A Step Back in Time

You may know, John's middle name is Stock.  He is the 3rd John Stock LaMunyon, and he and his dad and grandfather were called after an ancestor named,of course,  John Stock.  The original John Stock was born(?) and raised in South Africa.  After he joined the church, he wanted to come to Utah.  I'm a little sketchy on my history, but I think I remember being told that the mormons were refused passage on the ships then.  So, John (and I think his brother?) purchased their own ship.  For whatever reason, he did not sail on the first voyage.  Which never made it across the Atlantic.  So they bought a second ship which did make it. 

Anyway, long story short, John Stock was sent by Brigham Young to settle up in the Bear Lake area.  They ended up settling Fish Haven.

My John had met a guy who said he was restoring the Stock homes up there, so we decided that since we were heading up to Star Valley, we'd just detour by Bear Lake (which only adds 20 minutes or so) and see if we could find the place.

After driving past and back again, we drove past a home where we saw a man heading into his home.  I told John to hurry and ask him since he looked a little older - maybe he'd know where the Stock properties were.  

Well, surprise!  He was the guy who was restoring the homes.  He and his wife gave us a tour of the entire property.  It was amazing.  The exteriors were obviously re-done, as were some of the aesthetic aspects inside (like kitchen, floors, etc), but much of it was original.  

The white cement box below was used to hold the milk (in the bottles/cans) until the man came to buy them - it was filled with cold water, and the milk placed inside.

This next picture is going down the stairs to the original root cellar.  So awesome.

The barn has been added onto, and the exterior completely replaced, but the interior wood was all original.  

And here we are on the front porch of a Stock home.

It was a very cool experience, and the kids enjoyed (I think) seeing this bit of their family history come to life.  

After we left Fish Haven, we continued the rest of the way to Star Valley.  Up and over snowy passes, down mountain roads...

And RIGHT as we pulled into Afton and slowed to about 20 mph, our front tire blew.  I know we were protected and blessed that it didn't happen while we were travelling 70 mph on the highway.  PLUS, we were just blocks away from the tire store, and it happened at 5 and the tire store closed at 6.  Blessings.  The tire store had ONE tire our size.    I'm so grateful for these small miracles.

It was a really fun trip, and I'm glad we went - even though it meant we missed the first warm weekend in months...  It was proof once again to me that the Lord is in the little details of our lives.  I kinda needed that reminder.