The Spirit of Elijah

We were challenged at church on Sunday to begin/continue our family history search. I've been working on this for a while, but hit a road block with every branch of the family.

Last night I got a break.

I found the Johnson family. FINALLY! I've been searching for them for a few years now. I found out that the Bryants (my FIL's grandparents) have some interesting roots. They hail from Germany and England and Wales. The biggest fish in the bunch was finding Rhodri the Great, King of all North Wales (820 AD to 878 AD). He was the first Welch king to be labeled "Great" or "Mawr". Pretty cool stuff.

I got a bit tired of inputting all the names and dates and started to play around. I've recently been able to log into ancestry.com and found a fun gadget that can show you your famous ancestors. The problem with it is that it depends on the information that others have input on the One Tree Family site. The Williams/Fields families aren't connected, which is a HUGE bummer. But, I can see who I married into.

On the Johnson side we're related to:
George H.W. Bush
George W. Bush
Jimmy Hoffa
Howard Hughes
Clyde Barrow (Bonnie and Clyde)
Emily Dickinson
JP Morgan
Shirley Temple
Helen Keller
William Holden
Mae West
and several earlier US presidents

On Josh's mom's mom's side (the Pettingills) we are related to:
Several US presidents
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Samuel Morse
Daniel Wesson (of Smith and Wesson)
Robert Frost
Wild Bill Hickock
Bette Davis
Amelia Earhart
Georgia O'Keefe
Lucille Ball
Julia Child
John Hancock
and
John Steinbeck (soooo cool!)

I also found Josh's grandparents we just visited in San Diego (the Essarys). We are related to:
Mayflower passengers John Howland, Edward Tilly, and John Tilly
Ray Bradbury
John Browning
Jonathan Swift (another one that's sooooo cool!)
Humphrey Bogart
Katharine Hepburn
Agatha Christie
Henry David Thoreau
and even more various US presidents

This is fun. I've got to track down the Williams/Fields!!

Who Do You Think You Are?

I think my new favorite show on TV right now is "Who Do You Think You Are?"

It's an amazing show which follows celebrities as they search for their family history. Three years ago I began trying to compile my own family history. Of course, this includes Josh's family, since they will forever be my family as well.

Anyway, the stories they are able to piece together are amazing. Shockingly, Emmitt Smith was able to trace one line of his family all the way back to Africa, something very difficult to do with slave heritages. Last week Lisa Kudrow (whom I love to watch) discovered what happened to her great grandmother in Poland. Here is a clip of that.




This week Matthew Broderick was able to discover his great- great-grandfather's previously unmarked grave from when he was killed during the Civil War. Just amazing stories.

Next week will be Brooke Shields (whom I also love) finding her royal roots in Europe. Maybe we're related.

I just love watching this show. And it really spurs me to continue working on my family history. I really want to take some trips to discover even more about our family. I'd love to head to Mississippi, Maine, Scotland, and other places where my current records end.

Reality TV, Anyone?

So, if you had the chance to be on any reality TV show on these days, which would you choose?

I don't know that I would fit in on any current show.

The Biggest Loser: I love this show, but that would mean that I would need to lose more than the 20 lbs I have left (yes, I've lost 10 lbs in the last four weeks or so). So, I'm thinking that would not happen. It is kind of cool that an open audition is being held just up the road from us in a couple weeks. But, like I said, my weight to lose is not enough to get me on the show. Although having Bob and Jillian kick my can each day would be helpful.

Dancing With the Stars: I love this one too. I've only missed one season in its entire run and that was because we elected to not have cable back then. But would I really like being on the show? Hmmm....learning how to dance with some handsome man 6 to 8 hours a day. Actually, as great as it sounds, it would be a bit of a bummer. The only man I want to dance with is Josh. And as wonderful as he is in so many ways, Josh knows how to dance as well as I do, so there's no chance that he could be my handsome partner. Plus, I'd have to be a Star, and as incredible as I am, I am no Star, so there goes that one.

