking down to the water you can see a group of people rafting down the river.  It is very far down.
For some reason I can not upload any more photo's so look for a part 4 to this trip.  It was a long, long drive home.  12 hours in a car with two teenagers.  Ugh.

Family trips and Family Photos...G.G.S trip to Arizona part 2..

Family trips always equal funny family photos.  The last time I saw my Brother and his family was probably 5 years ago.  I'm not sure where the photo's of the family from then are. But it was great to get back together and get some photo's of everyone.  I think my parents have the best photo's on their camera so I have to wait.  But here we are learning to play disc golf.  It is nothing like throwing a Frisbee and nothing like golf either.  But that is my opinion.  What I really like about this photo is my brothers family all have sun glasses on.  I also realize no matter how hard you try someone looks funny that would be my husband.  He either has his eyes shut or his mouth open in most of the photos. Because as he says "Bowlby Men are not photogenic."

Here are some more photo's.  We are now waiting for the Bowlby man....  But again there are all sorts of funny faces.  Believe it or not it was cold in Arizona.  Everyone keeps telling me that can't be so.  But it was cold!

Here is a good shot.  I think everyone is looking at the camera and not making a face and my husband is smiling and not talking in the photo.  This was a great visit, my father was in tears at dinner as he was so surprised that we all were able to get together.  My mother also kept commenting that she could not believe we were all together.

There is a photo of my parents and the grand kids when they were very young and this is a remake of that photo.  My daughter was just a baby in the first photo and was sitting on my mom's lap.  So she had to sit on her lap again.  I'll have to find it and scan it into the computer.  All the kids are about the same height now.  In fact I think my son might be taller than his cousins.  It was fun to see how much they all look alike. 
This has made me think about gathering up some old family photo shots that I have of ancestors and putting them in a blog.  I may get a chance to do our photo's from the long drive home tomorrow.  Hope you enjoyed seeing our family photos.
G.G.

Family trips... GG goes to Arizona Part 1

This past weekend my family drove 12 hours from Utah to Arizona.  It was a surprise trip to my brothers to celebrate my parents 33 wedding anniversary, and have a family Thanksgiving.  I was amazed by the beauty of the desert.  This photo was taken looking out a small window on the Glen Canyon Bridge.  The Bridge was so high up that no matter how much you walked when you looked down it seemed as if you were still in the same place.  We liked the fact that there was a big metal fence all along the bridge.

Just awesome views.

Here is my daughter by the fence.  It was actually very cold out.  I had thought that it would be warm being in the desert, and being in Arizona.  But it was cold, so we weren't dressed well.  On the trip down we ran into a rain storm, wind storm, sand storm, and we drove through herds of tumble weed.  When we finally found civilization (because most of the trip it was just us on the road in the desert) my husband was commenting on all the people with tumble weed stuck on the front of their cars.  Well when we got out to eat we had the same thing.  Masses of tumble weed all through the front of the car.

Here is the Glen Canyon Dam.  Over there if you could zoom in there is a Seasons Greetings sign on the top of the dam.  I didn't expect so much beauty in the desert.  I just thought I'd see alot of sand.  But there was so much more.  Different colored rocks, cliffs, vegetation, and wild life.

This is another photo near the Dam.  Over the years my husband and I have done tons of road trips in the east.  We have gone to cape cod, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and of course the Jersey Shore.  We never thought we'd do a road trip in the west back then.  We kept telling the kids look, look at that.  Look see the beauty.  I hope we get to do another trip, and that I think to take more photo's.  I'm waiting for my parents to send their photo's to me to show you the Cati's that we saw.  Cati's are just cool.  On my next post I'll show our family photo's and talk about family trips.
I kept thinking of my ancestors on this trip.   All the travel that they did, I wonder what they thought as they came off a boat from England and saw America for the first time.  I wonder what they thought as they traveled west in wagons and on foot.  Were they just as amazed by the beauty of the world as I was this past weekend?
My new goal is to finally get my self more organized.  I've been slowly going through tubs of family history research.  As I have started putting everything on ancestry.com I've been thinking I should write all the stories I've collected on there too, and put all the photo's on.  I've been a bit scattered since the two moves we've done and I'm starting to feel a bit more settled.  Of course busy season at the store is starting and I work till one or two in the morning, so we will see what I really get done.
I hope you enjoyed the first of my road trip blogs.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll get another blog in tomorrow.  I also want to start writing my book.  I'm not the greatest writer so it will take awhile.
G.G.

