My Family's Cooler than Yours

Carolyn here.  Recently assigned new ward blogger.  Ya'll better bookmark this page as a favorite.

And let's be real for a second.  My family probably isn't cooler than yours.  But there's only one way to settle this.  Continue on, dear reader, to find out more:

Over Christmas break, I got an email from familysearch.org entitled, "Discover your Family!"  I followed a link or two, entered some sign-in info, and look who's in my family tree!

Matilda, Empress of Germany, Princess of England

("Maud" for those of us in the inner family circle.)

(1102-1167 AD)

Look at that amazing hair.  Plus she is buried in France, which I think is lovely.

Zera Pulsipher

(1789-1872)

Zera actually makes an appearance in the Doctrine and Covenants...woot church history!

Then I traced my paternal side back as far as it could go and discovered that "Carter" was first "LeCarter."  Now there's no proof of this (at least none that I have found yet), but I'm pretty sure that the "Le" means the name "Carter" originally came from France (which of course means I am originally French, which as we all know, means classy.)

(Okay fine.  Maybe I'm grasping at straws to try to find French in my lineage.  But if Empress Maud can be buried there, maybe I can be too.  Sigh...)

And all that isn't even to mention all the cool names I found! 

Artemesia, Uzal, Dorcas Muscroft, Lula Magdalena, Orilla Pearl, Beatrice Swallow, Birdie Ione, Zebulon, Willhelmi, Cylmyne...

You better believe I'm going to be reading up on all these people to learn who they are,

and then maybe I'll pass some of those names down to my kids.

Annnnyways,

Enough about my family.  In case you didn't get the email from familysearch.org, or in case it got lost somewhere in your spam, you too can discover your family by clicking here.

Here's some cute kids talking about how cool family history is (in case the picture of Matilda didn't win you over):

And so, in the spirit of the sacrament meeting talks today (which were exceptional, by the way--thanks Tessa, Nate, Jake, and Kalli Jo):

Go poke around on familysearch!  

Ask your mom for some stories or old journals!  

PROVE you have the cooler family.  

(Click here, log in, play around with your family tree for a little bit, and see what you find!)

*DISCLAIMER: Coolness is not a factor in eternal salvation.  Neither is being a descendant of someone deemed "cool" by world history.  So no matter who you find in your family tree, we still think you're cool.  However, while coolness might not be an attribute of eternal significance, things like learning about your ancestors and doing temple work for them are!  See Doctrine & Covenants 128:18 if you don't believe me.