Celebrity Apprentice: I don't know a whole lot about this one except for the infamous, "You're Fired!" The little I've seen of the show seems to have a lot of marketing involved for the contestants to figure out. I'm not much of a marketing person. The most marketing I've ever done is watching Who's the Boss in the 80s. (In case you don't remember, Angela was an advertiser.)

Survivor: This is one I might have a chance at. Living in the middle of nowhere? Done that. Having to survive on very little? Done that. Making alliances with the devil? Okay, that one's not gonna happen.

Supernanny: The day I need Supernanny is the day I give up as a mother. Now, having a nanny to give me a break every once in a while, that's something else.

Extreme Make Over: Home Edition: Yes. Sign me up. If only I had a house..... Maybe we should contact House Hunters.

There are tons of other reality TV shows out there. I think the only show I'd really like to do is a brand-new one coming out called Who Do You Think You Are? which is a show that investigates people's genealogy. I know a bit about my roots, but I'd love to learn even more. I want to know more about Obe Lowry who was killed during a family feud in Mississippi, or Ann Short who came to the New World aboard the Welcome with William Penn on his first voyage, around 1681. I want to know more about these people. And to have an expert help me find these stories, not just the names and dates, would be awesome.

So tell me. What show would you do?

He's So Cute!!!!

Josh was laughing at me this morning because yesterday we got a cd in the mail from one of his cousins which contained over 200 pictures from that side of the family. Included is a picture of Josh when he was about 3 1/2. He's so cute I can't even stand it!

This is the only picture we have of Josh under the age of 19. I really, really want to raid my in-laws' pictures, but I can just see how that conversation would go:

"Hi! How are you! Haven't seen you in a while. I want pictures."

This smaller picture is cropped from this larger one. This is the day Josh's brother Jaymen was blessed. There are a lot of people in this photo I've never met, including Josh's mom's parents who passed away in the 1990s and his biological father's parents who are in CA. For that matter, I've never met his biological father. All I really have to say about that is, every family has dynamics. But that's a whole other story.

Josh's sister also found this photo. I can't believe she had a copy of it. This is Josh and me the night we met face to face. Josh had just come off the airplane, home from his mission to South Africa. He was still a missionary, and if you didn't know, missionaries aren't supposed to be too close to members of the opposite sex. So, we hammed up this picture a little, but you can see by how red our faces are that we're both a bit embarrassed about the whole spectacle.

I love old pictures.

Pictures and More Pictures

Let me preface this by saying that there are very few pictures with good shots of faces. And so it goes. But, here is a little blurb about some of our exploits with my cousin Jon and his family. They came to visit for a week. Jon ran in the P.F. Chang's Half Marathon in Phoenix last Sunday.

Here is Emma and her second cousins. That means they are my first cousins, once removed--I totally had to look that up at Genealogy.com. I truly had no idea how to explain our family relationship.

Megan, Kyra and Emma

We went to the Phoenix Zoo. Here is my little family looking at the tiger.


Josh took this shot from afar. We were looking at the hippos.

It's hard to see, but that's Matt, Emma, Abby, me with Millie on my shoulders, and Pam (Jon's wife).

This is the Geico Gecko. He didn't talk to us about switching our car insurance. But he and his buddies did hang off the glass, the rocks, everywhere. It was pretty cool. And I know where he comes from....not Australia.

Later we went to the Mesa Temple. Jabon and the boys came to take some pics of Jon and Pam's clan.

Abby, Matt and Brett

Brett and Matt discussing politics over raisins.

Ashton and Millie checking out all the big kids.

Poor Josh had worked the night before and was a bit tired.

This one was from tonight. The kids were just playing around and I thought Millie's face was priceless. That little girl sure puts up with a lot.

And in case you were wondering, I'm pretty much the worst Mom ever. While my baby is thowing a fit, what do I do? I take a video of it and stick it on the internet so everyone can see what a ball of fire I have. Man, am I excited for the Terrible Twos to start. And the preschool years. And the elementary years. And the Tween years. And the teenage years. Heaven help us!

