Shepard Weekend Full of Family History

This was one packed weekend of Shepard Fun! My mom and dad (Terri and John Shepard), and my brothers, Jacob and Trey came to stay with us for the weekend. At a moments notice, all of my Dad's siblings and their spouses came for a visit and dinner on Saturday night. It was wonderful to see everyone!

From Left: my cousin, Josh Jackson holding John, Trey, Jacob, my Mom, Uncle Mike and Aunt Linda Rowley 

Josh holding John, Trey, Jacob

Jacob, Mom, Mike and Linda

Aunt Candi (my Aunt Laura's partner), Aunt Kim, (uncle Steve's wife), Aunt Diane, and dad

Uncle Scott Jackson (Diane's husband), Uncle Steve, me and Seth, Aunt Laura

We played our Shepard family game, Euker, which is so fun! and I also spent a lot of the night updating everyone's contact info, and showing some of my aunts and uncles how to use familysearch.org (one of my favorite things to do!) I helped my Aunt Kim Farmer Shepard get signed up, and we connected her to her family line that has been researched all the way back to the 1400's! She was really excited, and said that she was going to go straight home and get started!

www.familysearch.org is a free website and database that helps people get connected to their family tree! You don't need to have any religious affiliation, and it really is completely free! If you are interested in finding out more or starting your family history, I'd love to help you, just let me know! 

Then on Sunday, after church, my Grandpa Gene Shepard and his second wife, Pat came to visit us and have lunch. 

My grandpa has adopted a similar eating style to us, and it has helped his health a lot, and he's doing very well! I helped my Grandma Pat get her familysearch.org account up to date, and we added many pictures of her ancestors.

Then later that evening, we went to visit my Grandma Phyllis Paver Shepard. I found two huge collages of old pictures on her wall, and we spent the whole evening together, identifying relatives. I took pictures of all the pictures so that I could connect them to my family tree. My Grandma is the last living Paver, and she is the only one who would be able to identify these pictures. I am so grateful for her help! If you have living grandparents, ask them to get out their old pictures and write the names of the people in them down so that they will not all be lost.

I cut my brother Jacob's hair for him. He has some interviews coming up this week. He is working so hard to find a good job. Our prayers are with him.

We had lunch with my parents and brothers at Northstar Cafe in Columbus. It was SOOOO good! The northstar veggie burger was amazing, and huge! We'll definitely be going back!

Thanks for a wonderful weekend, Shepard's! We love you all!