Thoughts and stories, by Pal

  Today, my eldest son Wayne, and his wife Julie entered the MTC in Provo!  They are going on a mission to the Historic Sites in New York, and Pennsylvania!  They are so thrillled !  They sent a picture of them in the MTC with a big map, and they're pointing to the place!  I'll try to figure how to put their picture they sent on this blog! I did it!  I'm not totally sure how!  I hope I can do it again! Their farewell was in their ward in West Bountiful yesterday!  They had a breakfast in their family room, complete with all kinds of finger foods, fruits, salomi, etc., and they had invited friends and family to come from 8.00 a.m. to 10 a.m. and they and the rest went to the Church for the meetings which began at 10.30 a.m.  They were set apart at 3.00 p.m. and became official missionaries! They both spoke and it was an enjoyable meeting, with chairs that had to be set up in almost half of the cultural hall behind the main chapel room.  J...

The photo above is my mother, Ruth Allen Miles, about 80 years old. This topic today will be about my mother, born Ruth Allen, daughter of Levinah Emeline Wilson who married John Butler Allen.  Ruth was born on May 10, 1908, the 8th child of 9 children.  Her mother had been a school teacher for a year or two before they married in 1893 in the Manti Temple.                        Their Marriage Photo He was a successful cattleman until a winter in which their herd all froze to death out in the cold Panguitch, Utah, winter weather.  After that he did odd jobs.  One year while shearing sheep he got his eye cut with a horse switching it's tail, and got infection!  With no pennicilyn, the infection spread until it consummed his body, and he died early in my mother's first year of school.  His wife Levinah, my grandmother, was a widow for 37 years, in a time without Social Security or other helps for wi...

  I have been thinking about what to put on this blog today! I think I'll put paintings I've done over the years, until I can remember how to do photos from my phone!  This painting I did for a granddaughter of mine, Brittani, when she graduated from high school.  This is about 16 by 20 inches. Then a few years ago she got married, and I painted her another:   This is of the mountain on the east side of Ogden, and is about 24 by 30 inches.  I added the horses and trees, so it would be more interesting to look at!    I took art starting in junior high school in the 7th grade, through high school, and in my first two years of college, at Dixie College in St. George, Utah.  I have taken several art classes since, during my life. This blog I hope to keep interesting to readers, and I believe I now will copy a poem I read just last week.  I truly enjoyed our General Conference this past weekend.  Our Prophet is President Dallin H. Oaks, who y...

Today, I want to write a bit about my 4th child, Alley Roy Eckman.  He is 65 today, and will retire after this school year!  He is an aid in the school in the seriously handicapped group of students.  He knows how to help them, and is often needed, when they need a man there.  A s Allen was growing up, he loved pets, and had several kinds of animals, some more than one at a time.  He especially liked snakes!  We have a special story about when he worked at a place in the hills where he brought home snakes now and then!  I think it was a water treatment plant.  But he loved to have them in his room, and he would make a cage which he vowed was "snake proof".  One day Delsy went into our bathroom to take a bath, and lo and behold!  There was a snake in the bathtub, curled around the built in rod designed to hold a wash rag!  She came out screaming "Allen!" He rushed out to see what was the matter, and she screamed "There's a snake in t...

2059: I'm starting to write about my son, Wayne, and his wife Julie, and going on their mission to the historic sites in New York, and Pennsylvania.  They leave to go into the MTC on Monday, April 27th, 2026.  Their farewell is on Sunday April 26th, the day before. This is my husband Wayne, and his twin Blaine on the left. in their high school yearbook, probably 1950, as seniors.  Today is April Fool's Day, 2026, 76 years later! Wayne and Blaine were both pranksters! This story happened, probably in the 1960's or 1970's. Blaine was teaching in Las Vegas, and Wayne in the Jordan School District in the Salt Lake City area. Blaine had told his principal, in the school where he taught, that he had been in touch with a Hungarian educator, and that he was coming to visit their school on April 1, 1965? (Whatever day it was that year) and he wanted to check out their school.)  His name was Lirpa Loof!  So the who school was primed to be very polite ad attentive to Lirpa...

  Since I last wrote, a lot of time has passed!  Today is March 4, 2026, and I am trying to remember what has happened in my life here in Fairfield Village, in Layton, Utah. I was given an organ, a small organ with rhythms, an octave of foot pedals, and a bench.  Our branch received another organ to use on Sunday, and the one I was given was stored in the hall upstairs, outside of the Multipurpose room where we held our Sunday meetings.  The administration wanted to have it removed, so they wondered if I would want it.  It was quite bulky, and I said I may want it, and one day they brought it!  I tried to play it one day, and it made my back sore, as I have a slipped disk or two in my lower back.   I decided I didn't want it, and after awhile the men in the branch here came and took it to the DI. Since then I have been able to get my room here organized for an art room, and I want to start using my blog again on my computer! I really am trying to ...