Hurricane Sandy washed away our summer beach but not our memories!

Here is a photo of my husband sitting in the sun with our cat on a beach chair in our living room.  We have yet to buy furniture for our new home, and perhaps it will be a long time before we do, but the pleasure of a rocking chair and sun are still ours.  This rocking chair is older than me, being made before 1970. It spent most of its time sitting on the porch of a shore house in Manasquan New Jersey.  My husband has memories of his childhood and youth spent rocking on that chair, breathing in the salt air of the Jersey shore.  By the time we met his parents had sold their beach house and the chair had been given to my husband.  We kept it on the front porch of our house for 12 years before moving west.  I didn't know how important the chair was, until my husband had left for Utah and it became my job to repaint and fix the cushion of the chair.  I didn't know all the memories of family it held.  Now as I sit in it and enjoy the morning sunshine and view of the snowy rocky mountains I feel for the loss those in New Jersey are dealing with after hurricane Sandy devastated the area's of the Jersey Shore we loved so much.

Here is a photo of my family at Carlson's Corner.  The place my husband says makes the perfect milk shake.  There is no other place where you can get a "drinkable" milkshake, and believe me my husband tries to teach the world how to do this and no one seems to pass the test.  This was our burgers and fries destination when we would visit the beach. 

Here is a photo of Carlson's corner after Sandy.  The doors are ripped off and the sand is piled high.  I'm sure that I can not even understand the damage to this building.  But it makes me sad to think that it may not be repaired.

Here is the restaurant next to Carlson's corner, the Riverside Cafe. On our honeymoon we had breakfast here each morning.  With the kids we would stop for ice cream or a piece of cheese cake.  It was the more upscale beach side dining area.  Again Sandy filled it with sand, took all the doors off and who knows what other damage has been done.

Here is our family at Gee Gees.  This is where you got the best pizza right on the boardwalk.  It also had the arcade that we loved to go to and play games to win candy.  I think we spent more time here than at Carlson's.  Our family spent every Saturday that we could at the beach in the summer.  As we walked along my husband would share his childhood memories.  What was the same and what changed.  Where he hung out and where he would skate board and surf.  He always had a memory to share.  He longed for the days when the kids would be older and he could teach them how to ride a surf board.  Most of the time though we were considered by the "beach crowd" to be "Bennies".  In fact I remember being called that at one point.  Though it didn't matter to us, our time at the Jersey shore was special. It was our family time and was enjoyed so much.

Here is Gee Gee's after the storm.  It is so sad to see all of this ruined.  My mother in law said that the stoves for the building fell through the floor and were found in the basement of the building. I wonder if they will be able to rebuild.

This is a photo of the bathrooms and what used to be the Pavilion.  You could sit on the pavilion and watch the surfers.  We used to walk from one end of the board walk to the other.  But now it seems there is no board walk.  From the photo's it looks to be torn to pieces.

I've heard that so far 70 houses have been condemned and the owners will not be allowed to rebuild.  That only people who use their houses as year round residences will be helped by FEMA, and many don't know where to start when thinking of rebuilding.  So many houses have been flooded and filled with sand and seaweed.  Much of the work of cleaning out will have to be done by hand.  A daunting task if you ask me.

I wish now that I had taken more photos of the beach houses when we were there on the weekends to show the change.  There is so much devastation.  The board walk is gone and I've heard that in parts there is a 12 foot drop to get down to the waters edge.  This is the beach side view of some of the houses we used to go by.  One used to be owned by my husbands uncle.

Here is the street side view of the houses. Their should be a road here, not piles of sand.  I can't imagine what the inside of these houses must look like.  It was hard to be so far away and just watch and wait for photos.  But I have been thankful not to have lived through the storm and loss of power and all the trials that came with it.  It seems as if this storm washed our favorite beach spot away.  I hope that they will rebuild it.  I'm not sure when we will get back there, and it will be interesting to see the changes.

I love this photo of my daughter looking out to the ocean from the top of a life guard boat.  I pray for all who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy.  I hope you are able to rebuild and restore your homes and businesses. 
G.G.

Ancestry.com = a forest of family

As you know I love family, and I love working on Family History.  I love trees, and forest too.  Lately I haven't been blogging because I've been spending hours moving my family history information onto Ancestry.com.  I have spent about 12 years doing family history work.  I never put my family line on Ancestry.com.  So now that I've been putting on it's like "WOW!" 

