Rob & Tracie Morris

101 Reasons

Reason #58 - The Astros are playing

Reason #57 - Time to pull out the Astros DVDs of greater years (04 & 05, Biggio's 3000th hit)

Reason #56 - I get to use my Astros towel

Reason #55 - There's still 115 Astros games left to be played

Reason #54 - Last time we started 15-30, look what happened. So just you wait.

Reason #53 - Utah has a chance to redeem itself from the horrible weather it gave us from November to May

Reason #52 - A good reminder that I have absolutely no desire to live in Utah ever (it's late May and 45 degrees outside and been raining all week. Havent seen the sun since Sunday. I miss Texas)

Reason #51 - Despite Utahs terribleness of weather, BYU continues to dominate everyone at everything.

Reason #50 - The Cougars play Cal in the Rugby National Championship Saturday at 7 mt

Reason #49 - Our softball girls annihilated the ugly utes in a double-header by a combined score of 15-0

Reason #48 - The NBA draft is in one month. Which means Jimmer is goin to the Rockets!!!!

101 Reasons

Reason #22 - We get to play whiffle ball till midnight

Reason #21 - I get to sleep in the next day

Reason # 20 - I get to lay in bed and read my book after I've slept in

Reason #19 - Even after I've slept in, and laid in bed reading for an hour, I still have two hours to eat breakfast and do homework before class

Reason #18 - I have time to read books that I want to read

Reason #17 - I'm finding a lot of awesome books I never knew about

101 Reasons

Reason #44 - I have time to focus on my class

Reason #43 - which means I dominate it

Reason #42 - I can wear shorts

Reason #41 - I can wear flip-flops

Reason #40 - It's baseball season

Reason #39 - I have time to play catch with Tyler

Reason #38 - The Cougars have won 5 straight heading into the MWC Tournament

Reason #37 - Pretty girls have time to come hang out at our place

Reason #36 - We're not embarrassed to have them come over, because our place doesn't smell bad like Raintree did

101 Reasons I Love Spring

Reason #68:

NBA Playoffs are on

Reason #67

We have time to watch them

Reason #66

We can talk about how ridiculous girls are while we watch the NBA playoffs

The JOY of Spring

Winter Semester is over. And Spring Term has begun. And I couldn't be happier. The weather is still being Utah, but it is improving. Slowly, but improving. It snowed yesterday, but today the sun is out. Hopefully within a week it'll be back up into the 60's.

Finals went really well.

It was fun to have dance parties with Savannah and Cami and Will every night and have everyone come see Dallin graduate.

Bein in the Summer Condo is absolutely incredible. Just incredible. It's not as much fun without Jack from Provo runnin around screamin. But it's so clean, and quiet, and awesome, and spacious, and not smelly, and nice, and sexy because of the three guys that live here.

Tyler moved in yesterday and it's turned out to be one of the best decisions ever. He brought a pretty girl with him, a wireless router, chocolate milk, a crockpot, a sexy stache, a baseball mitt, and his sexy self. He already did the dishes and took out the trash. So it's been win-win-win all around.

Siara made the three of us chicken enchiladas last night to celebrate our new bachelor pad. Then she made me breakfast burritos this mornin for breakfast. So that pretty much rocks.

It's so strange having so much free time. It's almost too much free time..... Almost. I only have class from 12:30 to 2 Monday through Thursday. And work from 6 to 9 every night. That's it. So basically I have all morning to do everything I want. Like work out, read a book, study the scriptures, make a big breakfast (or have Siara do that for me while I watch Sportscenter), or take a nap. I'm not used to it. But I enjoy it.

This mornin we decided to take advantage of all that free time and went to the temple. We talked about goin to Mt Timpanogos next Wednesday mornin, then that blossomed into an idea to go to all the temples here in Utah within relative driving distance. So over this summer we're gonna go from Manti up to Ogden. Hopefully see a few friends in the process.

I really enjoy my class so far. It's taught by a real-life judge. So he has some neat stories to share for examples.

Spring rocks. The Astros beat the Cardinals last night.

Back in the Sun

Because the sun doesn't shine in Utah, Roy and I decided it was time to go back to our old stompin grounds of Scottsdale Arizona.

