I know, I know. I have problems. I don't care.

Happy Birthday, Old Guy!

Happy Birthday to my Dad!!! He's turning super old this year and probably doesn't want everyone to know how old he is today. So I won't say anything. I'll just share some super cool facts from the year 1953. No coincidence.

• Life Expectancy in the United States: 68.8 years
• United States Population: 160,184,192
• World Population: 2.681 billion
• June 19: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed after their conviction for espionage
• My Dad was born in the beautiful state of Iowa
• First successful open heart surgery was performed in Philadelphia
• Dwight D. Eisenhower was President and Richard Nixon was Vice President in 1953
• Playboy magazine hits newsstands with Marilyn Monroe on the cover
• Cost of a first class postage stamp was 3 cents
• Bazooka Joe first appears on Topps comics

Happy birthday to the best Scouter in the whole world! I love you!

Snowboarding at Targhee

Part of our super awesome trip was spent in Rexburg with my darling sister Whitney and her husband Maynor. We went snowboarding Wednesday night with Whitney at Kelly Canyon and then on Saturday at Targhee with Maynor. It's been a couple years since Jeff and I went-it felt like we were getting our "snow legs" back. Anyway, Maynor and I made a video of our trip:

Snow Mobilin

We're out snow mobiling in Island Park. This is Upper Mesa Falls!

Too short a Visit to Provo

We're just leaving Provo! Last night we finally got in and stayed at Jessica and Alma's. They made cookies! And we just laughed. Then we ate lunch today at Tucano's and now six hours later We're still stuffed. I got to see Jenni and Amber and their loves, we chit chatted and solved the World's problems and now the time is too short and We're headin over to see Tyler and Bregelle in Salt Lake. Ah I wish we could stay longer! We love you guys!

Valentine's Day Massacre

My favorite box of chocolates are the ones that come with a little guide as to what chocolate is what. Then you can immediately dive into the caramel ones. Most boxes don't have that-so I'm left to use my own methods.Works for me. I just feel bad if anyone wanted to share.... And speaking of massacres, check out this pysco:

The poor little Valentine Dog didn't realize that it's little "Kiss Me" pillow would land her straight into the razor-sharp jaws of Satan's Spawn.Chunky is going to have to go to Charm School and learn how to treat his date.

We're Going to Montana, Idaho, and Utah!

It's going to be the worlds LONGEST drive, and I'm pretty sure I'll want to stab my eyes out after the first hour, but we're going out West this week for a good friend's wedding! First we'll stop in Utah.

And then we're going to Idaho!

And then we're going to Montana!

And then back to Idaho!

And then back through Utah!

And Jeff and I are so very, very excited.

Almost as excited as Heather and I are in this picture from forever ago.

Expect lots of Mobil blogging this next week!

... And if anyone has Nancy's address-I can leave Chunky Brown at her house!!!

Valetine @------^--------

Happy Valentine's Day!I hope everyone had someone as sweet and loving as Jeff to squeeze!

Meecy Mice

Speaking of pets..

When I was little my sister rescued a black and white rat from certain doom. Because Tiffany loved that rat, we all loved that rat. She was so smart and so very friendly. We would let her crawl all over us, in and out our shirt collars and all over our laps. She shared many a meals too, she'd just stick her head out our shirt and we'd feed her whatever we were eating. That was probably what sparked a long line of little mice pets. My Mom used to help us earn money, and even though we were encouraged to save it, we could spend it however. Since mice are a WHOLE lot cheaper than rats, I think we ended up buying them as pets. More affordable. Anyway, Jeff and I always stop at the pet store when we go to the mall. I love all the little rodents and always check out the mice. I couldn't help but want to bring these little guys home. Them and their little Mama.I know a lot of people have a hard time with mice, but I can't help but think they're so cute. Our little mice were such great pets. My brother even had one who would come when he whistled. She was probably our most favorite pet mouse, but had a very tragic fate with a door jam.

