Blessings

What a great, blessing-filled Thanksgiving weekend!

Here are some of my blessings in life.

A loving family (both sides!) who drove up from Utah to spend the holiday with us.


A hardworking brother on a mission.

A delicious feast.

Rocking normal jeans and being pleasantly surprised by the size.

Our new smartphones so I can read scriptures while nursing Rachel.


A beautiful baby girl.


A husband who is great and a also worthy priesthood holder.


Once again, family. :)

Finding My Family in the 1940 U.S. Census

The LDS Church is really big into family history because we believe that we are eternal families. They have a program where people can look at scans of historical documents and then type them into a form. This is called Family Search Indexing and it is searchable so people can find their ancestors.

April 1 of this year was when the 1940 U.S. Census became open to the public. Of course, the indexing community was in quite the hubbub. (On a side note, for historical research purposes not related to family history, I am thrilled, as that is my decade of emphasis.) Utah and Idaho were indexed really fast. I was amazed, but was in the throes of thesis work so didn't start indexing until the last two weeks. No more Utah to index for me. But since my maternal Grandpa is from Wisconsin, I decided to index names from Wisconsin. I probably won't find him while indexing, but I am helping others find their Wisconsin family.

And today, the records that have been indexed for Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming were open to searching. I was excited and began looking for my family.

First search. "Bredthauer" in Salt Lake County. Nothing. I tried a few more times and determined there must have been a spelling error in the indexing and I would have to get creative to find my paternal Grandpa and his family. So I didn't get super discouraged and started the next search.

Second search. "Barg" in Salt Lake County. Carl R. Barg (my great-grandfather) popped right up, along with his family and my paternal Grandma Marian. She was 16 in 1940. Her dad was born in Germany and her mother was born in Denmark. I learned that my great-grandfather was an accountant at a machinery company. There they are, Carl, Julia, Marian, Ardella, Joan, and Don.

Detail of Bargs in 1940 U.S. Census

Third search. "Park" in Tooele County. George and Vera were at the top of this list, too. And there was my maternal Grandma Margaret. She was only 6 in the census. All her family, except her brother James, were born in Utah. This is the family line from which all my Mormon pioneer heritage comes from. I learned that my great-grandfather was a crewman at some place in Tooele (I couldn't read the handwriting). There they are, George, Vera, Dorothy, James, and Margaret.

Detail of Parks in 1940 U.S. Census

By this time, I'm on a high. I'm finding my grandparents! Well, at this point, only my grandmothers. But still! I can figure out a way to find my other family members.

Fourth search. "Bredthauer" in the whole database. I pulled a few death certificates and there are apparently a bunch of Bredthauers in Texas and Nebraska. News to me. But, I did find my paternal Grandpa Henry and his family in the 1930 U.S. Census. This, I decided, would be my key to the 1940 one. So there they are, Henry (the dad, and my Opa), Anna (my Oma), Sophia, Henry Jr. (my Grandpa, and that is not his real name), and Fred. This was very exciting. I know Aunt Sophie and I know Grandpa. Grandpa was 6 in this census. This was also incredibly helpful. I wasn't sure if Opa was going by Heinrick or by Henry in the U.S., since they had immigrated about five years prior. Now I could search for Henry. What a unique name in the early-twentieth century (not). Great.

Detail of Bredthauers in 1930 U.S. Census

 Fifth search. "Henry," limited by residence in Salt Lake County, Utah, census records only, birthplace in Germany, birth date between 1880 and 1885 (searching for Opa). See, I limited my search options very wisely. There were only about five Henrys that fit that description, and from 21 years of having my last name slaughtered, if was fairly easy to find the correct Henry--Henry Bredthann. And there is the rest of them, Anna, Sophia, Henry, and Fred, all listed as Bredthann. We can see in this round that Grandpa was 16 at the time of the census. Opa was a farmer, Sophie was a "wrapper" at a bakery (probably the Deseret Bakery, owned by Uncle Fritz), and my Grandpa Henry was a helper at the farm.

Detail of "Bredthanns" (supposed to be Bredthauers) in 1940 U.S. Census

So I contacted Family Search and notified them of the error in indexing. Granted, this census person has really bad handwriting and that is a super hard last name to spell, so I can't really blame the indexer. I just want my family to be on there correctly.

