Family History Fun - Compare a Face

Family history can be fun ... and it can be more than just dates and stories. Ever wonder who you look like? On the FamilySearch website, there is a "compare-a-face" activity you can do. Upload a picture of yourself, and it will compare your facial features to your relatives and give you a percentage # of how close you are. Now ... I don't really consider this an exact science, but it's fun.

Here's a peek at the some of the results for Chris and me ... 

So Chris had a high correlation to Dad ... my highest was 64% and that was to my great-great-great-grandfather Henry Sanderson (more on him later, he has a very interesting history and there's a surprising amount of info available there on Family Search!)  

Chris also got this cool chart ...

I'm not sure if this option was discontinued ... 

Dad and I both tried to find it and couldn't.

For me, it pulled up the top matches, then I could manually scroll through them across the top there to see the percentage. Mom, with a 46% match was still in the third spot on my comparisons. I seemed to favor the Norman side for first several spots, before the Westra side made an appearance. 

I was playing around, hit the + button and got the option to add photos ... so I added a few, of Wendy, Chris,  my kids, even Gray ... and a younger me! Check out the comparisons. 

So again, certainly not a science, and I'm sure different photos would yield different ... but hopefully somewhat similar results. It's fun to look at and learn a little about some ancestors you might not have investigated if they weren't your twin ... or 60% match ;)  

New Years Baby!

Happy New Year! I knew I had to do a post showcasing the Westra Welcome to the new year with the Westra kids their first New Year's Eve ... I searched through the folders on Dropbox and gathered up the pictures, but couldn't find one for Derek. Happily, as the "Westra Family Photos and History" project continues, Chris found and scanned Dunk in the sash and streamers.

Mom had mentioned that they actually waited a year on Scott's official picture, as he was just 15 days old for his first New Year. So instead of being the youngest ... he's the oldest in this particular pose,. Chris and Wendy are on the infamous "white couch" ... as is Shane. While Chris had to be held up, that wasn't even an option for baby Jenny, at less than two months of age. Four babies in hats, two without. Shane is the only one pictured who tried to eat the paper streamers.

It's a little ironic that the more recent pictures seem to have a lower quality than the older ones. Perhaps this is because the first four come from scanned negatives, and the final two were scanned photos? There is another cute picture of Scott, taken with the other camera, in black and white (just as there were two of Jen, color one included above, second shot in black and white below). More mysteries regarding  Old-Fashioned Film ...

When Gray and I got married, I discovered his family had a few similar traditions ... like saying "home again home again jiggidy jig" AND ... New Year's Baby photos. At least for Gray (not sure if the other kids have them). So for our family, we have a Gray/Jen and Landon!

Unfortunately, we didn't keep up the tradition with the other boys. It's hard to remember and make sure these types of photo ops happen! That makes it all the more impressive that Mom and Dad (Lamar & Margie) made it through six siblings and 18 years!

Have any of the other Westra siblings continued this tradition with the next generation?