Further Proof That We're Turning Redneck

Exhibit A: The Electric Fly Swatter

John and I, oddly enough, received this as a wedding present:

I thought for sure it would just sit somewhere in a closet, never to be opened or used, until we would eventually bust it out for a White Elephant party or give it to the D.I. Boy, was I wrong. John LOVES this thing. You should see him, chasing flies around like a crazy man, wielding a fly swatter shaped like a tennis racket that administers electric shocks when you push the button on the front. I’m pretty sure he gets a strange sense of satisfaction when he hears the loud BANG that comes from direct contact between the fly and the electric wires. I just think it’s funny to watch. And it is pretty effective for getting rid of flying pests. I wonder if it could also act as a taser, should I ever decide to take up running again and don't want to spend money on Mace?

Exhibit B: The Demolition Derby

We trucked it on down to Nephi a couple of weekends ago with a group of friends for the Juab County Fair Demolition Derby. And I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. There is something about watching old, beat-up vehicles play a real life version of bumper cars that brings joy to my soul. I’m wondering if we can turn John’s Civic into a derby car when (hopefully a long time in the future) it finally bites the dust. I think our friend Andy would be the perfect person to drive it. Check out his hair. He is not, in fact, bald, but shaved it like this for the Derby.

You ain’t hardcore unless you live hardcore.

Exhibit C: The Crisp Bean Burrito Craving

I had a wicked craving for crisp bean burritos a couple of weekends ago while we were out running errands (but no, I regret to inform you that I am NOT pregnant…girls can have weird cravings and not be pregnant, I promise), so John, being the cute husband that he most certainly is, drove around and around trying to find a Taco Time for me. We couldn’t find one and finally resorted to going to Carl’s Jr. for lunch. Lo and behold, there was some random Mexican fast food place attached to the Carl’s Jr. whose name escapes me at the moment. And what to my wondering eyes should appear on the menu…but crisp meat burritos. Not quite the same as a crisp bean burrito, but good enough. Oh, the white-trashness of it all…

A Brief Synopsis

Yowsers. We have apparently been busy little bees with no time for blogging, so please accept this meager offering of what we've been up to in the form of a bulleted list. Come on, bulleted lists are fun! And so are we, I promise. Read on.

• Our fence is mostly done (sadly, none of which I can take credit for. John might very well be mistaken for a Latin man with how tan he's gotten over the summer from all of the time he's spent outside. I shall for here on out call him Juan...), and all I can say is yay for privacy! We no longer have to silently fume about those crazy teenagers thinking our side lawn is their own personal hang-out spot or the random neighborhood children who leave their shoes/bikes/rollerblades/candy wrappers in our backyard. Has made us really want patio furniture...we resorted to bringing our card table and chairs outside a couple of weeks ago and eating dinner on our little patio just so we could enjoy it. And then we parked our cars on the lawn, John started wearing wife-beaters and we both grew mullets.
• We painted and have partially decorated the half bathroom on our main floor. And I have to say I love it. As much as you can love a room whose main function is...well, you know...
• We celebrated Arbor Day a little early and planted ourselves an ash tree in the backyard that will be ginormous in about 30 years. (As will I, most likely. Ha.) We also bought a darling little Charlie Brown-ish apricot tree whose fruit, when it is mature enough to bear fruit, will hopefully not be devoured by the hordes of grasshoppers currently setting up shop in our yard. (Am now thinking there could be a metaphor somewhere in there amongst the "mature enough to bear fruit" and "hordes of devouring grasshoppers" for the lesson I have to give to the combined Young Women in October about chastity...hmm...)
• John went to Scout Camp for a day. Got a little lost. Almost ran out of gas. Took a nap. Pretty much a normal day for him.
  
• I was supposed to go to Girl's Camp for a day but due to torrential rain and crazy mud, was forbidden from going up. Still took the day off and spent it doing fun and exciting things, like laundry and dishes. And perhaps watching copious amounts of TLC and HGTV. So sue me for liking shows about extravagant, ridiculously-priced wedding dresses and house hunting.
• We've started going to this great farmer's market in Draper at least once a week for corn-on-the-cob, strawberries, green beans, avocados and pineapple. Oh, the pineapple...I am somewhat addicted. In the which case, I might just be forced to move to Hawaii. I need my pineapple. And think how fun for all of you to be able to come and visit me on my island paradise! With all of my pineapple trees! Because yes, on my island, the pineapples will grow on trees. Along with money.
  
