We love the spring!

This weekend couldn't have been better. We spent Saturday at Laura's parents grilling some hamburgers and hotdogs and spending time with them before they head back to Texas. As always the food was great and it was sad saying our byes. Today we took a trip up to Highlands, NC with Stacey and Robert. The weather was perfect making it a beautiful drive. I love passing by the private school in Rabun Gap which has to be the nicest school in the southeast. There is a long windy road that twists up the side of the mountains heading into Highlands which is always fun to drive up. Laura had to remind me more than a couple times to drive within the lines. Highlands is a small mountain town with lots of antique and art shops. It sits next to Lake Sequoyah which is just a small serene lake that is created by a georgous waterfall dam. Just past the dam is a little waterfall that falls over the road. It used to be that you had to drive under the waterfall to get into Highlands but now they built a road around it. You can still drive under it if the weather isn't cold. In downtown Highlands we walked down the mainstreet looking in the shops and just enjoying the weather. Our favorite stops were the "Sauce store" where you can sample all types of salsas, sauses, and jellies. The icecream parlour and an antique shop which has a fun Ring game we like to play. It was great having Stacey Robert, and Lucie to enjoy it all with us. Here are a couple of videos of the trip up to Highlands, and Bridal Veil Falls. It is a little long but didn't feel like editing it :)

Ike brings family fun at Yellow River Game Ranch

Laura has had some family in town from Texas because of the recent hurricanes and it has been fun spending time with them. The other day Laura and Karlie went to the Yellow River Game ranch and fed the animals.

Spicy Gumbo, and a New Wii! Rockband party at our house!

The other day we were invited to Laura's parents for some famous Cajun Gumbo.  For those who don't know Laura's family makes the best southern/cajun food without a doubt.  So when invited over it is always a mouth watering experience not to pass up...ever!  Well the Gumbo did not dissapoint as I gulped down 3 bowls of it.  Afterwards we spent time with Laura's grandparents who are in town from Beaumont, Tx, Jenn, and David.  

The suprise of the night was the Wii, Carl gave us a Wii with the Rockband kit which we setup and started rocking away.  It was a night to never forget with Laura jamming on guitar, Jen singin, and David drumming away.  We also got in some bowling that Laura's grandpa played, Baseball that Carl hit a grandslam on and some good ol tennis.  We are very greatfull for the new Wii and me n Laura have started a band "Your Momma's." We play almost every night which has been some fun times together.  Thanks y'all!

Hopefully we can reach the level of these guys sometime.  

What is the best way to practice? Ask these guys...

Florida Trip

Even though Tropical Storm Fay attempted to rain us out in Orlando it definitely did not keep us from having an awesome trip. We arrived at Uncle Bills new place just south of Orlando. They had a beautiful room waiting for us where we setup Karlie's portable crib and Janie's bassinet. The next morning we headed to Disney World with Karlie while Aunt Brenda took care of Janie for us. We were able to get some fun times in before the rain started coming down. Karlie's favorites were "it's a small world," and Monster's Inc. Laugh floor. The next couple days were rainy, lazy days but had lots of rockin fun with Rock band and just hangin' out. We did manage to squeeze half a day in a Sea World where me and Karlie went with Jeff and his family. Karlie liked pretty much everything there and her favorites were the Elmo show, Shamu, Walruses, stingrays, and the penguins. We spent our last 2 days at a condo on Melbourne beach where we enjoyed some sun finally. Karlie and Janie loved the beach. Janie chilled next to mommie in her Bumbo seat in the shade while Karlie and I splashed in the waves. Karlie was fascinated by the beach birds and spent about an hour chasing them up and down the beach. When she finally realized that it was hopeless she let me build a sand castle around her. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go again! Here are some pictures from our trip and I will post some more videos from Sea World when I get a chance.

Tuesday July 8,2008

Hey Baby,

Here are the pictures that I took today of Karlie. We went to Angie's and rode around in the VW Bug.





Also, look what else I found today at Walmart. It's Karlie's favorite thing in the whole world. An Elmo Juice Box with a Straw, Awesome! She loves it!




Hope you sleep well. We miss you!

Love, your Babies!

