Ode to Marv

Last night after my dad, Jill, Tony and I finished watching the nail-biter that was the 2007 Pioneer Las Vegas bowl we happened upon Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. The movie brought back a flood of memories. Home Alone (the original) is a John Family Favorite. Speaking of which, Anthony and I were sad to miss out on the annual Home Alone viewing party in Provo this year. Anyways, we were channel surfing and we had to stop when we saw Kevin McCallister booby-trapping his uncle's abandoned house. As we watched I couldn't help but laugh my head off anytime Marv came on the screen. He is the creative genius of the Sticky Bandits. Many of his antics make me laugh, like when he wraps tape around his hand so he can steal change out of buckets. Or when he stops and smiles for Kevin's camera in the midst of a very incriminating situation. But he is just so soft, you know he isn't really cut out for a life of crime. Remember the look of disappointment on his face when he finds out they've missed the prisoner gift exchange at the prison. Even if you don't agree with me, you can't deny he's resilient. Kevin lobs multiple bricks off a three-story building that smack him in the face but that doesn't keep him down. Before the night is through a staple gun gets him in the face and crotch, multiple paint cans fall on him, he falls through a hole to the basement, he gets electrocuted to the point you can see his skeleton, and climbs down a kerosene-soaked rope that gets lit while he's climbing! My sister Jill got Home Alone 2 for Christmas at least a decade ago and we quoted Marv all summer when we would jump into the pool. We would yell, "Harry, I've reached the top," and then jump into the water. After we came back up for air we would say, "wow, what a hole." We thought it was hilarious. Clearly, we still do. So thank you, Daniel Stern, for bringing to life one of my all-time favorite movie characters.

Some sweet bonuses for reading my entire post:

• Go here to view a sweet clip of Marv getting his brains fried.


• I found this CREEPY pic while searching for images from Home Alone. Makes you never want to leave your little boys unattended.

Christmas break

After an extended sabbatical from our blog I have returned to write at least one. It was much harder to contribute to our electronic family history (like that Meredith?) when I was so busy with school.

Carrie made us delicious food for Sunday dinner in our crock pot: chicken, red potatoes, carrots, beans, garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, and butter. I thought Carrie was culinarily talented when we were dating, but I did not realize that I would be eating this well. My waist has blossomed, and I have grown "muffin tops" (rolls of skin in the love handle area that rest on your side on top of pants) as they are called in the Crane family. I thought that maybe I would exercise during this break away from school, but I have been supremely lazy. Hopefully tomorrow I will get my butt in gear and head down to the gym and get a free week's pass so that I can exercise.

I think that I have learned and changed a fair amount since our move from Utah to Springfield. This is going to be a bit stylized, so brace yourself. I came here thinking that I would like to move away from Utah. I finish these three months knowing that it was a good decision to leave Utah, but I miss my sisters (of course that includes Jill) more than I thought I would. I came here thinking that I/O psychology would be interesting and practical to study. I finish the semester excited about the material I have learned and will learn and for future job opportunities. I have really liked the applied opportunities that I have had here at MSU. I came here thinking it would be cool to be in a "normal"/non-BYU ward. I finish the semester invested in my teacher's quorum, and I have realized that working in the young men's program is harder than it seems. I came to Springfield thinking we had a great car. I finish the semester humbled by our car's total lack of consistency. That is not true. Our car's check engine-light has been torturing us on a very consistent basis. I came here with Carrie knowing that my school was going to put her in a situation where she would sacrifice her own growth for awhile. I finish my semester grateful that I have such a wonderful wife, who dealt with a lousy job, a difficult cub scout calling, a faulty car, and a very imperfect husband with love. My love, appreciation, and admiration for her has grown. One thing has not changed- we came here grateful for the help of our family, with Laurence and Linda making our move possible. I finish up the semester grateful for our family, eager to spend Christmas break with both of our families. If I don't get to write in here again before the end of the year MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I've been Tagged

My friend Rachael tagged me, I've never done this before, so here goes.

The rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I get the hiccups every day. Especially in the morning or after I've eaten. I don't know if I swallow funny or what, but they hit me almost every day. They usually aren't a problem, but sometimes at work when I am on the phone it can be embarrassing.

