Another Christmas in the books

We had a wonderful Christmas and are only now getting settled back into our normal old person routine. Mom and Dad were with us, as well as all of the kids and grandkids except for Jake's family. We missed them, but travel to and from Wyoming in mid-winter is always a risky proposition and moving Christmas makes it even more difficult.

We hope all of you had as wonderful a holiday as we did.

So the pictures include:

Grandma, Creed and Harvey playing Angry Birds on the ipad;
Laila trying to hit a paper bag pinata while Anette holds back Harvey and Grey so they don't get hit;
Harvey with Spike the robot dinosaur;
Grey with the mother of all train sets;
Grandpa Stephens dressed up as Santa. He asked Grey what he wanted for Christmas and Grey told him a train set. Grandpa said, "Maybe if you are a good boy." Grey indicated that it should be right in the sack that Santa was holding in his hand and he should give it to him right then.

Newel's Temporary Address

Honeywell is putting me up in an apartment for a couple of months while we work on getting a new house.  The address is:

884A Stone Crossing Lane
Springfield, OH 45503
(937)-717-6823
I will be back in Madison this weekend, then the whole family will be spending Christmas in Springfield starting on the 22nd.  After Christmas we are not sure-- it all depends on how the house buying and selling process goes.

The new job is going well, though there is a lot more beaurocracy in such a large company, especially one that does so much work for the military.

Creed is home

Actually, he has been home for almost two weeks, but I have been too busy to post anything. He has already spoken twice: once in our ward and once with a high councilman in another ward. He has been busy trying to get acclimated to civilian life. I think that is easier than getting used to the cold weather.

Creed will be going to school in January at UVU and living at home. He will be looking for a job after Thanksgiving and has a couple of prospects. In the meantime he helped Jed with a couple of countertop installations in Wyoming and Idaho.

We are expecting a good crowd for Thanksgiving with all of our children and grandchildren here.

We hope everyone else has a wonderful holiday.

New Job for Newel

As many of you have already heard, I have accepted a new job in Urbana, Ohio, so our family will be moving in the next couple of months.  I will be working for Honeywell Aerospace, designing lights for airplanes.  This looks like a very good career move for me with a promotion to a higher position and a generous salary and benefits.  In anticipation of the move, we have been spending a lot of time fixing up our house, re-painting all the trim and putting tile down in one of our hallways.  We will try to keep everyone posted as we figure out where our new home will be and when we will move.

Devon on Halloween

Here's a better picture of Devon handing out candy.

Baptism

Here's a picture of the family at Rachel's baptism. The other blonde girl in the photo is Karlotte, one of Lynette's friend that spends A LOT of time with us. We consider her an adopted member of the family. She's not a member of the church, but maybe some day.

I'm not sure how the other photo got downloaded. I must've clicked on it by mistake. It's our dog passing out candy on Halloween.

I'll try to add some other photos.

Herman Cain and fishing

I just got back from Las Vegas where I watched the presidential debates and interviewed Herman Cain for the Deseret News and KSL. I did three stories. Here are the links:

Here are links to the three Cain stories I wrote.



http://www.ksl.com/?sid=17740115&nid=757&title=herman-cain-discusses-faith-and-the-lds-issue


http://www.ksl.com/?sid=17742390&nid=1070&title=backstage-access-at-the-gop-las-vegas-debate


http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705392832/Herman-Cain-tells-Deseret-News-the-numbers-show-US-economy-needs-help.html


Blogger is not letting me hyperlink to them, so you might have to cut and paste them into your browser.

The day after the debate (Wednesday) we went fishing on Lake Mead and caught a bunch of striped bass.

Birthdays!

Alright. Blogger is being weird with the photos, so I'll have to see if this works.
One photo is Lynette's birthday cake.
This past Saturday, we had Rachel's 8th birthday party. Lynette's friends came to help. It was a dinosaur theme party, so we had it outside at the park where we could have dinosaur races and such. The biggest hit, of course, was the volcanoes. I think the kids could've spent the whole party just "exploding" the volcanoes!
Back at our house, we had a pinata, and then cake and presents. We put dry ice in the top of the volcano on the cake so it looked like it was smoking. The we put more dry ice in the punch. Another hit!
Later one of the mom's told me her daughter said it was the most awesome party she'd ever been to! I'd call that a success!

We are keeping busy. I figured out that I drive at least 3 hours a day just in getting James to work and Elaine home from school (Craig takes her there).

According to the orthodontist, the braces come off in January or February, so it looks like James won't be leaving on his mission for a few more months. He is such a help around the house right now, I don't know what I'll do when he's gone. I might have to hire a maid! :-)

Mariana's Young Womenhood Medallion

Mariana finished her personal progress and was awarded her Young Womenhood medallion in church today.

