Genealogy - Pictures

Jennie & Edward                                                                                     Jennie



I was elated to receive these pictures from a cousin I just recently was connected to.  She saw my name on a genealogy site and contacted me.  My father had given these pictures to her several years ago and she felt that I should be the rightful owner.  I have always wanted to find a picture of my Grandmother Anna Eckland (My father's Mother) as she died at a very young age.  Grandmother Anna had two children one being my father and his older sister Jennie.  I am not so sure that when this picture was taken,  Grandmother Anna had already passed away, as I know my father was a small baby when she died.  I was told by my Grandfather that I was Jennie sent back to him as Jennie died during surgery to remove her ruptured appendix at age 12.  He told me that I looked like her.  I know our hair (Auburn) was the same color as I have some of her hair in my genealogy files.  It was given to me by an Aunt who also felt that I should have it as Jennie was my full blooded Aunt.  Grandmother Anna died from complications of a ruptured Gall Bladder.

As I looked at the baby picture of my Father there was something familiar about it.  Then I realized my youngest son Garen resembled my Dad in his baby pictures.  Not only does Garen resemble his Grandfather, he has his temperament.  I used to tell Garen when he displayed this temper that I should send him to live with my Father to see how it was to live with a hot head.  I too had a temper but I learned to control it as I didn't want to be like my hot headed Dad.  It takes a lot to lose my temper, but when I do LOOK OUT!  

When I started to research my Swedish Grandmother Anna, I felt a closeness to her and that is when I yearned to see a picture of her.  As I discovered the tragedies that my Grandfather went through, losing his young wife, and then his young daughter in a short period of time, I could feel the pain that he must have felt.  He was left with two small children and they had to be taken care of.  He had a sister, Lottie who took over the care of my Father and saved his life when he was so ill.  Jennie had passed away by this time.  I know my Dad felt the loss of his mother and sister even thought he was so young. My Grandfather eventually remarried and my Dad was raised by a mean step mother who had a heavy hand in disciplining.  No wonder he had a hot head, or is that the Swedish blood that runs in our veins?  Dad also had red hair and his nickname was Red at one time. Red heads are known to have hot headed temperaments. Is this a falsehood or is it true?  I have seen many hot headed people in my life and they had many hair colors. All I know is that I wanted to have my Mother's black hair instead of my Dad's red hair and freckles that go along with it.  I used to look in the mirror and cry because of those freckles.  Why? because I was teased immensely by kids at school. Some day when I cross over to the other side, I hope to meet my Grandmother and Aunt.  I look forward to that day. 

Elvis Show

We went to the Viva Elvis show last night at the new Aria Hotel. Sherry treated us to it and also the buffet at Bellagio. It was a date night for us and we had a wonderful time. We finally got to see the dancing waters at Bellagio and that was a treat. The show was wonderful and not what I expected. I thought there would be an impersonator of Elvis, but instead it was a tribute to Elvis. It went through his life in a spectacular way with the "harmonious fusion of dance, acrobatics and live music. Nostalgia, modernity, and raw emotion provided the backdrop for his immortal voice." There was so much action on the stage, my eyes raced back and forth trying not to miss anything. Our favorite was a type of trampoline act and it was amazing. It will be a while before Frank and I can do much due to his upcoming surgery and recuperating time. Thanks you so much Sherry for the treat.

Finally Answers to Frank' Back Pain

This is where Frank is most comfortable in his lounge chair

Yesterday we went to Las Vegas to Frank's doctor. We have been anxiously waiting for this appointment hoping and praying for answers. When Dr. Duke came in to the exam room he started questioning Frank about how he was feeling and where he was expericing pain. I think he was verifing what he had seen on the X-Ray. He told Frank that the hardware that holds everything in place after surgery had fallen apart. Dr. Duke had operated on Frank July 9 of last year and the horrible nerve pain he was having was gone immediately, but his back never did heal right. Dr. Duke had Frank wear a bone growth stimulator and it hadn't helped at all. There was just signs of a little healing going on. We figure it was because Frank's back was so unstable and there was too much movement for the bone to fuse.