2. I am really terrible at opening bags. Especially bags with food in them. I always rip the bag too much, sometimes beyond repair. I have to keep clips on hand or else all our food will go bad. Tony doesn't like me to open ANY cereal bags anymore and he always laughs when he opens a box and sees the messed up bag inside.

3. I love the feel of the warm sun on my face. When I lived in Chatsworth (in Provo) I would open my blinds on Sunday afternoon and put my pillow on the end of my bed and take a nap with the sun on my face. It is just so relaxing. I love to lay out at a pool and just soak up the sun. I know it is not good for my skin, but it just does something great for my soul. One day I want to have a big window that I can lay next too and take naps.

4. I really like the T-Mobile commercials with Charles Barkley and Dwayne Wade. They make me laugh every time. Sir Charles is hilarious.

5. I love to start projects, but am that great at finishing them. Not necessarily with school or work, but things at home. I will get started on a craft and get really into it--for a few hours. Then it will take longer than I planned, or my attention span is too short, or something else will come up, and I'll abandon ship. Sometimes I will have two or three projects sitting around, waiting to get finished. And I'll see them and they will discourage me so I will end up just watching TV or something and then I'll get mad at myself later. Could this be ADD?

6. I like to sleep on my right side with the sheet in my left hand pulled up over my head. It is hard for me to fall asleep any other way. Even if I am tired and lay down another way, I always turn and get in my "position."

Well, we got our car back today. Finally. It has been a long week. In the words of Joni Mitchell, "you don't know what you've got til it's gone." I don't think I've ever been as excited to see our white Ford Focus as I was today. It only cost us $930.44, so I hope it really did fix the problem. We'll see.

I thought I would add some pictures from our trip last weekend. We went to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with Anthony's family. His parents and Hillary and Matt flew out from Boston, we flew in from Springfield, and everyone else came up from Provo.

We celebrated Christmas together early at Anthony's uncle's cabin Wednesday.

Thursday we went up to Malad for Thanksgiving with the extended John family.
We stayed in Malad until Friday afternoon when we headed back to Provo for the BYU Women's Basketball game. We got sweet tickets from the dobo, Daniel Nielson, Anthony's brother in law. Daniel is a coach for the team. We stayed in Provo that night at the Maxfield's (Meredith & Steven) apartment.

The next day went to the BYU-Utah football game. We had so much fun. Seriously, I don't remember the last time I saw Anthony get so excited. We had to switch seats though because there was a Ute fan next to us and he was getting under Anthony's skin. I got to see Jill & Emily at the game too. Nothing brings families together like BYU sports. After the game we saw Dan in Real life and had Costa Vida for dinner. Both were really good. We also watched part of the BYU-UNC Men's Basketball game and the KU-Mizzou Football game.

We spent the night at Grammie and Bobpa's and the next morning got up early for our flight back to KC.

It was so fun to see everyone. Thanks for making our trip so great. I already miss everyone. I'm already trying to think of an excuse to visit again.

It's been a long week...

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you keep thinking it is a different day than it really is? It's really nice when you think it is Tuesday but it's really Wednesday. The week seems to go by faster. It isn't quite so nice when you feel like it is Wednesday and it is really only Tuesday...which is how I've felt all week. It has just been a looong week. We started the week of tired. Last Wednesday through Sunday we were in Utah and Idaho with the John Family for Thanksgiving. We had a great time, but due to early flights and getting ready we didn't get much sleep going into the trip. We slept in four different beds the four nights we were gone. Then, to top it all off our car started to have some problems as we pulled into town late Sunday evening (of course we were on the wrong side of town). Monday morning we took our car into the shop and we've been without a car since then. We are supposed to get it back tomorrow (but that is what they said Tuesday and Wednesday also, so I'll believe it when I see it...). Anyways, the point of this post is that all week I've felt like it was a day later than it really was and I am so excited that tomorrow is Friday. Maybe I'll finally have enough energy to unpack.

Our little slice of heaven

Here are some pictures of our apartment in Springfield. The only furniture we had when we got here was our Shopko entertainment center. We were given some miscellaneous pieces after we got here: a card table and chairs from my parents and a bookshelf from Tony's friend Laura. They also both gave us some drawers for our bedroom. For the past few months we have been accumulating bits and pieces. I definitely took furniture for granted before we moved here. After three weeks with no where to sit besides the floor or a folding chair, our couches feel like heaven.