I have been able to put my family names on the site and connect all the vital records to them.  It used to be that you could have the names on but you had to print out all the census records.  Now you can attach records right on the site.  I love to be able to do this.  Everything is on the computer and not cluttering up my whole house.  There are so many directions that I can go now with my family tree and so many possibilities opening up.  I feel as if I'm in a forest of family.  Isn't this a beautiful photo.  My aunt took this photo in Massachusetts and posted it on facebook.  I love paths in the forest

.Here is a path we used to walk daily in the summer at Dukes Island park in New Jersey.  I look at photo's like these and think where is this path taking me.  I think that way with my family history research too.  Where is this line taking me.  What joys and sorrows will I find in this family line?  I have had one contact now with someone with my same DNA and we have some common ancestors.  I have also had contact with a great aunt on my biological fathers side.  She has sent me photos of my Grandmother when she was a teenager.  They were so cool to see.  I'll put them on line sometime.

I don't know if I've told you this.  I come from a crazy family tree.  My parents divorced when I was in pre-school.  I've never known my biological father.  My stepfather adopted my brother and I when we were in high school as I always wanted to have a "Real" family.  Now  I search not only for my adoptive fathers family, but I've been collecting information on my biological fathers family too.  Why?  Because there are parts of me that come from them, and I wish to understand all of me.  Where does my crazy curly red hair come from?  Although I love my adoptive father very much, I still have this desire to see what my biological family was like.  It has been fun for me to collect all this information.  Lately have to tell myself to get off the computer and do some other types of work.  Family is so important to me though that I keep getting pulled back.  I've also felt good about the fact that now lots of other people will be able to look at and use the information I have.  If  you are into family history then I would highly recommend using Ancestry.com.  It is just one of the best websites that I have found!

Another favorite forest path.  We have a great bike path here in Utah.  My daughter and I took a 5 mile ride on it the other day.  I love being so close to the mountains and all the horse farms.  Our family is doing well out here.  We are all so busy.  We had our family photos taken this weekend so soon I'll share those.  Have a great week.  I'm off to play in the forest, well after I get the laundry started.....

My DNA Test results were........

So Ancestry.Com did send me a DNA kit.  I was so excited.  Here is what the kit looks like. 

Inside this little packet is a vial that you spit into.  Kind of gross!  Then you cap it up and send it back and in 6 to 8 weeks you are told what your DNA tells about your ethnic heritage.

Here is everything ready to be sent out.  And then it was wait,wait, wait.  I've used Ancestry.com for years for my research but never actually put my family tree on line.  So while I waited.. and waited... I started to put my information on line.  Wow!  It is amazing how much you can put together when you use their website.  Now I have all the census records, birth records, and grave records all attached.  I've spent quiet a few hours on the website while waiting.
Finally the results came in and ....well.... I'm a pretty boring person when it comes to DNA heritage.... I'm half British Isles and half Scandinavian.... No Native American, my grandma was wrong.  Though I could have told anyone that as I do have over 8000 names in my data base.  I now want to have either my daughters DNA done or my husbands.   I know he has a lot more diverse ancestry.
It is still totally cool!  If you have the extra money you should do it! 

I was sure.........

I was sure when I was a child that when I grew up I would be a horse.  I knew to my core that I was supposed to be a horse, I was absolutely positively sure!

I was sure when I was a teen and finally realized that I would not become a horse that I would work with horses my whole life.  As they were my whole life then.  I would not, no never ever get married and have children.  I was sure!

I was sure when I got married that my husband and I would live forever together in New Jersey.  My husband would never, no never ever leave New Jersey.  I was sure!

I was sure that when we bought this half a house.  Despite what all others said, that my husband and I would live here until our dying days.  I was positively, absolutely sure, we would never, not ever move from here.  I never dared dream of anything more...  I was sure!

I was sure when I got my library assistant job that I would have this job for years to come.  I would be here in this comfortable place till I retired.  I was sure I would never, not ever change jobs again.  I was sure!

I am sure now that the only thing you can be sure of is that what ever you are sure of will not stay but will change!  I'm absolutely positively sure that change occurs!

 If you ask me about anything else I'll now say I'm not sure.  Because life is just one change after another.  I have no ability to be sure anymore... Or at least for today.