On May 4th or 6th Frank will have surgery again to put in new hardware and Dr. Duke said he was going to put a screw higher and tighten it down. I hate to see Frank have to go through another surgery, but we have hoped and prayed that there would be a solution for the pain he has been in. We are actually happy about the surgery and can't wait until he is on the healing side of it. Doctor Duke said it would take an hour and would be nothing like the first surgery. It will require a two day stay in the hospital and then we can head for home. Hopefully there will be a fast recovery time and by Fall or Christmas Frank can go golf with the Old Farts at the park. He will be a happy camper then. We won't be going any where this summer in our fifth wheel. So another hot summer for us.

Sleep Study

Haley our Sleep Study Tech


Me All Wired UP





Getting Ready to leave for our Sleep Over Party with Haley


On April 14, Frank & I had a sleep study done. We had to go to Mesquite in our PJ's. I called it a sleep over with wires. When we got there the sleep tech, Haley started to wire me up first. No wonder they wanted us there a couple of hours before our usual bed time. I was brave and let Haley take a picture of me after all the wires were in place. Then she started on Frank. He had already been there a couple of days before so he was getting hooked up with a CPAC as he has sleep apena. I don't know how they expect you to sleep with all those wires, but somehow I managed maybe 3 to 4 hours. Haley had a speaker that she could talk to us from her desk and we could talk to her. She had us go through some kind of procedure of lifting our legs one at time, then moving our eyes in different directions. Then it was time to go to sleep. We were in separate rooms. As for me It took forever to get to sleep. About 4:00 A.M. Frank called to Haley and told her he was in pain with his back and wanted to get up. The test requires a good four hours and that is all they need to determine if you have a problem. I was relieved when Haley asked me if I was awake and ready to get un-hooked from all the wires and go home. I told her I was. So after being unhooked from all of the wires, Frank & I headed home at around 4:30 AM. We got home and crawled into our comfy bed and tried to sleep a few more hours. Needless to say, I was a zombie for a couple of days.

The outcome of the sleep study was Frank has moderate and I have mild apena. So Frank got his CPAC Tuesday and I will be fitted with a mouth thing that fits on your teeth both top and bottom to hold the air way passage open. I have been so fatigued for a long time and thought it was Frank's snoring but maybe it is a combination of both his snoring and my mild apena. So now I will be going for a visit with a dentist to be fitted with the mouth thing. I don't know what they call it. I hope it works. I go next Wednesday evening to St. George to have it done. It will take three weeks for them make it.

Easter Sunday with Great Granddaughter Rozlynn

I am way behind on my blogging so I am trying to catch up.
Jason, Renee, and Rozlynn came out to Logandale for a visit. They went to the Easter Sunrise at the Valley of Fire with Renee's Dad's family. They spent the night with us and we had a nice visit with them. Rozlynn is growing so fast she is approaching 20 lbs. She has the cutest chubby legs. She is smiling a lot now and cooing too. She is so sweet. Wish we could see her more often.

We didn't do much for Easter except watch Conference on TV and just kick back and rest most of the day. I miss seeing the kids hunt Easter eggs and their Easter baskets, and coloring the eggs the night before Easter, and then making deviled eggs out of a lot of them. I used to make a big Easter basket for the center of the table when the kids got too old for hunting eggs, etc. That way they could just grab a treat out of the big basket.

Don't Drink the Water

On March 25, we went to a high school play, Don't Drink the Water by: Woody Allen put on by the MVHS Theater Department. The play took place on an amazing two story set depicting the inner workings of the U.S. Embassy behind the Iron Curtain. The Construction Tech class built the set and when I first saw it as I walked into the Auditorium all I could say was "Wow! somebody did a fabulous job on that set. The play took place in the 60's and there was a flash show before the play started of Woodstock, President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Sonny & Cher, and Marilyn Monroe and of course Vietnam. It brought back many memories for those of us that lived during that time.

The kids did a wonderful job in their parts, and it was unbelievable that in the last minutes of rehearsal one of the girls that had a main part got sick and there was a scramble of changing players around causing them to relearn a new part. You would have never known it as all went well without a hitch and was enjoyed by the audience. I personally think this play was better than the first one.

My granddaughter Sierra was one of the Sultan of Bashir's wives. They ended up in a drunken state and were all hauled off the stage one at a time on a dolly. Wish I could have taken a picture of this event. Sierra had to do a lot of sneezing during her part. There must have been something she was allergic to. There was even a gun shot during the play that startled the audience. All in all it was well worth seeing and was a fun night out for all. Good job Drama Class.