Anyway, I hope this inspires some of you to look for your ancestors on Family Search. You may be surprised at the wealth of information out there and what you are able to learn about your family. If you can't find someone, get creative with searching for them. And if you don't want to do that, you can be a historian and get involved in Indexing. It is fun and easy (well, some handwriting is easier than others...).

Happy Family Historying! I feel like such a legit historian finding people and reading handwriting and stuff.

Time Flies When Life Gets Crazy

We have officially relocated to Washington! And a lot has gone on since then, so I will do a few updates. In general, I hung out with my nephew, ended my job, graduated, Andrew graduated, we moved, celebrated a wedding, unpacked, and I am looking for a new OB/GYN. Life is good, so be excited for these thrilling updates!

Also, today on my morning run, I saw six bunnies and seven ducklings. I live in Easter land!

Another also, we live on the top floor. Thank goodness I took the stairs to work every day so I am strong. I am quite thrilled that I no longer hear our upstairs neighbors talking, jumping, singing, peeing, or other awkward activities.

We have to give talks on Sunday in our new ward. We are talking on Elder Dallin H. Oaks's talk, "Sacrifice." I feel like we just barely gave talks (which we did, in March). His was a great talk, and hopefully mine will be all right. At least I don't have it like Andrew does, he has to teach Elders Quorum on Sunday. :)

Auf Wedersehen!

Farewell Grandparents!

Not my grandparents, but Andrew's. They are going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they are going the Alpine Mission, which is Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, and they will be working with young adults. Sounds like a fun mission to me. You can read about their adventures at their blog, which they haven't posted on yet.

All ten of the kids were there, so they had to get a family picture. Here is the chaos of such an event:

So many people....

 And I played with my boyfriend, Micheal. He is Andrew's cousins and he remembered me from Thanksgiving. He kept snuggling up with me. What a sweetheart!

The people not in the picture--also known as the in-laws and the grandchildren.

Walking with Micheal. It was like 57 degrees F outside. I could not believe this January weather!

Cousin time! Little Micheal with little Lydia. They were both wearing purple and so matching. How precious. 

Elise is going to become a nurse and needed to practice taking fifty people's blood pressures. Good thing she went to this party where there were fifty people. Oh man. And here, Wesley is dying since he is getting his blood pressure taken.

Family gathering pictures... Uncle Hans with his daughter Lydia, Andrew, and Uncle Eric's tummy.

Heidi, my mother-in-law with Lydia. Cute!

Micheal with Grandma. You know, leis are really amazing things.

All the cousins loved Lydia. She is a novelty since she came all the way from Virginia!

And Hans had this cool hat. So of course, we had to try it out. I think I'll try to crochet one...

"I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK. I sleep all night and I work all day!"

And then Elise had to practice shaving people. But I wondered, do CNAs usually shave people's faces or do they shave people's butts?

It was a crazy and loud day with a ton of people, but I had a good time. It was nice to see so many people, especially the aunt and uncles that live far away!

Alison's Wedding: At The Temple

So here it is! I know all my lovely and faithful readers have been waiting for

The Wedding!

Alison and Kendall were married on November 26 in the Bountiful Temple. 

That is where Andrew and I got married!

Hanging out at the Temple after a sealing is always a fun time.

Greg and Stacy came in from Iowa for the wedding! Greg has a typical Greg face. My mom is in the middle and then Daniel and Leslie.

Ariane and pregnant Melani

The happy couple :)

Alison with my Dad, Andrew, and Kendall.

The Bountiful Temple

My Dad stabbing the veil into Alison's hair. The veil seems to fall out at every wedding, and  my Dad is just really good at stabbing it into our skulls so it doesn't come out anymore. Also, my Uncle Scott is videoing the whole thing. So classic.

Andrew and I petting the animals at the Nativity scene.

Alison being held by her brothers Greg, Tyler, and Scott.

Alison and I.

Me and Alison jumping. Greg actually took this picture and we only jumped once. I am amazed that he got it.
Also, please forgive my dress riding up.
And most importantly, please note my beard look. No shave November, anyone?

Kendall's siblings holding him up.

In front of the Temple.

Having a leaf fight.

Since I was the Maid of Honor, I assisted the photographer and videographer (my Uncle Scott is a great one, if you are looking, here is his site.) I had a lot of fun watching those two be in love.

