Happy birthday dear Stephen!

Teresa threw me a very dramatic and psychedelic birthday party; it seemed my just reward, after hosting many similar parties for others but having never really been the recipient. It began when Nefi Ledezma came to my door and bade me come with him. I did. He brought me to a white van, from which Nazis appeared and jumped me, throwing a blanket over my head and stuffing me in the back of the van with them. Their German was really bad and quite funny. They sounded strangely similar to Jon Fairbanks, Adam Stallard, Josh Peavler and Eric Gashler.

They dumped me on a lawn, then disappeared. When I removed the blanket, I saw that I was standing in front of the house of Peavler. I went in and was met by a Heather Peavler. She was dressed very eccentrically, and I noticed that she was but one of a large gathering of very eccentrically dressed people, quietly socializing amid a dark room with mysterious music in the background. None of them appeared to see or hear me except for Heather. She asked me a riddle, which I took a few hints to guess, and then she told me to go to the man in the rainbow stocking. When I approached the man in the rainbow stocking, only then did he acknowledge my existence, and he likewise presented me with a puzzle. This pattern continued, as I went from strange person to stranger person, all of whom strangely resembled my friends.Some of the challenges were: riddles, logic puzzles, a mathematical problem, mind-reading, yodelling, name-that-drawing, catching food in my mouth, defeating a karate man, stacking cups, a painful callisthenic and wrangling my body around a broom.
My friend Monte Emerson, in Washington, regretted that he couldn't make it, so he arranged to have a hand puppet fill in for him:One of the strange people especially caught my eye. She was a clown, and the most beautiful clown I'd ever seen. I was anxious to face her challenge, which turned out to be a yodelling contest, as only then would she see and hear me. I found out later that she was my wife. FYI, of course I smoked her in yodelling, I being the former yodelling champion of Timpview High.

The most difficult challenge of all was a game we played outside in which I had to tag every person and then run back to my side of the field without being tackled, all the while saying the word syphilis without taking a single breath. It was hard. Thanks, Teresa, it was a blast, and I felt truly loved. Oh, I forgot to mention the best part of the evening. My birthday cake was Tres Leches.

Annual Marriage Report

We have been married for well over a year, and it's time for our annual report. The following statistics are the results of an intensely scientific analysis of our marriage and the effects thereof. First, a graph that represents our post-marriage sociality:
Second, a physical analysis. Here is a picture of Steve before marriage:

Steve after a year of marriage:

Mysteriously, his back has also indented about ten inches:

Steve's nose before marriage:

Steve's nose after marriage:

Oh yeah, and Teresa's also looking a bit bigger:

Conclusion: marriage does weird stuff to you.

Happy Birthday Joshua!

Joshua Adam Peavler is now a stunning dude of 17. It's hard to believe that all my siblings are getting so old.

He's definitely a good looking chap.

We gave him the game Ticket to Ride. We'll all have a lot of fun with that. We're the kind of family when playing games together gets really loud and competitive.


Here's a look at the rest of my family:

Valentines Day

Steve and I trade off being the king and queen of the day. This year, Steve is king of the even days and Teresa is queen of the odd. Thus Steve was the king of valentines day this year, so it was my duty to serve and surprise him. Since we are on a really tight budget, I had to get really creative.

I was kidnapped by the witch of slime, so Steve had to read the note the great wizard left for him in order to find me. It said:

Your lady fair has been taken away
These words will help you if you obey
You must ride away to where you first formally met
If you fail to go there you'll greatly regret
A tree of the south will bring you aid
Now go and start this crusade

The location was of course the stake center where he first flirted with me at singles ward, so he hurried over there to find the next clue:

Your next clue can be found near scholars
A place for lovers that requires no dollar
A gentle stream leads the way
Perhaps you may hear bells play
At the falls you'll find what you await
But hurry before it's too late

He hurried valiantly to the stream at BYU campus meanwhile I waited for him in the clutches of the witch of slime. Then he found:

Not too far from your castle a river runs by
The path adjacent you should give a try
With your lady you once conquered goblins at this place
Through tiny corridors and steep chutes until you blew up their base
Now in its ruins you'll find what you need
There may have been survivors though, so take heed

And indeed there were survivors when he arrived to the ruins of the goblin fort. He had to use his amazing sword skills to fight them off, and though he was outnumbered, he conquered. They handed over the next clue:

Valiant knight, you have done very well
Here is where the next clue does dwell
At the castle of your greatest friend and foe
The back gate will the next clue bestow

Nefi is his greatest friend and foe, so off he went to his castle. The master wasn't home, but there was a sinister crow sent by the queen of slime who tried to discourage him. He ignored the bird and read this last clue:

You are clever for finding this clue
But now your princess is waiting for you
She is trapped at the castle of her youth
And she's in an ordeal of trouble forsooth
The witch of slime has her quite stressed
In order to beat her you must be best dressed
And remember these great words of magic:
Goosplosh dodosh fleeber splagic
With these words you can't go wrong
With your lady you'll join in song
Hurry you only have until 5:45
Otherwise your lady will not be alive

And so Steve the valiant knight rushed to rescue his princess, ignoring the line about being best dressed. This served to surprise myself and the witch of slime, for he came an hour too early. Thus Steve the knight defeated the witch of slime when her guard was down with the magic words. I was not ready, for a princess must look her best for her knight, especially in the act of rescue, so the knight was sent home to get properly dressed.

When he arrived again for his lady fair, he was dressed like he came from a Tim Burton movie, as shown above. Steve wasn't expecting to go to a fancy ball that night because of money issues, but thanks to Laura from the library, we got free tickets to go! Thanks Laura :)

And so the couple went and danced the night away. Our love is stronger than ever and we know it will only grow with the years.

We're still hip happening.

We've been silly and haven't really taken pictures of ourselves lately. We have some pictures on Steve's cell, but haven't figured out how and if we can get them up here. If anyone has an insight, please share.

Our anniversary, though it was technically December 23rd, was celebrated throughout the course of many days. We went rock climbing at the Quarry and to the Cheesecake Factory. It was my (Teresa) first experience rock climbing, so I was pretty nervous at first. Soon I got the hang of it and we had a blast. The cheesecake factory was fun too. The cheesecake was amazing! The pictures are on Steve's phone, so they might show up later.

We spent Christmas at the Peavler residence. We were greatly spoiled by both our families. Maybe someone took pictures...

Other than that we've been really trying to get our business rolling with lots of advertising and telemarketing. Not so fun, but very necessary. You can see our website at http://www.gashlermedia.com .

For all you couples out there we are also putting together what we call the Venus-Mars Pageant. This is like Miss America except much more fun and instead of being just for girls, couples compete together. The events thus far are:
1. 1 - 3 minute videos for each couple.
2. Opening dance number (everyone)
3. Individual couple dance numbers
4. Talents
5. The scenario (a hilarious role-played game-show-like situation that will test the couple's ability to cope with stress and work together)
6. Spacesuit contest
7. Question and answers (similar in concept to the dating game or other match-making shows)

This is going to happen March 1st in Provo. If you want to compete or help, or just come and see for a good time, please let us know!