Probably the greatest idea we've had since last summer.

It was incredible.

More than we could've asked for.

We met up with our old friend Elder Young, who now lives in Mesa, and also has a part in the Easter Pageant.

Being back there in the Easter Pageant environment with the thousands of people and all the missionaries that were happy to see us rocked.

We even got to visit the old apartment and the mission office, and ran into these three goofs - our replacements one year later. (Obviously the good lookin one on the left is the one that replaced me ;-)

Elder Leonard there on the right was in the first group that I picked up from the airport last November. So it was crazy seein him in there. But we saw that coming from his first day. He's good. Also, he's Elder Diaz grandson, so now both his boy and grandson have been there in the office.

We got to see our boy Doug get hitched to a way pretty girl. He did missionary work without even realizing it. Well done Doug. Well done. Hopefully they'll get sealed soon. He was so super happy, it was amusing. We'd never seen Doug that happy. "Guys, I'm about to get MARRIED!"

The bridesmaid that we were all flirting with happened to catch the bouquet. I think she was really excited about that, cause she seemed to have a lot of fun with us three good lookin bachelors. But then we found out she graduates from high school this May. So..............

We got to spend Sunday afternoon with the Price family, which is always a hoot. They're still the same, haven't changed much, but they still love havin the Elders over and givin them a hard time. We told Jen and Jake that if they get married and Jessica gets baptized the same weekend, we would drive down again to be there for it. We can hope.

I would say the most incredible part of the whole trip was seeing Lauren and Carolina, and hearin both of them get so super excited and give us a great big hug and then introducing us: "These are my missionaries! These are the ones that baptized me!!" Even Doug introduced us as 'his' missionaries. That's a wonderful feeling. Seeing Mayok also was unbelievable. He was baptized my last Saturday in the field, and when I left, he was still very quiet, unconfident in his english, and seemed to have quite a few reservations about the Church. On Sunday, he was presented to receive the Melchezidek Priesthood, and looked like a completely different person. He was so excited that we were there and was so proud that he was gonna receive the priesthood - it was awesome. Just a neat feeling.

We were able to go back to the Mesa temple and do initiatories -- in Spanish.

All in all, it was an unbelievable trip. More than we dreamed of. Arizona is still the amazing place that we left last summer. Maybe even better.

You Know How I Do

In celebration of my half birthday

April 13th

So today is April 13th. Which means exactly 6 months ago, I turned 22. And in exactly 6 months from now I'll turn 23. I celebrate half birthdays. Yes - I'm that awesome. I like parties.

But also, April 13th is a great day for another reason:

Yep. Exactly 9 years ago. Still a great memory. Good stuff. Good stuff.

So just so everyone knows, Will and I DO feel bad about kickin Dallin and Megan out of the summer condo. (In all fairness, we offered to stay in Raintree longer.) But then days like today happen.

I woke up early cause I had a finance exam. I was excited to make myself some eggs and toast and orange juice so I'd be pumped and ready to dominate it. I walked out to the kitchen and found this:

Yep. That's our sink. This is a very common occurrence. I just washed all the dishes Sunday afternoon. This is early Wednesday morning. There was not a single clean dish in the apartment. Not an exaggeration.

So there was no pan to cook the eggs in, no plate to put them on, and no fork to eat them with.

Needless to say, I'm actually very very excited to live in a clean apartment.

But I'm glad Dallin and Megan are staying in Provo. Win-win-win.

Girls are prettier when they smile.

Friday

I guess Fridays just are good days for me. This is the second week in a row that it's just been an unbelievably successful day. My missionaries went to the TRC and had fantastic lessons. I had an interview with the Global Management Student Association for a Vice President position. Attended a Finance Society lecture that was super enlightening and got free food out of it too. It was Sister Flakes birthday, so I got to call and talk to her for a minute. Took Jack from Provo to the Aquarium and had a blast with him. Then cleaned up Jenna real nice to get ready for my hot date. She looks good. Real good (Jenna and the date, both). My date made dinner for us which was awesome. And she made a lot to. It rocked. We went to the museum of art and saw an exhibit of the American Southwest, so obviously I loved it cause it all looked like Arizona. Then went to Divine Comedy which is definitely one of the funniest shows ever. I can't believe I missed out on it for the first two years of my college experience. I will most definitely be going to every show from now on. It was amazing. The firebolt music video is just a small taste of what it's like for two hours. But I guess you have to have read Harry Potter for it to be funny.... We went for some frozen yogurt afterwards which was fantastic. It was a good good day. I'm excited for the next two weeks.