• I have been getting my fill of community plays. Oh, how I love them. An outdoor production of Bye Bye Birdie a couple of weeks ago and a surprisingly good rendition of Hairspray last Friday night. Still on the docket: Footloose sometime in September or October. I love me some Ren McCormick. Punch-dancing one's rage out never gets old.
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  

A Beatle and a Birthday Boy

We've had such a fun couple of days. John's birthday was on Wednesday and as part of what I have dubbed his "Birthday Week of Fun," we celebrated by going to Happy Sumo, home to perhaps his favorite thing in the whole world (besides me, of course), the infamous Vegas Roll. My favorite part of going to Happy Sumo is seeing John's "sushi face." This is an old picture, but you get the gist of it. And actually, by the looks of things maybe I am not, in fact, his favorite thing in the world...

John's parents and my parents joined us, and we learned that my mom and John's dad also have a special place in their hearts for the Vegas Roll. Good times.

Another highlight of the Week of Fun was seeing Sir Paul McCartney perform on Tuesday night, which I think I can adequately sum up in three words: Best. Concert. Ever. It seriously was SO much fun, and I have now seen in person why Paul has always been referred to as "the cute one." He has aged quite well, I have to say. And he's British! And a knight! Who doesn't love a cute knight with a lovely British accent who also happens to be a ridiculously talented singer/songwriter/guitarist/pianist and was part of the biggest band of all time? Yeah.

We had the best time. We had floor seats (or should I say, field seats, since the concert was at a soccer stadium), but they were clear at the back, which doesn't bode well for a girl of my height. This was my view of the stage.

Ha. Good thing there were ginormous screens on both sides of the stage so I could at least look at those and see what was going on. And even better that the three people originally sitting by me apparently decided to look for seats elsewhere so that my weird claustrophia/agoraphobia didn't set in and I could enjoy the concert in peace.

The Birthday Week of Fun continues on Saturday when we will be venturing up to Deer Valley to see Ben Folds perform with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, which is the birthday gift I surprised John with a couple of months ago. Thank you, dear husband, for having a birthday in the summertime when we are able to go to fun outdoor concerts and do other fun things outside. As opposed to my birthday, which is in the dead of winter a month after Christmas when nobody wants to spend any money or do anything but stay inside with a mug of hot chocolate and pajamas on. Ha. Summer birthdays trump all.

Viva la Birthday Week of Fun!

Yay for running water...

So, for those of you who actually care, the water main is fixed! We were finally able to fix it last Thursday, which meant we spent five days camping out at my parent's house. It was kind of like a mini-vacation...Kearns, after all, is a destination hot spot. :) But seriously, my parents are awesome and my dad even went out and bought one of those big, fancy, comfy air mattresses for us to sleep on. And my mom has reintroduced me to the joy of watching Perry Mason and I Love Lucy. Thank you, PBS, for your old school late-night programming.

Fortunately for us, we have connections in our ward, so fixing everything only ended up costing us about $30. Just for fun, John called someone to get an estimate if they were to fix everything...$600. Yep. Thank heavens Johnny is such a go-getter and doesn't mind learning how to fix things himself.

And now, on to more exciting news: in a little more than two hours, we get to see this guy perform:

Yippee!!!

The Joys of Being a Homeowner

You know you have a problem if your front lawn has turned into a water bed...

On Saturday, our water main either broke or sprung a leak somewhere. John had turned on the sprinklers and came out front a few minutes later to find a big portion of our front lawn mounded up. When you stepped on it, it felt like a water bed, and we punctured the sides of it with shovels and water came gushing out.

Not. Good.

We immediately called the City to have them come turn off our water so that our water bill hopefully won't be astronomically high this month. So now we have to figure out a way to dig down five or six feet (yeah, 'cause that's an easy thing to do in our yard full of boulders), find out if we have a leak or a break, and repair it. Yay. I just love owning a home when things like this happen...we haven't been able to stay at our house the past couple of nights since we have no water, so we've been staying with family. It's kind of like being on vacation, only with the awful dread of having to fix a major problem always in the back of your mind.

