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:

Labor Day

On Labor Day Nate and I decided to take a day off. Looking for something interesting to do, we bought a book about day trips around Kansas City. We settled on a short trip to Parkville, an old, small town that is about 10 minutes from downtown Kansas City on the northwest side. Parkville, despite popular misconceptions, is not called Parkville because it's so pretty. It was actually named after a Colonel George S Park. Parkville is also the home of Park University, a college that has been around since 1875. Here is Park University's MacKay Building - a bit different from the one we left at BYU.


Park University has a really interesting parking situation. There is a huge underground parking garage that you enter here:


And the underground parking lot looks like very large ant tunnels. Kind of creepy.


Park University also has an underground library that you enter through this hobbit hole.


Here I am about to leave the underground library.


We exited the underground library near these indoor tennis courts.


Then we had to cross this rickety, old bridge to get back to the rest of the campus.



After exploring Park University, Nate and I took a walk on Parkville's nature trail. Pictured below were our favorite spots:

A pretty waterfall:



A grassy field:


Some tall trees:
In this photo Nate and I tried out our automatic timer. Can you spot us?


The old Parkville jail:
It looks like Nate got trapped inside.

Happy Anniversary

It was a year ago today that the Stephens family began blogging. To celebrate 365 days of posting and commenting, JoLee and I went back to the source of our first post: the sunflowers in Kansas.


I am sure that posting pictures of your wife breaking the law is unwise, but we're throwing caution to the zephyrs. Here JoLee is climbing a farmer's fence to get closer to the flowers.


We found a patch of sunflowers next to this pea field. By the looks of the peas, they're very close to the harvest. I grew up in the suburbs, so I wasn't even sure what these skinny green (and fuzzy) pods were until I got closer.


The wild sunflowers are not nearly large enough to produce sunflower seeds for the local Safeway. However, they do grow rather tall. At this time of year, they are in full bloom, and looking beautiful.


Here I am acting as a human measuring stick.


I convinced JoLee to climb into a flower patch, where she encountered plenty of insects. I now know how JoLee reacts to "scary bugs" landing on her. It's not pretty.

Thanks to all who have read and contributed throughout the last year. We look forward to another fun filled year of latin discussions, travel pictures, and hillarious comments.

Happy Birthday Jen!

We hope that your birthday is wonderful! We love you!