Visiting the dead

While on our Utah road trip, we visited the gravesites of 45 ancestors. Below are examples of the headstones we photographed and a little about each ancestor.




William Casper – Born in Knox County Ohio in 1784. Family originally from Germany. He was with the Saints when they were driven out of Missouri to Nauvoo. He died in 1846 and buried in the old Nauvoo Cemetery. His headstone is one of the very few that still exist and can be read.
















Lydia Knight – Born in New England in 1812. Her first husband abandoned her. She married Newel Knight in 1835. Their marriage was the first performed by Joseph Smith. She was also with the Saints when they were driven out of Missouri to Nauvoo and with the Saints when driven out of Nauvoo. Her husband Newel died in Nebraska leaving her a widow with seven children and pregnant with an eighth. She spent three years in the Winter Quarters area before finally being able to come to Salt Lake in 1850. After an unhappy marriage of five years with John Dalton, Lydia married James McClellan and moved with him to Santa Clara Utah. After his death, she moved to St. George where she worked in the temple for several years until her death in 1884. Her headstone in the St. George Cemetery is very unique, being a round granite ball.








Alexander Dawson – Born in Scotland in 1838. At age 13 he went to sea as a cabin boy and lived the life of seaman until age 21. He jumped ship in South Africa and was thrown in jail. Here he met his wife when she brought food to the prisoners. After his release from jail Alexander and Elizabeth married in 1860 and sailed to America to join with the other Saints. They settled in present day East Layton and became quite prosperous, owning over 700 acres of land. He died in 1918 and was buried in the Kaysville Cemetery.


Eliza Briggs Stratton – Born in England in 1836. Emigrated with her family at the age of 18 to the United States to join the Saints in Utah. Her family were members of the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company that was caught in the early snow and freezing temperatures in Wyoming in 1856. Her father and one brother died near Martin’s Cove and a sister died before reaching the valley. Her feet were badly frozen and she walked in pain the rest of her life. She became the plural wife of James Stratton and in about 1870 went with him to the Muddy Mission is Southern Nevada. Here she died and was buried in 1871, after giving birth to her 8th child. James came back later to what is now Overton Nevada to place the headstone on her grave.



Joseph Egbert – Born in 1818 in Sullivan County, Indiana. Was with the Saints driven from Missouri to Nauvoo. Worked for three years on the Nauvoo Temple. Left with the other Saints in 1846 and drove the first wagon into the Salt Lake Valley as part of the advance party of the Vanguard Company that entered the valley on July 23, 1847. He married Louisa Taylor Warrick as a plural wife in 1852. Her husband had gone to the California gold fields in 1849 and died there. The Egberts settled in Kaysville and became very prosperous. Joseph died in 1898 and was buried in the Kaysville Cemetery.



William Wallace Casper – Born in 1821 in Richland County Ohio. He was with his parents when they were driven out of Missouri to Nauvoo. In Nauvoo he married Elizabeth Bean and fled with the other Saints in 1846. He volunteered for the Mormon Battalion in Winter Quarters and left his wife and baby daughter in the care of his 16-year-old brother in law. After walking 2000 miles with the Battalion to California, he was released and joined his wife and child in the Salt Lake Valley in October 1847. He settled in the Mill Creek area south of the main city. In 1854 he married our ancestor, Anne Ericson (also known as Elizabeth Ann Erickson but that’s another story). She was a recent immigrant from Sweden. She became the mother of nine children, including our ancestor, Luella Victoria. William died at the age of 87 in 1908 and was buried in the Mill Creek Cemetery (now known as the Elysian Burial Gardens).