Firebolt

Cougar Companions

This past weekend I was blessed to spend a lot of time with my good friend Roy Matsunaga. You might remember my good lookin little japanese/hawaiin companion for 4 months in Scottsdale.

We had a blast together as missionaries. And now here at BYU we're still havin fun.

Friday mornin we made our famous truffles. We made these together last May for Mothers Day for Sister Bassett. She was pretty excited to have them at the mission reunion. We went to the reunion together and it felt just like old times. The two of us surrounded by all those amazing missionaries. It was fantastic.

Because Roy is amazing and on the cover of NewEra and just awesome, he had tickets for Sunday Morning session of General Conference. So we drove up to Salt Lake together.

It was lots of fun. The choir sang my favorite - Hark All Ye Nations, AND dads favorite - The Spirit of God. President Utchdorf and Elder Bednar both spoke. It was a great session to be there for.

Beautiful Day

Today was quite possibly the greatest day since I've been back from the mission. Just one great thing after another. I got to go to work, and my missionaries did AWESOME in the TRC. I was excited for them. Then I got to go see Roy and we made truffles together for the mission reunion, while watching the Astros game. It was fantastic - we got to see Michael Bourn hit a deep triple and put us on top 3-0 (no, we did not see the end when we blew it in the bottom of the ninth). It was a gorgeous day outside. I got my fall schedule all lined up perfectly. I went to an event for the Marketing Association, and the first two people I talk to (without realizing it) are the president and vice president. I told the president that I'm interested in being in a leadership position next semester and he tells me no problem. The vice president is about to go to work for Google, and introduced me to a BYU alumni Google executive. So basically now I have an in with Google. Which is kind of a big deal. It was a beautiful, warm day, so I decided I wanted to go outside and read my book on the grass. Turns out there was a very pretty girl that had that same idea. So I sat next to her and we talked for quite awhile, and I got a number and a date. Pretty awesome. Then I got to go the mission reunion with Roy - probably the greatest idea ever. I love mission reunions. It was so good to see everyone again. Also, turns out, pretty girls come to those too.... so I got another number while I was there. Win-win-win.

The Final Countdown

Well, it's that time of the semester. With under 3 weeks left it seems like every class has a major project or paper due. It's pretty intense. Because then as soon as you finish everything, it's time for FINALS!

But I'm not complaining, I've actually really enjoyed this semester. I love all my classes (except biology) and they've all had very reasonable workloads. Plus, having Will in two of my classes has made it lots of fun. Especially marriage prep this past week. It has been a BLAST. I guess that's depending on who you ask though....

Now that the weather is warmin up I'm realizing that Raintree is actually a pretty fun place to live. Being holed up in one apartment for months with the roommates I have and a nazi cleaning check lady was getting pretty frustrating. Although I did learn to love my roommates through it all. (Definitely not the crazy lady that wouldn't stop charging me money because I was cleaning the kitchen) But now that it's warmer out, kids hang out on the grass and I've gotten to know quite a few other cool people that live here that I'd never met before. And it's nice to live right next to the Provo river - easy spot to take a walk with a girl. The summer condo does not have a pool, nor a volleyball court, so it's nice to know that we've got a place we can come any time we want to enjoy those commodities.

We're pretty psyched for spring to be here.

Chocolate Milk

I think chocolate milk is a major factor in the happiness and success of ones life.

When I was younger, mom would bring me to the store with her. I was always allowed to have a small pint of chocolate milk. I think this was huge in deciding the happiness of my childhood. Now Will and I always have a small glass of chocolate milk just before bed. It helps us fall asleep easier, we wake up refreshed, and we're happier.

