Two Graduations on Opposite Sides of USA

It was with gratitude for modern transportation that we were able to witness two high school graduations  a week apart on opposite sides of our country for two of our great grandchildren.  It is always a joy to watch our grandchildren grow and mature and reach landmark goals in their progress through life.

Samuel, Jonathan and Laura's son, graduated on June 1 in South Carolina.  It was a treat to see the huge smile on his face as he completed this phase of his life. He will be off to the University of South Carolina in Columbia this fall.  Seven short days later on June 7 we were in California for the second graduation, this time for a granddaughter, Sierra.

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Sierra was so happy and excited to have reached this point in her life.  You can see the joy written all over her face!  Her parents, Stan and Maria were just as just as happy and proud.  Sierra will be attending Brigham Young University in Utah this fall.  She has worked hard as a lifeguard for the past year to earn money for her education.

 Congratulations to two wonderful grandchildren. 

Continue to reach for the stars. 

We love you!

The Bahamas

The last week in March Stan, Maria, Sierra and Callie joined us for a week on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.  The first couple of times we had been to the Bahamas we were not impressed but this time it was a different story.  The water is crystal clear and such beautiful shades of blue; the weather was perfect; the native dancers and musicians in their costumes were exciting; Atlantis is a waterworld but also a tropical paradise complete with the creation of an underworld city of Atlantis.  Best of all though was the opportunity to spend time with part of our family.  Fred and I often remarked that it would be wonderful to have all of our family there.

Photos of the Month for April

People was the theme for my photo club this month. I took this picture of a stage coach driver in Tombstone. I cropped most of the stage coach out and then added first a white vignette but I like the second one better with the dark blue vignette. The vignette really emphasis the man.

This is by far my favorite.  Who can't select sweet Sarah over a rough old cowboy!  Christian helped me change the background to the solid mauve color.  She is so photogenic--it makes it easy to take a beautiful photo of her.  The photo above is the original picture and the one below is the finished one.

Photos of the Month--Perspective

The theme for the photo group for March was perspective.  This was an interesting subject partly because I wanted something that was somewhat different from the typical road disappearing in the distance.

Since we were in Salt Lake City I decided to find my "perspective" pictures there.  These are two of my favorites.  I really liked the chapel (Assembly Hall) in the foreground and the new building rising up behind it.  I had to sit on the ground to get this view.  Another thing I liked about it was the old growth in the tree and building on the right as compared with the new growth in the short bushes and trees as well as the building on the left.

I had walked around Temple Square and then up the street to the state capital.  I was amazed by these giant trees by capital.  They looked so much bigger with all their leaves gone.

Gibsons Come for Brooke's Wedding

Ben's sister broke got married on February 10th so the family came down for that event in the Gila Valley Temple. Fred and I went over to watch the children while the Gibsons were all in the temple. I took a few pictures afterwards. The kids are just growing up too fast. It was fun to spend a few days with them after the wedding. The older three wanted to collect some things that were uniquely Arizona so I took them on a little hike.

Rootstech Conference in February

The first week in February we drove to Salt Lake City to attend the Rootstech Conference.  Wonderful things happen when thousands of genealogists and technologists get together to discuss how technology can advance genealogy research!  It is fun to be in that atmosphere of working together to search out our ancestors.  Big names in technology were there including FamilySearch, of course, BrightSolid, Ancestory.com, Archives.com and Google.  Interestingly enough, Google has come up with several sites that have some connection with genealogy.  We've all used Google Maps but have we used it to find family?  Take a look at Google Images or News to find Ancestors.  I put in "cemetery, Anson, Texas" into the search bar of Images and up came a dozen photos of Mt. Hope Cemetery in Anson, Texas where my grandparents, great-grandparents and other relatives are buried.  This is one of them.

I then put in Waikato Hospital, Hamilton New Zealand and up came the hospital where Maria, Laura, Tanya and David were all born.  Also try out Google Books for some interesting information for Family History research.

Again! January Photo of the Month

I can't believe one of my photographs has been chosen again for the second time to display as Photo of the Month.  After I got over being intiminated by all the professional photographers in the photo club, I started really learning from them.  It has been a fun challenge to show my photos and stack them up against their photos.  The theme for January was doors and windows.  I like the way the door and the little round window is set in the yellow walls.  I framed the door with the green vines and trees as well as the plants on the hill. The steps and pots draw your eye upward to the door.  This photo was taken in Taormino, Sicily.  I cropped the bottom of the picture.  There are actually about 8-10 more steps but I didn't want the stairway to over-power the door.