Author: Stephen Parker

First Day Surprise

Yesterday, Stephen called on his way home from his new job at BYU Idaho. I asked how things had gone and he said, "Pretty good, but I have something I'm concerned about – something I didn't see coming. Nobody told me about it and I didn't think to ask." My mind wondered which direction that comment could lead to for a second and then I asked, "What's that?" He said, "I am going to have to wear a tie everyday!" I giggled out loud and inside myself and also got a little bit worried too. This is definitely going to stretch poor Stephen. Not only is he going to have an 8-5 office job and task to shave everyday, he will get the privilege of strangling himself with a tie each day. As I type this my love for him grows all the more.

This morning I helped him pick out his outfit as he shook his head wondering what he has just gotten himself into. I had to take these pictures because I feel like I'm sending my child off to his first day of first grade. I'm used to having Stephen home in the afternoons and it is going to be quite an adjustment for all of us. When I called him over for the picture this morning he took the stance of posing for a mug shot. hahaha. He did say, "this job is going to make me a better person."  And it really will.

On the other hand, Stephen was excited to tell me how awesome the job will be. He is excited to be working with cutting edge servers and technology, happy to see past co workers excited to welcome him back, and also said he could get used to a lot of the perks offered at the University.

With a little time and a necessary shopping trip for some dress shirts and pants, Stephen is going to be settled in just fine. 

Comments:

Ri Ri said…

fancy!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 5:01:24 PM

Paul said…

I wear a tie everyday too! You get used to it and it is always nice to look your best. By the way felicidades!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 8:39:56 PM

Stephen said…

I am impressed that you can do it, it is harder than I had imagined.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 9:28:44 PM

John said…

Welcome to the club. If you start to get discouraged remember at least you don’t have to wear a jacket too. I am excited for you. Dress for success!! You will get used to it. You will appreciate your casual duds way more.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 9:33:15 PM

Magan said…

Eric is in the TIE club too
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 7:53:43 PM

Dad said…

You look real efficient and well dressed, Maybe I should dress up a little more in retirement.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 9:55:51 PM

Change is in the air

You are reading about the new Enterprise Systems Analyst at BYU Idaho!

My friend Peter Stilling called me about 3 weeks ago and told me that he was being deployed to Iraq with the Military. He asked me if I  would consider taking his job. WOW! This came from out of nowhere and I had to take some time to process the news. I love working for AMX! They have been so good to me, I plan on working for them part time in the evenings and on the weekends to keep things rolling smooth.  I am excited for the change but nervous at the same time.

Jodi and I decided to fast and pray about it and both felt like this is the new direction for us to take right now. It is a leap of faith and will not only be an adjustment monetarily but also asks me to give up the flexibility which we have all really liked. 🙂

I am grateful to know as we trust in the Lord he will direct our paths.

Comments:

Mom and Dad said…

Do your best and you will always progress. You are a great person.
Friday, May 13, 2011 11:10:04 AM

Stacie said…

congratulations! Good Luci with it all!
Sunday, May 15, 2011 10:31:41 PM

Ride Across America


I wore my Red Rider Jersey, since I did get low on the 100 miler it was a perfect fit.

5 Months

17 Seasons

238 Episodes of The Amazing Race (from season 1 to 17)

2,510 Miles all while riding on your trainer

Stephen Parker you are the official winner of the Ride Across America on your trainer  "Parker style". I think I have been watching the amazing race too much.  What a feeling.  What a relief at the same time.  I was over 300 miles away from my goal at the start of the week, I had set a goal back in November to finish this challenge before April 1.  I was right on track until our little Moab excursion, I just lost my fire I guess after taking a couple days off in Moab.

For some wild reason I thought I could just ride morning and night to achieve this goal, 25 in the morning 50 at night.  I did just that though, I cranked it out so to speak :-), then tonight I rode 100 miles straight to finish the race.  It was not easy but I can sure tell you now it was sure a good feeling.

The only draw back is now that the real season is starting up I am out of steam.  I may have to take a few weeks off then find a new challenge.  I would like to try and get into the LatoJa this year, I have been trying the last few years but not getting the lottery draw yet.  Maybe this will be the lucky year.

Comments:

Anne said…

That is awesome Stephen! Way to conquer your goal!
Monday, April 11, 2011 8:46:42 PM

Magan said…

How are you calculating your speed? Are you measuring it off your back tire? I can’t seem to get a accurate speed when I sub track the resistance, I can never go as fast on the trainer as I can on the road.
32 MPH is Tour speed, quite a number to sustain for 100 miles. Good Job.
Sunday, April 17, 2011 3:25:03 PM

Stephen said…

I have it hooked to my back tire, I have a magnetic trainer not a fluid one so the resistance is not as accurate, I can’t maintain those speed on the road more like 25 on the road with the wind resistance.
Monday, April 18, 2011 9:04:26 AM

Jodi said…

Impressive to me either way- I can’t even imagine riding that far chained to the same place for that many miles!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011 7:53:39 AM

Halfway there


Hard to see but the black line on top is what I have already ridden

Tonight I rode over the halfway mark of my 2500 mile challenge.  My goal is to ride across America on my trainer before the snow melts.  I started after the first snow fall and have been riding almost every day since.  I watch the amazing race while riding to help pass the time.  I plan on watching every episode of every season since season 1 by the time I am done. 1250 done only 1250 to go!