In other, happier news, our fence is getting closer and closer to being finished. My dad and brother Jason came over basically all day Saturday and got about half of the fence posts in. It's fun to envision what our backyard will look like with the fence up and trees and shrubs planted. I can't wait.

Fathers and Fences

First of all, happy Father's Day to my amazing dad and father-in-law!

To my dad, thank you for:

• teaching me to love sports but also letting me be a girly-girl
• always letting me know that you love me
• being such a great example of service and sacrifice
• working so hard to provide for our family
• always supporting me, even if it meant sitting through three-hour long dance recitals just to see me on stage for five minutes
• taking the time to get to know and bond with John
• letting me stand on your toes when I was little so we could "dance"
• being willing to help me whenever I need it

To my father-in-law, thank you for teaching John how to be a good man. And for always making me feel so welcome and loved as part of the Morrey family. :)

Alright, sorry for the brief amount of cheesiness ... it's bound to happen every now and then. We started the (what we are learning will be) looooooooooooong process of putting in a fence yesterday with the help of John's dad, my dad and my brother Jason (and a smattering of help from me and John's mom--we left the heavy labor to the men). After a very long and tiring 10-hour day, we have nearly all of the 40 or so fence post holes dug. That might not sound like much, but you haven't seen our soil. Parts of it are FULL of rocks--and we're not talking pebbles. Let's just say they made digging the holes a pain and very time-consuming, so we're pretty happy with what we were able to accomplish yesterday. The next step will be finishing digging the post holes by hand (oh joy), then setting the posts in concrete. I'm just looking forward to having it all in so we can move on to the fun stuff--buying trees and shrubs and making our backyard pretty. :)

John (apparently announcing his pregnancy), my dad and my brother Jason

Viva Las Vegas!

John and I celebrated our first anniversary on Sunday. In some ways I can't believe that we've been married for a whole year, but on the other hand it also feels like we've been married forever (in a good way). To celebrate, we took a road trip to Vegas. We spent Wednesday night in St. George in a motel room that smelled and looked like it belonged in a retirement home -- I have never in my life seen a motel/hotel shower that did not have a tub but instead had a bench attached to the wall that you had to fold down in order to sit on and bathe yourself (check out the picture above...maybe we should burn those shorts of John's, now that I think about it). SICK. The room also had an equally shudder-inducing recliner and the type of bedspread that is immediately taken off of the bed and thrown onto the floor as quickly as possible in order to avoid any of the nasty germs that have congregated on it. Thankfully we only had to spend one night there.

Thursday we drove to Vegas. We stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton, which totally reminded us of a cruise ship (minus the sea sickness and free food). It definitely is the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at in Vegas, with a full casino inside, 16 restaurants and the gaudiest diamond light fixtures on the ceilings that I've ever had the pleasure of viewing. I know I talked about being excited about having warmer weather in Vegas, but it was a bit extreme. It was BEASTLY hot while we were there (we're talking 106 degrees, people! Record-high temperatures!), so we spent most of our time indoors relaxing and people-watching. And for some reason watching lots and lots of coverage of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The highlight of the trip? Definitely seeing the Circque de Soleil Beatles Love show at the Mirage on Saturday night. It was amazing! (And a little bit unnerving, what with the performers dangling from the ceiling unharnassed, using only ribbons to keep themselves from plummeting to the floor. Good thing they're professionals.) I think we were both just in awe as it was going on -- and you really can't go wrong when you've got the Beatles as your soundtrack. It was awesome. I highly recommend it if you're ever in town.

The low point of the trip? Finding out the day that we left that my favorite pizza place ever is no longer in Vegas. Sadly, it was one of the things I was most looking forward to. It was bad enough when they took Peter Piper Pizza out of Utah, but at least I could take heart in the fact that I could eat some after only a six-hour drive to Las Vegas. Curse you and your pessimistic views of the economy, Peter Piper Pizza franchise owners.

We celebrated our actual anniversary by spending six hours together in the car driving home, spending some time at a family party, watching an awesome lightning storm, getting rained and hailed on as we drove to our house, and eating a gourmet dinner of toast and scrambled eggs at 10 at night and watching our wedding video. We are nothing if not romantic. :)

So, one year into our marriage I have to say that I am happier now than I have ever been. John is just maybe the best husband ever (I can provide proof if needed) and I am so grateful that I get to spend my life with him. I love you Johnny!

Photos by Lindsey Briggs Photography