Yes that is a football game on TV and fantasy sports on the computer.

Cousins

Last week we went to Idaho for my Grandma Crane's funeral. It was a bittersweet time. Sad to say good-bye to Grandma, but fun to be with so much family. We are blessed to be part of such great families. Here is a picture of me with 53 of 55 first cousins. I am on the far right.

Don't leave us alone with a camera...

Bring on the Rockies!

Up late again to watch the Red Sox pulverize the Indians. Considering how convinced the national media was that Schilling and Dice-K stink, they won both of their games to end the series pitching pretty well. Highlights of the telecast:

1. the nerd-fest going down in the sox bullpen. They were all banging out rhythms on the pen wall.
2. Big Papi sporting the celebratory goggles before the ninth inning was over.
3. Tim McCarver babbling like an idiot. Actually, I hated that.
4. The sweet catches to end the night, especially the last one.
5. I honestly felt bad for the Indians when they dropped that pop-up in shallow left. It put a damper on my competitiveness...temporarily.

For the first time in my life I am being paid because of my love of sports. My professor, Dr. Thomas Kane, does research with sports and motivation, and he has hired me to help him creatively with his presentation. He liked what my partner and I did for our class presentation and will use part of his grant money to pay us to work on his.

We got to watch Transformers at our friends' house, the Zysks. They are extremely generous and fun, and I enjoy hanging out with them. Stephanie Zysk and Carrie have been friends since high school, and I think Pat, her husband, likes having me around because I yell at the TV during sporting games. Everyone thought my yelling at Kenny Lofton to get off the field because he was a "skinny wimp" was funny. Transformers is a good movie, and I suggest it to all who haven't seen it. It is not a movie that will "make you think."

The next day Carrie and I went to see the new Harry Potter at the cheap theater here in Springfield. I had won free tickets on campus about a month ago. It was also a good movie, but for the first time I understood what my sisters were talking about when they said about the other movies, "It was okay, but they took a lot of stuff out." We went from there to lunch/dinner at Olive Garden. I learned there that Carrie sometimes eat breadsticks like corn-on-the-cob. She told me that she just wanted to eat the good, salty part on top.

But Carrie has been wonderful. She decided instead of watching the baseball game with me she would clean up around our apartment, taking care of loose ends that we have had since moving here. We hung up our pictures, including temple and wedding pictures, and our apartment feels more like a home. We still have not received our tables from SofaMart which we bought August 14. They were supposed to be delivered almost two months ago. When I called again this week I was informed that our salesman did not work there anymore, and that is why our order had fallen through the cracks. Anyway, our apartment looks nice, and I appreciate her very much.

Carrie also made a very delicious dinner tonight. She has gotten more creative and her culinary talents have blossomed since our marriage. I always told myself that I would have to cook when I got married, but I was wrong. I still make my spaghetti once a week, which Carrie claims is her favorite. She is nice. Today she cooked chicken, red potatoes, carrots, garlic, lemon, green onions, and bouillon in our crock pot. It was delicious.

I am more and more convinced every day that my decision to marry Carrie was the best of my life. Not just for her culinary expertise. Not just her good looks. We are best friends.

Adventures in Baby-sitting

It's been awhile since we last posted anything new, so we apologize to our loyal blog readers. We've kept pretty busy this past month and a half. The first weekend of September I rode out with my dad to Rexburg to help my sister, Emily get moved in for her 3rd year at BYU-I. It was a whirlwind adventure, driving over 3,000 miles in 5 days. I really enjoyed the trip, but feel like I have definitely hit my road trip quota for the year. No drive seems that long to me anymore.

The day after I got back I started working at a local radio station. I got the job through a temp agency. It is nice to be making a little money and to have something to keep me busy, but I think the job will be temporary. The work environment is just not desirable. Anthony says the station owner/manager runs the place with a pre-humanistic/positive psychology management style. For example, as front desk receptionist I transcribe all voice mails each morning. After I print out two copies I file one in the voicemail log and deliver the other personally to the manager. He then reads the message and decides how to act. Once, after transcribing the message I told the person the message was for about the call. Ten minutes later after the boss reviewed the log he called me back to his office and told me to let the person know about the message. I told him I had already taken care of it. Five minutes after I left his office his personal assistant stopped by my desk and told me that it wasn't my place to deliver messages to anyone before the manager reviewed them. Whatever. I'll just stick it out until Christmas and look for a part-time job next semester.

