Honeymoon in Arizona: Lemonade, Lemonade Like Grandma Made!!

After we decided to go to Arizona, one of the first things we did was check to see whether the Diamondbacks would be in town that week. We were excited when we found out they would be, and we bought tickets for a Friday night game against the Dodgers.

The Diamondbacks play at Chase Field, which is a large dome with a retractable roof. Ross and I took bets as to whether it would be air-conditioned. I voted yes; he voted no. Nobody's keeping score, but the temperature outside was 108, and the temperature inside was a crisp 72. :-)

The game was great! The D-backs won, and afterwards, they opened the roof and had a fireworks show. But the thing we'll remember most is this guy:

I know the picture is terrible, but it gives you a good idea. He was a lemonade salesman. We sat in section 316, I think, and the sections were really large. We could hear this guy screaming, at the top of his lungs, from section 312 or so:

"LEMONADE! LEMONADE! LIKE GRANDMA MADE!!!"

We learned quickly that you had to avoid eye contact; if he caught your eye, he'd start yelling at you directly. "YOU WANT SOME LEMONADE?" (Points directly at you.) "YOU KNOW YOU WANT SOME LEMONADE! LIKE YOUR GRANDMA MADE! COTTON CANDY? BOTTLED WATER? YOUR FAVORITE! I KNOW YOU WANT SOME!"

The game was fun. But this guy...he made it memorable.

Honeymoon in Arizona: The Grand Canyon

We booked our condo in Arizona for our honeymoon back in January, just a few weeks after Ross and I got engaged. Since then, we'd been planning to trek north to the Grand Canyon just to see what all the hubbub was about.

Well, friends, all I have to say is this: Put the Grand Canyon on your bucket list. It is without a doubt a must-see location before you leave this world.

Pictures don't do it justice, but what's a Grand Canyon post without a picture or two?

We asked an older woman to take this picture of us. When she accepted, her husband chimed in: "Sure! That's how we get all of our cameras!"

This was one of the first views we saw. Ross said, "Oh, wow." Or maybe it was, "Oh, holy crap." Whichever it was, it's understandable that a view like this could evoke such an awestruck response.

By the way, these photos were edited in iPhoto using only the "enhance" feature. Not shabby, I say.

Ross, The Stay-At-Home Husband

Leah started school yesterday, and in a lot of ways I feel kind of like a loser. I have no job, so I've pretty much been a stay-at-home husband for the past couple of days. That's not to say that I'm bumming around; there's definitely a lot to do around here. Every day I get a nice list of stuff to do from the wife, and we have so much stuff between the two of us that finding room for it all is quite the challenge.

Some things that I've realized about staying at home:

1. I don't get to sleep in. I still get up when Leah does, which is way too early for any normal person
2. I don't talk nearly as much - there's no one to talk to! I bet I didn't say 5 words yesterday between 7:30 and 4
3. I still am not productive enough to do everything that I would like to do, like practice, read, and listen to sermons
4. There's nothing on TV during the day, especially if you only have basic cable (we're poor)
5. Spouses who actually do stay at home deserve way more respect than they get - this is hard!!

As much fun as staying home sounds, I'd much rather have a job. I never thought I'd say that, but I actually like working. Next week will probably be the beginning of the job search, so pray that I find something that is a good fit. We've got enough money saved up to probably ride out a few months if need be, so in some ways I can be slightly picky on the job front. On the other hand, with the economy being like it is, I may be lucky to find anything at all. If you hear of anything good, drop me a line. The comment section would be a perfect place to do that :-)

Ross ate a TOMATO!

We're on day six of our honeymoon, and things are going great here in Arizona. Of course, there are many highlights from our trip, and many of those will get their own blog posts in the coming days. Of interest are our trip to the Grand Canyon, the sights of Sedona, and a hilarious food vendor at a baseball game. But the topic of today's post is how much my husband loves me and what he does to show it.

Ross has never been a fan of tomatoes. We went to the local Carrabba's a few nights ago, and atop his salad were, of course, sliced tomatoes. He said something about having to pick the tomatoes off, and I said, "Or you could just eat them."

To my surprise, HE DID IT! And I have photographic evidence!

I can't figure out how to draw arrows and add text in iPhoto (help, anyone?), but if you look closely, you'll see a tomato on that fork! The crazy thing was what Ross said after he ate the tomato: "Oh, that's not so bad. It's kinda good, actually."

And then my heart melted. Two loves of my life are no longer enemies. I'm pretty sure I even did a little happy dance in the booth.

We hope everything's going well for everyone in Arkansas! See you soon.

Wedding Prep & Fig Newtons

Wedding week is finally here, and things are trucking right along. Yesterday, we went to Wal-Mart (the first of many trips, I'm sure), and we loaded up on snacks and supplies to go in the dressing rooms for the wedding party. We bought some cheese & crackers, cookies, 100 calorie packs, and Fig Newtons. You know, these:

Have you ever looked at the nutrition facts on Fig Newtons? Overall, they're not too terrible for you. Only 110 calories & 2.5 grams of fat. Kind of high on the carbs at 22 grams, but a food can't be perfect.

Then I looked at the serving size. The serving size is two fig newtons. Two. Fig. Newtons. TWO fig newtons! Come on, Nabisco! Have you seen a fig newton? They're teeny! They look like...well, they look like this:

Nabisco should amend the Fig Newton nutrition facts to reflect what an average consumer usually eats in one sitting.

Serving size: 1/2 sleeve.