Happy Birthday MOM!

Beautiful Joan Ruth Smith Stout!
My Senior Debutante Ball!!! You guys don't even know what those are! Too bad!
Brand Park, just up the street from our house. I use to walk up there all the time! I am in Junior High here!

Me and Mom in our homemade dresses! Mom loved to sew and she was constantly making me and her new outfits to wear! Some of the patterns she used on me, I used to make Tiffany dresses. After that, they pretty much disintegrated into dust!

Me and mom. She always told me she was 7 months pregnant in this photo. I hope she was mistaken! If that is true, that is very sad!

Primary teachers and leaders of Glendale West Ward 1956. Double click on this photo and check out the back row! Do you recognize anyone? Mom and I are sitting in the front row. We seem to be the only ones looking very happy! (on a side note, I love to see the inside of this chapel! It has such a sentimental value to me!!! Someday, I'll share all those stories)

Because today, March 16th is my mother's birthday, I wish to share some thoughts. I hope she knows wherever she is how much I love her, and am grateful for the love and caring she gave me. She was passionate for her family and the gospel of Jesus Christ. She was known for her beauty, but she was so much more than that! As her only daughter, I wish I could of helped her realize that truth! She was Valedictorian of her High School in Montana, she was a master Crossword puzzler, as you can see, she could sew anything. As a youth, she could run like the wind on a horse with or without a saddle. When she felt well, she spent much of her time on Genealogy work. She was very close with her mother and father. I believe she spoke or wrote to her mom everyday of her life, until Grandma passed away while we were on our mission.
Yesterday, some of her "fairly active and loud decedents" celebrated her birthday! We met up at the Bountiful Cemetery after Church and then headed south to our home for a traditional Stout Taco dinner. At the Cemetery my dad shared a few of his sentiments about my mom, his wife and your grandma. Fumbling a little bit over his words he tried to convey how much he misses her and wishes to be reunited once again with his eternal companion. He never fails to mention how much he appreciated Kim singing "Oh, Danny Boy" at her funeral. I am certain Grandma was thrilled to have some of her loved ones together. We missed Sara, Clay, Telisa, Bodie, Stephanie, Jason, Jack, Joshua, Andrew and Jenny, but I am sure mom was with them (a perk of being in the next life). In attendance was Dad and myself, Travis, Kim and their five daughters, Chad, Tiffany and their five kids, Stephen, Tara and their three kids, Adam, Tristen and their four kids, Treavor and Owen, David, Mikel and Lily, Todd and Sheryl, Gary, Lena and Ashling and of course, Handsome Harold!
Happy Birthday and we all love you mom!!!!