Anthony has been extremely busy. He is finishing up his mid-terms this week and has Thursday and Friday off from school. We were planning on taking a trip, but I couldn't get time off from work, so have temporarily postponed our plans. Anthony is doing really well in all his classes, receiving high marks on tests and projects alike. He also seems to be fairly well-liked by his teachers and classmates. It is fun seeing him excited about school and the things he is doing at work. On top of his school commitments, he is also busy with the Teacher's Quorum in our ward. The guys in his quorum are really cool, as well as the leaders he works with.

This past weekend we baby-sat for my best friend from high school, Stephanie, and her husband Pat. It was their 5 year anniversary and her 25th birthday. They have been such good friends to us since we've moved here, we wanted to do something nice for them. So, since we don't have a lot of money right now we offered to watch their kids so they could relax and spend some time together without the kids. They have two daughters. McKenna is almost three years old and Paige is 10 weeks. We watched them from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. We had a really fun time, but I had forgotten (never knew?!?!) how exhausting tending little ones can be! The girls were very good and didn't cause us any problems, but it was such a different kind of work than we were used to. I had to teach my Primary class and prepare a Sharing Time for Sunday and thought I would have plenty of time, no problem, to get them done, but I didn't really have any free time. I'm sure once I'm a mother myself I will learn to prioritize and focus, but this weekend gave me a new found appreciation for my parents and all the other parent's out there. It's hard work, not to mention a full-time job by itself. When I was in school I used to look forward to the days when I would have kids and could just hang out all day. I guess I'm a little off. Anthony was great. He did more work than me. I think he really enjoyed watching the Red Sox games with little Paige nestled in his arm. We are both pretty tired today, but I get to go to bed soon. Anthony is staying up late to study. Hopefully as things slow down a little bit we can do a better job of keeping out blog up-to-date.

We don't necessarily agree with this bumper sticker, we just thought it was funny.

Unwanted Houseguest

There are a lot of differences between Utah and Missouri. Ever since we moved to Springfield Anthony and I have talked about things we've noticed here that we "wouldn't see in Provo." There is a Wal-Mart on almost every major intersection in town and that is where we have experienced some real diversity. Yesterday I saw a Mennonite couple at Wal-Mart. Anthony is thinking about starting a What Not to Wear: Springfield Wal-Mart Edition. He talks to me more about appearances while we are in that store than anywhere else. He pretty much uses the same comments on repeat. My favorites are: "NEVER wear that," "That is a series of bad hair decisions," "That lady/girl/woman/dude needs to cover up more!" "Is that a boy or a girl?" and "Does that person have a mirror?"

There are huge churches on every almost every corner--Anthony enjoys reading (making fun of) their signs and advertisements.

Driving here is totally different. People drive so much less aggressively: stopping for yellow lights ("respect the red"), rarely turning right on red, and driving 5 mph or more under the speed limit--both on and off the highway. They also honk liberally. Anthony has been honked at on several occasions, so far I've been lucky. The roads are weird too. In general they are very narrow and have no extra lanes for turning.

Another thing we started noticing our first day here: bugs! They seem to be everywhere. Tonight when we returned home from (take a wild guess) Wal-Mart this little guy was on our wall.

Happy Anniversary!!

Well, we've made it through our first year of wedded bliss. We celebrated by walking to the nearby CiCi's Pizza Buffet and eating a lot of pizza. Maybe not the most romantic dinner ever, but it was perfect for us since we are on a tighter budget these days. Somehow I managed to get pizza toppings on both my shirt AND my pants! Anthony, on the other hand, cleanly made it through the evening. We were on the younger end of the age spectrum at CiCi's that night. At least we know we will be welcome at CiCi's for years to come.

We were up in the OP for the weekend so I could catch up with my old roommate and bff, Carrie Diggins. She lives in TX and was in town for the weekend for her parent's anniversary party. She and her husband Chris are moving to the KC area next month so it will be fun to be closer to them. Probably my favorite thing about living out here is being closer to old friends. My best friend from high school, Stephanie Zysk lives about 15 minutes away from us with her husband Pat and their two adorable daughters. She has been awesome about including us in their activities and especially helping me adjust to the area.