But she's still cute.

Anniversary Countdown: The Conclusion

Jumping the Gun?

You may not know this about me, but when I know what I want (which isn't often, so it's a big deal when that happens) I go for it. And there's really no way to stop me. That may make it sound like I've been spoiled in my life, but really, I've just had to work my butt off and then can't be denied my request. For instance, I wanted Josh. And I had to do everything in my power to make him realize that he was going to marry me. First, I made him hold my hand. Then, I made him kiss me. Then, I made him hang out with me until he was convinced he should marry me. Now I sound manipulative. But that's not true either. And if you don't believe that, I won't be your friend anymore.

The first time Josh mentioned going to pick out a ring, I was down for it. I pretty much led him to the jewelry store as soon as he parked the car at the mall. We found the perfect setting--classical, but dramatic. And Josh is so amazing. He actually learned about diamonds from a diamond broker in South Africa. He said he wanted to make sure he knew how to buy a diamond for his wife because he wanted to give her the best of everything. I was amazed at how well he knew his stuff (I let him do that part).

I'm also a bit of a practical person. Despite all my drama, I do actually present practical reasoning. Even though he hadn't asked me yet, I knew we were going to be getting married. So, I began shopping. We had already talked about using all of our siblings as our wedding party. I recruited our mothers (to keep everyone happily involved) and we spent several Saturdays out together. I had told Josh that I wasn't going to be engaged for more than two months and he happily went along with me. But that meant that we had a lot to do to prepare and we needed to get moving.

Josh tried really hard to keep the proposal itself a secret from me. I wasn't making it very easy on him. He told me he didn't want to ask me to marry him until he had been legally adopted by his dad. He'd gone by Johnson for most of his life, but he wanted to be adopted and make it all official. When that happened, he had to think of a new way to stall until he was ready to propose. Supposedly, my ring was taking a lot longer to resize than we expected. He told me it should be ready the week after his adoption. So, I continued to shop. Josh had come with me and our moms to look for items we needed when we came across a bridal shop. He sat outside for a few hours while I found my wedding gown. (Now I always take him shopping with me because he has better taste than I do, so it's kind of funny that he couldn't be with me during this big decision.) Anyway, it was a Saturday night and we closed down the store, but I had a wedding gown, although I didn't have a fiance at that point.

The following morning after all the church meetings, I went to find Josh and walked into the gym to find both of our families there and Josh waiting for me. He was decked out in armor and held a wrapped gift in his hands. He stood in front of me and handed me the gift which I opened. It was a Precious Moment called "Onward Christian Soldier". It was a soldier with a shield and over the tip of the shield hung my ring. He took the ring and then went to my dad to ask his permission to then come get on one knee and ask me to marry him. I happily agreed. He was my knight. Plus, I'd just spent several hundreds of dollars on a dress and I was excited I'd actually get to wear it. Okay, mostly I was happy to marry my best friend.

We rushed and planned the rest of our wedding. We had so many things against us: Mother's Day was May 9 so florists were scared of us, we had a little less than two months to get everything ready so every other aspect of wedding planning was scared of us, and some parents had more difficulties with the whole process than others. In fact, our bishop told us there was no shame in eloping. I think his exact words were, "There's a temple in Las Vegas." (We got married in the Denver LDS temple.) Sometimes I do wish we would've just taken the money and run, but you live and learn, right? We even bought our first house together just days before the wedding. Josh moved in first and I moved in after the wedding. Like I said, it may have been a bit rushed and a bit rough at times, but we knew what we wanted and we set out and got it.

I love Josh. He's truly the greatest man I've ever known. He works hard for our family and wants so many good things for us. He's strong mentally, physically, and spiritually. He's a freaking genius. And he's hot. I've loved these last ten years and I'm looking forward to the eternity we have to spend together. Happy Anniversary, Baby!

