This is Cailey speaking

I just want to share my gratitude with the family. Jeff and I are so blessed to have so much support. I love this family so much. I just want to tell everyone, please dont be afraid to give us advice, tips, pointers - WE NEED IT! We will not be offended at all. Its been a learning curve for all of us. Thankfully Heavenly father has been helping us the entire time, it is such a comfort. I just want to let everyone know that we really are doing so well. I would never have guessed that we would end up with these girls, however we have noticed the blessings from having them.

The girls really are doing well adjusting. They are kids, so here and there it can be frustrating, but they really are good girls and they want to help us as much as we want to help them. Its been a learning curve for both me and Jeff to cook for more than one or two people, that and for it to be a nutritious meal! Thankfully they are pretty easy to please, as long as we feed them what they like. 

I can also understand as to why parents stay up so late... It takes a few hours to wind down and get the kids into bed. Then after getting the girls into bed, its the only quiet time we've had for part of the day... so I feel the need to stay up and enjoy the moments, and look at Facebook or Instagram. We are learning that routine's are definitely needed, however a bit difficult to get down, but hopefully we will get it down.

One thing that I have noticed that has been the biggest blessing is PRAYERS. First few nights when we tried to have prayers with the girls they felt it more obnoxious than anything and they wouldnt really be interested and try to do other things. But now that we do them every night Kylie will ask Jeff to give the prayer. I cannot explain into words how that makes me feel - comfort, warm, fuzzy, blessed, joy, tearful... I really cannot put it into words. They still sometimes goof off and laugh a little, however Kylie will ask us to make sure we will do prayers with her and Alyssa.

Our next goal is to start with scriptures, Jeff and I are already pretty bad with doing them ourselves but we realize that these girls need that in their lives too. I may have to invest in one of the kid version of the book of mormon, I remember that as a kid and liked reading that instead of the "real" scriptures. This past week has been a little bit crazy, especially with getting settled in but yet it has all gone so smoothly.

Alyssa has seemed to have forgotten a lot within the gospel and scriptures - we realize that it is our opportunity to help teach these girls, and to help them enjoy going to church. I am planning on doing some FHE lessons or activities for them to do tomorrow and hoping that they will enjoy that. (when I have the time to figure out FHE... hopefully sometime during work HAHA). Kylie was really good today. She woke up and wanted to play some music - however it is some hiphop that we dont really enjoy and its not something that should be played on a sunday. I asked her to not play regular music on her tablet - I explained it is sunday and that it is not something we should be doing on Sunday's. She at first was a bit frustrated with it. However, she was good and she looked up lds songs, and played that for most of the day. It just made me feel so good that she was enjoying it so much. She got excited when I told her some of the primary songs were some of my favorite songs, so she would play them just for me.

We finally got Kylie's room set up a bit, we will need to remove the rest of Coah's things into a different area (she is currently in our bathroom/bedroom.... not too excited about that However, I am glad that Kylie has her own room - girls go to bed much easier without so many problems, so honestly I'll be just fine!).

Alright well it is already way too late for me and Jeff and Poor Jeff is just waiting on  me to get done for us to both go to bed.

Love you all and thank you for your prayers, calls, advice, encouragement and responses. It really means a lot to us, and we are so thankful. We love you all so much and we really have gotten different perspectives in life, and respect all the parents so much more. We just hope we can be good examples to these girls and that they will be happy for the time they are with us, and we are hoping to introduce the gospel into their lives more, and that they will enjoy it as we enjoy it.

Family History Blog - Yes Indeed

Okay people, I love family history.  And I have talked with several people in the family that want to get involved, but aren't sure where to start.  I was so lucky to have had so many family history classes in college, but understand that it can be daunting and mind boggling.

With that in mind, I have started a blog (beanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com) that is intended to inform us of our family history and be a place that we can all go to collaborate, find new research projects, and learn more about our family.  Here are the main purposes of the blog:

1) Present ready made projects that people can complete
2) Have general informational tips and guides to completing family history
3) Post stories and fun facts about our family history

The best way to see how the blog works is to just go and cruise around.  The biggest tool is going to be the labels on the right hand side.  However, I will explain just what each part of the blog are and how I envision that they will be useful:

LABELS

I have four different types of labels: Project types, project locations, family names, guides

Project types

This I think will be the most useful tool for helping you find a research project that fits your liking.  I have five different project labels, as follows:

• Projects: All  - Clicking on this will list every single project, regardless of the type
• Projects: Documents - This deals with research where you will be analyzing actual documents, rather than purely online research; these may require you to order film from the family history library (or if you are in SLC, just go there); it may also involve general document collection (which could include some online research)
• Projects: Go and Do - These projects get you out of the house and exploring! You could be going to graveyards, old residences, work places, etc.  Bring your camera and a pad of paper!
• Projects: Online Research - These projects require only an internet connection and some idea of where to go poking around
• Projects: Temple Names - These projects are likely to produce names of individuals that do not have their temple work yet (note, however, that the purpose of all these projects is to find people to baptize; often you have to poke around what you already know to find hidden gems that were overlooked by others during original research)

Project locations

If there is a tag with a location, that means that it is a "Go and Do" project that will require you to travel to said location.  Right now, I just have Denver, but that should grow as we go along

Family Names

Click on a name to find projects regarding that surname and any stories, documents, or other blog posts about the family!

Guides

These are just little tips I think could be helpful in your search

LINKS

I have links to important websites as well as a link to the Excel File of my massive source log.