10 of my favorite things about Anthony:

10. He uses his "Tiger Strength 3000" daily to make life easier for me, whether he is carrying ALL of our groceries, my bag when I get a head ache, or putting together our furniture. And yes, the strength has been upped from 2000 to 3000.

9. He makes the best spaghetti. Since I am looking for a job right now, I make most of our meals. But spaghetti is his speciality. I always eat more than I need to when he makes it because it just tastes so good.

8. He is always telling me I need to buy more things for myself. Do I really need to? No. But it is nice knowing if I do decide to splurge he (probably) won't be too upset.

7. He is a "rule nazi." I never have to worry about knowing the rules to a game or if someone is cheating because I know Anthony will let everyone know if someone is breaking a rule. I think some of us can remember Anthony starting a chant of "Cutters" at the Marriott Center last Winter when two guys cut ahead our group.

6. He is very smart. He is doing awesome in his Master's Program! Everyday he comes home excited about what he learned or did that day. He has a great Assistantship that is giving him a lot of work experience.

5. He is outgoing. I don't know if Anthony has ever met a person he didn't really like, or that he didn't at least talk to. Social events are never quiet with Anthony around.

4. He uses lots of words. Anthony has quite the vocabulary and he often uses expressions that catch me off guard and make me laugh. I'm pretty sure our children will have a large, albeit strange, vocabulary.

3. Whenever we meet people and they find out he is from Boston and likes the Red Sox, almost inevitably they ask us if we have seen Fever Pitch. I don't really think Anthony is too much like the guy in the movie, but there are some similarities...I also think it is funny when people ask us about it, because it seems like they think they are the first person to ask us that question. Kind of like the people who thought they were the only one who thought to say "Your not in Kansas anymore" to me when I went to school. The Fever Pitch question is much more original and in both cases people are just being friendly, so anyways.

2. I have come to learn that every time I turn the TV on it will be on ESPN. It is the last channel watched at night and the first one turned on in the morning. I know more than I ever did about the NFL, NBA, MLB, and even the NHL than I have ever known in my life. Sometimes when I am home alone and bored I turn on ESPN for background noise.

1. It is hard to describe my favorite thing about Anthony because there really isn't one thing but so very many things combined that make him the amazing man he is today. I can't imagine my life without him. He is a great husband and I am SO THANKFUL to be married to him.

Farewell tour and Welcome to MO

It has been so long since we've written, so much has happened, it is hard to know where to start! This is Carrie--finally on the blog--trying to update on our adventures of the past few weeks. To quote Tyler Lars Nielson, "It's the end of an era." Anthony has been in Provo since the Fall of '99, and I started school at BYU Fall of '01, so this is a big change for both of us. We tried our best to live it up, amidst finishing my first graduate class, packing & preparing to move, and I think we did a pretty good job.

Thank you to everyone who made time to get together with us before we left!

A few highlights:

• Carly & Daniel treated us to Cold Stone
• Enchiladas, Sunday afternoon nap & Anne of Green Gables with Jill
• Salt Lake Temple--our first live session--and then delicious roast dinner with Meredith & Steven
• Old Spaghetti Factory with Nikki
• Costa Vida with Tony Capone
• Fro-Yo with Kieri
• Walks with Marquita
• Tucano's with the LegaLees staff
• Mama Chu's with Jill
• Family Gathering with the extended Fletcher/Bennett family
• Brick Oven with Nat & Tenille, Melissa & Brandon, and Candace
• Nikki, Melissa, and I winning glow-sticks for our awesome skating chain at Classic Skating
• Multiple trips to Seven Peaks with Nikki and Carly & Daniel

I'm sure there are more, I apologize if I left anyone out. We are also very grateful to those of you who helped us move, both on the Provo end and in Missouri.

Anthony's co-worker at the Rodeo House, Aura Conde, let us borrow her truck to take our stuff to the ABF station in Salt Lake. Carly & Daniel came over early and helped us load the truck, and then our neighbor and friend, Landric Ieremia, helped us drive our stuff up.