Anniversary Countdown Part Quatro

Our Date

Okay, tonight's update was going to be full of details because I kept everything from the Valentine's set up Josh did for me. Unfortunately, I "cleaned" the basement a couple months ago and now I can't find all my keepsakes. That's why my clutter is organized chaos. I can find anything in the clutter. Can't find a dang thing in the organization. Grr!!!

Luckily, my BFF Cindy saved all the emails I sent to her during this time period and I can use them as references. (You're awesome, Cindy!)

Throughout January and into February, Josh and I spent a lot of time together. I lived in Woodland Park, a town on the backside of Pikes Peak, and Josh lived in Divide, another 16 miles up the mountain. He worked at a hardware store in Woodland Park and we'd often meet together for lunch since I worked in Woodland too. He'd come over and spend hours with me at my house before heading home, braving the snow and late hours. It wasn't long until our feelings of marriage turned to talk of marriage. Valentine's Day was quickly approaching, but Josh told me outright that he wasn't going to propose to me then. We knew we wanted to get married, we knew we were going to get married, but we needed a little more time to solidify our friendship. But, I secretly hoped he's ask me anyway.

A few days before Valentines there was a letter in the mailbox with a penciled picture in the likeness of Ed McMann from "The Ted McMinn Valentine's Sweepstake" and the words "You could already be a Winner!" on the envelope. Inside the letter read:

"Dear Miss Shelly Williams,

We at the Ted McMinn Valentine Sweepstakes take much pleasure in informing you that you have already been selected as one of our finalists. It has come to our attention that there are two young men seeking the opportunity to take you out as their special Valentine Date. Both of these young men have agreed to take part in an anonymous Ted McMinn Valentine Competition. In this competition they will do little things to show you their personality, feelings towards you, and to try to win over your affection. To keep it fair, they will be going by code names to let you decide between the two based solely on your reactions to their affectionate deeds -- which must reflect their personalities. They will not be allowed to give you any CURRENT pictures of themselves so that you will have to make your decision based on the heart. After all isn't that the way it is meant to be?

Miss Shelly Williams, by simply accepting their gestures of love, and then making a decision of whom you would like to go on a date with you can win a Special Ted McMinn Valentine Dream Date!!!! It is that simple!!! The competition will commence on February 10, 1999, and conclude on February 14, 1999, at which time you can win and claim your prize simply by making your decision between 'Mr X' and 'Mr ?'. Congratulations and Good luck!

Sincerely,

Ted McMinn"

The first day Mr ? stole my car while I was at work and washed, vacuumed, dusted, and filled it with gas. Mr X gave me a pear with a face on it in a bowl of yellow water and a bag of oatmeal and a note that said, "On the first day of Valentines my true love gave to me Porridge in some Pear Pee."

I can't find the rest of the cards. I remember I got some Hot Wheel cars from Mr X and Mr ? filled my car with balloons. This went on until a strange tall man with dark hair and silly glasses showed up to hand-deliver the final gifts and ask me to choose which man I'd like to date. Mr X's gift was a note that said, "On the fifth day of Valentines my true love gave to me 5 onion rings" and 5 onion rings. Mr ? gave me a note explaining that in the Zulu culture the elephant is revered as sacred and full of strength. It's such a majestic animal that the word for "elephant" is the same word for "queen". I then opened the included gift and it was a small statuette of two elephants sitting together. (It currently sits next to our TV.) So, the strange Ted McMinn guy asked me which man I was going to choose and I wisely chose Mr ?. I was then informed that Mr X was actually Val Kilmer from Hollywood, CA. (Background: I love Val Kilmer. My love for him has waned a bit since he gave me a bunch of crap gifts in 1999, though.) Then I was told that Mr ? was Josh Johnson. Suddenly the strange guy took off his funny glasses and Josh was magically standing in front of me! I mentioned before that Josh took me to dinner that night for Valentines Day. We went to a nice restaurant and he gave me a very beautiful Precious Moment. Go here for that picture if you need a review. I got no proposal that night, but we continued to talk about marriage.

