Moving

Last Saturday, Mom, Dad, Brooke and I joined forces to move some stuff from the old home to the new home. Enjoy...

Traditions

JoLee and I don't have many traditions yet, but maybe this can be a start. Last year we visited the local farm between general conference sessions on Sunday. The first weekend in April happens to be the first opening weekend for the farm. We saw pigs, cows, chickens, and lots of goats.

House Keys

I wish I knew how to post the picture but the best of news is that today we got the keys to the new house! Val suggested that I take a few things up (I think he had in mind some boxes or something significant). But I decided to just take a few special items. I took a picture of each of the family members and put them in the entryway nook. It already looks like home. It is warm and light. We really love it.
We have about a week of work before this house will have all the corrections to it. Then we pack and go. Hope it's that simple. We feel so blessed and very excited. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement and excitement .

Sonic

JoLee and I have been enjoying the Sonic commercials. We don't care for the food, really, but we laugh at the commercials. In fact, we like the commercials so much that we wish we did like the food. Now that's targeted marketing. Last time we were out on the road in the middle of Missouri, we stopped by a Sonic restaurant. We both admitted to ourselves that the only reason we were there was because the commercials are hilarious. We approached the drive through and looked at the menu board. The lady kept pestering us to order, so we finally we gave in. We gave in to our disinterest, that is. We drove away. So, the Sonic commercials are really great, but I guess they still need to work on their food. By the way, we ate lunch at Appleby's that day. It turns out that their world headquarters is in Kansas City.

Ride Engineered

The 1980 Mercury Zephyr Aaron and I drove during high school has become something of a legend. The red vinyl seats, the oxidized paint, the leaky power stearing, the push pin ceiling, and the custom carborator gave the Zephyr a personality of its own. But it wasn't merely an old run down jalopy, which it certainly was. It was the vehicle that continues to drive many of our funniest memories. For example, the Zephyr caught on fire twice, once during a smog check. The Zephyr, old as it was, had a first rate stereo system via which we listened to Paul and Phil in the morning and got traffic reports from Commander Bill. The Zephyr carried the best car pool in school.

The beautiful thing about the car was that it never broke down. It leaked every fluid - water, oil, power stearing, brake, and transmission, but it never let us down. It seemed only fitting that it was taken away by a stranger in exchange for an easter basket full of worthless collectibles. I still hope that the Zephyr continues to cruise the roads looking for more adventures.

JoLee and I decided to name our cat Zephyr. Partially because JoLee wanted to name it after a greek god. Zephyr was the Greek god of the wind. Of course, I was partial to the name, and can only hope that the cat lives up to it (except for the leaky part). So far, so good. The cat is loud, rather hard to control, and appears to be bigger than it really is. We are getting used to the cat, just as we had to get used to the car. The only thing left to do is to get her ride engineered. This could prove difficult seeing how we don't really know what this means. One thing is seems clear, our cat will be as reliable and (hopefully) as maintence free as the car. We just hope we don't have to paint it blue some day.

The Zephyr was "Ride Engineered". I'm sure this was a great selling point for the car. I mean, who wouldn't want a car that was "Ride Engineered"?

I really wish we had kept the hood ornament. It would be nice to have a souvenier of our first car. I always thought this hood ornament looked a little like the end of a double barrel shotgun.

Our car was light blue, not a crazy mix of colors on this one. However, our car did produce it's fair share of flames and smoke. I know Dad didn't think this was very funny at the time, but it seemed like an especially fitting behavior for the car. No harm was done, I think it just had to burn off some fluids. At least it never exploded like a Ford Pinto.

The Zephyr name lives on. You can buy this one right now for $30,000. Apperantly, the guys at Ford/Lincoln/Mercury think that it's a name that should live on. JoLee and I agree.

Zephyr

Here's some pictures of our new kitten, Zephyr. She is pretty entertaining. She's a very playful and curious kitten. I think she's explored every inch of our apartment. She likes to chase anything that moves, and she can jump really high. We've also been pleased with how friendly she is. When we first got her she only liked to be in the study because she was unfamiliar with the rest of the house, and she would sit in there and meow for Nate and I to join her. Zephyr is surprisingly fond of being held. She meows for us to pick her up and is very content when we just carry her around the house. I'm sure this will change as she grows up, but it's fun to have a cat that enjoys our company.

Zephyr helps me with my homework.

Zephyr giving me a classic "cat look" from her favorite spot - my chair.

Tornado Day

On Sunday there were storms all over the Midwest. Lawrence saw its share of the action. Nathan and I, in Kansas City, thankfully, did not. The storm caused 6 million dollars worth of damage on the KU campus, largely to roofs and windows. Many trees also were uprooted or split. About 60 percent of the buildings were damaged in the 70 mph winds. Similar damage occurred to buildings and homes in Lawrence, luckily no injuries or deaths were reported. The Chancellor of the University has expressed gratitude that the storm struck so early on Sunday morning when relatively few people were on campus.

Here are some images from the campus:
(note: don't be too distressed, I chose the most dramatic shots.)

Lots of ruined tiled roofs.

Twisted and mutilated bleachers.

A disaster at one of the entrances to the music building.

The Chancellor surveyed the damage in a helicopter.