We left for Springfield a few days later with a full car. We drove first to Cheyenne, WY, and stayed the nice there in a "comfy" Motel 6. Along the way we ran into my cousin, Reed Dayton, who was headed west, back to Bennington. Small world. We got up early the next morning and got on the road. We drove all through the very hot day until we got to Kansas City around dinner time. Apparently I don't know my way around downtown KC like I used too--did I ever?--and we took a longer route to my parents house in Overland Park than we had planned. Since it was rush hour there was a lot of stop and go, our car started to struggle as we got closer to our home. I think we prayed it to be able to make it to my parent's house. Poor car, we put it through a lot that day: driving about 85 mph in the humid 100 degree day stuffed to the brim. After a brief respite in the OP we headed to Springfield the next morning. My dad and Jill drove down to help us and we couldn't have done it all without them. Our car worked just fine on the way down. As we drove down it really started to hit us that we weren't in Utah anymore. It is really pretty down here, but we are still trying to get used to the humidity.

That weekend was an adventure...finding a place to live that didn't smell like stale cigarettes, getting our rental application approved in an hour even though I don't have any income, picking up our stuff at the ABF in Strafford before it closed for the weekend, and learning our way around town, etc. The rest of my family came down Friday night and we all stayed the night at a hotel together. Saturday we went shopping to outfit our new place. We've spent more money in the past week than we've spent in the past year on a bed, couches, tables, microwave, internet paraphernalia, books, etc. I'm trying not to freak out about it, but I will feel much better once I get a job. The hunt is on...

Anthony starts classes at MSU on Monday, but this week he has had orientation things. The school is really pretty and people seem very nice. I think he is pretty excited to get started. Last night we went to a BBQ for all graduate students in the Psych department. His classmates and teachers are really cool. The highlight of the night (for Anthony) was that the department head's wife if part-Finnish and they spent half an hour talking about all things Finnish. There were two other people there with Finnish ties: a wife of one of Anthony's classmates went on a mission trip to Finland, and "another dude there" is half-Finnish. It was also a new experience for us to be around so many people drinking alcohol. Don't worry, Anthony drank two Sierra Mists and I had a Dasani and some lemonade.

We'll update later with pictures of our new place and how we like living in the Bible belt.

grateful for Carrie

Sitting in the library next to my busy and beautiful wife, I overheard a discussion going between two young women. It's okay to hear other peoples' conversations- it's the no shhh zone. Carrie and I are not trying to eavesdrop. People just don't seem to care. Anyway, one of the things that was said caught my ear, and I had to put down some of my thoughts about it. One girl informed the other, I think about her fiance, "But he's not some Utah Mormon. He did drugs when he was in middle school."

PHEW. I was worried he was one of those mormon kids who didn't do drugs. I am glad he at least did drugs in middle school. WHAT A CATCH. Hold on to this one honey.

I feel bad for her husband. If this is one of her important criterion for marriage I feel she might not be ready for eternal covenants. However, I do not know her. I have only overheard the silliest conversation of my life, and I guess you can't get to know everything about a person from just hearing them talk to a friend. I am quick to judge which is bad.

rivalry week update

Well, the Red Sox got creamed last night, and there is no one I would rather lose to than the Royals, though if losing to a team meant that the Yankees didn't make the playoffs that loss would also be very sweet. Currently the Royals look poised to win the series and are winning 6-5 in the final inning, but I still hold out hope. The pesky Royals are not as bad as people think, and I am glad to be jumping on their bandwagon now.

We just got to the library after having a delicious dinner with Grandadio and Grandmamere. I apologize to those in the know from the Crane family, but I am not sure I know how to spell those, and Carrie stepped out for awhile. We went to the Golden Corral, and I am stuffed to the brim with food. For those of you that are wondering, in Finnish I would say that I am "tupaten taynna", which being interpreted literally means that I have jammed so much food in me that there is not a bit of air left in there. I think it is a good phrase. I remember a conversation of mine where sisters of mine claimed that Sizzler is better than Golden Corral, but I would have to give my endorsement to the GC. Dinner and discussion were tasty and fun. It is always fun to see family. Carrie and I hope to visit St. George before we go to Missouri if we can find the time.