Unwinding in Wyoming

Just got back from Wyoming where Jake and I had a great antelope hunt. I met Lindsay in Shoshoni on Wednesday and picked up Tagg. Jake was working and coming from Cheyenne—the opposite direction. We met up in Casper that evening. By then Tagg and I had driven through our area and checked things out so we knew where we wanted to go Thursday morning. Jake still had to work, so it was just me and Tagg in the morning. We found one nice buck that was on the wrong side of the road, but it looked like he was going to come to our side so I was waiting and getting ready to shoot. Then out of a small draw an even bigger buck that I had not seen came running out and chased the other buck back away from the road.

In early afternoon we headed back to town to eat lunch and to pick up Jake. We got back to our area about 5 p.m. and went straight to a spot where I had seen a couple good bucks in the morning. We found one of them with a group of three other smaller bucks. We put on a couple of stalks but could not get close enough. We kept trying to cut them off and finally they started to head up a hill so Tagg and I dropped Jake off to chase them. In the meantime, Tagg and I kept driving in case they doubled back. We had not driven very far and I spotted the bigger buck and one of the smaller bucks from the road.

They were about 400 yards, but I had a good rest so I decided to take a shot. I thought I hit him but they took off running. I shot a couple more times while he was running and he appeared to slow down. So Tagg and I ran to get to another spot where we could shoot. The buck finally stopped, and I shot again, but this time he was probably 600 yards away and I could see the bullets kick up dirt underneath him. Then I heard Jake shoot from the other direction. He could see the buck, too, but we could not see each other.

Finally the buck walked over the top of a little hill and out of sight. We went back to the truck to pick up Jake who was running toward us. When he made it to us, Jake said the buck was definitely hit hard. So he grabbed his stuff and took off while Tagg and I followed. After a long hike, we saw Jake finish it off with a final shot. He waited for us and we all walked up to it together. It was a beautiful buck with amazing hooks and prongs.

It was getting dark so I left Tagg and Jake to start cutting while I walked back to the truck to get some more gear, jackets and flashlights. It was quite a hike and by the time I got back it was pitch black and cold. Jake carried the meat. I carried the guns and all the equipment and also shepherded Tagg.

It took us a long time to make it back to the road and Tagg was crying long before we got there because he was cold and tired. Then, because it was so dark, we had no idea exactly where we were on the road in relation to the truck. So Jake took off running one way while Tagg and I went the other. Tagg and I found the truck and picked up Jake on the road. Then we had a long ride out on a bumpy dirt road in the dark. We got back to the hotel about 10 and ordered pizza. It was well after 11 when Tagg finally fell asleep.

We slept in the next morning because Tagg was still zonked. Meanwhile, Jake was having trouble getting a deal closed for work and was on the phone. So we got a late start. When we finally reached our area, we spotted a good buck right away but Jake decided to pass. Then we drove down the road a little ways further and the buck that I was planning to shoot the day before was on the right side of the road. So Jake hopped out and shot him and our hunt was over. Jake’s buck was really nice with huge bases on his horns.

We watched the BYU versus Utah State game on the hotel TV Friday night and drive home Saturday.

We had unusually warm weather with daytime highs in the 80s. At South Pass the leaves were all changing color and it was spectacularly beautiful.

There are some more pics on Facebook.

Madison Chataqua

We visited Madison's annual Chataqua art show on Saturday.  Here are some of the interesting things we saw.

This man painted on rocks.  I thought the grasshoppers were very interesting.

Here is Mariana trying to put together a puzzle box.

And this booth had turtles made from frying pans and "horseshoe" crabs.

Taekwondo Tournament

We attended a Taekwondo tournament on Saturday.  Here are a few pictures.  There is a video on facebook.

This is Isaac with his grand champion trophy for his weapon form.  He came in second in the initial competition, then he and the first place winner competed again for the grand champion trophy, and Isaac won that competition.

This is Mariana in the sparring competition.  She came in third in her own age group, then they asked her to spar with an adult who had no one in her age group.  She tied for first with the adult.

This is part of my breaking competition.  I did a combination of 4 different attacks, breaking 5 boards.  I came in first in my group (of two).

Visiting the zoo and more from Creed

Tuesday afternoon we went to the zoo with Jed, Cally, Harvey and Grey. Harvey is dinosaur obsessed right now and they had animatronic dinosaur models scattered around the zoo. Harvey was incredibly excited. He would run from one to the next and back again. When we got to the T-Rex he could have watched for hours. He wasn’t interested in any of the other animals except for the alligator.