And it was the only date we ever went on.

Stay tuned to find out if he ever proposed...Same Bat time, same Bat channel.

Anniversary Countdown Part C

The Test of Absence

New Years' Eve was spent at my parents house. My folks invited not only Josh, but his parents over as well. I can't remember if the other kids were there are not (Tara, Lori, were you?). I just remember that Josh and I held hands as we watched Godzilla with our parents. It didn't seem that weird at the time, but now that I'm voicing it, maybe it should've. I don't know. All I know is that there was a bit of a current of tension running through me all night because it was New Years Eve and what does everyone do at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve? They kiss. Now, I'd made mistakes in the past when it came to kissing (Josh, just skip this part). Let's just say, I've kissed enough to know a good kiss from a bad kiss. But, I'd never had a New Years kiss before and I really, really wanted one from this big hunk of man that had quickly become my favorite person in the world. But our PARENTS were there! Talk about a buzz kill.

The movie ended just before midnight and all of us clamored out onto the deck to watch the New Years' fireworks pop off the top of Pikes Peak. It was very romantic, except that our parents were still around. Dang them! Oh, and the fact that Josh had just come from summertime in South Africa and it was subzero winter in Colorado. He was a bit chilly. So, New Years Eve was a bust.

Later that morning (New Years Day) Josh took me to the airport. I was flying to Utah to visit my friend Mindy before she left for the Ukraine to serve her own mission. We went to the gate for my flight to say good bye. Now the parents were nowhere to be seen. Still the everloving lady, I helped Josh make the correct decision by making myself very available for a good bye kiss. And he actually took the hint. Oooh, and it was a good one. Getting on the airplane was just a technicality since my head was in the clouds from that moment on. Ah, love.

I flew to Utah and loved visiting with my friends and I really wanted to know if Josh was missing me as much as I was missing him. He'd only been home for about three weeks, but we'd spent nearly everyday together and I was head over heels for him. I wanted to call him, but I didn't want to appear too eager, so I made up an excuse to talk to him. (This is the part where Josh says I played mind games.) I had asked him to substitute my Seminary class while I was gone and I decided the best way to get my Josh-fix but not seem needy (although I was) was to ask him how class was going. I think I jumped the gun out of nerves, though, because Josh swears that our conversation went like this:

J: Hi! How are you? How is Utah?

S: Great! How's my class doing?

He was pretty abashed that I seemed way more interested in my class than I did in him. If only he knew. He's all I talked about that week. But, he got his payback. I was hoping he'd come pick me up at the airport but he told me he wasn't going to be able to make it. I was crushed. My mom was going to pick me up a few days later.

I finished my visit with Min and headed home to find my mom waiting for me at the gate in the airport. I had hoped Josh could've come after all and I knew something was up because my mom was suppressing a smile. I looked over and saw this cowboy sitting in one of the gate seats wearing the same goofy Groucho glasses and fake nose that I was forced to wear when he had gotten off the plane just weeks earlier. My prince had come for me!

Josh says it was during that trip that he realized that he loved me. I realized it too. It's funny that I knew I was going to marry him before I knew that I loved him. And we still hadn't been on a date yet.

Anniversary Countdown Part I

Taking a cue from my friend Mindy who wrote a series of posts about how she and her husband met, I thought I'd do the same thing.

Friday is our 10th anniversary, hence the countdown ticker to the right. I've been thinking quite a bit about our love story. It's pretty rushed and, really, we started off pretty rough. But, since it's the Big 1-0, I thought I'd make it a theme this week. So, here it goes...

Preparing to Meet

In October 1996, a few months after graduating from high school, Josh's family moved from Tempe, Arizona, to Woodland Park, Colorado. He actually submitted the paperwork to serve a mission for our church from their previous home and his call to serve his mission arrived at his uncle's house in Colorado a couple days before his family did. He spent just a few months in Colorado before boarding a plane for Durban, South Africa, where he spent the next two years.