Comments:

Magan said…

You are ahead of me by 250 miles! good idea about the amazing race, I listen to podcasts or as Eric calls it “Cheesy” music.
Sunday, January 30, 2011 1:30:24 PM

John said…

See you in NYC. You are going strong. Keep up the good work.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011 7:26:37 PM

Quality time


beautiful blown snow fall

I have been trying to think of how to put into words some of the great experiences I have had with Dad these past few weeks.  I don't have the gift of a silver tongue, but I do want to share some of the great times we had this month the pictures can speak for themselves.  We had several reflective times, fun times, miracles, and challenges.  I wish I had pictures of us changing the clutch in the tractor and fixing the van sliding door.  I am sure we'll do it again!


traking on the impossible, it came right out with a handy man jack, although we both agree we didn’t do it alone
Mom soaking her feet after a long day with Dad
another quick overnighter at the cabin on the hill

a quick trip to the cabin on the hill, just for fun
Getting together for Ed Strobel’s funeral

16 years of waking up to her smile

When I opened my eyes this morning, I smiled as I thought to myself, "I have been waking up to Jodi's smile for 16 years now!". What a great blessing she is to me in my life.  She completes me.  She has this way of making me feel like no matter what the situation it is going to be just fine.  She is a foundation of stone, that I can always count on. 

When I was in the MTC, I wrote down the lyrics to this Collin Raye song, as a tribute to my friend Jodi. I didn't know what would become of our friendship, while we would be apart for two years.  Little did I know, that my dreams would come true.

Here is my song for Jodi.

"For all I've been blessed with in this life,
there was an emptiness in me.
I was imprisoned by the power of gold.
With one honest touch, you set me free.

Let the world stop turning,
let the sun stop burning.
Let them tell me love's not worth going through.
If it all falls apart, I will know deep in my heart
the only dream that matters has come true;
in this life, I was loved by you.

For every mountain I have climbed,
every raging river crossed,
you were the treasure that I longed to find.
Without your love I would be lost.

Let the world stop turning,
let the sun stop burning,
let them tell me love's not worth going through.
If it all falls apart, I will know deep in my heart,
the only dream that mattered had come true;
in this life I was loved by you.

In this life, I was loved by you."

Here's to another 16 years!

Thank you Jodi!

Making Memories with Mason

Mason and I decided last week we needed to get out and just play in the mountains.  We headed out for the cabin on the hill, and some great mountain biking.  We rode our bikes out to and up Mount Jefferson, almost to the whole way but ran out of daylight so we had to turn around.  We really focused on going light and easy, dinner was a can of chili still in the can and a frozen pizza cooked between two skillets.  Hard to beat chili on a cold fall evening.

After dinner we shot up to West Yellowstone and grabbed some ice cream at Arrow Leaf, they are making them bigger than ever now.  Boy did they taste great!  Made that killer bike ride all worth it to be able to down that huge ice cream without much guilt.  We topped the night off by watching the Bourne Supremacy.  We stoked the fire up and hit the hay.  We got a little carried away, it was hotter than noon day in that cabin.  Finally after hours of burning up I opened the door and windows.  I checked the thermometer at about 3 AM and it read just over 100!  Guess we sweat that ice cream off too.

Breakfast was a couple oatmeal packets and then we were off again, we rode our bikes up to the ski hill and then down.  We thought it would be pretty easy to bike back up to the cabin, it wasn't.  Mason was pretty excited about finding some geodes so we headed out by the fish hatchery and hiked around a bit trying to remember where they were.  It was fun to listen to conference as we hiked around on the mountain, we also saw a big bull moose.  We still didn't feel like we were in the right spot for hunting geodes.  Finally we broke down and called Dad for tips, he pointed us right to the spot.  We hunted there for a bit but it was pretty picked over, so we headed to Elk Creek for some treats like old times.

I told Mason we could go home via Kilgore for something new.  We headed out that way and when we crossed the Clark county line and saw the trail to Blair lake we had to take a detour.  It was great, very pretty up there the fall colors were amazing.  I talked Mason into following me down the trail so i could ride my bike again.  Didn't take much, he was pretty excited at the chance to drive in the mountains.

You would think we had done enough already but as we passed the Civil Defense Caves we had to stop and do some more exploring.  What a great time we both had, We scouted out some new places we want to go check out on our next getaway, can't wait to go again.


Mason getting his last thrill of driving
Civil defense caves, forgot to take pics inside

Big ice cream cones

There are two deer in this picture
Henry’s lake

Bull Moose

Found the spot for geodes
Continental Divide

some seriuos scrambling

Top of Sawtell since we ran out of light
Good beans

Beginning the bike ride

AMA Challenge 2010


all the riders

Today was the big day.  We set a new AMA record of riders we had a whopping 21 riders this year.  It was different than any other year,  it was still very difficult and very strenuous but we rode as a pack for the most part, we would ride in pace line formation until we hit the hills.  On the hills we would all wait at the top for the rest of the group to catch up, made it more of a team effort and yet still very personal as we would take on the hills independently.  Thanks to all those who came out and made the day a great success.  It felt like a family and friends party since I personally knew almost every rider there!

We had everything for the ride donated, this allowed us to donate 100% of our registration fees to the ADA.  We raised $510 dollars from registrations, and since VSP Vision Care is tripling our donation amount we will be giving $1530 to the ADA when it is all said and done.  Great job riders and all those who participated in some way.  Next Year lets double our rider count, please spread the word and send me your ideas to make it bigger and even better.