How I Met Chris!

1.Where did you meet?
Unofficially, on the internet from myspace. Officially, at the hotel that I was working at at the time.

2.What was the first thought that went through your head when you met?
"Scrumpy!"

3.Do you remember what he/she was wearing?
Jeans, skater tee, and skater shoes.

4.Where was the first time you kissed this person?
In the hotel parking lot!

5.Where did you go for your first date?
Olive Garden and a movie. Can't remember the movie, but I bawled. Shocker.

6.How long did you know this person before you became a couple?
That night!

7.How did he/she ask you out?
Well I saw his profile on myspace and wrote, "I think you're cute. Let's chat."

8.Has this person ever proposed to you?
Yes.

9.Do you and this person have kids together?
No.

10.Have you ever broken the law with this person?
What matters is that we've never been caught!

11.When was the first time you realized that you liked this person?
When I read his myspace page.

12.Do you get along with his/her family?
Yeah.

13.Do you trust this person?
With certain things.

14.Do you see her/him as your partner in your future?
Yes.

15.What is the best gift she/he gave you?
My Tiffany & Co. ring.

16.What is one thing He/She does that gets on your nerves?
He claims he doesn't know where the laundry basket is; his driving; his rambling on and on and on; his forgetfulness.

17.Where do you see each other 15 years from now?
He's a dentist. We have about three kids. Live in a great house somewhere in Oregon, but away from both families!

18.What causes the most arguments?
My spending habits!!!

19.How long have you been together?
Started dating in September of 2006.

20.Are you Married?
Since August of 2007.

21. Who Do you Tag?
Jana, Amy, & Jessica

Swimming With Snakes

Yesterday Chris, Bear, and I went swimming up at Chris' parent's house. Shadow (Black Lab) and Toby II (Jack Russell) were out running around. It was fun to see Bear interact with them. First we were holding Bear to make sure they would accept him, but Bear thought he was the big kid in town and was barking up a storm at them. (Shadow is like fifty times the size of Bear!) Then we put him down and he learned his place with record time. It was so funny to see his ego shatter. It was so much fun to watch them run and play together.

So then we got the pool ready to start swimming. But Chris was like, "Tiff!!!! Come quick! Toby has something dead in his mouth and it doesn't have legs!!!" I immediately think, 'An animal carcass with it's legs ripped off?' So I run out and see what the heck is going on. And this is what I saw....





It was the biggest snake I have ever seen up at their house. Toby loved that snake! He ran all over the place with it. Bear would go and try to grab it, but all he could get his teeth on was its head! I screamed and screamed. It took Chris forever to get him to drop it.















It was still alive. Playing dead or something. We finally put it over in the bushes. We checked later and it was gone. Then we finally got to swim and enjoy the sun.

Cops Update

While walking Bear today, I ran into my manager. We chit-chatted for a while and I asked her what was going on yesterday with all the cops. She said that some chick got caught stealing. She didn't go into any details and I didn't pry. I have no idea if she was stealing from other tenants or cars or businesses. I was kinda hoping it was going to be a bit juicier gossip than theft. :)

Crazy Woman Driver!!!

Today I went to Wal-Mart and had quite the experience. Chris and I wanted to shop together before he had to get to work so we decided to take seperate cars. I was waiting for him in a shaded parking space for about 5 mintues. As I was waiting I saw cars come and go, in and out of near by parking spaces. So I see this blue car coming around the corner to take the space directly in front of me. She's coming in fast and I have a front row seat of what was about to happen. She peels in to the space and totally hits our new Malibu!!! I was on the phone with Chris who had actually snuck into Wal-Mart while I was car gazing. I told him where I was and to get out here quick. As the lady hit me, she didn't say the F work until she saw me. I get out and look at my front end. Luckily no damage. She only bent her lisence plate in half. I mean, she hit me pretty hard. I thought for sure there would be some sort of damage. She gets out and is like, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. My life is falling apart. There has been so much going on. I'm trying to finalize my divorce. I've just been so out of it..." I was like, "It's fine, it's fine. There's no damage. Don't worry about it. Forget it!" She went on and on and at that point I was like, You freaking dumb lady! I don't care about your life! I don't want to hear your sob story! Shut up already. I said it was fine. Chris came and found us. He looked at the car then I grabbed his hand and we walked inside to do our shopping. I mean, who does that? Who just peels into a parking space and hits the car in front of it? It's like she forgot which pedal was the brake. Crazy woman driver!

What's Up With All The Cops?!

So I casually look out our living room window after dinner and there were like four cops cars in our parking lot. Three cops were searching this old grungy looking van that looks like it has been parked there for quite awhile. This van was packed with all kinds of crap clear up to the ceiling. I have no idea what they were looking for or why they started searching in the first place. Then about fifteen minutes later I saw some chick being escorted to a patrol car with her hands cuffed behind her back. Our managers were out there making phone calls and sorting things out. Hopefully when I go and pay rent on Thursday, I'll be able to get the scoop.

This has been the third visit from the cops in one year. When we moved in, our manager said that there was a zero crime record for the property. I don't think she lied to me, I just think that this summer has brought out the sketchy people in our complex. I don't feel unsafe or anything, I'm just annoyed with all the stupid people in this world.

For those of you that live in an apartment complex or a similar small community, how often have the cops showed up and do you know why?

