Rootstech 2019

I adore Rootstech, the annual genealogical conference which hosted 30,000 attendees to its presentations, held in Salt Lake City between February 27, 2019, and March 2, 2019.  I attended the conference nine hours per day for four days, and I still wanted more.

Rootstech is sponsored by Family Search, the Church of Jesus Christ family history organization which brings together the biggest companies (Ancestry, My Heritage, Findmypast) and the most interesting speakers on genealogy and, more broadly, family history.  The classes range from technical discussions about Scottish and Dutch records to presentations on saving old photographs and spicing up family reunions.

Each day there is a "general session" with a prominent, entertaining speaker.  I listened to Saroo Brierley tell about finding his mother in a small Indian village, after being separated from her as a five year old, and then adopted by an Australian family.  His story was dramatized in the blockbuster movie, "Lion."

I also enjoyed the master ukelele player, Jay Sakamura, who had won every Hawaiian medal possible for ukelele playing!  The general sessions are a bit random, but fun.

Lisa Cooke is a popular Rootstech speaker who discussed the most efficient ways to use Google for family history research.  I was so impressed, I bought a subscription to her podcast and videos.

The Rootstech attendees are not a stylish or beautiful group.

I had several emphases during Rootstech 2019.  I attended multiple classes on combining DNA test results and standard genealogy research to help find ancestors.  I attended multiple classes on the newest programs and innovations on Family Search and Ancestry, the two main search engines that I use.  And I attended multiple classes on British and Scottish research, since that is where most of my relatives come from.

The vendor area wields a strong pull.  I couldn't resist the half price discount on 23&Me DNA health and genealogy testing kits.  I also signed up for a half hour of free private coaching, during which my teacher gave tips on how to find the tie between my Hamilton ancestors and the Hamiltons who owned six Scottish castles! 

One interactive area encouraged attendees to take a piece of string and loop it past the areas on a world map where they lived and where they had ancestors.

Each morning, I checked the posters featuring the day's highlights.  Each afternoon, I could hardly wait to get back for the next morning's 8 a.m. class.  And when it was all over, I immediately docketed the date of next year's Rootstech conference.  I will let nothing interfere!

Valley Grove and the IV Maidens

My blog postings often describe my family, but rarely my work.  During the week of February 25, 2019, I labored on two related projects, the Valley Grove development in Pleasant Grove, Utah, and setting up the IV Maidens charitable foundation.  The Valley Grove project is 80 acres of office and retail space owned by St. John Properties, a large, privately owned development company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.  I have enjoyed helping St. John's Utah Regional Partner, Daniel Thomas, with the legal work for the Valley Grove project for the last two or three years.

I also helped Daniel's wife, Dalynn, and her four daughters, set up an IRS 501 c 3 entity for family philanthropy.  The Thomases took these photos and agreed that I could use them for my blog.   The four girls (aka the IV Maidens) act as an advisory board, deciding where the money in their foundation should go.  They personally delivered toys and school supplies to an island in the Virgin Islands which was decimated by a recent hurricane, and they have also contributed to other projects, such as Hawkwatch and the Huntsman Cancer Center.

Dalynn and the IV Maidens now have a Utah non profit corporation to house their projects.

They watched as my assistant, Cate Benton, did a filing with the IRS to get their company 501 c 3 status.

 As I talk about buildings, I should mention the beautiful office space of my law firm, Durham Jones & Pinegar.  My office is on the top floor (24th) of Salt Lake's newest large office building at 111 South Main.

The lobby is particularly lovely, with its walls of glass.  The lobby is shared with the new Eccles Theater, which has 2500 seats and hosts the first touring companies of Broadway plays.  Salt Lake City could not attract those first touring companies until the Eccles Theater opened.  I have season tickets to the plays and leave my office at 7:25 in order to make the 7:30 shows!

 The Durham Jones & Pinegar offices are sleek and modern.

The enormous board room table seems a bit macho to me, but I do love to work in elegant surroundings, right in the heart of town.  My office has wall to wall windows and looks west.  I watch planes land at the airport all day and I watch vibrant sunsets as I work late.

DJP has leased two full floors, with windows catching every view of the city and surrounding mountains.

My assistant tells me this new photo for the firm website makes me look both old and frumpy.  I can solve the "frumpy", but I'm not sure how to solve the "old".  Looking at the issue philosophically, I am quite proud that I have survived nearly 40 years in the pressured and intensely competitive world of private law.  The projects I work on are fascinating.

David as Bishop

"Shall we hide in a classroom and then all march into the chapel together when Grandpa is announced as the new bishop?  Shall we cheer?"  It was big news to our children and grandchildren when Dave was chosen as the new bishop of the Hilltop Ward.  I assured them that understated was best--no cheering, no marching, just humble and surprised murmurs.  

The two existing wards in the Upper Avenues of Salt Lake City were dissolved on February 24, 2019, and a large, 550-person ward was created.  We will be the only congregation meeting in the chapel which Dave and I have attended since 1978.  Most of our family was with us when Dave was sustained as bishop--Camille and Steve with all their children but Jono, who is in Japan; Lisa with Michael, Rebecca, Spencer, Naomi, and Grant; Mike and Heidi; Jonny. Typically, bishops remain on the job for five years, so Dave may not be released until he is 77.  "But what will Dad do about the snow camps and 50 mile hikes that bishops go on with the youth?" our children asked.  Dave is probably wondering that himself!