Posted by Russ

Road Trip

We had a wonderful trip to Utah, driving 5,190 miles through 14 states and visiting the graves of 45 ancestors in 11 cemeteries along the way. We left for our marathon driving trip to Utah to attend the baptism of Silas and to see our newest grandson and Cara’s baby. We drove instead of flying primarily so we could take all of Brad’s “stuff” to him. Since we were driving, we determined to do some sightseeing both coming and going. We traveled to Utah basically following the pioneer trail from Iowa City to Winter Quarters to Wyoming to Salt Lake City after a quick stop in Nauvoo to attend the temple. We had a wonderful experience at Martin’s Cove near Devil’s Gate Wyoming as we remembered the experiences of Eliza Briggs and her family who were part of that handcart company. In Utah we enjoyed our time with Brad and Joel and their families. We enjoyed being pampered as we stayed in the Joel and Jenica’s new home in Lehi. It was great to have time with our Utah grandsons. We especially enjoyed the alone time we had with Hale and Andrew and it was very special to participate in Silas’ baptism and see baby Samuel. While we didn’t get to see Cara’s baby since he had already left for the Stanford Medical Center (see her blog for details), we did enjoy spending time with Cara. We also got to visit other family members and friends, including Sue and Ramon Sanft in Provo who again provided us with their free bed and breakfast and the Godfreys in Logan, as we delivered the three-generation histories and visited cemeteries. We enjoyed being with Brad and Joel at the BYU football game but didn’t enjoy the game. But by going out earlier than originally planned so we could see the game, we did avoid getting stranded on I-80 which was closed by huge snow storms a couple of days after we passed through. Before leaving Utah, we were able to walk through Brad and Susan’s partially-constructed house. The highlights of our trip back to Tennessee were our visit to the Grand Canyon (truly amazing to view) and a quick stop to see the Oklahoma City memorial to the Federal Building bombing. Seventeen days after leaving we finally arrived home, exhausted but grateful for the wonderful trip and visit with our Utah families and friends. Below are photos of a few of the highlights of our trip.

Nauvoo Temple

Martin's Cove Wyoming


Joel, Russ, Brad, and Sharlene at BYU football game

Brad holding Samuel Zion Krueger Barber

A proud Grammy with 19th grandchild



Andrew, Brad, Sam, Sharlene, Russ



With Silas right before his baptism



Barber families after Silas' baptism



Brad and Susan's home after four days of framing



Sharlene at grave of Eliza Briggs Stratton in Overton Nevada

Russ and Sharlene at Grand Canyon

View from walk along the South Rim

We were all wrong!

OK, it’s official. My brain is old. I thought there were only three ingredients missing from the picture, the same ones Brad identified. Then Troy picked up that there were four and no one challenged him, including me. When I went to take the picture and announce winners, I remembered that there were actually FIVE ingredients missing from the first picture. As you can see here: one, two, three, four, five!! Technically, no one wins. The last person to post could have won----hey maybe I won!

So, here’s how we’ll slice it: definitely a year’s supply of salt goes to Brad, as he was first to post the correct three ingredients that I said were missing. Oh, and we’ll throw in some chocolate chips and water. Troy commented next and discovered an additional missing ingredient, so he will receive something---not hand delivered by Dad and me, but through the mail. So, now I was very curious. I went back and counted 12 ingredients in this recipe. No wonder they are so yummy!! Have I made any more mistakes?

Thanks for all your comments, especially those that commented on the costumes. One of my all time favorites is the one of Julie and Joel in the pumpkin patch with Julie holding Joel’s face towards the camera. She was probably telling him to “smile.” Ah shucks, I love all the pictures!!

Pumpkin Muffins, Est. 1974, and other fall memories

When we moved to Walnut Creek, California, a good friend and neighbor brought over a loaf of pumpkin bread one fall. It was delicious, but I tend to tweak recipes. From that recipe, I created the now famous Pumpkin Muffins with chocolate chips. In the early days, we would grow our own pumpkins. I would bake the pumpkin and use that to make my muffins. Now a day, I use a can of pumpkin from Krogers. But, anyway you bake them, autumn just isn’t same without a batch of pumpkin muffins.

As you view the above baking photo, see if you can tell what three ingredients are not in the picture. The first person to comment and tell us what the three missing ingredients are will receive a year’s supply of one and “some” of the others.