I think if people would drink more chocolate milk the world would be a better place. People wouldn't always be so stressed. They wouldn't always be angry with each other. This would lead to less wars, and increased free trade, therefore a better economy. A better economy means more money to buy more chocolate milk. More chocolate milk equals more happiness.

Studies have also recently shown that a small amount of chocolate milk each day is healthy for your body. I have living proof of this. My body is much sexier now than it would have been had I not drank chocolate milk my whole life.

Drink chocolate milk = sexy body = i'm happy, girls are happy, everyone's happy.

Good News from BYU

I got accepted to the Marriott.

So I start in April.

Pretty exciting stuff.

Also, somethin really cool about workin at the MTC - my Training Coordinator is Chris Billings. He lived right above me when I was a freshman. He was the ward mission leader so I got to know him really well and we would go to the MTC and volunteer every Thursday night. Now we both work there and he's my boss.

My Zone Coordinator is Joel Vallett - who was my teacher when I was in the MTC. It's really really cool to be back on the same floor I was when I was a missionary and see one of my teachers every day. Except now my badge is white instead of black.

Great Times

College life continues to be amazing.

Last weekends trip to Denver was a huge party.

Havin a dance party with the family and gettin to see Savannahs baptism was a lot of fun.

Bein back in Provo has been a huge party as well. Friday night was incredible. Getting to watch Jimmer drop 52 and dominate New Mexico was fantastic. I think a 3 seed was appropriate. A little bit of a bummer after being so close to a 1 seed just two weeks ago. But considering the events of the past two weeks, I'll gladly take a 3 seed.

I started working at the MTC this week. Probably the greatest job ever. It basically feels like I'm getting paid to go on a mission again. Almost doesn't feel right. But actually it's great, so I'm okay with it.

Most of my missionaries are goin to Sacramento (where President Bassett is from) and then one sister is goin to Phoenix. So that's pretty cool. They leave next Tuesday then I get my first real district on Wednesday.

GOD BLESSED TEXAS

"I pledge allegiance, to thee TEXAS, one state under God, one and indivisible."

Home of Blue Bell Ice Cream: So good you'll never be able to have any other ice cream after you've tasted it.

Home of the long horned cattle.

Without us, yall wouldn't have no meat to eat.

Home of the Blue Bonnet: the purtiest flower you ever done seen.

Home of wide-open space and beautiful skies.

Without us, yall wouldn't have no oil to use.

Home of the Houston Astros: the greatest team to ever play the game of baseball

Without us, yall wouldn't know what baseball was.

And just remember, if it wasn't for Texas, yall wouldn't have no America

Celestial Confetti

Today was the greatest day of the semester. Just unbelievably awesome.

I got to sleep in for the first time in a long long time. It was wonderful to lay in bed till 9. Will and I went to the gym to build our sexy physiques. We came back and had our pregame pancake party. I asked a pretty girl in our ward out on a date and she changed her plans to be able to come with me. I had a blast at the Creamery - the Cougarettes came in and talked to me for awhile. I picked up Angela and we went to D.I. to find some sweet 70's clothes to go Disco Skating in. It was a party. I hadn't been skating in years, so it was actually a little difficult at first. But we had a lot of fun.

Oh yeah, and I don't know if maybe you heard, but.... WE'RE THE FREAKING BEST TEAM IN THE COUNTRY!!!

I don't know how to make this any clearer to people: SanDiegoState had the best record in the country. They had 26 wins and only 1 loss. And that 1 loss was to US. And GUESS WHAT!? WE BEAT THEM AGAIN!! ON NATIONAL TV!! WE EMBARRASSED THEM!! It was absolutely incredible. We played out of our minds. It gets better - Texas lost, and Duke lost. So right now, we're ranked #7 and three teams in front of us lost. Where's that gonna put us? It better be number 4. OhioState, Pittsburg, and Kansas are the only teams that should be ranked ahead of us. And Kansas really isnt all that good. We're better than them. But either way, the honest truth is, we are most likely going to get a number 1 seed for the big dance. ESPN says it, not me. We are going to the Final Four. Quote me on it. Because not even Chuck Norris can stop Jimmer. Here's why - if you double team him, that leaves Charles Abouo open. And guess who nails the 3 every single time he takes it. And you can't ever score on us either because Jackson will take the ball away from you every time you try. And if you ever do try to put a run together on us, Brandon Davies will take the ball and throw it down so hard you'll want to go home and cry. He got an Apostle to jump out of his seat and pump his fist. I'd say that's a big deal.