We thought that we had found a place to live today in Springfield, but alas it may be too far away. It is four miles away from campus, and I fear that that may be a little far to bike. Carrie brought up a good point today: It's not the distance that is the problem. It is the distance plus the bad weather of torrential rain or winter cold that will be tough. I guess I agree. But we still may rent there because the price is right and we will have the A/C, pool, and internet that we need, which is rare in Springfield.

By the time I finished this entry I have found out that Octavio Dotel shut down the Red Sox so that the Royals won the series 2-1. I held out hope because just a few years ago Matthew and I went to a game where Kevin Millar hit a walk-off homerun off him, and that was before his career-altering shoulder surgery. sigh.

Anyone who has reactions to my comments about the Royals-Red Sox feud, Folden Corral, or biking distance- your feedback is welcome! Make comments and let your voice be heard.

RIVALRY WEEK!

Making weekday posts will not be a regular occurrance, but i could not help myself. Today is the first day of the Royals-Red Sox series in Boston. The Red Sox shut out the Royals, my second-favorite team by the way, 4-0. I am always in a better mood when the Red Sox win, and I look forward to tomorrow's win. And for those of you wondering, yes, this is meant as a taunt to get Carrie to write something on our blog.

no pics, no problem

We didn't take any pictures this week, so I will try and compensate with entertaining stories what you will suffer in visual boredom.

It is ridiculously hot, and it has been all week. We decided to get slurpies from 7-11 on 7/11, a tradition unlike any other. Much to our dismay we learned that the 7-11 on 5th north is under new management which means that all the slurpies now cost significantly more. This only matters because they ran out of the free celebratory cups that they were using earlier in the day.

Yesterday Carrie and I went to Seven Peaks for awhile in the afternoon and then we went to Carrabba's, an Italian restaurant where Carrie got a gift certificate from her employers. Since it was not our money we were high rollers for the night. We got cheese sticks. Matthew would have been proud. Also for Matt- Carrie got a question right watching VH1's World Series of Pop Culture because the answer was Weird Al's "White and Nerdy". We both ordered main dishes and finished off the night with dessert, "chocolate dream". Then we went to F.Y.E. because Carrie had another gift certificate there from her boss. We bought 13 going on 30 which we will watch together later on tonight, and we read the ultimate Harry Potter VII spoiler book, which in about 100 pages went over every possible plot twist and important event, and even made predictions for what would happen in the upcoming book.

At this point it is worth mentioning that I had never read Harry Potter until Carrie and I checked out a Potter #3 on tape for a drive to Kansas City last summer. As usual, Carrie influences my life for good.

I ended the night by working a night shift at my job. Again, I will take pictures some time of the guys that I work with and maybe even get some action shots. They are funny.

I was reminded today that the church has somehow lost record that I ever recieved the Melchizedek Priesthood. Do not be alarmed. i do have it. I got it my freshman year at BYU, but the stake clerk then clearly didn't process the needed paperwork, though I did go on a mission the next year. Somehow somewhere the information was lost, and I don't know all the pertinent information. It would be nice to get that all straightened out before we move to Missouri. I can't remember the name of my bishop or my stake or ward numbers from 99-00, but I guess that was a while ago.

Another Saturday, another blog entry while Carrie does her graduate school home work.

First things first- Regular readers may be interested to know that pictures have been added to the original blog and will hopefully be part of the weekly installments here on the blog. We bought a digital camera last week as a graduation present from the Cranes, and for the first time in awhile I didn't feel like I was being tricked into buying something there that I didn't need or want. However, we did figure out one money-saving trick. Do not buy your equipment accessories at Best Buy. The digital cameras cost the same as cameras at Wal-Mart. But Best Buy wants you to buy your memory card, carrying case, and batteries at their store as well. All of those items cost significantly more at Best Buy than at Wal-Mart. That's the John family hot tip o' the week.

The highlight of the week was the 4th of July holiday. We started off the day right with the traditional Provo parade, rumored to be the biggest in Utah and one of the biggest in the U.S. I love any parade that has both a giant inflatable Garfield and 150 LDS missionaries. I don't think there are too many places in the world where you walk down the street and a stranger offers you a delicious pancake breakfast, but such is life in Provo, Utah. While we are excited to be moving away from Utah in August, I am sure there will be some feelings similar to ones that rebellious teenage college students feel their first semester away from home...as the immortal Janet Jackson sang, "You don't know what you got 'til it's gone." It is nice to live in a place on a student budget and not ever feel in danger on the street.

