Living With Women...

After nearly a year of wedded bliss, I think I know a thing or two about living with a woman. :) It's a lot different than living with guys, that's for sure. For one, it's more crowded. I don't think it's just my wife - I think all women just have a ton of stuff. I don't know where they get it, or why they keep so much of it around, but they do. Especially clothes. Girls tend to still have clothes they wore in middle school and they usually still wear them now. There's no way I could fit into anything from middle school. I was 4'9" and probably weighed about 85 pounds.

On occasion while my wife is getting ready in the bathroom, I'll wander into the bedroom and see about 50 outfits on the bed, or in a pile on the floor (50 may be a slight exaggeration). This was strange and confusing to me, until my wife explained it (then it was just strange). Apparently, even though they own the clothes and have worn them dozens of times before, they can't decide what to wear just by looking at the clothes hanging up in the closet. They have to take them out and see how they look with other clothing combinations. Then, after she decides it looks good and gets dressed, she could change her mind while getting ready looking in the mirror, and have to start all over again. Hence all the clothes on the bed.

Speaking of getting ready in the bathroom, girls multiply the amount of stuff you have in the bathroom by a factor of about 10 (or so). Luckily (for me), we have a small bathroom that doesn't really have a counter, so she can't leave her blow dryer, hair straightener, hair curler (yes, sometimes she uses both the straightener and curler on the same day), hair spray, spray gel, makeup, etc. on it. But when we did have a counter, she would leave it out (although to be fair, she's pretty good about putting stuff away). Oh yeah, and then there's hair everywhere, and the floor is usually a little sticky from hair spray. Sometimes Kristen jokes that she's going bald with all the hair she seems to lose.

Living with a woman is definitely an adventure, but it's also awesome. There's no cleaning off the toilet seat because someone missed and didn't wipe it off. There are no beard hairs all around the sink (except when I'm the one who doesn't clean up). The house doesn't stink because someone has been playing WoW for 3 days straight without showering, and won't open a window. And then there's the best part of all - she's my wife!

Reflections on Utah

I've lived in Utah more or less since August 2004. I had a couple partial summers away, but that's close to six years, which is really longer than I've lived anywhere else in my life. I miss the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, but Utah is beautiful in its own way too. The mountains are gorgeous (especially in the winter), and I love being able to look out over the valley from our front porch. Last night, Kristen and I went on a walk around our neighborhood, and it truly is beautiful up here.

Utah definitely has its quirks. First of all, there's all the stinkin' Mormons! :) But honestly, it's a different experience to be able to discuss church things at work, with neighbors, landlords, etc. To not be able to go into a restaurant after 8 p.m. on the Saturday evening after General Conference, because there are millions of guys in shirts and ties everywhere.

And the weather is ridiculous. It snowed this week. And yet, yesterday evening it was sunny and warm, and we went for a walk in short sleeves, without jackets. Crazy "spring" weather.

My aunt mentioned in her blog recently that their church was "only 9 miles away." And in Oregon, my parents drive about 15 minutes to get to church. When we moved to Orem, we complained a little that church was "so far away." It's only one mile from our house, but that's far if you consider we walked one and a half minutes to church in Springville (literally right around the corner).

In Utah (or at least in Utah Valley), it's a strange site to see someone smoking in public, or to have someone put alcohol or coffee up on the grocery store conveyor belt behind you. It's just that you don't see those things very often (at least I don't). I've been acclimated so much to the way the majority of people act here, that it can be weird when you see things out of the ordinary.

I'm glad that I still live on a street with a name. Most everywhere, the streets are just numbers (i.e. 600 S. 200 W.), which is great for giving directions. But I've almost always lived somewhere with a street that has a name: Mountain Oaks Dr., Swenson Ave., University Ave., Chenin Blanc Dr., Heartwood Dr., Noble Ct., etc. For me, it makes where you live more like it's home. I don't know why - it's a psychological thing. Ironically, my parents now live on SE 199th Dr.

All in all, Utah's not bad. It's grown on me. :)