How I Spent My Summer Vacation

This post should more aptly be called "Why I Haven't Had Time to Blog".  Since the beginning of June, the following things have happened, both genealogical and non-genealogical, and in no particular order:

• Kindergarten graduation
• two weeks of tennis lessons
• swim lessons
• our thirteenth wedding anniversary
• my husband was involved in a small car accident (he was fine)
• car shopping (the car was not fine)
• a few days spent at Tamarack Resort in beautiful Donnelly, Idaho with my husband's father and his wife
• some volunteer work
• I have been attending a new RootsMagic User Group recently established in my area.  There have been monthly meetings held at our local family history center.  I have been the only non-LDS person in attendance and also the youngest.  I was very flattered when the organizer asked me to present a topic on color coding, a feature I use and love.
• My mother and grandmother took a trip to western South Dakota to visit my mother's first cousin on her paternal side (Harmon), and then off to eastern South Dakota to visit with all of the remaining family from my grandmother's side (Hiby and Hanson).  I had prepared a list of cemeteries for her to visit and photograph the headstones with her new digital camera.  She had done this for me 6 years ago, but it was on film.  She was hoping to avoid doing this again, but I convinced her digital images would be better!  :)
• One week prior to my mom's departure in June, I received an email from a Clark County, South Dakota resident who was writing on behalf of a woman without a computer.  As we wrote back and forth, it was determined that his friend, Mary Lou, was a granddaughter of Homer Arthur (my 2nd great-grandfather), making her my late grandfather's first cousin.  It was an absolute thrill and the timing couldn't have been better, but I had to scramble to gather data to send with my mom.  As a result of all the back and forth emailing, my mother and grandmother were able to meet Mary Lou, her husband, and later her brother and his wife.  There were many stories shared back and forth, of what the rumors were on the family, and even a few photos.  My research to establish Homer's parents as Thomas Arthur and Eunice Brown was new to her and she was excited to know this piece of information.
• a road trip from our home in southwest Idaho to the Oregon coast.  This long of a trip was a new experience for our two- and six-year old daughters.  The older one actually made it four hours before asking "Are we there yet?"  We stayed with a college girlfriend of mine in Vancouver, Washington and then met up with my mother-in-law, her husband, and our two nephews (ages three and six) at the Portland, Oregon airport.  We spent the next five glorious days taking in the sights and sounds of the coast from Tillamook to Newport, with our home base in a beautiful house on Siletz Bay in Lincoln City.  It was truly a wonderful way to relax and watch our daughters play with their grandparents and cousins.
• school supplies and clothes shopping
• and finally, the first weeks of a new school year.  It is a big transition going from half-day Kindergarten to all-day First Grade.  She loves school and her teacher said she is a "reading rock star".  We are very proud of her.

So I am in "catch up" mode and will get back on track with sharing some information.  My intent is to switch gears and focus on the Harmon and Arthur lines as some exciting discoveries have been made recently.