And I'd say we're a big deal.

After the game it started to snow like crazy. Big big flakes. Clearly heaven was throwin a party and tossin down all that confetti to celebrate the victory.

This is the Life

Life is fantastic right now. So much happenin so fast. I love it.

Will and I are lovin bein here in Provo to witness the Jimmer show live at the Marriott Center. It's a pretty incredible experience. We're going to campout Tuesday night for the Wednesday game versus New Mexico. Mainly just for the experience and to say that we did it. We made the front page of the Daily Universe today with Jimmer. That was cool.

Being a bachelor again is a blast. Options seem to open up left and right. Kamy here is the front runner at the moment. But really though, as much as I don't enjoy first dates and wasting lots of money, I do enjoy re-realizing that there are a lot of pretty girls to pick from. Even though most of them are crazy.

Going back to Snowflake was awesome. I absolutely love that place. Probably the funnest weekend I've had this semester. Spent most of Saturday at the temple, then got a Snowflake Burro from El Cupidos.

Then Saturday night I got to watch the Lobos dominate Safford in the first round of the state playoffs. My homeboy Derek here owned the court as seen below:

We celebrated with lots and lots of Blue Bell and dance party.

Sunday I got to see my missionary friends and hear about what's been happening in the area. Got to go to 3 wards and see lots of old friends. Then the Olsons gave me a huge brisket. We partied some more and Sister Flake tried hard to find me a girl. She possibly might have succeeded.

Going through the temple with a recent convert was an amazing experience. I'd never done that before, and I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to again. It was definitely special. I'm excited for when things work out and they'll be able to be sealed.

I don't know why I've been so blessed, but I'm very grateful for it.

I was offered a position to teach at the MTC. I am very excited about it.

Also grateful to have a brother that can make sure my car is running properly and that I'll be able to travel 8 hours there and 8 back safely.

Life as a Cougar is fantastic.

Jimmsanity

Jimmer is my Valentine this year.

These are videos that everyone should see.

Jimmer Fredette has Wicked Range of 3's

BYU rocking the nation.

Bond of Brothers

Doesn't Make Sense

Here's the confusion at BYU.

The other day around 1 o'clock in the afternoon my roommates alarm went off. He took 20 minutes to yawn and stretch and finally rolled out of bed, and got in the shower for another 20 minutes. Then he got back in bed and started playing Nintendo. I don't think he does anything else. By the time his alarm went off I had read scriptures, gotten ready for the day, been to two classes, taken an exam, eaten lunch with will, completed a homework assignment, and gotten ready for work.

So he's lazy and I try hard not be - that's not a big deal to me. Different choices of lifestyle. What I don't understand is the fact that he's engaged. Another roommate is similar and also close to being engaged. And all over campus you can see gorgeous girls with goofy lookin guys.

Why?

Let's be honest, Will and I are dang good lookin guys. I mean - check us out -

And we're hard workin guys. Goin to one of the best business schools in the nation. And we're buttloads of fun. How is it that all these goobers get wives before us?

BYU is a confusing place.

A Love Story

Will and I are currently taking a marriage prep class together. It is extremely entertaining. And useful. But mostly entertaining. Our teacher is a grad student - therefore she's not much older than us. I'd guess 24 or 25 max. She's actually very pretty, and funny, and enjoyable. Too bad she's already married. Anyways, she gives us very funny assignments. Like tonight, we have to write a love poem. I had fun with it and just wrote some nonsense about makin out more often. Will, however, has decided to take this assignment very seriously. He's been pondering and laboring over these 4 stanzas for over an hour now. Being the helpful and supportive roommate that I am, I've been searching through my iTunes library trying to find inspiring love songs. And I've found some good ones....

