Aside from a huge, state-of-the-art family history library in Salt Lake City, Utah, the LDS Church also has smaller family history centers in many of its meetinghouses where members are encouraged to seek out vital records for their ancestors. Those unfamiliar with the LDS Church may wonder, why the intense dedication to genealogy?

I’m a big fan of traditions. I believe traditions, for all the bad press they get, are part of the cement that holds families together in the long-term. Like many people, family traditions, especially around the holidays, were a big deal.

A multimillion-dollar industry has been built around fancy books to hold your family history in. Multiple websites let you upload your photos and publish them in leatherbound, goldleafed albums, creating something that looks like it came off a coffee table at Barnes & Noble. This books aren’t cheap- but I want to say they’re worth it.

Although we are helpless to stop these events, we can be prepared for when they occur. We can plan ahead and make sure we have the bare necessities stocked up and close at hand. It won’t guarantee that we won’t be hurt or otherwise affected, but it will help us be ready to take action.
To help you prepare for a disaster, here are 5 things to get you started.

Children tend to deliver a steady stream of surprises, some pleasant and some not-so-pleasant, after they emerge from the womb. Then again, perhaps just as often, children start delivering surprises before their big premiere. Take this baby in Arkansas, for instance. The mother was several weeks into gestation on one child when she got an unexpected and extremely uncommon surprise: she was pregnant again.