Christmas Time

Making fudge is a Christmas tradition at the Gillespie household. Donna makes it, and the boys stir it. Sean and Brandon come over every year to help. Scott had to sit this one out due to having hear surgery earlier this month. I'd say more, but I think these pictures speak for themselves. There are basically three phases: stir, pour, and enjoy.

Two Types of People...

So, I had an experience today that I thought would make the Stephens family chuckle.

Savannah loves to listen & dance to music & is quite opinionated about the songs we hear.

This morning, when Neil Diamond’s “America” came on my I-Pod, I was excited to see Savannah’s reaction. I was sure she would love it as much as I do & that we would enjoy a good dance together. However, I was shocked & hugely disappointed to hear her announce, “Mommy, I don’t like this song.”

I couldn’t help but think of Bob Wiley’s explanation to Dr. Leo Marvin in “What About Bob” as to why he is divorced. He simply said, “There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don’t. My ex-wife loves him.”

So, I’m just hoping that Savannah was having an “off” day and that she’ll come around. (How can you NOT LIKE “America”?!) I’ll keep you posted.

Merry Christmas!

This has been another excellent year for the Stephens family. We worked hard and accomplished much. I can only hope that 2007 is even better. Merry Christmas!

My Wife the Student

Looking for leaves in Lawrence, Kansas. JoLee uses dry leaves to decorate our apartment in the fall, and these trees provided an abundance. Photo by: Dad.

Another semester is coming to a close at KU. What a relief! It has been a very busy semester at the end of a very busy year. JoLee took two classes and worked two jobs. She has become a teaching, studying, writing, grading machine! (Some would prefer the title "nerd".) And despite driving to Lawrence four times a week and dealing with a professor who delegates all of his jobs to his graduate assistants (at the latest possible moment), she still found time to read a few books and hang out with her husband. I stopped asking JoLee about her grades a long time ago; it's boring when she keeps getting the same one.

Merry Christmas from Zephyr the Cat

Zephyr really got into the holiday spirit this year. After systematically removing the ornaments from the lower half of the tree, she attempted to remove the ornaments from the upper half by...well I don't have to tell you. I guess it was better than what this dog did to its owners' couch: Happy Holidays.

Snowy Weather

 
 

It's Still Cold Out Here!

We had our first snow storm of the season today. It's so cold here. It looks just like it did a year ago (see December 7, 2005: http://stephensclan.blogspot.com/2005/12/its-cold-out-here.html) . JoLee's evening class was canceled. I came home early to avoid the crazy drivers.



I took a picture of our crazy eyed cat. She looks like psycho in this photo. She went out and played on the patio in the snow tonight. She started digging in it until she realized it was making her wet.

We couldn't really go anywhere tonight. JoLee and I played Trivial Pursuit to pass the time. She barely won, by the way. She got questions like "What did Mr Guillotine invent?" and "What Monday night sports tradition started in 1950?" and "What book begins 'I Nephi being born of goodly parents'?". On the other hand, it took her two dozen rolls to finally land on the pink wedge.

Tomorrow everything is supposed to be back to normal. I'll be working a full day and playing the trumpet in our annual Christmas concert. JoLee will be teaching all her classes in Lawrence.

Dorothy's Happy Place

I think I captured one of Mom's happiest moments:
--At the Dallas Mall
--New Grandson in one hand
--Mrs. Field's cookie in the other hand
Does life get any better than this?? (You look great, Mom!)
 

Birds

For my birthday Nate got me some binoculars, and since then we've taken up birding. Turns out that because Kansas is right in the middle of the country a lot of birds live in or pass through our area. A few weeks ago we went to the Arboretum to see if we could find some birds we hadn't seen before. We were happy to find that the arboretum is a great place to watch birds because they have a whole area dedicated to just that.

Around this little cabin are placed a half dozen bird feeders.


Once you get into the cabin you can see the birds through the large windows and talk all you want without scaring them away. The cabin also has a big chart of some of the area's birds, which would have been really helpful if we hadn't brought our birding book.


Here are some pictures of the birds that we saw while we were in the cabin.

Downy Woodpeckers:


Black-capped Chickadees:


White-breasted Nuthatches:


Northern Cardinals:

And Tufted Titmouses:


It was a really good birding day for us because we had never seen any of these species of birds before except the Cardinals.

But our fun at the arboretum wasn't over yet. Nate got really interested in these yellow, softball-size seed pods produced every fall by a native tree. Here they are on the limb and on the ground.




And, as we left the Arboretum, we encountered 5 or 6 white-tail deer. They didn't seem to mind that we were so near. They just checked us out and then got back to browsing.

Zephyr's Halloween Treat

Nate won this bear in a Hallmark company raffle. Obviously it's not the most exciting prize in the world. So he gave the bear to Zephyr. She likes it.