Grey was mostly afraid of the dinosaurs and was interested in everything else, so it made for an interesting visit. I guess Harvey cried the whole way home and then he slept with the dinosaur brochure from the zoo. The exhibit only stays until the end of the month but I think Jed and Cally are making plans to go back before then. Maybe I’ll go and me and Grey will see all of the other animals.

Here is Creed's latest letter. We are eager for his return.

Transferred.

I was not expecting it but I definitely am getting transferred tomorrow. I thought either my comp was going to leave and I was going to train or we were going to stay together but it wasn't so. At about exactly 9 o clock yesterday president called me which was kind of surprising and I figured it would be to tell me I was going to train but I guess I was just never meant to be a trainer because now i´m going to Villa Mella to be a zone leader. It's pretty cool I´m excited. I figure I should be able to handle it now that I have basically a whole mission of experience but really I know it is going to be a ton of work and I am going to learn a ton. I´m pretty stoked to work hard and sweat a lot and lead a zone.

My new comp is a Dominican so I think i´m happy about that because I will finish off with my Spanish at its peak. I've heard a few things about my new comp Elder Peña I really try not to listen to what people tell me about new comps though because I prefer to get to know them myself and then decide my own opinion about them. It really has a big impact when missionaries say things like oh that area sucks or your companion is an idiot. Luckily no one has said anything like that about my new area or companion but rumors are just no good.

Its kind of sad to pack up and go I really was thinking that I was going to finish here. I´m going to miss this area I really love a lot of the members that are here. We had also just found a lot of really cool people that are sure to be baptized soon and it is sad to go and not be able to see their baptisms. In my new area I will be in the stake center and I have heard that almost every room has air conditioning so that is a huge blessing that I have never really had in the mission. The area is supposed to be really good also and the zone is pretty big I think there is 24 or 26 missionaries so I will get to go on a lot of exchanges.

The wheelchair man that we took to church never ended up progressing. Turns out he had a blood clot in his brain and that is why one side of him doesn't work so he has a hard time remembering things. The main reason he didn't progress is because he let his mom govern him and she did not want him to come to church when really that is what he needs most in his life is a big group of friends that can always be passing by and checking on how he is.

I was able to make both my cakes in this week I believe. Today we made the cookie one and it was delicious and last Monday we made the cheesecake which was also delicious. I accidentally dropped my comps two pieces so he wasn't to happy about that.

Yes I have met president we had interviews with him a few weeks ago. I will get to work with him a ton now which should be good. Villa Mella is pretty close to where I am now probably within a 15 minute drive but it will probably be a whole different world. The house I am going to live in will have 4 missionaries which I am not really a fan of it always ends up causing problems.

I´m not sure of my arrival [home] date. I do know that we always come home on Tuesdays so I think it will either be the 2 or the 8th but I don't know which one. Most likely the 8th. A soon as I send you the exact date I don't want to hear much about countdowns it makes me nervous. I should definitely be home for Mike's wedding though which I am way pumped about. Did you tell Kim that you guys got sealed in the Manti temple?

Man there is a lot of people here that I am going to miss but I am excited to be a ZL and work hard so I can finish strong.

I hope you guys are all having fun with your summer activities and I hope school goes well. Oh speaking of school I´m pretty sure I want to go to UVU when I get home all I know really is that I want to do all the generals I can and a Spanish class. Spanish is the coolest!

I love you all so much and I am grateful for the help you give me. Keep strong and tell all the little tikes I love them.

Oh i decided teaching little kids that are nice is so much better than stubborn adults. We taught a daughter of a member that is going to get baptized and it so much easier to teach them than old Catholics or evangelicals. But I don't understand the patience it takes to teach kids who do pay attention and especially how to read I admire my mother

Love ya
--
E. Creed Stephens

Baby blessing in Wyoming

We just got back from our latest trip to Wyoming. We left Cody about 11 and got home after 10 p.m. last night. It was cloudy and overcast the entire drive and we had several good rain showers along the way. I was hoping for a little more blue sky and sunshine for better pictures, but at least it was cool and nice. Everything was green the whole way. I have never seen so much green at the beginning of August. The rivers are all still running high and all the reservoirs were full. We drove by Bear Lake and there is hardly any beach because the water comes all the way to the road.

The baby blessing was nice. Everyone else got to Jake’s house late Saturday. So Anette and I had Jake, Lindsay and their cute kids all to ourselves most of the time. We drove out to see some wild horses, did some shooting, rode horses and did some work around the house.

