Global Family Reunion Block Party - Salt Lake City

Today, we attended the Global Family Reunion Block Party in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library. West Temple Street between North and South Temple Streets was blocked off for this party. It was one of over 40 branch parties of the larger Global Family Reunion that was taking place in Queens, New York at the New York Hall of Science.

We arrived just as the event was starting at 10 am and were each tagged with neon green wrist bands. My children immediately wanted to play on the bounce houses that were lining the street.

After 5 or 6 bounce houses, we got in line for the rock wall. My children are 7 and 4 and have never climbed one before. I was surprised they wanted to. They were both so brave. As we waited in line, I thought about the bounce houses, the rock wall, the carnival games and realized that I need to step up my games for family reunions. This was so much fun for the kids.

While the kids were in line for the rock wall, I was in the group photo in front of the Family History Library. Each of the block parties as well as the main event had a huge group photo taken. Can you find me?

At each of the carnival games (ring toss, bean bag toss, fish pond, and basketball hoop) the kids got little trinkets or toys for participating. We have leis, bracelets, skin stickers (tattoos), pens, magnet clips, and suckers. They loved the carnival games and repeated them. I love this picture with the missionary who was helping at this booth. I wonder if he ever dreamed that when he accepted his call to be a family history missionary that he would one day be hosting a carnival game for part of the world's largest family reunion.

While we were waiting in line for the face painting, we listened and watched the Polynesian Dancers, the Scottish Bagpipers and Storyteller Elaine Brewster.

We went into the Family History Library for other activities. One of the activities was Replace a Face interactive photos. We chose an old photo and then using the camera on the computer took our picture and the program placed it inside of the picture. Here are Emma's and Matthew's pictures. This would be something fun to do at a family reunion using old pictures of our ancestors.

We also put a dot on a large world map indicating an area where one of our ancestors were from. And we had some other pictures taken of us in front of a green screen and we got to pick out different backgrounds.

The library now has an area with children's toys and a table and white board for children to use. My children immediately sat down and colored away. My daughter colored a huge red heart ... turning hearts to our fathers ... very clever. Good teaching moments even with a coloring page.

The library also had three rotating beginner's classes: Find an Ancestor on FamilySearch.org, Help Me Find a Name, and Beginning Indexing. Also in the library one could watch the live stream from the New York event.

Here is a view of West Temple Street from the 3rd floor of the Family History Library.

I love this banner! It hangs on the front of the Family History Library. I really believe that through family history you can really find your true self. Family History helps me understand who I am, where I came from, and it is the legacy I will leave for my own children.

While we were in the library I was interviewed by a reporter for the Deseret News. You can read that article here:

Deseret News: Salt Lake City joins Global Family Reunion, celebrating family history

KSL: Salt Lake City joins Global Family Reunion, celebrating family history

#GlobalFamilyReunion

RootsTech 2015 - Day 3 - February 14th

Here are some of my thoughts from my experiences from the last day of RootsTech 2015.

General Session

A.J. Jacobs - Global Family Reunion

The Global Family Reunion will be held on June 6, 2015 in New York City at the New York Hall of Science.  There will also be online streaming and branch parties around the world; including one at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.  Everyone counts … we are all connected.  The global family is hugely important. It brings history to life, fills us with gratitude and interconnects us with all human kind. We will be a kinder world as we deeply realize that we are one big family.

Here is the link to the Global Family Reunion (GFR) http://globalfamilyreunion.com/ Select "Join the Family" to see how you are connected to the Global Family Tree.  I already know that I am related to George Walker Bush (on both his father's and his mother's lines) and the Bushes are already connected in the Global Family Tree.  I am still waiting for my email from the GFR to show all my connectedness. 

You can buy tickets for the event for $20 and 100% goes to the Cure Alzheimer's Fund and the Alzheimer's Association to fund research. When we lose someone to Alzheimer's we lose their memories and their history.  Curing Alzheimer's is really about preserving family history!

Donny Osmond

Anybody can do family history; it is all about stories. When you discover more about your ancestors, the more you discover about yourself. Most of Donny's history has been documented.  Has ours?  If not, why not? Don't you think our descendants deserve to know about us? It is our responsibility to record our lives. If we don't document our memories, we will at some point forget them. Donny indicated that searching his family history has become one of his favorite hobbies.  He was given all of his mother's research … which spanned decades. What matters most is what lasts the longest and family lasts the longest. We need to make every "right now" matter. We need to give our loved ones our time.  Check out Donny's app at http://donny.com/

Bringing Families Together Through Family Reunions - Andi Gooch

I really liked this session as I have a family reunion session that I present at other conferences. It was good to see a different take on family reunion planning.  Because RootsTech is a tech conference the majority of Andi's presentation was tech oriented and she shared apps and programs that can help in planning a reunion.  She shared some programs for collecting payments electronically that I had not thought of using before. That one suggestion alone will help me in the family reunions and high school reunion I am planning. Her topics covered: Themes, Administration, Social Media, Activities and Master of Ceremonies. You can follow Andi on her blog: http://intothewestfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/

6 Steps to Choreograph Your Research Across The Internet - Janet Hovorka

I took a lot of notes on this session to help me in my personal family history research.  Here are my overview notes regarding the 6 steps: 1. Know what you are looking at online. 2. Create your own conclusion tree. 3. Know your search strategies. 4. Use multiple tabs on your screen. 5. Use timelines. 6. Cite your sources.  Janet's session was recorded and may be available on the RootsTech website in the future. For more information on this topic, you can follow Janet on her blog: http://thechartchick.blogspot.com/

EXPO HALL

There were so many vendors and not enough time to visit each booth.  I quickly walked the entire hall on one of my lunch breaks and on the other breaks I was able to visit about a dozen booths.  I probably could have spent 3 days visiting vendors.  It was a hard decision to make … go to class, visit with new friends, or visit vendors.  Even though the conference was already 4 days long and I was exhausted at the end of each day, there are moments when I think that it wasn't long enough.  I believe there were something like 200 vendors.  Here is a list of the exhibitors: http://rootstech.org/expo/exhibitors2015

#RootsTech    #GlobalFamilyReunion   #iamacousin