It's been a long, long time.

A year. A year since I took an unintentional hiatus. A year since I last poured my soul onto these pages. As I sit here recovering from my 2nd surgery of the year, I can't help but think about all the things I've missed this past year. The things that my future children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren may never know because a year has passed.

I don't want another year to pass.

I want to be better about documenting my life. The further I go in discovering my family, the more and more disappointed I become that my ancestors didn't think it was important to write about their lives. I want to know if that southern gentleman was in the civil war, and I want to know why my great, great, great, great aunt married 4 times. Their lives are important to me, and no matter how small or unimportant a story may seem, someone, somewhere in my family will think it's important. Someone will relate to it.

I'm easily swayed by what is "hip" and what others see as cool, but no one ever did anything important doing what was "hip" and "cool." My plan is to update my last year and to continue to update the adventures that Kendall and I embark on, so that someday our great, great, great granddaughter will know where she came from, why she's a mormon, and that her grandmother had great conviction and unending love for her family.

Welcome back, old friend!