Hanging out in Kansas

Hello everyone. It's been so nice to hear from all of you lately. I love all the pictures of your kids! Everything is going really well in Kansas. Nate and I just celebrated our first anniversary. It's really amazing to me that we've been married a whole year. We took a trip to Lake of the Ozarks to celebrate (it's the big vacation destination around these parts.) My aunt and uncle have a condo down there that they kindly let us borrow. The area is really pretty, and we hope we get a chance to go back sometime when the weather is warm and the grass is green. On our way back we took a short detour to Jefferson City to see the Missouri State Capitol.


Whenever we had the chance, Lindsay, Tevra, Sue and I used go visit State Capitols on our runs after races. We ran to the State Capitol in Texas, Nebraska, and Indiana. And I guess I still like to visit Capitols when I can.

This semester I'm teaching an Introduction to the Humanities class at the community college that is just 5 minutes from my house. It's been a pretty fun time. I've enjoyed pulling out all my old notes and assignments, and I have a pretty fun, small group of students. In terms of school, I just recently passed the point where I've now been in graduate school longer than I was an undergraduate. No wonder that seems like such a long time ago.

Every once and a while Nate and I stumble on something really funny here in the Midwest, and that helps to make it an interesting place to live. For example, we live in a busy suburb, but right on the corner of our busy street there are two large bails of hay. They've been there for months, and I think that everyone around here thinks that it's normal to have hay in the middle of the city.



We are also privileged to live just 45 mintues away from this marvel:



And, you know what, it really is quite a sight. So, if you come visit us we'll be sure to take you to the "Most Beautiful McDonald's in the Heartland" on our way to Adam-ondi-Amon.

Our Friday, Nate and I got a kitten. Most of you probably know that I've wanted a cat for years, so I'm pretty happy. She's really good company so far. Zephyr (named for the Greek god and the car) takes naps on my lap while I study and is very entertaining. She is also very curious. Here she's spelunking in our dishwasher.



My friend, Jessica, recently introducted me to this really cool website called LibraryThing.com. You can set up your own library catalog with the books that you own or have read and catagorize them in whatever way you'de like. Lately, lots of you have been asking about good books, and so if you are ever curious to see what I've been reading (excluding school work) check out http://www.librarything.com/profile/jolee.

I hope that all of you are doing well. Nate and I wish you the best.