 

Developments in the Hay Field

You may remember a few posts ago when I wrote about the strange goings on in the hay field next to our house. Well, without warning the four hay bales, which had had a very long life in that field suddenly disappeared. They were replaced by this brand new, lonely hay bale. We were quite shocked by this change because the hay bales had occupied that patch of ground for almost as long as Nate and I have lived in this apartment. We decided we had better go take some pictures of the new hay bale because things in that field are rather unpredictable.

Mom's Visit

Mom came for her second visit to Kansas last month (September). We had a GRAND time. She flew in on Monday afternoon, slept over night at our place, then flew out the next morning to Dallas. After a five day shopping spree with Dianne, Liz, and Jen, Mom flew back here on Saturday morning. We picked her up at the airport and drove straight to Minneapolis to visit Jim. This trip was Mom's I-35 trip, because Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Dallas are all located on I-35.

There are precious few places to stop and eat on the road between Kansas City and Minneapolis. The only real city you pass is Des Moines. We didn't make it out of Missouri before stopping for lunch. We found a truck stop with a nearby Subway. The lady that made our sandwiches was sniffling and sneezing due to a cold. We said thanks, and said a prayer. Nevertheless, JoLee came down with a cold a few days later.

Missouri is home to the farthest west Amish settlement, Jamesport. We happened to see this wagon on our lunch stop. They were selling baskets and jams. We bought some apple butter and then took this picture of them...from a distance.



Now, the best part about going to Jim's house is seeing Jim and his family. The second best thing about his house is the guest shower (you have to experience it to appreciate it). But the third best thing about Jim's house is the home theater. We watched The Work And the Glory: American Zion (i.e. Episode II). It was actually quite good. I have one word for that last seen with the burning building: Wow!



We took precious few pictures of Minneapolis. It was a real shame, too. Charlotte showed us some of her toys. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the mouse that we literally rescued outside. I say rescued, because Jim was trying to poison him in the garage just a few days earlier. I found him outside, and he looked like someone's pet. Charlotte captured him and put him in a shoe box. We talked to the neighbors who politely explained to us that he was a mouse, not a pet. After dinner we drove out to a pea field and let him go. Charlotte named him Chi-Chi.



We had a great time with Jim and Peggy. Jim told us about his heart surgery. Along with the scars, his doctors left him his old pacemaker. He said it costs $50k, but it fits into the palm of a hand. We're very happy for modern medicine, and for Jim's successful recovery. He's already slaving away back at work.

On our way back from Minneapolis, we stopped for gas in Des Moines. If you haven't filled up your car with gas from Iowa, the following picture will probably not make sense to you. In order to explain the crazy gas prices, I first have to explain that the whole state of Iowa is planted with corn. It's corn, corn, corn as far as the eye can see. In fact, there is too much corn, so they use some of it to produce ethanol. This ethanol, which is derived from government subsidized corn, is mixed into 89 octane gasoline in Iowa and sells for less than regular 87 octane. Check out the prices below.



We didn't have much time with Mom back home, but we did get to the farm. This American bison (i.e. buffalo), was born last year. He was raised along with a baby steer, and I'm pleased to report that they're still friends and corral-mates.



Mom enjoyed watching the prairie dogs. They reminded her of the prairie dogs she saw in South Dakota 30+ years ago.



Everyone is probably getting tired of farmstead and goat posts. The farmstead has tons of goats! Mom enjoyed dishing out treats to the best behaved goats.



The goats aren't shy. In fact they're rather experienced in getting food from strangers.



We had a great time with Mom, and we hope that everyone had a great time with her. This was a five state trip. Hopefully we'll get to do it again.

Nicole and Hyrum make a Pit Stop

Nate and I recently had some visitors. My good friend and old roommate, Nicole, and her husband, Hyrum, came through on their way from their old home in Boston to their new home in Seattle. We took them to see all the sites.
First, a stop at the beautiful Adam-ondi-Ahman.



















We couldn't resist showing off the boyhood home of J.C. Penney - Hamilton, Missouri.















On our way from Hamilton to Liberty, Missouri we drove past this marvelous contraption - a bus/ pickup-truck hauling two tractors! The driver of the vehicle smiled and waved at me as I took a picture of his extraordinary rig.


Our sister missionary guide in Liberty was from Nicole's stake and knows Nicole's little sister. The first thing she said to us was: "Are you from Washington and do you have any younger sisters?" We were impressed that she placed Nicole so fast. Below is a picture of Nicole and Hyrum in front of the reconstructed jail. This is the most sobering of the Church History Sites in Missouri, but that doesn't mean you can't smile for a picture!


Finally, we went to Independence. At the Independence Visitor's Center we found a really knowledgeable sister missionary who was willing to answer all the questions we had saved up along the journey. We were also impressed with the remodeling. Afterwards we drove around the town. Unfortunately not much remains from the pioneers' days, but the facade of the Gilbert store still stands and we looked at the spot were the W.W. Phelps' printing press was (there's a Bank of America there now).

We did find a building that would have been there during in the 1830s: