Who do you think you are?

Have you watched this show? If you haven't or would like to watch an episode or two again, it's on HULU.  It's pretty interesting to watch the process - of course some of them are paying people to find the info for them - but it's all very interesting. I especially loved the show with Ashley Judd because it taught me to not only find the names of my ancestors but to also find out their stories.  What was going on at the time in the places my ancestors lived?  What were they sorts of things were they involved in? I know there are a few Union soldiers in my family.  I know some of them lived in Maryland in the 1700's.  This show increased my desire to find out more about them.

Here is something super useful in any family history search.

Find links to death and other certificates, the grave #'s, and grave marker photos at Find A Grave

Presenting ... Photo Preserves

Check it out! I'm sharing my Photo Preserves class once again at ReneePearson.com

It's a 2 week online class taking just an hour or so a week for those of you who want to know how to begin preserving your old photos.

This is for color and black and white photos.  Extra help for those tricky photos available during live chats.  

Family History Blog

I recently started a family history blog for the Christensen and Goff side of the family. Here are some examples below.  On though the blog is private and family members who want to view it must be invited, we only share photos of those who are living and no personal information.  That's why you can't see most of what's written in the pages below. There are links to grave sites and photos of headstones.  There are restored photos and other things that we are working on sharing.

  If you've taken my Photo Preserves class you received a page with all the information you'll need to get started creating your very own Summary Pages.  These pages are chapter markers or the first page before other scrapbook pages about the person's life.  If you'd like to take my photo preserves class it will be offered again soon. You can sign up for a free membership at ReneePearson.com and she'll send you an email when any new classes are available.

If you are family and would like an invite to the blog, let me know.  I'm not quite ready to start any other blogs for other family members because I have had such a great response with this one.  There is a lot to be done - photos to restore - scrapbook pages to make - posts coming out my ears!

It's about time I scrapbooked again!

Click on the scrapbook page to see it larger:

I've been trying to figure out how much I'm capable of and how much rest I need.  I always take longer to recover than normal.  Of course when they said 6 weeks, they meant 6 weeks before returning to a full time job.  That doesn't mean 6 weeks until you're 100%.  But I'm feeling well enough to keep up with the laundry and well enough to get the kids off to school, run a few errands, etc.  I crave sleep starting about 1 p.m. but the mornings are pretty good.  The sunrise this morning was gorgeous!  

Yesterday we went target shooting.  Tyler did all the work setting up the targets and such.  I shot my little .22 rifle a few times and sat down once I felt sore.  Tyler shot his hand gun and then helped our daughter shoot the .22 (she's got amazing aim). On our way back down the canyon I spotted a bald eagle in a tree near the river.  We stopped and Tyler took a few gorgeous photos.  Take a look at his facebook page to see them.   

All that fun and excitement tired me out.  I got my daughter off to school this morning and drove my son into town.  Grandma picked him up so I went home and scrapbooked the rest of the day.  What am I scrapbooking? Our family vacation. Our first family vacation. That's an example page up above.  I've worked long and hard to finally get my groove on this book.  I love scrapbooking for my own family.  I don't have to worry about what they think.  They love them and look through them often.  I love looking through them because the photos take me back.  I feel happy while I scrapbook and when I look back through my scrapbooks.  I haven't been scrapbooking as much as I used to and this helped me get my groove back.  It's simple with the photos as the emphasis.  I'm already 62 pages into it and think it's going to be a two volume book (hopefully not 3 but could be close).  Shutterfly can print up to 100 pages per book I think - of course I'm used to working with a whole bunch of different album companies so don't quote me on the 100 pages, it could be 70. 

I've also been busy with my new family history blog for my mom's side.  It's going so well I'm having a hard time keeping up but it will all work out! And now I'm going to get some of that sleep I've been craving.

So the Answer is...

They both need PRESERVING!

And guess what? That's exactly what my next class is about.  

Do you have stacks of old photos? Are they decaying at a rapid rate? Do you want to learn how to preserve these precious family heirlooms for generations to come? Then this is the class for you.

Photo Preserves
Digitize, restore, and display old photosOctober 6 - October 19, 2010
Instructor: Laura Vanderbeek
In this two-week class, intermediate Photoshop and Photoshop Elements users will learn how to digitize, restore, share, and display (thank you Krysta) old color and black & white photographs. Enroll now to take advantage of the "Early Bird" discount of $10 off (almost 30% off). Go check out the Supplies tab to see all the free goodies we are including!

Video Chat live with Laura at ReneeTV on Thursday, September 9th at 10:00pm Eastern Time

Join me for the live chat where I'll be giving away one:

E-scapeandscrap Prize:  

History Starts Now Elements and Papers   (worth $11)

Family History

I LOVE family history. This morning Coleton and I were sitting in front of the computer going over which photos I had scanned and which ones still need to be. I didn't realize I had so many important things already complete. I found the great photo of my grandfather (pictured below) in his military uniform. With his hat tilted like that you'd think he was part of the White Christmas cast. I Love the school photo too. They don't take school photos anymore. I bought one for Haeley this year and it's just a collage of individual pictures with all the kids and their names, teacher, and principal. No more group photos. Still it is great to have. Anyway, then that inspired me to enter some more data into my version of Personal Ancestral File using virtual pc on my mac. I have to TYPE everything in. no gedcoms. grrrr. But I actually enjoy it. I get to see each name and how much information I have and do not have. It's been relaxing to work on that today - I usually just work on it on Sundays but I've been busy painting a mural under the stairs for the kids on Sunday afternoons.