Oklahoma Joe's BBQ

We can't live in Kansas City and not post about BBQ. We tried a couple different places until we found this one that we really like. Oklahoma Joe's has won several cooking awards and trophies which are so proudly displayed when you walk in the front door of the restaurant. It has more recently been made famous when Vanity Fair placed it on their list of best BBQ places in the country and when President Obama ate there when he visited Kansas City last week.

I had to post this second picture for Scott.

Church History Sites

This past Saturday we decided to visit some Church history sites since we live so close to them now. It was a first visit for all three of us. First, we traveled 40 minutes to Independence, MO to the visitors center. We watched a short presentation on the plan of salvation and how it applies to us directly with our busy lives. This is Dallin driving the covered wagon in the pioneer display.

Right across the street is the Commmunity of Christ temple pictured below. We were curious as to the design of the building so we went inside and also visited the museum there.

Then on to Liberty, MO to visit the jail where Joseph Smith and other men were kept for many months. We are sitting on the outside edge of the jail. We had a great trip and it was a good reminder of some early church history events. We hope to visit Far West and Adam Ondi Ahman before we leave.

Day at the Zoo

Saturday we made a trip to the Kansas City zoo. We saw a lot of different animals, anything from antelope to zebra literally. Dallin really loved all the birds, but they were harder to capture pictures of. Some other animals that we saw were a hippo, flamingos, swans, African fighting dogs, iguanas, toucan, cheetahs, wart hogs, meerkats, baboon, crocodile, sea lions, otter, and several types of monkeys are the animals I can remember. There were so many to see.

Not sure why but I thought this porcupine was cute.

Its hard to see but one monkey would scratch the other monkey's belly while he was sleeping.

The elephants were really cool. They had such a huge area for themselves which makes since because they are such large animals. Scott read on one of the signs that the elephants eat about 200 lbs. of food a day. WOW!!

The lions were my favorite part. I'm not a cat person, but they were amazing to look at.

After a couple of hours we ate our picnic lunch and headed home for a nap. We didn't get to see everything because the zoo was so big, but we had a great day!!!

Just for Fun

I am always getting requests for more pictures of Dallin, so here are a few of him this week. I found him in his toy tub like this. I guess there were some toys he couldn't reach so he decided to climb on in.

This is Dallin's choice of what he wanted to wear. I had him in the overalls but he decided to add the white dress shirt and orange hat to the outfit.

We Love Our Swimming Pool

I think our favorite family activity is swimming in the summer time. We all love the water!! We go swimming a couple times a week, and if we even mention the word "swim" Dallin is at the door within seconds.

Sidewalk Chalk

Dallin's new favorite thing is his sidewalk chalk. We have a small patio where he likes to drive his cars and trucks and now he is all about the chalk. With our walks in the morning and his playing in the afternoon, we are outside a couple times a day. I don't think I have ever met a child that doesn't like to be outside.

Finally Settled In Our "New" Place

We wanted to share some pictures from our trip. It was slow going with the truck and Uhaul trailer packed beyond the max, but we are happy to report the truck did great. We were worried about climbing all the mountains so we decided to take the southern route through southern Utah to albuquerque, NM and east to Oklahoma. It was kind of nice to take a different route than we just took in April.

In case you didn't figure it out we are now a one car family. Yes, we sold my car "Bessey" before we moved. I was sad to sell my first and only car, but it was so nice being able to travel together as a family. This picture is in memory of the best car ever!!

So we made it to Oklahoma just in time for the 90 degree weather. It was quite a difference in climate because Idaho was still in the 50's when we left. And it was great fun traveling the whole way with the windows down because the air conditioning in the truck is broken. Here are some pictures of Dallin and scenery. He thought he was big stuff because he could put his feet up on our front seats.

If you are still reading this than you will find out that we are not living in Oklahoma City. We just moved to Kansas City, Kansas a few days ago. For the same job, but we are only here temporarily for a few months. We absolutely love it here. We have a 2 bedroom apartment that is really spacious. We have tons of room, but we didn't bring all of our stuff up here. We only brought what would fit in the back of our truck. Like I said it is really hot here, but we love having a swimming pool, tennis courts, and free golf for Scott. It finally feels good to have a place to call home for now and feel somewhat settled with some of our stuff.