Forgettable Finger Fiasco

I'm blaming the pocket door in our house for this, but I guess it's really my own fault.

This is the most painful blood blister I have ever received! It took forever to stop stinging and to heal.

Finally, after 16 days, it is almost healed. 

In order to appreciate the good aspects of living in this precarious mortal world, I guess we sometimes need to experience the bad. I am so grateful that the body can heal itself. What a great gift our bodies are! 

Reunion at Bear River Lodge

For three wonderful days, our family held a reunion at Bear River Lodge in the Uintah Mountains. It was a wonderful reunion, but we were missing two very important people - Cheryl and Parker. Cheryl was too close to her due date to travel so they were unable to join us. The rest of us had a fantastic time.

We arrived on Wednesday, June 19th. The cabin we stayed in was spectacular. It had three levels. The master bedroom/bathroom, kitchen, living area, and another bathroom with washer & dryer were on the main level. Upstairs, there was a loft, two bedrooms (each with 2 queen beds), and a bathroom. Downstairs, there were two bedrooms one with 2 queen beds and another with a King bed, a living area, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It was a perfect set-up for our family. Galen joined us for our reunion and he stayed upstairs in our bachelor quarters where Ryan, Jared, and Ethan were assigned.

Our Cabin (#6)

The living area showing the stairway going upstairs.

A view of the kitchen from the living area

The first night, we played a couple of games. The first game was called "Three Buck Chuck". Phil introduced it to us last January. Ethan was thrilled to be the winner.

I think he won $33.

We also played three rounds of a guessing game I put together where you had to guess who said what by placing a name token on your answer. It was a lot of fun.

We took a family photo at the back of the cabin the next morning wearing the t-shirts Ryan designed for us. The shirts (and the picture)  turned out great!

We tried to take a photo at the front of the cabin. However, since the sun was in everyone's eyes, it didn't turn out very well. The squinty eyes might give you something to chuckle about.

We decided to rent four ATV's for a full day (9 AM - 4 PM). We did this the last time we stayed here and it was a blast.

This is the 4-seater. Perfect for Kyle's family.

We rented two 2-seaters (front & back) that were mostly used by a single rider.

 This is a side-by-side two seater. Dad and I were the first to go out on this.

Since Ethan has a driver's license, he was able to drive each of the vehicles. I asked him which one he preferred, but he had no preference. He liked to splash mud on other, though.

This might be Ryan, but not positive.

It seemed like the helmets were bigger than Milo and Clara. So cute!

The ATV riding was a lot of fun for everyone. Alan and I only went out once...mostly because I ended up having to go to urgent care because of a UTI and Alan went with me. What a nuisance that was. We had to go to Evanston, WY, which is about 30 minutes away. The Urgent Care was closed on Thursdays, so I ended up at the hospital emergency room instead. I was treated well, but I still longed to be back at the cabin having fun with family.

The reunion turned out to be a great success. It was rather expensive for us, but I'm glad we did it. It created a lot of fun memories for all of us.

Viva Las Vegas!

We decided to stop for a show in Las Vegas on our way to Utah for our two family reunions and the memorial service for Alan's Mom. When we checked into the Treasure Island hotel, we discovered that they upgraded our reservation from a regular room to the Executive Suite on the 22nd floor. It was amazing! We felt like we were being treated like celebrities.

The room had a huge entry hallway that led to a big bathroom on the right with a jacuzzi tub and vanity and another big bathroom on the left with a big shower.

Both bathrooms had marble  tile, which made it look nice.

Nice, comfortable king-sized bed

This is the lounge area. I don't particularly like the red couch, but it was still nice to have the extra room that a lounge provided.

Our view from the 22nd floor!

The water feature in front of the Hotel.

The show we saw was one of the Cirque du Soleil shows called Mystere. We weren't allowed to take pics during the show. This was taken prior to its start.

The show had some humor in it as well as many remarkable acrobatic acts. We enjoyed it.

After the show, we took a short ride on the tram to The Mirage Hotel. There was a nice waterfall near the entrance.

The next day was Sunday, so we attended Church in Vegas before heading to St. George where we spent two nights. 

On Monday night we saw a show at the Tuacahn Theater. We love that place. The show we saw this year was "The Little Mermaid". We thought it was well done and we really enjoyed it.

Graveside Service

On Saturday, June 8th, a graveside service was held for Pearl Stott. The Memorial Service will be held on Friday, June 21st.

Poll Bearers were:

Ryan Stott

Eric Stott

Will Stott

Nathan Stott

Jon Stott

Michael Stott

Galen Stott

Nathan Ence

Keith, Jr. dedicated the grave.

Woman of Faith...Woman of Courage...Woman of Strength

Leona Pearl Huish Stott

24 November 1920 -- 5 June 2019

After journeying through this life for 98.5 years, my mother-in-law, Pearl, was called home today. As indicated in the title of this post, she was a woman of faith, a woman of courage, and a woman of strength.

Life wasn't always easy for Pearl. As a child, her family struggled  through and survived the great depression. Being the oldest child in her family, she often received the task of caring for her younger siblings. This prepared her for becoming a mother herself. 

Before her marriage to Edgar Keith Stott, she served a mission in California. Her mission gave her many opportunities to serve, to testify of Christ, and to grow as an individual. She always spoke fondly of her mission.

After serving as a secretary to top generals in the army in Washington, D.C. and three years of marriage and the birth of their first child, Keith Jr., Keith temporarily left the family to serve a 30 month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Argentina. Because of WWII in which he served in the army, he couldn't serve a mission at the appointed age of 21 for boys back then. Saying goodbye was difficult, but her faith carried her through. A year into Keith's mission, Pearl received her own mission call to join her husband in Argentina. The journey there was long and not without problems, but eventually she   and and Keith Jr. were reunited with Keith in Argentina.

Soon, they found out that Pearl was expecting another baby. Instead of having the baby in Argentina, they decided that Pearl and Keith, Jr. should return home for the birth. This turned out to be a little girl they named Carol. She was born on July 13th, 1948, but all was not well. She was born with a heart condition and only lived about one day. What a heartbreak this was for the couple living over 5,000 miles apart. Keith never got to see or hold his little daughter and Carol turned out to be their only daughter. Five more sons were eventually added to the family. Kevin, Alan, Brian, Steven, and Galen.

After their children were raised, Keith and Pearl found themselves serving in the Chile Osorno Mission where Keith had been called to be the mission president. They served there for three years. Their Spanish speaking abilities came in very handy and were greatly improved upon.

About 8  years later, Keith was called to be the President of the Missionary Training Center in Guatemala where they served for two years. Keith and Pearl collectively served 7 missions - three of which were served together.

It has been 16 long, lonely years for Pearl since Keith's passing on April 23, 2003. I'm sure there was a happy reunion as Pearl slipped through the veil and into the arms of her loving husband. Hopefully, her son Brian was there to greet her as well. He passed away 5 months prior to his father on November 27, 2002. Her daughter-in-law, Jayne, passed away just 5 months ago on December 22, 2018.

Pearl has been a wonderful mother-in-law to me and to the rest of her daughters-in-law. I have always admired her for her love, her wit, her testimony, her talents, and her missionary spirit, as well as her devotion to God, husband, family, and Church. She was a wonderful mother to her six sons and grandmother to her twenty grandchildren who also love and adore her. 

Although we will miss her greatly, because of the Plan of Salvation, we know that her spirit lives on and that she is now in a much better place. We are happy that she will no longer be confined to her wheelchair and she is free from all the pain and worries of this life.

Until we meet again, Pearl. You are truly loved!