Our Trip to Texas...Summer 2008

So mostly this is to keep in touch with Mike while we are away so he can see pictures, etc. But everyone is welcome to read and of course comment on these posts.
So yes, I decided to take a trip 735 miles one way to Vidor, Texas to visit family. Karlie and I really needed to get out of the house and do something different. We decided to stop half way and spend the night in New Orleans. I had never been and was totally excited about sightseeing and taking tons of pictures.

Well, we got there, showered up and went to go eat some good Cajun seafood at Landry's, (an awesome seafood restaurant). I envisioned beautiful streets with trees and moss hanging down, statues, pretty much a peaceful evening in Louisiana. When we arrive in downtown New Orleans, the streets were packed due to the Essence Music Festival being in town...so here is what the Essence Music Festival is for those of us who do not know!!
It’s apparently a Black American Empowerment Seminar. The participants included: Tyler Perry, Rev. Al Sharpton, Tom Joyner, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu, Lynn Whitfield, Regina Belle, Roland S. Martin, Soledad O'Brien, Dr. Juanita Bynum, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Bishop Paul S. Morton, Bishop Debra Morton, Tye Tribbett and more."
WOW!!

We eventually decided we would still go eat at Landry's just in another part of town. We got lost on the way there...Went through neighborhoods that included houses reconstructed worth $500,000 next door to homes with FEMA trailers in the front yard. Once we finally get to Landry's, the wait is 45 minutes long. We should have turned around and gone to Taco Bell at this point, but we stayed and 25 min. into the waiting period Karlie decided to go pretty much ballistic. I have never seen her act this way. (Well, maybe that one time at Ann and Gary's) She seemed practically uncontrollable! I thought maybe when we got seated she would calm down, but she never did. I told my parents that Karlie and I would just sit in the car and wait until they were done. We went to the car and sat...and Karlie totally calmed down so we went back in. My parents had ordered my dinner, (grilled shrimp, field peas, and dirty rice) and while we were waiting on it I fed Karlie some crackers and water. Finally after about 30 minutes, they brought out my food and it was completely wrong. At this moment Karlie hits her head on the table and goes back to being uncontrollable, so outside again we went. People are of course staring and I am almost in tears. My dad comes and gets Karlie while I go back in to eat my food, but at this point I am irritated and stressed, so I ask the waitress to take my wrong order off of the ticket. Then my parents and I got into a huge fight that we did not resolve before going to bed. It was awesome. Good Times. The next morning we woke up still upset, and drove another 4 1/2 hours. Enough time to make up. ")

Here are some pictures from our road trip there...the first is of my sweet precious angel and the other is of my not so sweet precious angel.")




Love ya Baby.

Laura

Karlie is sick today

Karlie woke up this morning at about 4:30 and right away I could tell something was wrong. She has a fever and has not been herself all day. I could tell she was very miserable, she didn't want to eat or anything. All I can do to console her is hold her as she comes to me as if I have some magic cure. Its funny how a little cold can be so stressful and depressing for a father. As I learn how to be a father myself I have a greater appreciation for my own parents and family. I can't imagine the heartache I have caused them as I grew up. As kids (and even as adults) we truly don't see the efforts that are put into our lives. Nor do we realize the prayers, hopes, and wishes that are directed towards us. I am lucky to have had great parents and family members who have sacrificed much in raising me. Whatever small mistakes were made are overshadowed by the great effort, teachings, and time taken in trying to make a good life for me. I love you all and hope I can come even a little close to raising my own daughters as well as you have raised me.

Mom & Gary

Yesterday we visited mom & Gary's as I had most of the day off. Mom made a great chicken casserole which I ate way too much of. We took some pics below. They have a beautiful flower garden and farther down are some pictures of the flowers.

Janie

Janie is 2.5 months old now and is at one of my favorite stages. She now notices her surroundings and can see us and will offer a big smile whenever we give her attention. I will make sure to update this post with a pic or video clip as soon as I can but I thoroughly enjoy this time. I feel as though this is the time where she gets to know me and recognize me as being her daddy.


Janie has a very different personality from Karlie. She seems for the most part more laid back and easy going. She definately is alot stronger, already holding up her head and even able to balance sitting up pretty well. Sometimes her strength amazes me. She has this death grip where she will hold onto things or just grip really tight with her fingers and toes that moving her becomes just a little difficult making me laugh. She'll also give out some good beatings with her leg reflex kicks when she is sitting next to you so watch out.

