Albert Grashoff, My Maternal Grandfather

Grandma White, My Paternal Grandmother

My Paternal Grandfather

My Dad

Dad's Family Group Sheet

Schedule

Customizing my Blog in Blogger.

My Snazzy Links!!!

Meet and Greet!

Family Search

Rootstech 2016 Plans!

Thank You Veterans

Room Reservations Made!

Milestone!!!!

Plans!!!! All The Things!

What's in a Name?

So much to do, so little time!

Planning the Holidays

The Organization begins!

I have begun my organization. I have no idea how hard it will be to get around in the Salt Palace. I have placed a matching start by my class title and where it is in the building. I am going to assume it will be a lot more walking that it looks like on the map! Hope the fake hip is up to it!  Hummmm - I do own both a walker and a wheelchair. :) 

My First YouTube Video

My first YouTube Video - Click here

Father and Son

Registration Complete!

The Road to the Salt Palace

Genealogy Road trip!

Blog Reboot!

My Binders!

My sister pointed out I am crazy, however, I am still working on my genealogy binders. My goal is that they look inviting and important so that when I am gone, they don't just get tossed. My children are well aware of how important this are to me. I have made a personalized front sheet and spine cover for all binders.

This is a photo of some of my binders on my shelves. I realize this is strictly asethic, however, it makes me happy! And hopefully, adds weight to the value of my research.

Rootstech 2016

Thanks to this lovely lady, Dear Myrtle  of  http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/. I am going to Rootstech 2016! I just found out today that I won a pass, now I just have to figure out how I am going to get there! Thanks @dearmyrtle

Discharge

In keeping with my conversation about my dad and his military service, here is a copy of his discharge papers. So many things I discovered from Dad's papers I never knew before. Seems so strange. Obviously I knew him my whole life and didn't know these things.

My Dad

Dad and Sam
 

Me, My dad, little sister, and littler brother
 

 

 

Memories of my Dad!

This handsome young man brought me back some good memories of my daddy along with pride. This is my oldest grandson, Carter. He was asking about his papa.

Carter’s Papa, my dad, Theodor Jefferson White, Jr., was born in Cherokee, Iowa on June 10, 1936, and died on January 6, 2009, in Cherokee Iowa.

What Carter was especially interested in was his Papa’s military career. His mother, my daughter, has a shell from Papa’s military salute at his service and Carter was curious about the shell.

Carter did call and ask questions about Papa.

 

 

I told him Papa was in the Military police and trained a beautiful German Shepard, Sam.  I told him that his papa had won Sharp Shooter Awards while in the Air Force.

 

I had some photos of the very kind veterans who provided the military salute for Dad’s service, picked up the shells and presented them to Mom along with the flag that is over the mantle. Dad never really talked much about the military.  My dad was very private and rarely let anyone in. Only after he had passed away did we find all of the cards he had been given and the many other things no one thought mattered to Dad stashed away amongst the items in his office.  I really wish I had one more chance to tell my Dad how very much I appreciated all that he did for us! I know I told him I loved him, but I don't think I ever said I appreciate the man you are and what you meant to me.

 

I still miss my daddy and thank him for his service to us and our country.

Happy Birthday to US!

Our nation celebrated another year! We had fun with grandchildren, fireworks, and food. Hope you all enjoyed your family on this holiday!

The End of another Season!

Well, another ball season has officially ended. Jayce had his last T-ball game yesterday. Carter's game was last Thursday. Faith missed her last three games due to going to camp. I always greet the end of the season with mixed emotions. June is so busy, especially with three kids in three different leagues. But I really enjoy watching them play. So, here is to the end of another hectic, fun season of watching the grandchildren play ball!

A long line of Fathers

We obviously all have a long line of father's in our family. We took the time to celebrate some of the fathers in our family this past Sunday.

Brian, Shannon, Andrew and I all went down to see James for Father's Day. We took him to a nearby park to play.

More Family Recipes

My Grandma's bean soup. All of my Grashoff Cousins will remember this one. I assume it came about to "stretch" the meet because their wasn't usually a lot of "chunks" in this soup. However, it was very, very tasty! Grandma grew up in a large family and went on to have a large family. I remember her telling me of a "snide" remark from her mother-in-law about doing something else instead of just having more babies. I am sure stretching the food was something that she grew up with.

Living History

Spring in my rural Iowa yard is beautiful. It is a treat for your senses. You can feel the fresh green grass under feet. The trees are laden with beautiful blossoms. The white Mountain Ash in the front of this photo is my mother's day tree. The pink blossoms in the back belong to my flowering crab which grew from a start I dug out of my grandmother's yard. The fruit trees are all blooming as well which my mother planted. My many lilacs are blooming which I also dug up from my grandmother and aunt's yards.

My Son, the cook!

My son is really a good cook. He is pretty much self taught. He figured out this recipe and makes them for him and his dad to take in their lunch to work and warm up in the microwave.

My fellow family historian.

My Aunt Dori is not famous for her cooking. What she is know for is HELPING everyone. She will do things for others that they won't do for themselves. Who goes to someone else's house and helps them clean their garage -- for free??? Aunt Dori is also into family history. This past summer and fall I helped her put together a book on her Smith family ... no small task!! She did the research and I did the typing and layout. It was a big project they ended up with a nice book that is on the shelves at the Allen County Genealogy Library! A published author!!! If you are interested, you can go to their online catalogue and search for "Mordecai and Phebe Smith, The Story of a Family" by Doris Grashoff. There are tons of pictures and interesting stories.

Sweet Treats!

My mother is an awesome cook, a talent I did not inherit! One of our favorites is this tasty hot fudge sauce which is really good over ice cream and cake or cream puffs! These recipes made their way into my family recipe book.

Grandma Joyce's Cookies!

Grandma Joyce's Mexican Wedding Cakes are one of my all time favorite Christmas
cookies. I always remember Grandma having these cookies every year. Grandma Joyce is my
dad's mom. Joyce Maxine Fogleman White was born May 4, 1918, to Arden Carson Fogleman and Ruby Edna Kerns. Joyce was married to Theodor Jefferson White on November 5, 1935. She
died July 23, 2005.
Grandma also was very talented with fabric and yarn arts. I think most of the grandchildren
received a hand-quilted quilt. I know from very minimal experience with making
quilts that is a lot of work. She was also famous for the dishtowels with the crocheted
top on them for hanging. Grandma also made a lot of afghans.

Kuchen

This recipe is from our German background. My Grandma use to make huge batches of this tasty treat. I remember there being multiple pans, bowls, so on, sitting all over the house "rising".
We always ate this with lots of butter and hot coffee. My Grandma was born in rural Buena Vista County and lived in rural Cherokee county when she died. Never having moved any further away that that. She was a loving, energetic woman. She kept a huge garden and canned and preserved foods. I remember my grandmother with a lot of love and happy memories!

My first actual family book!

I recently finished helping my Aunt Dori produce her book on the Mordecai Smith family. She did all the research I did the typing and layout. You can view this book on the Allen County Genealogy Library website. I decided after that when I was finished I would like to start a family history recipe collection. I have 20 family history binders, but no real book. With this project I have combined my love of digital scrapbooking with my love of family history. So I have started my collection. This is one of my first pages. My favorite dish ever! I have this every year for my birthday dinner. Ham and beans! Served of course with raw onion slices, fresh fried potatoes and fresh corn bread! Delish!

This dish obviously doesn't come from our German background. We started eating this when we lived in Oklahoma while my dad was serving in the Air Force. I hope you enjoy this little trip down memory lane with all of these recipes.