California Dreaming

So much to say and so little time.

My blogs have been lacking, in volume, and in substance. For so long, I went with out material because I didn't had anything that was exciting, to write about.

Now that I have just got back from a wonderful vacation, I feel the need to express a few thanks and shout to the world (OK, my world) what a great trip it was.

First, thanks to Steve and Tara, who always have a place for us to stay, even when we are just passing through. Seems we never spend enough time with these two wonderful people. Thanks for being a great Brother and Sister (I know Tara is my sister in law, but I think she makes a better Sister, than sister in law).

And then there are the Tate's. You could search the world over and have a very tough time finding any family, more generous, with there home and with there love. This is the third time that they have let us stay with them, too enjoy what Southern California has to offer, and still they invite us back. Watching the Tate's is a lesson in charity and the true love of Christ.

Thank you Disneyland, for giving my family such big smiles. This year, even my Mother enjoyed a day at the park. Most times, I think my Mother would rather just curl up with a good book.

That leads me to a question that I have been asking a lot. Will Disneyland still be around in the millennium? I like Melissa's answer, "in my millennium it will".

Thanks Mom, for the long talks and letting me put you through a very long day at Disneyland.

And Thank You, Father in Heaven, for letting me peak at Heaven. There is nothing more enjoyable to me, than to have my family around me.

I will send pictures later.

Love to all, Boyd

P.S. I am thinking about setting up a new blog page, for just my political views, so I can leave this one, just for family stuff. leave a comment if you think it would be a good idea.

It may sound odd, coming from me, but I think I would base it on trying to save President Obama's, Presidency.

The Tweener Blues and Construction Too.

Short and sweet-every year I get the tweener blues. That space of time between the holidays and spring, were you can't really get out and do things, drives me up a wall. It also leaves me with not much to blog about.

The only thing that I am excited about is my daughter, Amy, has moved back in with us. Thats the good news. The bad news is that she is moving in because her old room mate moved out and she couldn't find a new one. The really bad news is that we need a room for her and a second bathroom (which we have wanted since we moved in, twenty years ago) and while they are being built, we have her furniture stuffed in every nook and cranny, throughout the house.

It's enough to make Shar and Amy, both cry. This too shall pass, but it sure would be nice to see the end of this trial.

I always thought it was best, just to write about the good times, but too each life, a little rain must fall. Hey and Amy has moved back in. There's a flower that comes with the rain.

And we are now just a month and a half away from another California trip {(we call it a Disneyland trip, but really it is just an excuse to hang with the family, visit my Sister's family and get warm, while doing something we love) I don't know why we are so blessed to have loving family members, willing to share there home, to make these times so special} and thats something to look forward, too.

Love to all, Boyd

edit below

Sorry that the post below, came out, well in a word....... whacked. I tried some thing and it didn't work.

If you can still kind of read between the lines, I do need your help.

Thanks, Boyd

Genealogy.... can't live with out it?

This is my Father's pedigree chart, as summited many years ago, by my Mother. My Mother worked very hard on this, but was way off because it seems, no one in this Smith family line (were you should always start, with the living ancestors) know of, or cared about there family history. Pedigree Chart

FamilySearch™ Ancestral File v4.19

				Search Results | Download GEDCOM | Print							8
							4	Byron SMITH B: < 1869
											9
			2	Joseph Raymond SMITH B: 18 Jul 1895 Webster City, Hamilton, Iowa M: 1 Dec 1915 Des Moines, Polk, Iowa
								Family			10
							5	Margaret VOYLE B: < 1871
1	Richard Byron SMITH B: 11 Sep 1924 Des Moines, Pottawatamie, Iowa D: 17 Feb 1975 Santa Ana, Orange, California										11
				Family Living							12
							6	Alexander BLACKFORD B: < 1866
											13
			3	Family Hazel Irene BLACKFORD B: 26 Sep 1892 Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska D: 3 Oct 1953 Des Moines, Polk, Iowa
								Family			14
							7	Leah BRUTSMAN B: < 1868
				If you want to know what needs to be changed, on this chart, e-mail me and I will give you changes.							15
				When it comes to genealogy ever body seems to fall into one of three camps.

1-Can't get enough 2-Could care less 3-Just hearing the word, genealogy, is like dropping a f-bomb, in Church. I think that I am a solid 2, unless, I hear the "g-talk" (like last Sunday, in a Stake Priesthood meeting) in Church and think "maybe I should be a little less like my ancestors, who could care less". Seems that I can be guilty of the same things I like to complain about. Here is the real reason for this post; The Stake is having a "take your ancestor's to the Temple night" (there words, not mine) were they want you to do Temple work, for your own line of ancestors. In my mind, the names I should be submitting, are those of my Grandfather and Grandmother, on my Father's side. It's my Grandfather that is the problem. In the many years that my Mother did true researched and the many years that I dabbled, I can not resolve if my Grandfathers name is Joseph Raymond Smith or Raymond Joseph Smith. The scale teeters back and forth. I found his parents on a 1895 Iowa census (the year he was born) with the words "baby, unknown" (as in unnamed). Then in 1900, as Raymond Joseph, on the US census.

You would think that, that would be enough, to stick with R.J., but my uncle Ray (yah, you guessed it, Raymond Joseph Smith), insisted that his name was J.R. and that he choose to be called Ray, because Joseph Smith was a very unpopular name, in Iowa, at that time. To add a little more spice to the mystery, The 1900 census doesn't show what happened to my great Grandfather, John B. Smith (the pedigree chart above has his name as Byron Smith. Could that mean they like to be called by there middle name?). John B. was 47 years old when my Grandfather was born and could have passed on from natural causes, by the time the 1900 census was taken, for all we know. Anyway, we know he wasn't there to defend the name. I have not found a birth certificate and because my Grandfather just up and left home, when my father was young, we do not know when or were he passed away. Add the fact that the last name is Smith and I think you can see, I have a real problem. So this is me, pleading for insight. It could be that I am just over thinking the problem, or that I just want there to be a connection to Joseph Smith, the Prophet (the more I look, the less likely there is a connection), or maybe it really doesn't matter. Please help me out and leave a comment, even if you don't know me, so I can un-stick my train of thought. Thanks for your help, in advance, Boyd