In October 1996, I was beginning my first year at Utah State University. I was in a somewhat frustrated state of life. I didn't really know what I wanted to major in and felt lost quite often. I mostly went to college to find a boyfriend, but that didn't pan out very well. And, all of my male friends from high school were all preparing for their own missions, so there went all of those options. I was pretty sure I was going to be a 19-year-old Old Maid. I began writing to my friends as they headed out on their missions. I was determined that even if I had to wait two years, I was going to secure a few dates. I sent letters to Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico. Czech Republic, and several other places throughout the world. At one time I think I had a dozen young men I was dutifully writing to (one was my cousin but that was just because he's my cousin--no date warranted there).

I barely made it through that year of college (special thanks to my dear, dear friend Tara!), and made a few hasty dating decisions during that time. I even said the "L" word to one boyfriend even though I knew I didn't. But, he said it first! It wasn't my fault and I came away having learned a lesson about love (and non-love). Because I was paying my own way through school, I decided to take time off until I knew what to study because I didn't want to waste money on indirection. I worked full time and the following February (1998) I decided to move with my family from Utah to Colorado. We ended up in Woodland Park.

Not long after arriving in Colorado my dad and I were asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting (in the LDS church the members of the congregation take turns addressing the entire congregation each Sunday). I got up and spoke and unbeknownst to me, my future mother-in-law received personal inspiration that I was going to marry her son. She immediately began plotting. She asked me if I would add her son, Joshua, to my list of missionary pen pals since she wasn't as consistent a letter writer as I was (still had a dozen possible beaus at this time). I told her I would, but he'd have to write to me first--what the heck was I supposed to write to this stranger about?

Back in South Africa, Josh was working hard and was in a meeting with several authority figures when the front office called back to the meeting and told him they thought there might be an emergency because his mother was on the phone (phone calls in the mission field are limited to Christmas, Mother's Day, and extreme emergencies). Josh worriedly answered the phone and was greeted with, "Elder Johnson, I met your wife today." After hashing out letter writing details with his mom as quickly as possible, Josh turned back to the rest of the room who were worried about what the emergency was. Josh told them his mom found his wife. They all breathed a sigh of relief and continued with their meeting.

Over the next few months Josh and I exchanged letters telling the other about ourselves. Josh told me all about South Africa and I told him all about my boring life in a small mountain town where the big thing was to hang out at the newly opened Safeway (true story). I definitely got the more interesting letters. Problem was, mail service to and from South Africa is very slow. It took three to four weeks for a letter to be delivered. Evidently he sent me a package for my birthday, but I never got it. I sent him a package for his birthday (complete with a whoopee cushion, fingerpaints, and a couple 3 Muskateer bars). I looked forward to getting mail from "The Johnson Boy" as my dad called him.

Around July or August of 1998 I decided I wanted to serve a mission also. I wasn't eligible to submit my paperwork for a mission for another few months (not until my birthday in September), but I let everyone around me know of my intentions. Somehow, before my birthday, Josh's dad asked me to commit to teach a religion class to high school student (Seminary) for the following school year and then consider a mission after that time. I say "somehow" because Josh's dad admitted later that he was trying to keep me around until his son would be home in January. There seemed to be a few conspiracies involved in all of this.

Near the end of his two years in South Africa, Josh served in the country of Swaziland. Because he was very isolated out there, his mission president allowed him to email (missionaries now get to email all the time). He was given permission to email me, specifically, once a week. By this point we had exchanged pictures (I devilishly sent him a headshot since it made me look like a hotty) and we emailed every Monday and wrote snail mail as regularly as possible.

December 1998, Josh was preparing to come home. His Visa expired the end of the month and although he would be short a couple of weeks of a full two years, extending his Visa was more trouble than it was worth, so he'd get to come home before Christmas. I was so nervous! Everyone at church knew we'd been writing and they knew he was coming home soon. All I knew was that I had spent several months writing to this guy that had a great sense of humor, a strong spiritual nature, and secretly excited me. I was very worried, but hoping, that this guy was the one.

