Honeymoon in Arizona: Come on, Hertz!

When planning our honeymoon, we decided to rent our car from Hertz. My bank has an agreement with Hertz that gave us 25% off and waived the young driver fee, which was important considering my pup of a husband is only 23. (What can I say? I'm a cradle robber.)

I made the rental car reservation, and I chose a midsize car. The description said "Mazda 6 or similar." I was excited, mostly because I wanted to see if the Mazda 6 really did "zoom zoom" like the commercial promised it would. And also, while not the hottest car on the block, it's pretty stylish. Here's a Mazda 6:

Not bad, right?

Well, HERE'S WHAT WE GOT:

It's a Mazda 5, which I referred to all week as a "mini mini-van." I think that's a pretty liberal interpretation of "or similar."

Married Life

Angie left a comment and demanded an update on married life, so...I'll tell you! Married life is great. Ross thinks so, too. We both made lists: the top five things about being married. (Don't worry; it's rated PG. And it's in no particular order.)

Ross's Top Five Things About Married Life

1) Yummy dinner all the time.

2) I get to see Leah all the time.

3) More time for Wii.

4) More time for reading.

5) She's willing to let me buy gear. Hooray!

Leah's Top Five Things About Married Life

1) The "husband taxi," which frequently drops me off at and picks me up from school. It's way better than the bus. (Ross calls himself "Ross the Butler." He calls me "Master Bruce.")

2) Making a "honey do" list in the morning and coming home to find that it's been completed. (Also part of Ross the Butler's duties.)

3) Not having to go to separate houses when it's time to go to bed.

4) Not eating dinner by myself.

5) Being told I'm pretty even though I wear yoga pants 65% of the time.

And topping both of our lists of challenging things about marriage: learning first-hand how different boys and girls really are!

More posts to come. We have wedding pictures. Photo stories will be told.

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 :-)