Indexing is good for the Soul

I'm not very good at family history work, but I love indexing!  If you don't know what indexing is, you are basically given old written documents like a census and typing the information into the internet database so that it's searchable.  This way people who are looking for their ancestors can search for them all in one place.  It's so fun!

Today I was indexing some death records from Houston, TX.  I got to look at all the records of people who died in Houston on November 13, 14, and 15 in 1922.  It was so interesting to see the reasons for death.  Some of them make my heart sink.

Little Alberta Williams died at the age of 5 from burns.  It also said that her father owned a bakery, and it makes me wonder if that's where her burns came from.

Another women whose occupation read "housewife" died at age 23 due to heart problems.  I have a feeling she didn't get to be a housewife for very long, and that makes me sad.

So.. if you're feeling like starting a useful hobby, I would really recommend indexing! And I'd love to do it with you or help you too! Plus, they are releasing the 1940 Census to index in a month which will have living people on it and you can pick which cities to do so you can see the names of people you know (cool!!)

Boise, ID

Boise: ( /ˈbɔɪsiː/)
1) the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho.
2) the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.
3) the place where Matt and I will be spending our summer!

Yes, that's right.  My amazing husband landed an internship at Micron in the great state of Idaho! I'm quite excited to live somewhere new for a little while.  I've done some research and have found that Boise has warm summers, good shopping, lots of hiking, and a minor league baseball team.  I think this means Boise and I will get along just fine :)

Happy Leap Day!

So, today I started my high school classes by wishing my students a happy leap day.  I told them they should celebrate since this is the only leap day they will have while in high school.  Then came this question:

"What is the point of leap day?"


What do you mean, what is the point? This student literally thought it was some sort of made up holiday.  When I asked if anyone knew why we have and extra day every 4 years, NO ONE KNEW!  I'm sure maybe some of the quiet kids knew, but didn't want to speak up(or at least I hope so). So I turned on this video for them... and they LOVED it! And even I learned a few new things :)

Enjoy!

Brushing Your Teeth

If someone told you that they brushed their teeth once every couple weeks, but they did it for 3 hours.. what would you think?

GROSS! right?

Well, the same thing can be applied to scripture study.  We can't read our scriptures every once in while, and try to make up for the days we didn't read by reading for super long periods of time.  Just like teeth-brushing, scripture study must be consistent to be effective.  It removes the spiritual plaque that builds up every day, and really helps the spirit to be in our lives.

I love the scriptures! They are such a source of strength and light in my life, and I know I need to be a lot better about reading them consistently.  Think of all the blessings I could be missing out on!

Crock-pot Love

February is the month of love.  There are many things in my life right now that I LOVE! (especially my amazing husband!!)
One of the things I have really been loving this month is my crock-pot. Here are my top 5 reasons:

1.  I've been trying new recipes and most of them have been delicious!