Class was cancelled on Monday while crews surveyed the storm damage, checked that it was safe for the students to return, and cleaned up the debris. So Monday, was a tornado day, rather than a snow day. Pretty wild.

Happy Birthday MOM!!!

Happy Birthday MOM!!!

You're the best Mom ever, and we're sure lucky to have you. Hope you have another fabulous year!

First Anniversary

Wow, it's already been a year. JoLee and I went out of town last weekend. Her Aunt and Uncle graciously loaned us their condo in Lake of the Ozarks which is about three hours away. It's the resevoir where everyone goes to boat and ski. It's like a Bethel Island on steroids. We didn't do any skiing, because it was winter, but we had a great time. We saw some caves and the ruins of an old castle that was built in the early 20th century. We had excellent eating, and we went shopping in the outlets. We even saw the local bank go up in flames.

The lake is huge and beautiful. Of course it doesn't look like this in the winter. I had to steal this image off the internet.

Several areas carry American Indian names. This place is called Ha Ha Tonka. Don't ask me what it means. Someone bought the land 100 years ago and built a castle on top of the hill (in the background). It burned down, and all that's left is ruins. JoLee and I had a great time hiking the area. We took 200 steps that went down the hill to the lake, and walked along trails next to the natural springs.

This is JoLee near the castle. The sun was setting.

The ruins were really cool. They reminded me of the cathedral in Cartago, Costa Rica.

The whole general area is dotted with caves. Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri all have several. This one is called Bridal Cave, because there is an old Indian legend of wedding ceremonies being held here. It is still used for weddings, and they have hosted over 1000. I went to the caves not expecting much, but I was very surprised at how amazing they were.

The cave is in two sections, and about 8 years ago, workers blasted a tunnel so that tourists like us could go between them. This is the man made tunnel that connects the caves.

JoLee has a thing for state capitols. I like them, too, because of the architecture. The Missouri state capital is Jefferson City, named after Thomas Jefferson. The capitol is nice on the outside, but it was really the inside that we came to see. Thomas Hart Benton was a famous artist who painted a few murals inside the state capitol in the 30's.

This picture is also taken from the internet. We couldn't take our own pictures, because several politicians were using the room to host a conference against cloning. We sat in the back of the room and pretended to listen while we looked around the room.


I think I owe everyone a huge THANKS for being so great to us over the past year. We appreciated all the cards and attention we got for our anniversary (and my birthday). Everyone sent a message, and it meant a lot to me. We miss you all and look forward to seeing you again soon.

--Nate

Savannah's First Ice Cream Cone

We took Savannah to the mall the other day & she had her first ice cream cone.
She was in heaven!!!

Stephens Girls Are Super Hot!!!

Happy Birthday Nate!!!

Happy Birthday Nate!

We Love You

Cool Web Site

You may already know about this, but if you want some pretty good entertainment, check out truthorfiction.com
They address just about any & all main-stream rumors I hear, including all of those crazy e-mail forwards I receive.
Great satisfaction for the skeptics we Stephens tend to be!!!

Mom's House is for Sale!

Anyone looking to buy a house? I know of one for sale:

http://65.74.147.26/index.htm

Karaoke with John

 
JoLee, Donna, and I visited the Hermes last week. John is quite the musical sensation at Narnia. After he karaoke'd for us, it was JoLee's turn to sing. She chose "When you say nothin' at all" by Alison Kraus, and John sang along.

Christmas Climbing

During our January Christmas, we did some climbing

Becoming one with nature...

Sweet Potato Soup!?

Hey Mom!!
I'm dying to make some of your fabulous Sweet Potato Soup & would love to have a copy of your recipe. Will you post in on the blog so that all the kids can have it!?
IT WAS SO GOOD!

Rod at the Four Seasons Gym

Rod was unable to make it to the Stephens Family Christmas celebration this year, as he was recovering from his intense workout at the Four Seasons gym back in September.
We all hope he can make it next year.

Singin'

Savannah decided to karaoke at the family party on Saturday night. She couldn't put the mike down.

California Sledding

JoLee and I are spending our "Christmas in January" at Mom and Dad's home. I've been boring her to tears with all my old memories: "Here's my old high school", "Here's the old dried up lake", "Here's where I learned to play tennis", and "Here's where I road my bike into the street and got hit by a car". Yeah, she's a good wife. She hasn't even complained, but even I'm choking back the yawns while writing about these memories.

There was one memory, though, that JoLee did remind me of. It was the old slide at the park my family used to visit when I was a kid. So when we were in town, we stopped by to visit, and to my great surprise it was as much fun as I remembered it. The slide is made out of concrete, and it works best if you sit on waxed paper and cardboard. Luckily ,we met another couple that was also reliving their childhood, and they loaned us some of their supplies.


The slide is made out of concrete and has a smooth finish. The wax paper creates an extra slick layer on the slide. The cardboard is for keeping your jeans in one piece


JoLee and I are getting ready for a race.


If she looks a little nervous, it's because this was JoLee's first time down the slide. She wasn't nervous on the second time. We must have had a dozen slides.


The slide is made for little kids, but I have a feeling the builders had a good time with it. JoLee and I had to shrug our shoulders to make sure we didn't touch the edges.


Like I said, this was just as much fun as it was when I was a kid. Next time we'll take Savannah.