Also, enjoy a walk down memory lane of “pumpkin-themed" pictures:

This batch made 71 muffins

Troy and Lisa - 1971

Joel, Troy, Lisa, & Julie - 1975

Joel, Lisa, Brad, Julie, Troy - 1978

Troy's UFO Pumpkin - 1979

Brad, Julie, Lisa, Joel, Troy, & Lori - 1980

Carving pumpkins in our Walnut Creek Home - 1981

Joel, Lori, and Brad - 1987- S. Monticello Home

Brad and Lori - 1989

Lori grooving - 1992

Beloved Pumpkin Muffin (Brad and Mom) - 2004

Andrew - 2008

And so the next generation gathers pumpkins in hopes his parents will make up Grammy's Pumpkin Muffins !

Hobnobbing with the Emmy Nominee

PART I - A Night at the Emmy’s

It’s hard to describe the hype and excitement in NYC around Emmy time. Many other Emmy nominees were staying in our hotel, and so everyone was talking Emmy buzz, and we must say—we were ready to see Brad accept that Emmy trophy. We watched trailers of the competition and we (proud parents) thought our son had done as well as any of them and better than most of them. But win or lose, it was the adventure of a lifetime.

Quoting Brad from one of the many news articles about Brad,

“They were honoring Walter Cronkite, Don Hewitt and Barbara Walters,” Barber said. “There were several times I did something of a mental double-take about my even being on the same program as those folks.”

That’s pretty much how we felt: A huge privilege and opportunity to be among the talented and famous, and know that our son’s work was being voted on along with theirs.

The two-hour reception and dinner was only slightly hampered by the butterflies in our stomachs. The actual Emmy Program moved quickly through the three hours. Attending these things in person with no commercial breaks is much more interesting. The 30th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards ceremony was held at the Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th St.

Leaving hotel for the Emmys

Checking in at the Rose Theater

Brad at the dinner

"Resolved" Editors - Brad, Greg, and Tom

At the Emmy presentations

Leaving the Emmys with gift bag

PART II – Seeing New York City

Time with our son in NYC was filled with lots of walking, lots of subway rides, lots of sight-seeing, lots of great food, treats, and long talks. A few highlights:

--Limo service at the airport

--Staying at the Six Columbus Thompson Hotel
--Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge into the City
--Viewing the World Trade Center construction site (Ground Zero)
--Pizza at Lombardi’s
--Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar
--Dylan’s Candy Bar
--Dinner at Joe G’s Ristorante Italiano
--Chinese at Szechuan Gourmet
--MoMA
--Dinner in the Times Warner Building at Bouchon Bakery
--Discovering “Tasti-D-Lite” is a wonderful place for a midnight treat
--Sitting on benches by the fountains in the center of Columbus Circle
--Scrumptious room service breakfast
--Walking up and down Broadway many times, seeing the billboards, but not seeing a play
-- Being at the Today show: Smiling, waving, and showing a sign we made at the last minute—anyone see us? We were on at about 9 a.m. on Monday, September 21.
--Rockefeller Center, Time Square, Grand Central Station, etc.
--Walks and Carriage Ride through Central Park
--Shopping at F.A.O. Schwarz
--New York City Public Library (started in 1895 and formerly dedicated in 1911)
--Mom and Brad’s midnight talks on the roof of our hotel (sub for talking couch)
--Eating at Whole Foods
--Watching the filming of a segment of CSINY (alarming to see a man with a gun pointed at two pretend policemen who also had guns pointing at the man)
--Seeing the Regis and Kelly studio
-- Attending church and the Manhattan Temple

Ground Zero

Brooklyn Bridge

Lombardi's Pizza

F.A.O. Schwarz

Momofuku's Bakery

Columbus Circle

Our Hotel

Manhattan Temple/Church Building

Rockefeller Center

Ann Curry right before she gave Sharlene a hug

The studio

Central Park Carriage Ride