Spirit Daughter

Yesterday in my Institute class, we read parts from a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. It was really powerful to me, and although he targeted his remarks to teenage women, I felt some of the parts really spoke to me. I thought I would share them with you.

"First of all, I want you to be proud you are a woman. I want you to feel the reality of what that means, to know who you truly are. You are literally a spirit daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and an eternal destiny. ¹ That surpassing truth should be fixed deep in your soul and be fundamental to every decision you make as you grow into mature womanhood. There could never be a greater authentication of your dignity, your worth, your privileges, and your promise. Your Father in Heaven knows your name and knows your circumstance. He hears your prayers. He knows your hopes and dreams, including your fears and frustrations. And He knows what you can become through faith in Him. Because of this divine heritage you, along with all of your spiritual sisters and brothers, have full equality in His sight and are empowered through obedience to become a rightful heir in His eternal kingdom, an “[heir] of God, and joint-[heir] with Christ.” ² Seek to comprehend the significance of these doctrines. Everything Christ taught He taught to women as well as men. Indeed, in the restored light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a woman, including a young woman, occupies a majesty all her own in the divine design of the Creator. You are, as Elder James E. Talmage once phrased it, “a sanctified investiture which none shall dare profane.” ³ "

"I plead with you young women to please be more accepting of yourselves, including your body shape and style, with a little less longing to look like someone else. We are all different. Some are tall, and some are short. Some are round, and some are thin. And almost everyone at some time or other wants to be something they are not! But as one adviser to teenage girls said: “You can’t live your life worrying that the world is staring at you. When you let people’s opinions make you self-conscious you give away your power. … The key to feeling [confident] is to always listen to your inner self—[the real you.]” ⁸ And in the kingdom of God, the real you is “more precious than rubies.” ⁹ Every young woman is a child of destiny and every adult woman a powerful force for good. I mention adult women because, sisters, you are our greatest examples and resource for these young women. And if you are obsessing over being a size 2, you won’t be very surprised when your daughter or the Mia Maid in your class does the same and makes herself physically ill trying to accomplish it. We should all be as fit as we can be—that’s good Word of Wisdom doctrine. That means eating right and exercising and helping our bodies function at their optimum strength. We could probably all do better in that regard. But I speak here of optimum health; there is no universal optimum size."

 ---Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "To Young Women," Ensign, November 2005.

I have been working hard to be more healthy and to lose weight this semester. It has been hard, and I don't know how much progress I have made--but I feel better. I know that our bodies are precious gifts from our Heavenly Father, and I am very grateful for my body. By taking care of my body through exercise, eating healthy foods, and having good hygiene, I am showing appreciation for my body. We need our bodies to gain eternal life, which is possible through Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father loves his daughters in a very special way. Sometimes people say that women in the Church aren't respected or that the Church is stifling to women. It is not so. If people would read the words of the modern-day prophets and apostles, they would see how much Church leaders love and care for the women of the Church. And their love and concern is only a sampling of the love of our Heavenly Father. I have felt Heavenly Father's love for me, and I know that I am truly His spirit daughter---and that is amazing! He loves me and wants to give me so many blessings. He loves all His children, and wants them to be happy and to have eternal life with Him.

I am proud and grateful to be a woman in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

General Conference

Andrew and I smiling and looking directly into the sun outside of the Conference center. Please note our happy grimaces.

Andrew and I were fortunate enough to get tickets to General Conference. Even though I have lived my whole life in Utah, I have never been to General Conference, and I was really excited to go. General Conference is when prophets and apostles speak to members of the LDS Church and all the world. We went to the Saturday afternoon session, and got to sustain the prophet, apostles, and other general authorities. We heard David A. Bednar, Neil L. Anderson, D. Todd Christofferson, and L. Tom Perry speak--four apostles!--along with three other leaders. A sweet Primary children choir sang the music. Thanks to my Uncle Paul, we were twenty rows away from the speakers and almost right in front of the pulpit. We could actually see the speakers' faces! We had a really great time and I felt the Holy Ghost. I'm grateful that we can heard messages from modern prophets. I felt like the many of the messages were for me.

This pioneer ensemble were outside the Church history museum. The man on the chair was playing the saw!