Birthday Fun! Great Start to My Next Year of Life!

Plans for today were pretty simple.  Go to my Yoga class in the morning, study for and take my tests for classes,

 This is what studying looks like at our house...

then go to Relief Society activity, go home.  Mark wanted to at least go somewhere for my b-day, although tomorrow is when we are REALLY going to celebrate!  So, we decided to quickly go to my favorite fast food restaurant, Culver's, home of the Butter Burger.  http://www.culvers.com/  Sounds gross, I know, but they are soooooo good!  No worries, we worked off the calories afterward, and they actually have less calories than a basic hamburger somewhere else.

My favorite thing at Culver's, though, is the scrumptious Pumpkin Pecan shakes that they have during the Autumn.

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I absolutely LOVE pumpkin.  Pumpkin anything.  I could probably even eat a Pumpkin hamburger (Hmmm, I think I will have to try that!)

Any way, everything is going great, enjoying the burger and fries, and then the best part, the shake.  I took a few bites out of the tiny hole of the lid, and decided it was taking too long to get all that goodness in me, and I need to remove the lid.  I start prying the lid off, which at this point seems child-proofed so extremely difficult for me, and just as it comes off, the condensation on the outside of the cup gets the better of me and the WHOLE thing dumps into my lap (well, minus the first few bites)!

What do I do at this point?  I look at Mark and I say, "Yeah, I JUST did that!"

My next thought?  I'm still holding my spoon...can I just eat it right out of my lap?  I probably would have but there were a ton of people in the restaurant.  As a side note, after reporting the events to the women at Relief Society, many voted for eating it out of my lap.  Mark was kind enough to get me a bunch of napkins and then buy me a new one.  Nice, right?  I love special treatment for my Birthday!

Awesomeness!

So, off to Relief Society we go.  Mark went too so that he could watch kids while the women gabbed and such.  After Relief Society I was feeling a little sluggish and told Mark I wasn't feeling up to walking.  After stepping on the scale, though, I was suddenly in the mood for a walk.  And of course our dogs were very much in the mood for walking, as always.

So we are walking our normal 3 mile loop that we do down by the Missouri River, and we are realizing why the dogs love going at night.  Last night they were chasing toads around until the toads played dead and the pups would move on.  Occasionally a random rabbit would run by giving the dogs yet another thrill.  Tonight, they moved on to bigger and better things.

For a moment I couldn't understand why Roslyn was tugging so hard on her leash.  Then I realized that down the hill from us by the train tracks there is a Possum running along just down from Ros.  All for some good sport, I walk a little closer so Ros can get closer.  Apparently she got too close because the Possum turned around and starting hissing at her!  It was then that I realized that this thing was much bigger than Ros, and could easily tear her to shreds. 

Polly starts freaking out, but we eventually got them away.  All interest in the toads was lost, and they were on the lookout for more interest creatures the rest of the walk. 

Word of caution, if you are weak stomached, this next part may not sit well with you...

We are headed back towards the car, and about a mile away Mark stops.  He says "I need to go!"  So he starts to walk a little further, and says, I really need to go.  It was so bad he couldn't even hold onto Polly's leash anymore.  Realizing the danger of the situation, (being reminded of my own explosive business while on my mission that resolved itself right in the middle of a Guatemalan road, called Boo.  My companion laughed about it for a very long time, while I washed crap out of my garments!)

I asked Mark if he wants me to run get the 4runner.  He said that he is going to have to use the outhouse.  Outhouse = a horrible little portable John that has smelled as though it has never been changed, which happens to be right on our way to the car.  We have had many conversations about the outhouse, and I have even said that I would rather crap my pants than go in there.

Realizing at this point just how dire the situation was, I take off running the last mile to the car with the dogs.  I look back every now and then, and it looks as if Mark hasn't even moved.  I reach the 4runner, throw the dogs in their kennels, and take off toward Mark.  I get back to where he was, and I can't see him.  My first thought is that he has gone into the bushes, but I couldn't smell anything, and knew that couldn't be it.  So to the outhouse I go.  I pull up, and a chagrined looking Mark steps out.  Crisis averted, the outhouse saved Mark a pair of shorts (because they would have been thrown away, of course!)

What did I learn from this?  I learned that although things didn't go as planned, I am quite impressed at my own attitude.  At the end of the day, I still found all of this quite enjoyable, mostly hysterical, and easily manageable.  This next year is going to be a piece of cake, I mean, a bowl of salad!