Stacey, Robert, & Root Beer

Yesterday we gathered our belongings and trekked our way up to visit Stace & Robert. As always it was a pleasure to spend time with them. They have the Wii and we got to play some Mario Cart using the Wii wheel. For those of you who haven't played the Wii whether you are a gamer or not are missing out. Besides some major team coin collecting and racing we had alot of fun there and enjoyed being with them. Stacey whipped up out of nowhere a couple dozen of the best homemade cookies I have had. Its funny how things change. Laura & I talk often about how we grew up compared to how our kids will grow up. I remember many a meals being prepared from scratch. TV dinners came later but were last resort. Just the other day in about 6 minutes Laura whipped up some salmon and tuna steaks with potatoes and cabbage which tasted amazing. I don't know how our Mothers survived. How did they go without meals in a bag, and how did they raise us without pasta pickups, little puffs, or yogurt melts. This will be a post in its own someday.

Oh yea I had the best tasting root beer EVER! Stacey and Robert got it for my birthday and I don't know how I missed it. It is called Virgil's Root Beer and lives up to its claim of being a "slice of heaven" It is definitely worth trying at least once and can be found at the Whole Foods Market. Here is a review that says it all.
Virgil's Root Beer: A Slice of Heaven

Geneology

One of my jobs the other day was with someone whom I had the privilege of having an interesting discussion about genealogy. When I walked into his office there were old pictures, documents, and maps all over his walls. On his desk were various family history charts and research papers. As I worked on his system I began asking about his research. I excitedly told him about Geni and how great it has been to see our family contribute and collaborate. He had heard of Geni and was interested in learning more and as I shared my knowledge with him he asked me what research I had done to develop our "Family History." I replied by telling him that I have family members who have researched extensively our heritage. I personally know of family members travelling far to research leads, visit cemeteries etc.

I then asked of his research and found out that he has not gone as far back as his great great grandfather in his family tree. He stated that he has some suspicions of where his lineage goes from there but he cannot PROVE it. He then began admonishing me the importance of discovering your true genealogy based on documented facts and not hearsay. He explained in details about his research, how he had paid researchers to gather information only to find out much of it was taken from sources that did not exist. Specifically he mentioned a man who stated to have found some of his family history and documented in details certain sources. When he went to validate the sources they never existed or were irrelevant. This was very new to me in that my interest in family history has been merely to gather what research has already been done. I never considered that the cited Church history documents may have been fabricated or cited films may not exist and so on. As I have thought about this conversation I have realized a couple of things.

Family history research evolves and in this information age we have the greatest opportunity to gather and share information than ever before. With this blessing comes great responsibility as well. It is important to be as accurate as possible in your research. To detail how you came about the data you are submitting. Geneology.com has a great article on the value of documentation in family history research. They discuss the following benefits of detailed documentation.

· Documentation Will Make Your Research Easier and Faster
· Documentation Helps Prevent Duplication of Research
· Documentation Gives Others Confidence in Your Research
· Documentation Doesn't Have to Be Hard

That said it is also important to realize that Family History is like any History. Not only is it history but herstory too. Some of the greatest moments in history cannot be proven without a doubt but it is these “stories” that create the historical moments that captivate and motivate us. There have been many such stories told to me by my family true or not they are now a part of our family history.

This leads me to my final point. I have a responsibility to document my sources for family history information. I also recognize the fact that my lineage cannot be detailed 100% and that there may be some inaccuracies in my history. My personal goal in our family history is to provide a means for our family to collaborate our own research, “stories,” and histories. Most importantly it is to communicate and share our own immediate family’s history. I hope the work we have done in Geni will provide us the means to do so.

GENI Update

Thanks to all the family members we have contributing to the family tree. Feel free to update your profile with important dates, add photos, and invite other family members to participate. It has been exciting to see extended trees being added and created. It is amazing how we are all connected. Carl Lee submitted his Gedcom to be imported on the Lee side and Jeff Brown submitted his Gedcom to have merged in as well. If you have a family file you would liked imported contact me and I will be glad to help.

I have removed the screencast from a previous post because it is too small to watch anyways. I know Geni is easy to use but I hope to make a new one that is shorter and larger so I can help those family members who need it in navigating around.

The Greatest Family Collaboration Site...GENI, and you are invited!