I Come to Wive It Wealthily in Padua

Yes, I quote TV, movies and Shakespeare. Who can't help but love Taming of the Shrew? Katharine's got some of the greatest lines ever. (Ever seen the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton version? It's GREAT!)

I can't quite tell you why I have a fascination with Shakespeare, but I do. By the way, I totally feel a lesson coming on here, so be prepared. I took a course on Shakespeare from my mentor Carolyn, who is revered as the Shakespeare scholar throughout Colorado colleges. I learned so much and then had the opportunity to sit in the class again and lead study groups as her teaching assistant the year after I graduated. I loved it. The theories...the symbolism...the puns. It's great. And yet, if Shakespeare lived today he'd be thought of as a hack since back in the 16th/17th centuries it was no big deal for someone to plagiarize another person's works. The only thing was, Shakespeare tweaked it enough for it to live for centuries. Ever hear of Christopher Marlowe? Didn't think so. (BTW, Marlowe may have written the original Romeo and Juliet.)

Anyway, April 23 is listed as Bill's death day. No one really knows what happened. Some think that it may have been his birthday (he was baptized as an infant on April 26) and he partied too hard and died. Don't know. But I thought I'd pay tribute to the man that I've often considered gaining a Master's Degree in. I still may someday. According to Carolyn, even better than studying Shakespeare in school is to be a dramaturg for a Shakespeare Company. A dramaturg is the researcher to make sure a play is historically-correctly portrayed. I did that for a George Bernard Shaw play I was in and loooved it. I have my dad's interest in history and trivia and my mom's intensity to study. I was born to dramaturg.

Going on...my New Year's resolution for 2007 was to begin our family genealogy. As everything I begin, I worked my tail off. Matt was having heart surgery in the middle of March and I had found a lot of names to enter on Josh's side of the family. I entered over 5000 names before Matt's surgery. It was a lot of work, but I happily did it. (Less than two months later my laptop crashed and I lost all of my work and hadn't backed it up. Can we say, "Oh crap!"?) Someone else in Josh's family had already done a lot of work and I just discovered it and entered it. I found out that Josh's family had a lot of royalty in their line: Charlemagne and other various kings and queens. Even Old King Cole. Did you know he was real? I had printed all this information out and flipped through it at one point and discovered that there was a King Malcolm from Scotland. This one stumped me. I knew I'd heard of him before, but couldn't figure out from where. I asked Josh if he was the king in Braveheart, but Josh said that king was English. I continued what I was doing and eventually forgot all about it. Finally, I got to inputting the information on those pages I had flipped through. I entered King Malcolm and then turned the page to his father, King Duncan. At this point I was reeling. Who the heck were these people? I knew them, I knew that I knew them. And then I found the dude's death date. It was a specific day and year (sometime in the 13th or 14th century). At this point, all the dates were listed as just years, so I knew this was something of interest. Then I saw the note next to the death date and place: "Killed by Macbeth." Josh's extremely great-grandfather was the king killed by Macbeth, whose son was accused of it so he left the land and eventually came home to reclaim his crown when he was found innocent. Granted, Shakespeare altered historic events to create great drama, but Josh's family is FAMOUS!!! I thought this was soo cool! We have a famous family.

Now, don't judge me for claiming Josh's family line as my own. I brought some royalty to the mix as well. Such as the Spencers, as in Diana Princess of Wales. Oh, yeah.

And we've got Lady Godiva. I was going to post a picture of her, but she's famous for protesting against her husband's taxation on the people by riding her horse naked through the town. (Anyone else think of Abby on that one?)

So, Josh brings to our family a man killed by "Something wicked this way comes" and my contribution is a nudist. Are we the coolest people, or what?

Happy 445th birthday, Shakespeare!