Jack's Mannequin

Posted by Mark:

A little over a week ago, Kimmi and I got to do something that we haven't done in a long time, we went to a concert. A Jack's Mannequin concert to be exact. This was the second time I had the chance to see them play live, but a first for Kimmi. She would have been at the last concert he played in SLC with me, but Kimmi decided it would be more fun to get food poisoning instead.

Actually it was really quite a sad story, She had met me at my work downtown so we could drive to the venue together, but half way to the concert she said she didn't feel well enough to go so I turned around and dropped her back at her car so she could drive home. It's probably a good thing she didn't go because she then spent the rest of the evening being extremely sick. Now why wasn't I a compassionate husband when my wife was ill you ask? Why didn't I go home with her to take care of her? Well, first off in my defence we didn't know she had food poisoning, she just thought she had a stomach ache. Second, she knew I really wanted to see the concert so she insisted I went. And third, when I heard the severity of her condition, I left the concert early to go and be with her in the ER.

Anyway, when we heard Jacks Mannequin was going to be playing in Idaho Falls, we immediately bought tickets in order to see them again. It's funny that Idaho falls seemed closer then it really was. It took just about the same time to drive there as it is to drive to SLC but still it was worth it all the same.

The concert, as well as the venue, were excellent. It was held in the Idaho Falls High School auditorium which was nice because to avoid standing the whole night, we made our way to the first row of the balcony where we could sit and enjoy the concert to our viewing pleasure. Jacks Mannequin was once again fantastic live so it was an evening well spent! They are such an entertaining band to watch. They played some new stuff, but balanced it well with all of our favorites. It was a night of great music and great company!!

Thanks Leppert for introducing us to them!

Sunday Drive

Posted by Mark:

Thankfully the weather is getting warm around here. It's been a long, cold winter and I've had a bit of cabin fever lately being stuck inside. Needless to say, I find myself getting really excited to get out and work around the yard. It was such a gorgeous day today, but being Sunday there wasn't much I could do to quench my desires and get my hands dirty. Therefore, to get out of the house and away from my yard where I'd most likely be tempted to do something labor intensive (like rip out these pesky rose bushes along our fence line) I decided to go for a drive.

I started with a cruise in my own car which is especially fun this time of year. I get to just put the top down and soak up some vitamin D. After a while though I decided to call my boss who has accumulated a nice collection of old cars. Most people don't appreciate his taste in old cars because he doesn't collect the normal mustangs or corvettes. He on the other hand likes to collect old Town Cars and Grand Marquise. Most people generally like to call them "boats." I, on the other hand, love these kinds of old cars. They remind me a great deal of my own types of cars I drove when I was 16. My boss knows I appreciate them as much as he does so he tells me that if I ever want to take them for drives to feel free. So today to switch things up I stopped by his house and picked up this old Lincoln Town Car:


The thing is just massive, but I love it. This particular car only has 3500 original miles! After cruising around town I decided to go check out the waterfall. I read in the paper the other day that this weekends flow was to be the highest water level of the year.... so in turn, quite the spectacle to be seen.... THEY WEREN'T KIDDING! The waterfall was amazing, the only downfall was that the word has gotten around, coupled with the fact that it was such a nice day, everyone and their dog was there! About one mile to go down towards the lookout, traffic was slowed down to a crawl with bumper to bumper cars. I would have turned around to park somewhere on the street and walk but being in such a ginormous car that would have been impossible. So, I just sucked it up and sat through the snail like progress towards the parking lot.

With no doubt in my mind it was worth the wait. Quite the view. To bad photos don't do it justice:




All in all it was a very nice and enjoyable day, I only wish Kimmi was there to enjoy it with me.

Some of you might find yourself asking "where was Kimmi during all this?" Sadly she is working this week, so past 5:00pm I'm a lone man charged with having to occupy and fend for myself. She was sorely missed.

So I'm lazy...what of it

Posted by Mark:
I know this is pretty much cheating, but I'm just too lazy to try and compete with our friend Ashley's great post about their visit to Twin Falls over spring break. Therefore, I just stole it from their blog and posted it on ours! Just so it's not complete plagiarism I'll add in my own little comments bolded and enclosed in parenthesize. Anyways, enjoy!

Posted By Ashley Tappana: (added on to by Mark)

This year for spring break Tim and I were lucky enough to go on an all expense paid vacation to...(drum roll please)...Twin Falls!!! Now for all of you unlucky people who went to places such as Disneyland or Hawaii or some other boring place like that, no worries...Twin Falls is only a quick three hour drive away, and is loaded with all sorts of incredible things to do! You too can enjoy the same excitement that Tim and I did for a few days. However, I doubt your vacation will be as enjoyable as ours unless you are as blessed as we are to have two amazing friends that live there. About two years ago, our friends Mark and Kimmi moved far away from us (so so sad) to a whole new adventure. Every now and then, we are able to go and visit them. Spring break seemed as good as any other time to go, so we planned the trip, made all the arrangements with Mark, and surprised the heck out of Kimmi!

(I have to say that I have a really hard time lying to Kimmi...probably a good thing.... It was quite difficult not to tell her the whole plan when she kept saying, "that’s so lame Ashley and Tim cancelled their trip to come up here!" and keep lying when she asked why I was cleaning the house so fervently in preparation)


One night while we were there, we spent the evening playing games. The game we are playing in the picture is called Carcasonne, and is super fun and way easy. We played a few other games, which was great until they pulled out a game called Slide. That game made me so mad! After totally loosing three times in a row, I called it quits, and swore an oath to myself never play it again!