We had an interesting horse-breaking incident. Jake was working with a colt that he broke for someone last year. But that person didn't ever ride the horse or even feed it very well. So Jake got it back last week to begin the retraining. The first night there were no problems. The second night the horse got agitated and decided to jump the gate. Its front feet hit the top rail and it did a flip right onto its back. Luckily it hopped right back up and wasn't injured. After that I got to guard the gate.

Katelynn is getting so big you would not believe it. She is very tall for her age. And she is also the sweetest and best babysitter you can imagine. She plays well with Harvey, Grey, Tagg, Laila and Brystal and she makes sure they are all taken care of. They all really enjoy being together.

This time we went to and from Jake’s house through the Yellowstone south entrance and Jackson Hole. We saw three grizzly bears but very little other wildlife. We saw more animals outside of Yellowstone than in the park. There is wildlife everywhere around Cody. Every drive we see deer, antelope and other animals even if it is just driving to town and back.

Jake is starting to get things ready for his elk hunt into the Thoroughfare wilderness again next month. I’m sure it will be a great adventure.

Jenine was at our house while we were gone taking care of the animals. It was nice to come home and find everything in good order and not have to worry about it while we were gone. I just wish we had gotten to see her and Laila.

I've got more pictures on Facebook.

Colorado and Butterfly Counting

I went to Boulder, Colorado for some training the week before last.  On a couple of the evenings, I was able to get away for some walks up in the mountains.  The picture above is from one of those walks.  I got rained on a little bit, just enough to cool me down a little bit.

Yesterday, Mariana and I went butterfly counting at the Big Oaks National Wildlife refuge.  Here is a picture of a Spicebush Swallowtail and a Tiger Swallowtail on some butterfly bush.  We spent an interesting morning learning the names of all kinds of butterfly species found in our area.

We had to take a safety class and sign a release before we went out counting butterflies, because Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge is the former Jefferson Proving grounds, where the army test-fired artillery for 50 years.  Mariana spotted this unexploded shell in a creek near a bridge where we were looking at butterflies.

Clifty Falls Park

  We have had such a busy summer so far that we haven't had time to go to Clifty Falls park which is right here in town.  So today we took an afternoon walk and enjoyed the shade and the scenery.

This next picture shows cake rock.  It looks remarkably like a big slice of cake with a bite out of it.  But I think even Isaac would have a hard time finishing this dessert.

Brick Breaking

Our school did a demonstration at the county fair yesterday.  Here is a link to a video of me breaking a stack of 5 concrete bricks.

http://www.martialartsmadison.com/another-brick-break-on-july-13th-2011-jefferson-co-fair/

In California

We have arrived in. Santa Clara. Along the way, we stopped at Carlsbad Caverns, attended sacrament meeting in Winslow, Az, and stopped at King's Canyon to see some of the giant sequoias. At a couple of rest stops, we also took a few minutes to see a awar memorial with several planes, and an antique tractor museum.

I wanted to post some photos, but I'm not sure if I can do it from the iPad or not. I'll have to ask James and Craig when they get back from the Apple gift shop.

Summer in full swing

Things are finally quiet again at our house after more than a week of excitement and guests. The fun started nearly two weeks ago when Jake and his family went to Logan so he could run in a trail race. It is normally about 28 miles, but Jake found out the night before that it would be shortened to 11 because there was still too much snow at the higher elevations. We were there for the race day on Saturday and we headed home that afternoon after lunch with Mom.

Lindsay and her children stayed at Leethams while Jake went back to Wyoming for the work week. We got to see them every day. At the same time, Jenine and Laila spent a week with us.

We had pictures taken with all of the grandchildren one afternoon. I think the photographer was a little overwhelmed. I think every child cried at some point. We haven’t seen the pictures yet but we will include some when we do.

We hung out around our house quite a bit. We also went to a new splash park in Alpine a couple of times and the Lehi pool once. Jenine, Laila and I went to Thanksgiving Point. We also drove the Alpine Loop road that just opened last week. All the snow damaged the road in several spots and they had to fix them before they could open it. There were several spots where water from the melting snow is just running across or down the road.

Jenine and I worked with the horses every day. Jenine has been taking riding lessons in Vegas every week.

One morning Jake and I got up early and hiked up to the Y on the mountain. It took us (me) about 50 minutes to make the climb. Then Jake decided he would run back down and see how fast he could make it. Then he would run back up and meet me on the trail coming down. He made it down in seven minutes. There are 11 switchback turns on the trail. He caught back up with me on the third turn from the bottom. The whole thing took us about three hours from the time we left the house, and that included a stop at Maverick. It was a great view and there were many people on the trail. It was also the morning of the Freedom Festival balloon fest, so we could see about 20 hot air balloons below us.

