Updating

So I still have a blog that is nice to know.  It has been a interesting year for lack of a better word.  Looking forward to a new year.  I am extremely grateful for my friends & family, and for all I have been blessed with.  

Tristan

Tristan is my nephew on my husband's side of the family. He will be celebrating his first birthday in March and he is such a funny kid. He took his first steps on Valentine's day. (great timing)I was going through Christmas pictures the other day and I just have to post a few of Tristan.

New friend.

Toys are tasty.....

...so are giraffes...

...rounding off with kangaroo tasting.

What do you mean there are no more presents to taste?

Update

So here it is 2011 and so much happened in 2010. Mainly moving to Yucca Valley. I wasn't too sure I'd like it but it has a rugged beauty. Life is much slower and I am enjoying it. I also love having my own house. I haven't decided which room is going to be painted first. Jeff chose the decor & paint for the entertainment room aka man cave and the rest of the house is mine. I am thinking about staining the kitchen cupboards. I have already picked out a couple of pictures I want to put in the dining area. I do know the white walls need to go. So many rooms, so little money. That's okay we can save up and I will drive Jeff crazy with constantly changing my mind on the design.

This month Jeff & I are bird sitting for his mom. I don't know what is going on with the bird but all of the sudden the she doesn't like seem me. She has never had a problem with me before. Katy might see me as competition for Jeff's attention and is jealous, or she might think I am trying to replace Marcia. Who knows? Crazy bird. If we were keeping her longer than a month I would try working with her.

I am fairly happy that I am getting organized. I have managed to balance our accounts (yea me!) and am actually keeping up with keeping them balanced. I am almost done getting our tax stuff together so we can get that out of the way. I have discovered it is so worth having an accountant. He works fast and is not too expensive.

Speaking of taxes it is so strange that we are in February and I am just barely started thinking about tax season. Last year at this time I was beginning to work crazy overtime. I kind of miss it, then again I must not since I haven't thought about it too much.

So here is a new post. Hopefully it won't take me a year to post again.

Dum dee dum dee dum

Okay it has been quite awhile since I posted. Anyway life is pretty good. We are getting ready for the insanity that is Christmas, and tonight I am going to the Celtic Woman concert at the Chumash Casino.

No more excuses

Okay tax season is over so it is time to update. Life is slowly getting back to normal. Jeff and I celebrated our second anniversary on the 5th. We were going to go to The Huntington, but they are closed on Tuesdays so we went to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library instead. (Aren't we the wild and crazy couple?) That place is so cool!!! I think my favorite part was going into Air Force One. It was overwhelming to stand in that plane and think that I was standing in a place where several presidents, and their wives had stood. Jeff liked Marine One. The view there is so amazing. I can see why President Reagan wanted to be buried there. We also were able to see one of the four remaining copies of The Magna Carta. It is on display at the library until June. It was awesome to see a 850 year old document I learned about in school.

On our way home we stopped at The Bread Basket to pick up a cake. They made our wedding cake, and our first anniversary cake, so why break tradition? We had pot roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots for dinner and very yummy cake for dessert.

It was a wonderful day. I love my husband more and more each day. I am so blessed to have Jeff in my life. He has brought me so much joy, peace, and contentment. I thank God every day for dropping me in his lap.

Hmmm Take a wild guess

Jeff checking out Marine One

This is the view from President Reagan's grave

Cake Time!!!!

My excuse for not updating my Blog

Two words......TAX SEASON!!!!! Yes it is tax season and I have been working insane overtime. The closer we get to April 15th the more insane work is. So if I survive I will update once it is all over.

So much for falling out of the trees

As many know I have been bitten by the genealogy bug. I have started a family tree at Ancestry.com, and have been doing research on other websites like FamilySearch.org, or Find A Grave.com. Ancestry has a thing where if somebody wants to contact you about your tree they can do it through the website. Ancestry will send the e-mail to you and you keep your privacy and can choose to ignore or answer them.

Back in June I got a strange e-mail that was written in German. I decided to take a look at it since it came from Ancestry. I was able to translate it with the help of the Internet, and a lady I work with. The person (Ursula) had seen my family tree and asked me if I have any information on Heinrich Kahlsdorf who is my great grandfather. I don't know much about him. I know he came to the U.S. from Germany in 18 something with his brother Hermann, and I suspect like many immigrants of the time when he set foot on American soil he was an American and many of the traditions of the old country were left behind.

We haven't been able to find much information on the Kahlsdorf side of the family. My mother has told my father many times that his family must have fallen out if the trees. We have looked and haven't been able to find anything. Even now it is very difficult and Kahlsdorf is not a common name. I did some research and found that many of the immigrants who came to the United States from Germany left from Hamburg or Bremen. Looking at a map of Germany it is most likely that my grandfather left from Bremen. Unfortunately almost all the records were burned during the bombings in World War II

When I e-mailed Ursula I told her I didn't have much information on Heinrich Kahlsdorf, but what I do have I will happily share. The next day I got a e-mail with an attachment from her. It was a pedigree chart, and it has my great grandfather and his brother on it and the family line goes back to 1759!!!

This is so freaking cool!!!! Finally a link. Not only has my great grandfather's family been found, I also have a cousin in Germany!! It is so amazing! I'm still in shock.

Now to find my great grandmother's line. Her maiden name is Meyers. Do you know how many Meyers there are running around?? YIKES!!!!