PLEASE CALL ME! I WOULD LOVE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THIS AND GET YOUR IDEAS! COMMENT! CRITICIZE! I WOULD LOVE THIS TO WORK, SO I WOULD LOVE YOURE FEEDBACK!

Family History

I am interested to know how the family feels about family history.  I am interested in:

1) Whether or not you are interested in family history (it's okay if you are not);

2) What kind of family history you are engaged in; and

3) What challenges you find in doing (or starting) family history work.

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below, through a phone call, an e-mail, whatever.

There are several types of family history one can be engaged in.  The most common type people think of is research, but there are many other avenues.  This is a list of types of family history I could think of:

1) Researching unknown information in your line

This can be done in multiple different says, from online records search to interviewing living family members to visiting grave yards.  This is probably the most immediately rewarding type of family history as you instantly gather data that no one has compiled before.  Additionally, when you find a certain amount of data, you can submit names for the temple.

2) Confirming information that doesn't have a source

Our line is littered with individuals and information that have not yet been confirmed in our line.  Our predecessors did a great deal of work.  Unfortunately, the record keeping was not completed.  This type of research involves looking at our online tree, finding unsourced information, and attempting to locate the documents from which that information came.  While it may feel useless, it is important for laying the groundwork for the first type of research.  Additionally, there are a number of times where I have been performing this type of family history and have unearthed an unknown sibling or some other person.  In fact, while doing this information, I found out that our great grandfather was illegitimate and that we had been using the completely wrong line for his mother.

3) Compiling data of already confirmed sources

I love this kind of work (mostly because I love lists and Excel sheets and data compilation), but it is incredibly tedious.  For years I have been compiling every original source of information I have into one giant log.  I am doing this so that I can correct inaccuracies and make doing the first two types of family history easier.  I have catalogued all of our ancestors through alphabetically through the letter G. Brian and Stephani have helped some in this process.

4) Collecting data from current generations

This type of family history is so important.  There is a wealth of knowledge that those living around us have that just cannot be found anywhere else.  This is also an easy way to do family history without having to know the inns and outs of the England Death Registry (or other obscure records).  The most obvious place to start would be to record and transcribe interviews with Mom and Dad, but other steps would be finding other individuals (aunts and uncles, for example), organizing interviews, gathering pictures, etc.  

Some funny ones

Here's just a few of the funniest ones I captured

O' Brother

Swiggin'

Monkey Head

Pregnant Murderous Mouse Catcher

Scary Liz

For the Love of Cousins

Grandma's Scary Story

No Shame in the 4 Year Old Shield

 Goin' To Town

Family Reunion Photos

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say thanks to you all for helping out so much with the family reunion. I thought it went well, and Mike and I had so much fun with everybody!
Last year, Brian was nice enough to compile everyone's photos onto one disc, and it was so fun to see the pictures everyone got! This year, I've set up a Dropbox folder for us to all upload our photos to. I have sent emails to each of you to share the folder. If you didn't get the email, it means I probably don't have the correct email address, so just let me know where I should resend the invite. I've already uploaded all the photos we got, and I'd love to see everyone else's! In the meantime, here are just a few of ours:

Suggested Packing List for Family Reunion

Hello, all! The family reunion is less than two weeks away, and I know Mike and I are both getting very excited! I know most of you are seasoned campers, so you probably have the whole packing thing down pat, but just in case anyone is like me and likes to have a checklist for packing, here are some suggested items to bring. This is in addition to the items you'll be bringing for your assigned meals. We will be contacting each family to finalize the things you'll need to bring for that. (If anyone wants to add to this list, feel free to use the comments section to do so.)

I also strongly encourage you to read over the other Family Reunion posts once again, to familiarize yourself with the rules (we don't want anyone showing up with generators, water balloons, or any other prohibited items) and the schedule. You can see all Family Reunion posts here, or by clicking on the Family Reunion 2013 link at the bottom of this post. Let us know if you have questions about any of this stuff, and we apologize for annoying you all with our requests that you read these posts!

Packing List for Family Reunion at Heise Campground

• Changes of clothes for each member of your family
• Pants
• Shirts
• Underwear
• Socks
• Shoes
• PJs
• Appropriate clothing for activities
• Swimsuit
• Hiking shoes
• Family reunion outfits (lime green, orange, blue, or white)
• Etc.
• Other gear for activities
• Towels
• Golf clubs
• Candy jars - one per member of your family
• Etc.
• Camping gear
• Tent
• Sleeping bags, foam pads, pillows, blankets for each family member
• Camping chairs for each family member
• Flashlights
• Toiletries for each family member
• Toothbrush/toothpaste
• Deodorant
• Brush/hair products
• Bug spray
• Sunscreen
• Any necessary medications
• Sharable supplies
• Any kind of camping lights/lanterns/etc. to use at night
• Trash bags
• Lighters for campfire
• Board games

We also are asking that each family be responsible for their own water, though Jen will be bringing a large water cooler as well. If you could also bring all necessary plates, utensils, etc. for your assigned meal, that would be great. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns about this stuff!

Heise Pricing

I wanted to give everyone a heads up as to the pricing on other things that Heise has to offer? 

Pool 

Daily rate:  $9.00 12 and over 
              $5.00 12 and under 

Gauntlet slide (pool) 

$1.00 three slides 
$3.00 ten slides 

Zip Line 

1-6 riders  $65.00 per person. 
6 + riders $55.00 per person 

Minimum weight 30 pounds. Maximum weight 260 pounds.   

Golf (9 hole executive course) 

9 holes     $10.00 
18 holes  $19.00 

Rental of clubs is available although we have a couple of sets that we can bring.  It is a short course so I do not believe you need a full set. 

Dad