After the parade we spent the afternoon getting sun at Seven Peaks, another Provo perk. We have spent the last two summers going to the Peaks almost every Saturday. We are too impatient to wait for the rides, so we spend most of our time in the lazy river or the wave pool or laying out. In fact we have gone to Seven Peaks three times this week, which is probably a record. Having season passes makes it easier for us to justify going for only a few hours at a time. It has been so hot here the last few weeks that the water park has been great, though we burn our feet on the walkways every time.

We finished off the holiday with a fun BBQ with the rest of the John family and Anne. Daniel made delicious hamburgers. It was funny because after he was given genuine compliments on them he asked: "Did Carly make you say that?" After coming back inside from the grill, Carly unknowingly said,"Daniel loves it when you compliment his burgers," hinting at what we should do. After dinner we watched the Sandlot for the second 4th of July in a row. I guess it is a tradition now. After the movie we scampered off to campus to watch the firework show from the Stadium of Fire at the football stadium. We would have gotten closer but we were running late. After the show we lit some fireworks of our own in a nearby parking lot, though our fun was curbed by local restrictions due to recent dry weather and wildfires. The stupidest moment of the day had to be when I tried to throw a bumblebee firework and it hit an overhanging tree and landed in a bush. Luckily nothing caught. We all had a good time and in general made fools of ourselves, a fact that these pictures will support.

Last night we went on a date- a short visit to Seven Peaks and Oceans 13. During the week Carrie introduced me to the Scarlet Pimpernel which was great. Reading Les Miserables at the same time, I thought it was interesting to get another author's position on what the French Revolution was like. And that is right, I am reading Les Miserables. Inspired by Jill Crane, I started reading her copy of the book a couple weeks ago and I re-obtained the book a couple days ago by trading her Harry Potter V. We all want to read it before the movie comes out, which we plan on seeing.

Carrie has been very busy with work and graduate school, but she has promised to be a contributing author to this blog in the near future. There will also be another blog in the future about my job since there have been some requests. This week I will take some pictures and write to you about my work friends. If people have comments or requests for future blogs feel free to make comments. Personally, I thought Emily's response from last week was very funny, but mostly because it poked fun at Carrie.

Our First Entry

After just under a decade here in Provo I have finished classes at BYU. Now that I have more free time, Carrie and I decided that it would be fun to start a family blog so that we could inform the adoring public about the monumental and prosaic happenings of our lives. It should be an entertaining change of pace from the Paris news blitz you can follow on every news station. Some day soon pictures will be added to the blog thanks to my thoughtful mother-in-law. I would add them now, but I am not sure how much time we have left here at the Harold B. Lee Library in the NO SHHH! ZONE.

Last night we thought of both of our families as we had sandwiches and soup at Zupa's. We had to eat light in order to stay in peak physical condition for the night's athletic competition- miniature golf. After a little trash talking Carrie was soundly defeated. Humbled, she would not be denied the glory of multiple holes-in-one to finish off our round of 18. After such physical exertion we decided to have some "ice cream of the future"- Dip'n Dots, Cookies and Cream and Cookie Dough. To all those within reading distance of this blog: Dip'n Dots will not be the ice cream of our family's future.

The date had to end sooner than usual because I had to leave for my first graveyard shift at my summer job. For all those that I haven't talked to about it, I help take care of four handicapped men that have become my friends- Eleno, Danny, Zack, and Forrest. Last night was an adventure as I had to personally hold Zack's door shut for an hour from 11 to midnight so that he would not get out, go in everybody's rooms, scream, turn on their lights, and other things he loevs to do. I did not get much sleep. Anyways, I expect I will be sharing more stories and explanations from my job because there have already been some adventures. Carrie, too, will likely be sharing some uproariously funny stories from the world of asset protection law.

I came home and slept the morning away while Carrie did homework and went running. We spent the afternoon at Seven Peaks, getting in our quotas for carcinogenic sun rays for the week. I fear that I am more burned than I have been recently, but it is good to get sun burned every once in awhile. It means you are living your life.