For all who may be interested in our new apostle........ He is a concert pianist!  I don't know how to put a link here, but if you look on YouTube, and put in his name, you'll find several songs where he is playing the piano in a duet.  Apparently they have made a recording! Since I first began this, it is now March 22, 2026, and tomorrow my son Wayne will be in charge of the Family Home Evenig here at the Fairfield Assisted Living. He will be playig the accordion, and his grandson Spencer, son of his son Joshua and his wife Tiffany, also will play the accordion,  Wayne has taught his grandson Spencer to  play the accordion for 4 years, and he has learned well!  Also his wife Julie, and daughter Emily, will each play the violin, Sadie, granddaughter, will play the cello, and daughter Melissa (Missy) will play the flute.  I won't be playing with them, but there is a nice flyer up here, showing him playing his accordion.  I can't remember how to add pict...

 2056-- Thoughts on August 29, 2025 Today there are several things on my mind!  Mostly my granddaughter's husband who is close to passing away with leukemia.  He has had it perhaps 13 years!  It has been in remission off and on, but at this time he probably will pass away with it. Both he and his wife, my granddaughter Missy, (Melissa) are in their early 40's I think.  They have one son who is 9 years old.  I will tell more specific details when he passes.   I am in Fairfield Assisted Living in Layton, Utah, and I have been here since October 18, 2023.  I had been living with my son Wayne, and his beautiful wife Julie for 6 and a half years.  My husband, Wayne D Eckman, an identical twin, passed away at age 85, on February 21, 2016, after having radiation for esophageal cancer, and also being on dialysis for 10 months.  I had a dear friend Norma who heard my having talked to my son, also Wayne, and thinking it would be a good idea t...

Above, Wayne at our 60th wedding anniversary!--I'm trying to remember how to do this!  2055--I'm confused! I have been trying to print a name for me to take to the Layton Temple tomorrow with our group from Fairfield Assisted Living in Layton.  I printed a name and it just doesn't add up!   The Family Search gave me a name which says it is my 3rd cousin once removed, but the ancestor which says it is our comon ancestor isn't married to my great grandfather!  I need to go to the Family History Library here in Layton and get some help by someone in the staff at that Library!  I have the name printed, but I'm not going to do the Temple work for that woman tomorrow.  I know that names are sometimes put in the Family Search incorrectly!  My time is valuable when I can go only 2 times a month, and I want it to be absolutely correct! Have any of you had that kind of feeling on a name you wanted to do Temple work for, and just don't know for sure if it is...

2054-- About where I am living now, and some family history. This is a copy of a painting I made about 2007 for a granddaughter's wedding.    It is now July 29. 2025.  I have several family birthdays this month, July! We had one on the 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 15, then 28, 29, and will have one on the 30, 31, and again on August 2.  I have a list on a paper, but I have to add new birthdays everytime I get a new great grandbaby. I have 9 children, all living with a spouse, 28 grandchildren, and 33 great grandchildren!  I couldn't tell you the details, except 5 girls and 4 boys are my original children, the oldest being 69, and the youngest is 50 years old.  My oldest son Wayne, came home from going to BYU to see his new baby brother.  I have one sister, Mavis, who is now 85, and one sister who would have been 89, who passsed away, and I will be 91 years old on October 6th. Since I am now living at Fairfield Assisted Living, in Layton, Utah, I have had po...

  Dear Readers: I had my 90th birthday on October 6th, a week ago last Sunday!  I am forgetting how to do this blog!   At this time, I'm writing on July 26, 2025) I really want to keep this blog going!  But my problem with a 90 year old brain, is how to do it!  A lot is going on in the world, and I actually don't watch much news.        I have a dear friend here in Fairfield Assisted Living in Layton, Utah, named JoAnn, who lives 2 doors from me.  Over the years she has had macular degeneration which has gradually gotten worse, until she is basically blind.  She has to have help just when she eats, as she can't see her food, and has to be told where her drink is, where her foods of different kinds are, etc.  She has had internal problems where she has to have different foods pureid, and eats a lot of protein drinks.                             ...

  I haven't written in here for over 2 months, and I need to start doing it again!  Today is my mother, Ruth Allen Miles's 116 th birthday!  I'm going to reprint one I did in 2014, and then I will get back in to writing again.  I am now in Fairfield Village Assisted Living in Layton, Utah, and I have been since last October 28, 2023.  I had pneumonia here around a month ago, and I haven't been well for awhile, but I'm starting to feel my old self.    and stories, by Pal Thoughts and Family History Stories by Pal 147. Memories of Ruth, written by Mavis, Vina, and Pal on her 80th birthday, 26 years ago today! May 10, 2014      We all wrote memories of our home life, which we gave to Mother on her 80th birthday.  I couldn't find mine, so my entry below was written in 1911, when we wrote the book of their lives.  This time, I won't underline certain parts -- It takes quite a bit of time which I don't have today.    ...