My name is Anna and I watch reality TV. And not just Survivor.
This season's pick was "Farmer Wants a Wife" where a small town country boy had to narrow his pick from 10 city girls to one. The eliminations, I thought, were mostly creative and interesting but some were just downright mean. On one, they played Bingo and whoever at the end didn't get bingo with their card was sent back to the city. Another they had to sit and watch granny stitch a name into a cross-stitch pattern. One girl had her name lit up in fireworks that was going home. But perhaps the meanest one was when they had to check to see if their cow was pregnant. There were 5 cows, and 4 were pregnant.
There's only one way to check that apparently, and it doesn't involve peeing on a stick.
So one poor city girl had to stick her arm up an unsuspecting not pregnant cow's yoohoo to find out that she was going home. Laughable? Easily. Mean? How much meaner can you get? I guess it was a good way for Matt to see how the girls who were sticking around would react. But the poor girl...her last experience on the farm...yummmm!! There's a smell I bet she never forgets!
So tonight, Matt had to choose between Christa and Brooke. I've been rooting for Brooke for a long time. She's a good, down home kinda girl with old-fashioned values that are hard to find these days. Christa...kinda wild, I gotta say. And I have to say I am a little disappointed in Matt. He thinks because Brooke is fun that her perfect idea of a potential last date is four-wheeling. And that Christa is more the romantic type. So he takes Brooke out for four-wheeling in the country with a little picnic and some smooching and what does Christa get? A horse-drawn carriage and dinner under the stars. HELLO!! ALL GIRLS want the horse-drawn carriage!
So what does Brooke think when she sees the carriage? (And I totally would have interpreted this the same way...) that Matt only sees her as a friend and that Christa is someone he wants to spoil and treat special. So what does she do? She checks out. Talk about devastating! But he still has to choose. So she can't completely check out yet. Then Christa comes home and glows from how perfect her date was, adding insult to injury. But Brooke puts on a brave face and as they get ready to find out who he picked, the whole town assembles in front of their farm. Matt says a few nice things that are still just vague ramblings so nothing is given away, and the girls are told to watch a plane fly by carrying a banner with whoever's name on that he chooses. So Christa is sitting there looking mighty smug (but a bit vulnerable) and Brooke like she doesn't even want to look when they do and it's "Matt heart Brooke"!
So now I'm happy that he chose the good girl, but my heart also breaks a bit for Christa, because at least on the Bachelor they only find out in front of a camera guy, not the whole town! I know he was trying to be nice, but when he explained himself (in front of the whole town and his family) why he didn't choose her, he said all these great things that he loved about her, but he has a stronger bond with Brooke. HELLO!! You just picked a girl you want to marry, and in front of her you tell her competition that you'll never forget her??? T-A-C-K-Y!!!
So now it's just wait and see if this will land in the majority of reality TV hookups that end in breakups, or how serious they both were and if they really do get married.
It got me thinking a lot, about my own country boy. Yeah, I married one. That's right! Although he may be converting to the city a little more than he wants to. And I gotta say, they have some interesting ways of doing things. One thing small towns are good for is increasing the imagination. Take the way Ryan proposed, for instance. I come home from church to find 5 1/2 dozen red and white roses scattered all over my room. (It would have been a full 6 but it was Mother's Day) and I find a clue printed on purple paper -my favorite color- telling me to find "the one who shares your genes" for the next clue. So I hit up Emily and she has a clue telling me to find Peter, our friend who Ryan stayed at his house whenever he was in town. Then he has the final clue leading to the temple, where Ryan is waiting and has my friend there with a camera all set to take pictures. Then, having changed the words up a bit, he sings me a country song and gets down on his knee and proposes, officially giving me a ring. Clever? I think so!
Then there's the Valentine's Day gift he hid and gave me the clue to where to find it after he had left because he would be gone across Germany training. I never would have looked in the bottom desk drawer, but there it was! And he's always had class. Opening my doors, pulling out my chair, and killing bugs in the middle of the night for me. He still serenades me too...although now it's mostly to Army cadences! HA! I don't mind. He once told me he named his rifle in boot camp after me, because apparently that was what they were supposed to love the most and take the best care of. So it's an honor. Probably how girls in the boating world feel when their men name their yachts after them. LOL!
So anyways, I'm so glad I got me a country boy! He works hard...probably harder than anyone I have ever known. And he takes pride in what he does. And that includes taking care of and loving his family. He is working as much as possible and going to school full-time in the midst of having a baby. He does his best to do what he can in Elder's Quorum. We are so blessed to have Ryan...he's the best! I LOVE HIM!!
