Time Cruises Along

January 2003

Ten years ago we were given the chance to go on a Disney cruise with Scott's family. The kids (ages 4 months, 4, & 8) do not remember much of what happened. We had a good time & loved being with our entire family (minus one missionary nephew). 

I think I was a little overwhelmed with a fourth-month old baby who did not have a schedule on the boat. He was easy-going but he ended up drinking his entire can of formula in four days. We had to beg the gift shop to open early to give us more on the morning we left. 

In the middle of our last night on board, we awoke to a splashing noise and then a raining noise. Ryan had barfed from the top bunk towards the roof of the cabin & it rained down over the playpen. Scott & Ryan were both very ill for the last twelve hours on the boat.

Looking at the picture though, what strikes me is how young our kids were. How did we get from there to here??? I read a blog called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. She has a short video that explains, "The days are long, but the years are short." When the boys were little, I felt like they would be little forever. Babies and their accelerated growth for the first year give a glimpse of how fast time will pass. But still I do not know where the last ten years went.

We are cruising again with the kids soon. I am excited to share with them the wonders of cruising - lots of people, great food, funny dance parties, and semi-exotic ports. I can't wait!!

1940 Census Indexing

A few months ago the 1940 census was finally released (hooray!). I have several mysterious grandparents to track down and I can't wait for it all to be indexed. When I signed in one day, there was  an announcement about badges for the states that you've helped index.

I worked very hard in small spurts at indexing. In a little over one month, I indexed over 2500 names with a 95% correct rating. (And lots of the errors were blank pages that I could never decide how to do correctly. OH WELL!!)

I loved reading the census & peering into peoples' lives. How many kids? Where did they live? What did they do for work? I have loved looking for my own ancestors & felt the same type of feelings towards all the strangers that I indexed. No one wants to be forgotten.

It has been fun finding Scott's parents & our grandparents in the 1940 records. Everyone working to index the records has meant that now we can find the records we want. Hooray!!

See the yellow line up there? That's my Grandma Peggy. She was nine years old & living in Juliaetta, Idaho with her mother and step-father. Her father died nine months before she was born!! He had liver cancer, went home from the hospital around Christmas time, & then returned to the hospital & died. I am glad that she was born!!

I love genealogical research. I like knowing the history of my family - where we came from, who we are, what we have experienced. I have started another blog to write family history stories & liken them to historical events & places. I just have not written any entries yet. Soon!