Air Supply - Making Love out of Nothing at All

Journey - Faithfully

Marvin Gaye - How Sweet it Is

Meat Loaf - I'd do Anything for Love

Savage Garden - I Knew I Loved You

Ne-Yo - Sexy Love

Tim McGraw & Faith Hill - Let's Make Love

The Darkness - Love is Only a Feeling

Usher - DJ got us Fallin in Love Again

Jeffrey Osborne - On the Wings of Love

Amy Adams - That's How You Know

Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, & Sting - All for Love

UB40 - I Can't Help Falling in Love

Jessica Simpson - I Think I'm In Love With You

and my personal favorite:

William Hung - Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

Now he finished and pulled up HIS favorite:

Smokey Robinson - Everlasting Love

It has been a fun night.

Jimmer: The Second Coming of Ty Detmer?

Just over 20 years ago, an undefeated Miami football team came to Provo ranked #1 in the country, and got shown up by a young man named Ty Detmer. 28-21. Ty would go on to win the Heisman Trophy - the award given to the best player in college football.

Last week, the SanDiegoState basketball team came to Provo undefeated, ranked #4 in the nation. And they got dominated by a young man named Jimmer Fredette. (A common occurrence now referred to as getting 'Jimmered') 71-58. Jimmer leads the nation in points per game with over 27. He is currently the front-runner to win the college basketball player of the year.

There's a Difference in Livin and Livin Well

Three amazing things happened this week.

1. Since I got back here to BYU I had somewhat of a goal to go on a date with a Cougarette or Cheerleader. Also, most of my life I've always been intrigued at the idea of taking out a black girl. There are two black cheerleaders at BYU. One of which is extremely attractive. At work on Thursday, she came in and walked directly up to me and asked my name and started flirting with me. It pretty much rocked. She made it fairly clear she wanted me to ask her out - until she found out I had a girlfriend. Then she seemed a little bummed. So obviously, I didn't get to achieve my goal, but the knowledge that I could have had I wanted to is pretty awesome. It was a nice stroke to the ego. It gets better though - Saturday night I took Brittan ice-skating, and the black cheerleader was there. I got to introduce them to each other.

2. I got sick last night. - That's not the amazing part.

It's that BOTH Megan AND Brittan brought me soup!! Probably the greatest time of being sick ever. I got TWO big bowls of soup! For free!! So they rock. Megan can make chicken noodle soup from scratch. I didn't know that was possible. But she did. And it made me better. And Brittan brought me tissues that have Vicks in them, so my headache went away.

3. I got a call from Brother Dwayne Leary. He and Sister Leary are going to be sealed on February 19th. Elder Pebley (now known as Chance) and I made them a promise that when it happened we would drive down to be there. That happens to be a 3-day weekend (That's not a coincidence). So a roadtrip to Snowflake has been planned.

College Life

So this evenin I had a little extra time because I got my homework done early and I needed a break before studyin for my Finance exam. Will and I decided we wanted some quesadillas, however, upon a rigorous search of the fridge, we discovered two tubs of butter and half a stick of butter - both well expired. So we had to go to the store to buy butter. This finding led me to be curious of the rest of the things sitting in our fridge. So while Will cooked us up some tasty quesadillas, I went through the fridge. Found many many things that expired in November & December of 2010. Anyone want to guess the winner?

Lemon juice that expired in June of 2006.

Yes. That was sitting in our fridge door.

Runner-up: Lime juice that expired in July of 2006.

The saddest part is that it wasn't THAT shocking to find those after throwing out 7 or 8 other condiments that expired in 08 and 07.

Needless to say, Will and I are very excited to move into the Summer Condo.

Max

One of my favorite families I worked with in Scottsdale was the Corcorans. Claudia (the mom) had been baptized as a little girl and left the Church as a teenager. She's now married with 3 kids (Max 13, Hannah 12, Jack 8). The husband Peter has been in and out of jail. He's a good guy with good intentions, just doesn't always make good choices. We started teaching them last December and Claudia immediately loved it and they started coming to church regularly. Hannah was baptized in February, but Max didn't want to for a few different reasons. After another month of working with him he was baptized. He talked to me on facebook today and told me he was just called to be the deacons quorum president. That was probably the best news I've gotten all year.