I have been looking for a way to share family photos, history, events, and genealogy data for a while now. I have yet to have found a solution worth employing till now. Yesterday I came across this site http://www.geni.com/. It currently is in beta so it isn't perfect, but its free and offers far superior solutions than other services I have tried and been tempted to pay for and try.

I have imported what GEDCOM files I currently have and what I could find on familysearch.org. I have imported most of the following lines: Page, Lee, Brown, Davies, Emery, Cameron, Sheffield. Because familysearch.org doesn't report living persons information I attempted to enter as much as I know.

Most likely you have already received an invite from me to "View our tree" Follow the instructions below to get started and then come back and view my screencast here which will help you become familiar with our Geni tree.

UPDATED SCREENCAST COMING SOON

Geni invite instructions:

1. Click the link in your email to "View our tree"
2. Click YES to the question asked if you are a member of Michael Page's family. Note: Even if you are an extended family member click yes.
3. The next prompt asks if you would like to invite others to view our Geni tree this can be done at any time later so for now click skip
4. You are now taken to your spot on our Geni tree. If you have watched my screencast then you should feel comfortable navigating the Genie tree. Genie tree screencast
5. An email will be sent providing a temporary password for your account, a link to create a permanant password, and a link to view your profile.
   
6. This is the most important step. Take the time to finish your profile. Please take the time to include as much information as possible including dates, and photos. This may be a bit time consuming but will be greatly worth it.
7. Make our Geni tree grow by continuing to contribute and participate in it. This can be done by adding/correcting missing/incorrect information, contributing to family news, calendar, photos, profiles. Inviting other family members to participate in our Geni tree.
   

Below are the pros and cons I have found with Geni. Please comment about what you think of Geni. I want to know if you find it complicated or simple, useless or usefull. Also if you did not recieve an invite for some reason contact me and provide me with an updated email address.
Pros:

• It's FREE! Can't beat that.
  
• Our Geni tree can grow as big as we want it to. If you want to add your spouses family line, cousins, etc. please do. Remember the Geni tree is dynamic and will adjust to your family name.
• Quick and easy to use interface
  
• Personal profiles have a familiar "facebook" social networking style to them
• Personal profiles provide features such as, easy photo uploading, about me page, timeline of events, guestbook comments, & contact information
• Permissions can be managed to only allow family and friends to access our geni tree.
  
• It is easy to contribute your family history to the family tree.
• Logging onto Geni tree renames the family tree to yours and your spouses family line.
  "The purpose of this is not to label the single page that you're looking at, but rather to "brand" the Geni site with something that's specific to your family. Users who do not have a current spouse will see their own maiden name or last name. Users who are married will see their own maiden name or last name, a dash, and their current spouse's maiden name or last name. If you have multiple current spouses, all of them will be listed."
  

Cons:

• Even though navigating your profile and viewing the tree is very user friendly it does take some getting used to. I will be posting some training screencasts and tips for navigating the Geni tree.
  
• UPDATE: GEDCOM files can be merged into our tree. If you are interested in having your family file merged please contact me on Geni.
  
  Currently a GEDCOM can be imported into a brand new Geni tree that cannot be merged into an existing family tree. This means currently we will have to manually add information. If you have a large line that currently isn't in our Geni tree you may want to wait until direct GEDCOM import feature is enabled. Or send me the GEDCOM and on my spare time I will manually start importing it. What we wouldn't want to happen is to have multiple Geni trees that aren't linked together as it would complicate the purposes of our Geni tree. "Please Note: Importing a GEDCOM will create a new Geni Tree. If you already have a Geni account you must use a different email address for this import. This will start a new Tree which will not be merged into your existing Tree. We plan to enable GEDCOM Import into existing Trees in the future."

Pictures of Karlie and Janie

We went to Lee & Amy Dawkins house to celebrate Zane's birthday. Zane got some fun toys, and we ate some good food. Lee's sister Jenna (who unfortunately I don't have her website address) makes the BEST cakes and has done lots of weddings and such. She made Laura an awesome chocolate marble cake that didn't last long at all.

For those who don't know Lee & Amy also have their own photography business and are great. They took some time to take some photos of Karlie and Janie for us. Thanks as always for the wonderful job! To see some more of their works visit their website L&A Photography.