We finally had some hot weather. It was over 100 over the holiday weekend. It has been up to 115 in Vegas, so Brandon and Jenine thought it is a little cold at night here. Katie was wearing a sweatshirt because she is used to Wyoming and expected it to be cool. Anette finally talked her into a T-shirt.

On his way back to pick up Lindsay, Jake stopped in Star Valley and picked up a saddle that used to belong to my Grandpa Kennington. It’s still in decent shape considering that it is probably 80 years old. It sat in the living room most of the weekend and the grandkids all took turns sitting on it and pretending to ride.

Monday night the company was all gone. We went to a big fireworks show at Thanksgiving Point with Jed, Cally, Harvey and Grey. We got stuck in traffic for about 90 minutes after it was over so it was after midnight before we got home.

We hoped Mom and Dad would make it down for a day or two, but they were tired and recuperating from their trip to Indiana. Anette and I know the feeling. In three weeks we will be headed back to Wyoming for a baby blessing.

We hope all of you are having a wonderful summer.

one photo

The only photo of Elaine in the opening ceremony. She was signing a song. Craig was manning a couple of video cameras so he didn't take many photos at all, and when he did, he was right next to the fog machine, so they didn't come out well.
The OC was really just for the kids, and it's a good thing because it didn't turn out very well even though the kids had practiced many long hours over the course of the last six months.

To me, it showed the difference that the Spirit makes in how one of these events happen. The OC performance was not important to the overall event. The three main performances were seen by people from all over North Texas, many of them non-members.

Youth Conference: Texas Jubilee

I wish I could post photos of Elaine in Jubilee. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any. Craig was able to take some photos at the Opening Ceremony, but he didn't end up getting any good ones of Elaine. I think we can buy photos of the actual performance; I'll have to see. There were rumors that the New Era staff would be there, so will have to watch and see if anything came of that.

Anyway, it was an incredible event. Three days of 2000+ kids from 11 stakes dancing and singing, also workshops and General Authorities speaking. Testimony meeting tonight.

In the actual public performance, Elaine was in one of the special ensembles done to the music of "God Bless the USA." She did a ballet number with about 10 other girls. She danced better than I have ever seen her: with more confidence and fluidity. She was beautiful! She also had a part in the media clips where she expressed her feelings for her country. Those were the two parts that it was somewhat easy to identify her. Otherwise, she was on the floor with too many kids all dressed somewhat similarly, so it was really hard to pick her out of the crowd.

I am really sorry that Lynette missed the cut-off date for age. This is something she would've really enjoyed doing also. Unfortunately, it is also one of those events that only happens every 30 years or so.

We did have a couple of non-members join us to watch it. Several of Elaine's friends, then also her dance instructor and spouse. Also, one other friend of ours. They all seemed to really enjoy it.

Now, I think I am going to take a nap! For the past three days, we've been getting to bed around 1:00am after doing laundry! And then, Elaine had to be back to the Events Center at 7:30am. Believe me, there were a lot of tired teens and adults in Sacrament Meeting today! I think the Bishop was the only one on the stand who was able to stay awake for the whole meeting!

Now that Jubilee is over, we can start really concentrating on getting ready for our trip to California in a couple of weeks!

More Pictures from Mom and Dad's Visit

Here are some more pictures from Mom and Dad's visit to Indiana.  They have gone home now, but we were sure glad they could come and see us.

This is a re-enactor at the Lanier Days festival.  He played a traveling medecine salesman, and he was quite funny.



One of our ward members does civil war re-enactments, and he let me fire a cannon.  That was really cool!

This is Mariana with her new haircut, and a barge going down the river in the background.

Mom and Dad in Madison's historical museum.  This is the old train station.

Happy Father's Day yesterday

I've tried calling you a couple of times, Dad, only to have Lynette remind me you were in Indiana, and by then, it was too late to call.
Hope you had a good day!

Happy Father's Day, Dad

I hope you are having a great time in and around Indiana/Kentucky. You are missing the coldest and wettest Father's Day ever recorded in Utah. It is 58 and raining right now (about 3 p.m.) It is snowing above 9000 feet.

Thanks for your great example and all the wonderful lessons you taught me about being a good Dad.

Enjoy the rest of your stay and have a safe trip home. We will see you Saturday.

Flint

Sights around Madison

Here are some pictures from our activities with Mom and Dad this past week.

This one is the old stone bridge where the heritage trail crosses city creek.

Mariana and Dad looking down at the construction on the bridge.

Isaac and Dad fishing at Versailles State Park.