And speaking of door jams AND pets.. Chunky Brown is still at our house. And he needs to go out.

Y'all could be onto something.. he just might make me a dog person! How do you resist a little dog making squeeky noises when he naps on your lap? You just can't! Those little noises would make the coldest heart smile .... maybe that's the answer to world peace??

Chunky Brown

Growing up we had a whole zoo of animals. Budgies, cockatoos, cats, hamsters, gerbils, rats, mice, guinea pigs, iguanas, turtles, frogs, rabbits, and snakes. We'd always had pets. But the one pet I've never had was a dog. Jeff grew up with a dog who was his best friend. They did everything together. Jeff loves dogs. Jeff is also a sucker for a cute face. That's how we got married. I am NOT a dog person. I don't like dogs. They stink, and they bark. So imagine my surprise last night when Jeff carried in this little guy. Allegedly, this is how it went down. Jeff met this cute young couple to sell them an old mattress that had been traded in by someone else. They said, "By the way, know anyone who wants a dog?" We've been looking for the perfect dog to give to Ben's kids for Christmas. So Jeff said, "How about you keep the mattress and I'll take the dog?" ... and now we have a chihuahua. A half blue toy, half terrier chihuahua. That likes to be called Chunky Brown. And who loves to be cuddled. But not photographed while he sleeps. Wouldn't he be the best, sweetest, cutest addition to Ben and Tonia's family? He's little, he's playful, he's mostly potty trained, and he's so precious. He can't stay here-the squirrels have voted him out. And he's scared of them. And they're not fond of him either. Let's take a vote!

Worst Hair Day EVER

I've never been incredibly nice to my hair. I've done things to it I never should have, like "Sun In," perms, bleach, dye, and other random little things. But it's always been forgiving and stuck by me. In the last few years I've tried to be nice to it. I highlight it only occasionally, I use nice shampoo, and I get it trimmed every four to six weeks. The other day I went to pull my hair back into the little "poof" up front. I noticed the entire "poof" was my natural color. Completely. Definitely time to get my hair done, I decided. For the last few months I've been going to the little beauty school inside the high school. Normally I steer clear of student salons, but I know a couple girls in there from being a substitute. They convinced me to come in and get my hair done last May. It was fabulous, and I loved it. I've been back a couple times since then. So this last week I called to make an appointment with the girl I trust. When I got there, the girl who was supposed to do my hair was still working on someone else. I kind of panicked-I didn't want anyone else touching my hair. But the teacher grabbed another girl and said she would do great and could just start working on my hair, and then the girl who was supposed to do my hair would be able to finish it.

I should have said, "No, I'll wait for her."

I should have walked away.

But no. I stayed because I couldn't risk hurting someones feelings by doing either of those. That was dumb. Next time I'll run away screaming. The girl who was supposed to do my hair never had the chance to come rescue me, and the other girl massacred my hair. I've never seen anything so horrible.

Before and After Shots

I did go back yesterday and have the girl who was supposed to do my hair do what she could to fix the damage without dying my hair darker. Can you see that giant brown spot in my bangs? Ug! How does the even happen? And look at that HUGE chunk of color. Yuck!

What's up with the back? I hate giant chunk highlights/lowlights. I hate them! And that's all that girl did through my whole hair. My little friend tried to break it up some so it wasn't so bad, but it's still kind of chunky. And you can see the weird square in my hair on the left. There were two of those. When the teacher was looking through my hair she was flabbergasted. "I can't even figure out how she did that..." You can see there is still a small line, but it's a lot better than it was before.

So now my hair is darker than normal, but I actually kind of like it. And it's not nearly as awful as it was a couple days ago. And it'll grow out. And I can be grateful I have hair. And, it's just hair, so I'll stop whining about it and go do something useful with my day off.