When I heard that Lisa was coming to Salt Lake for Dave's big event, I decided to stage both of my late winter parties that Lisa doesn't usually get to attend while she is here--Chinese New Year and Mardi Gras.  On Saturday night, February 23, I set out the red brocade table runners decorated with dragons, and the red goodie bags, filled with chopsticks, fortune cookies, fans, and gold foil-covered, chocolate "money".

We gorged ourselves on chicken cashew, beef with broccoli, fried rice with barbecued pork, and almond float with fresh fruit for dessert.  After dinner, we took turns naming prominent Chinese and Chinese Americans, from Confucius and Jian Min to Elder Gong, a new Church of Jesus Christ apostle.  We then each said something flattering and inspiring about Dave, the patriarch and honored man of the weekend.

 Spencer and Naomi invited their close friends Colton and Christina.

 There was also time, after dinner, for games.

Sunday morning, I switched out the dragons for green/purple/gold runners to celebrate Mardi Gras.  After Church, we feasted on shrimp and grits, chicken gumbo, red beans and rice, cornbread, and fresh fruit, with pecan pie for dessert.  Jonny is the fine cook who seasoned the gumbo just right.  He is on a work trip to Arizona, but made a detour to see Dave sustained as bishop.

It was a special treat to have Lisa's son, Michael, and his wife, Rebecca, join us from BYU-I in Rexburg, Idaho.  Rebecca is from Georgia and pronounced herself "Queen of Grits" as she made the
smoothest, best seasoned grits we had ever tasted (although, in truth, we hadn't tasted many).

Being bishop is a big, big job.  David plans to relax, physically and emotionally, by keeping his tradition of walking five miles at 5:30 a.m. every morning.

"I never thought I'd have friends this old," Dave says of his running (and now walking) buddies.  Both Daryl and Richard are pushing 80.  Dave has spent time with them nearly every morning for 35 years.  Old friends are truly golden.

Taste of Romania

Ever since Emilie came home from her LDS mission to Romania last December, we have been planning a Romanian dinner.  We finally scheduled that party for February 17, 2019.

We pretended we were in Brazov, the beautiful mountain town where Emilie spent many months of her mission.

I served cabbage rolls, and Emilie immediately recognized them as "sarmale," which she had eaten many times in Romania.  I served the cabbage rolls with polenta, or corn meal mush, rather than the rice pictured above.  My Romanian cookbook said the polenta was more authentic.

Emilie said that Romanians love fancy cakes, especially with lots of layers.  My attempt at a fancy cake was this "pear charlotte", made in five separate steps.  First you bake genoise cake, ice it with raspberry jam, and cut it into layers for the outer crust.  You fill the crust with a fluffy pear pudding, lightened with egg whites, and then arrange poached pears on top.  The concoction is served with a ladle of fresh raspberry syrup.   Lots of work, but celebrating the return of my beloved granddaughter was definitely worth the trouble of making a fancy dessert!

All Alone (Almost) in Zion National Park

Dave was asked to be a Church of Jesus Christ bishop on January 29, 2019.  He spent the next three weeks, before being sustained by the congregation on February 23, 2019, totally consumed with choosing counselors and other church staff.  By February 15, we were exhausted.  We spent two days at our St. George house, recovering by taking hikes in Zions National Park.

It was late winter, with few visitors.  Waterfalls gushed down the red rock canyons after a recent snowstorm and thaw.

We hiked as far up the Narrows canyon as we could, before the trail was closed, due to ice.

We then took another trail, crossing a footbridge over the Virgin River and hiking to the first Emerald Pool.

Again, waterfalls crashed over ledges and into pools far below.

There was still snow on the mountains in Zion Canyon.

We stood almost directly beneath the falls and watched the water cascading over us.

We even had time to hike around and enjoy the trails of our own development, Coral Canyon, although not much time to read books or soak in the hot tub.  I often think of Dave's mother's comment, questioning why we visited St. George but spent little time at our home there, "You treat your elegant house like a cheap motel."  Passive relaxation is a talent I have not yet mastered.

Kirsten--Off to Missouri

On February 13, 2019, Kirsten Flindt left for the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, to prepare for her LDS mission to the Independence, Missouri Visitors Center.  Kirsten will explain the LDS historical sites in Missouri to tourists, as well as doing some regular missionary work in the surrounding area.  The LDS historical sites include Liberty Jail, where Joseph Smith was wrongfully imprisoned for six months in a basement cell, and where he wrote a poetic plea to God for faith.  The sites also include the temple area of Independence, where the Church of Jesus Christ (Mormons) expect to build a temple some day to welcome Christ back to earth. 

Mike, Heidi, and I celebrated Kirsten's last night with her family at the Afghan Kitchen, a quaint restaurant run by refugees.  It has great food.  Mike said the dishes taste like food from Uzbekistan, but since I've never tried that cuisine, I thought they tasted more like a mix of Indian and Persian.  Kirsten has grown up in the ethnically diverse suburbs of Seattle, and one of her jobs this winter was acting as a nanny for the children of a family from India.  She was perfectly at home eating curried rice and washing it down with a mango lassi.  We then returned to Mike's house, so he could take Kirsten's missionary portrait, to be displayed on a plaque in the foyer of her church in Sammamish, WA while she is gone.  We gave Kirsten big hugs and dropped her off with her Flindt grandparents, who delivered her to the MTC in Provo.