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.

Nativity

The kids did a nativity at our Christmas Eve party. Savannah was supposed to be the Wise Woman, but she kept taking her robe off. So, she just roamed around & enjoyed being part of the show. She was very reverent & very interested in Baby Jesus.

Savannah's Christmas Breakfast

So, Savannah's favorite part of Christmas this year was breakfast. She LOVES sitting at the big people table & she LOVES eating German Pancakes.
She is such a happy kid!!!

Merry Christmas

JoLee and I celebrated Christmas in our apartment a few days early this year. We hope you're having a good Christmas, too.

Christmas News Letter

Biking

Hey everyone, I think it would be fun for all of us to go on a bike ride when everyone's here in January (if the weather is decent). Brooke and I have four bikes, so we'd just have to rent three, and a trailer for Savannah. What do you think?

California Winters

We took our nephews out on the bike trail. We pushed them in their stroller while we rollerbladed behind them. It was really fun to be babysitting, be outside and exercising all at the same time. We were throwing rocks from this bridge and watching them splash below.
Aaron and Ethan throwing rocks.
I loved watching the salmon thrash around. Half of their bodies are above the water as they swim in the shallow parts. They are really deteriorated by the time they make it this far. They're 3-4 years old by the time they come up to spawn. The gulls come too to eat them.
A dead one waiting for its head to be chopped off by fish and game so they can count them.

I ignorantly challenged Aaron to go catch a fish and hold it in his arms. I didn't know it was illegal. Of course, Aaron took the challenge. Some women came to watch and commented on how cold it was. Another guy was watching from the trail. Maybe he was fish and game? thank goodness Aaron didn't catch the fish, but he sure inspired them to get up the river. It was funny because I thought I would have to pay Aaron $500 to do this feat, but all he wanted was a grilled stuft burrito from Taco Bell. Anyway, this picture is after the challenge was done and Aaron was taking Ethan and Lukey out on a tour to see the fish up close.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! This is us figuring out the timer on our camera. We were going to use this pic for our Christmas cards, but we chose a doofy one instead (not sure why). Check your mailbox.

Anyway, Merry Christmas. We can't wait to see everyone in January. I'll be sure to have plenty of blueberries for Savannah.

Blueberries

As you can see, Savannah is a HUGE fan of blueberries.
Since she insists on feeding herself these days, we generally strip her down to the diaper to dig into these treats!
Nate, please take note of my sweatshirt. It's so comfy & it's still in great shape--I wear it often & love it!!

Savannah's First Visit with Santa!

We went to our ward party on Friday night, and Savannah had her first visit with Santa! He gave her a squeaky whale, which was a big hit!!

Snow Day

As you saw from Nate's post, we got a lot of snow yesterday. It snowed from before dawn to well after midnight. And we got about 8 inches of powder. This morning, Nate and I ventured out to take some pictures of the first real snow storm of the season.

This picture was taken from our balcony. This morning while eating breakfast we saw 3 coyotes walking through the snow. We've also seen deer and falcons in our forest.

Nate looks really excited to get to work - that is after he brushes all the snow off his car.

And, while he was at it, he cleared off my car as well. Notice that my car had a lot more snow piled on top than Nate's.

Our apartment complex decided it was time to bring the plow out of storage.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Colorado Springs this year. We made the drive in two parts. On Tuesday night we drove to the grand metropolis of Colby, Kansas. They call it the Oasis on the plains. It certainly had the palm trees to match it's slogan (notice the wires). We drove in late, and we were lucky to get a place to sleep. We were turned away from three motels before we finally found a bed. We were so tired!
We got up early on Wednseday and made the second half of the trip into Denver. We went to the temple and we ate lunch at the mall. Then we drove down to the Springs to hang out with JoLee's family. JoLee's sister brought her boyfriend, Peter, so we could all meet him. I tip my hat to Peter for coming to stay four days with a family he's never met. Peter and I both have something in common, by the way. We both have excellent taste in women. Thanksgiving day was great. We had all the traditional food of course. There was some mix up about the oven and the turkey, but it must have been worked out, because dinner was great.
On Friday JoLee, Paige, Peter, and I went to Garden of the Gods. That's where I proposed to JoLee last year. It's a beautiful place.

Other activities over Thanksgiving break included seeing the latest Harry Potter film , taking family photos in some guys backyard, and bowling for Donna's birthday. The bowling alley was funny, because the girl's lane was slanted toward the left and the guy's lane had a faulty pin setter. I think my jeans still smell of cigarette smoke. We stopped by Barnes & Noble on the way home to visit Scott.

We drove home on Sunday, and we were really lucky to get home. If we had left any later we would have been stuck in (or maybe involved with) a 25 car pile up on I-70. We hit a blizzard on the way home and it was nasty! Fortunately, we got stuck behind a snow plow, so we had relatively safe driving until we got low enough that the snow turned into rain. The whole drive was really odd. When we got to Salina, Kansas the skies were sunny and beautiful. When we got home it wasn't even cold.

Well, we had a great trip. Thanks Gillespie's for having so much fun with us! You always throw a great party.

It's cold out here!

Today was the first snow of the season. Everyone left work early. The interstate was backed up for miles. People ran out of gas while sitting in traffic. I was fine, I left work late and I just had to drive slowly home. I am not looking forward to tomorrow morning's commute. On the up side, the snow is beautiful, and my wife bought me a nice scarf to keep my neck warm.

Disaster Area

JoLee finished classes today. Finally! She presented her big paper yesterday to rave reviews and applause. Now she goes into finals. It'll all be over soon, and then we can both go back to eating regular food again.