Chex Mix Taco Salad

For those of you who coupon, you probably ended up with 30 bags of Chex Mix (or more) from the last big Kroger's sale. What do you do with all that Chex Mix!? Well, apparently you can make Taco Salad from it. And just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. I learned that last August in Utah. My friend and I went to this "Mexican" restaraunt (more like Mexi-can't). I about died laughing when my salad came out. It had gold fish, beets, cheese feet things, pretzels, cheese nip things, Chex, and a whole slew of things that don't belong on a Taco Salad. I thought they were joking.

But they weren't, they were dead serious. This was their Taco Salad. And there wasn't enough Ranch dressing in the world to help it. Well, bless their hearts for trying. The cheese nips that were still fresh weren't half bad. I'll give them an "A" for effort. And then go to Wendy's.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

You know when you see a title like that, that someone messed up. Yup. I did. Well, we. Jeff and I totally missed Maynor's birthday. I am not sure how, I told Jeff that morning at 6am when I got up, "It's Maynor's birthday!" But I felt like I should wait to call. The night before I thought, "I'll text him right at midnight.." but then I thought, "What if I wake him up?" Then I remembered when I was in line at the bank which wasn't very convenient. Yadda yadda, blah blah blah, long story short, I missed calling on his birthday. Which is totally lame of Jeff and I! Look how cool this guy is. Seriously! We love him to pieces and miss those two every day! They were our good buddies while we were all up in Idaho. In honor of his birthday, I thought I'd share some photos and a little bit about Maynor. Maynor loves to be outdoors. Especially in the snow. Frozen tundras are his absolute favorite. This was our first trip to Montana together. We chased some Rams, herded some fubbalo, and sang through the three hour drive. He has awesome music. And he sings. And plays the guitar. He loves to be extremely fashionable. Partly because he is a crime fighting ninja, and heaven knows you gotta look good when you fight crime.

Maynor is a great match for Whitney. They work well together. Jeff is a great spectator.

One time he and Whitney got a whole slew of camping equipment he was dying to try out. So we tried to try it out, but there was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much snow. We hiked three miles up a mountain, through 3 feet of snow, but finally had to turn around and camp by the river. When we got to the bottom of the trail Jeff and him tried to set the parking area on fire.

He's not afraid of rabid, cashew-stealing chipmunks. Even if they are creepy.

And this picture?

It matches this one. Which I've been dying to share. It must have been a tough day :)

And then just for kicks and giggles, here's a couple videos..

Well, happy birthday Maynor!!! We hope you had a fabulous weekend!!!

My Kroger Trip

I spent $62 last night, but got $152 dollars worth of stuff! Woohoo!

I heart coupons...

The Prequel to "Why is the Squirrel in the Trash?"

Sometimes when Jeff and I are feeling extra nuts, we like to invite our nieces and nephew to spend the night. Well, it's not as much "invite" as it is to "give in" to the pleadings. How do you resist those faces? There must be something about being under thirteen and still thinking air mattresses and apartments are the neatest things ever, and as long as they think we're cool I'm going to take advantage of it. But it really is a win win. Jeff enjoys it because he finally has someone to play Xbox with. I like it because the girls and I can watch Sound of Music and sing along to all the songs. They like it because... well, who knows why they like it. It's amazing how many kids can fit on an air mattress with room even leftover. If you ever need help on a sleeping situation, please refer to Tiffany's post on traveling with six kids. Poor Beanie usually doesn't make it past 9 o'clock. She tries, but sometimes it's just.. too.. much... But that also means she'll be up bright and early, ready to dive into the kitchen and rearrange the paper dolls that live on the fridge.

Looking at these photos you would think the only thing these kids did was sit in front of the TV.... Especially since this one was taken the next day, hence the morning light peering through the window. At least you can see they have moved, so there was some physical activity. Besides jumping on the air mattress for an hour at seven am. I can't figure out why the neighbors don't talk to us.. But the best part?The twelve year old volunteered to make breakfast for everyone by himself. How awesome is that? Eggs, toast, fruit.. it was the full spread. Needless to say, we've asked he come over every weekend.