Beatrice is Mark and Kimmi's very playful Bassett Hound. She's a little too playful for Poodie, so Poodie usually ends up hiding in some corner until Beatrice goes away. That also could be because Poodie is a snob. Or because Beatrice has whacked her in the head one to many times with her out of control tail wagging, and now Poodie just keeps her distance. My best bet however, is the snob theory.


This is the ultimate snob picture of our dog. Seriously...the picture explains everything. But...even though she is snobbish, we still love her lots and lots!


While we were there, Mark introduced us to the wonderful world of Frolf! Frolf, for those of you who don't know, is frisbee golf, and I guess it's a pretty big time thing. There were some serious Frolfers on the coarse while we were there, and man can those people throw a frisbee! The course was huge, and I think by the time we had made it to the end and back, we had walked close to 20 miles. Okay...not really 20 miles, but we had walked a lot! Tim and Mark are really good at throwing frisbees...Kimmi and I, well, we won't be recruited anytime soon. It was a gorgeous day, and we had a really great time. I definitely think I'll be playing Frolf again sometime in the future...that is if it ever stops snowing.

(The local college here has its very own Frolf Course! This was my first time playing frolf as well. I've always wanted to play and now I got my chance!)




Kimmi is so amazing! She totally meant to throw the frisbee into the tree!


Mark found this crazy long wicked looking stick and started whacking all of us with it. I still have the marks to prove it! Luckily there were some cops nearby who were able to get the situation under control with their guns. For a few minutes there, I was afraid for my life! All is forgiven though, Mark is now in anger management getting the help he needs for his problem.

(There were all these willow trees that had dropped a bunch of their branches so I spent a great deal in between throwing my Frisbee finding the perfect whip. This is one of the many instances in day-to-day life that brings out my inner 7 year old. I try to suppress it most of the time but there are a few triggers... I'd have to say that the fastest way to get my immaturity to come out is to get me in front of an open fire)





The top four pictures are action shots! I'm the only one who threw the frisbee slow enough for the camera to catch it! Doesn't Kimmi look graceful?




Spring break really was a blast this year. Spending time with Mark and Kimmi was just what Tim and I needed. Quality friend time! Thank you so much for letting us come and visit you! You guys are the best! We miss you already! Now...if only there was a way to speed up the next four weeks for summer break...

(Ashley and Tim... Please don't sue us for copy right infringement, but I just didn't have it in me to type it all out as well as you did. ANYWAY, THANKS FOR COMING TO SEE US!!!)

Fast trip to Salt Lake

Posted by Mark:

A few Thursday's ago Kimmi and I made a quick trip down to SLC. And by quick I mean lightning QUICK. The main purpose of coming down was to pick up a new dishwasher we had to special order. We ordered it through RC Willey in Salt Lake because it was A LOT cheaper then it was to get it up here in Twin. Anyway, since Kimmi didn't get off until 3:30 am we decided to leave as soon as she got home from work. She woke me up and we hopped in the car to start our drive. When we got to SLC (3 hours later) we took a nap before going about our different tasks for the day. After picking up the dishwasher, we did a little antiquing at some of our favorite antique shops. The main goal there was to buy a small side table to put at the bottom of our stairs. Luckily, we were quite successful and found what we were looking for at shop called Emily Jane. I then dropped Kimmi off at her favorite hair stylist in SLC. Although Kimmi has since found a girl to cut her hair here in Twin falls, she still missed her old stylist. Since my idea of fun isn't sitting in a salon reading girly magazines I decided to run up to my parents house and pick up some things. While driving up to my parents house, I saw a sight I have missed greatly since moving up to Twin Falls.


....Mt. Olympus..... Sure taking a picture out my window while driving on I-215 wasn't the smartest idea in the world, but worth it all the same. I just had to post how gorgeous this mountain is, I love it! I know the question "whats your favorite mountain" doesn't come up very often, but if it did, I wouldn't even have to think twice what my answer would be. For all you that live in the zip code 84124 be grateful you have such an awe inspiring spectacle in your back yard.

Another few "must do's" when visiting Salt Lake:

Get a Jamba Juice: We don't have one in Twin Falls.....nor any other place that makes good smoothies that is.... but we try and get one even if its freezing outside. My favorite flavor, if you were wondering, is Orange Berry Blitz. It's not on the menu anymore but they'll still make it if you ask for it. And Kimmi always gets a Caribbean Passion without fail.


Eat at Cafe Rio: Thankfully we are getting one of these pretty soon and believe me we are counting the days... Kimmi and I will often find our selves saying "man I wish Cafe Rio was open!" We will be sure to document the great event when it comes. We are told through good sources that it will open later this month. This visit to Cafe Rio was joined by our good friend Ashley who zipped over to meet us after her Dental Hygiene class at SLCC.


Anyway it was a fun, successful little trip down to SLC, as they usually are.

P.S. to avoid further hate comments I thought I'd mention that we also stopped off in Ogden to visit our friends the Aspers and to see their cute new baby.

My Great Grandma

After 95 years of a good life, my great grandma Anna pasted away. She was a wonderful lady, and I am so happy to say that I had her in my life for 25 years! My grandma was definitely the matriarch of our family. She gave graciously and handed out her support to those that needed it. I am going to miss my grandmas stories, her laugh, her strength, the fact that she could recognize me even though she had been blind for years, Christmas at her house, her love, and much more. My grandma will pass on a great legacy and I hope I can keep it alive.