Good Times At the Fair

So yesterday Chris and I went to the Oregon State Fair and had SOOO MUCH FUN! I highly recommend it to everyone. First we walked through all the vendors and saw all the crazy stuff people sell. And yes, there were hot tubs! What's a fair without hot tubs? Then we saw all the livestock on show; there were: milking cows, horses, the Budweiser horses were there with all their garb, pigs with the BIGGEST testicles I have EVER seen on an animal, goats, chickens, bunnies, giant rabbits, roosters, pheasants, and doves. We also saw the reptile exhibit. That was really neat. I have never seen a rattle snake for reals before, so that was neat. They both hid their rattlers though. Bummer! We got to pet a horned dragon. I was a little nervous about that. I also got to pet two HUGE tortouses. They are amazing creatures. We saw snakes, lizards, chamelions, turtles, and geckoes of all kinds. Then as we were leaving the tent, I saw a big, giant tub with this gate thing on top. I thought that was a little strange because it was the only thing in there that was caged so seriously. It was dark so I lean my head in real close to try and get a peek. And what did I see about two feet FROM MY FACE...... Two huge eyes belonging to a five foot ALLIGATOR!!! I almost screamed AND peed my pants at the same time. I can't believe they would hold that thing in a tub with a gate as a lid with just rocks holding it secure. So after that, we decided to play some games and go on some rides. We started with like this spider-looking ride. I screamed my head off, it was so much fun. Then we decided to go on a sissy ride. The ride with the swings that have really long chains. This ride was actually hard to enjoy, because I couldn't help thinking about how often they really check the safety of all these rides. I mean, c'mon, it only takes one of those chain links to snap for me to snap my neck and die. It's not like they actually check every single one of those things regualarly. Chris tried to tell me that they probably do stress tests on them, but this is a FAIR. I don't think so. So then I kicked everyone's trash at Wack-A-Mole. I won myself a teddy bear. Who needs men to win you stuff? So that kinda burst Chris' ego a little. So he then proceeded to blow cash on the stupidest games like "throw a ball at three milk cans" or "throw the frisbee rings around the ducks neck." Needless to say, he blew it all. Then it was time to eat nonthing else but elephant ears and corn dogs. Mmmmm. The only thing I forgot to get and I'm SO MAD, was cotton candy. I mean, who goes to the fair and doesn't get cotton candy?! Chris wanted to go on one last ride before we left so we went on like "Tsunami" or something. Chris got really sick and I thought for sure he was going to throw up, but he kept it under control. So with our weasy stomachs and my giant orange teddy bear, we headed on home. My only regret besides the whole cotton candy thing is that I forgot my DARN CAMERA!!! Well, there's always next year!

From English Author to British Survivalist

Most married LDS women my age either have a kid, nursing a kid, or begging their husbands for one. Not me! When Chris and I got married I begged him for a dog. He made me wait a while, but I finally got what I wanted. (Not to say that Chris didn’t want one. He was just worried about the price.) You see, I didn’t want just ANY dog…

If you know me, you probably know all about Dickens. In case you’re thinking of the author Charles Dickens, PLEASE, let me fill you in. When I was about four or five years old, my parents brought home a seven week old Beagle for my older brother, Scott. He let my mom name him, and my mother, being the English teacher that she was for thirteen years, decided on the name ‘Dickens,’ after the above mentioned author. So I tagged on the full name, “Charles Dickens the Sixth Jensen.” (There were already five other dogs with the name ‘Charles Dickens’ at the vet. Can you believe it?!)

Well anyways, I loved that dog to death. (Some would say quite literally.) He may have been my brother’s dog, but in my eyes he belonged to me. We were the best of pals. Well after about nine years of unconditional love, my sister, Melissa and sister-in-law, Heidi took him away on the day we moved from Springfield.

About seven years later, I come to find out that they had just dropped him off at the shelter/vet’s office to have him put down (due to age, obesity, and many cancerous cysts on his belly). All those seven years, I had thought that he had been adopted by another loving family that could have loved him only a fraction of what I had. As tears are strolling down my face at the age of twenty, I listen to Melissa tell me that she and Heidi DIDN’T EVEN STAY to hold Dickens’ little paw as he slowly drifted off to sleep for the very last time.

While completely enraged and bawling, I march into my parents’ bedroom, who were getting ready for bed. I swung the door open, my mom by her bed, and I cried uncontrollably, trying to explain what was going on. She looked at me with the most worried look on her face I had ever seen. “HONEY, what happened? What happened?” As my dad hears this, he runs out of their master bath in his underwear with a look to kill. (I later find out that he immediately thought that my boyfriend at the time, who was present for all this, had broken up with me, or worse!) When I could finally mutter out the word “Di…..di…..di….dickens,” he rolled his eyes and continued to brush his teeth. My mother tried to comfort me, but all I could think was, “You need to PUNISH Melissa!!!”

And THAT is how much I loved my dog, Charles Dickens the Sixth Jensen!

And so, with this strong bond I have with Beagles, I didn’t want to get another one and feel like I was replacing Dickens. So I researched and found the next best thing. PUGGLES! Half pug, half beagle. You see, when a female Beagle and a male Pug fall in love...

This is where Chris put on the brakes for a while. Puggle breeders in the Northwest are few and far between and they charge an arm and a leg (close to a thousand dollars). So we turned to the internet. And on the cutest little website http://www.puppyfind.com/ we had plenty of pups to choose from. The majority were in the Mid-West which I learned from Oprah is due to all the puppy mills. So we were careful and took our time finding the perfect one to join our family. We wanted a male, with long Beagle ears, a slight curl of the tail, long Beagle legs, a fawn coat, and long muzzle. And he needed to be in our price range most of all. Until then, I read the book All About Puggles. I researched everything I could about the breed and what to expect about raising a puppy.

And then one day I found “Chico.” He was four weeks old and the cutest little thing ever. He was in Oklahoma and I was quick to call the breeder. She told me that he was the runt of the litter (just like Dickens) and the last to be adopted. We made our arrangements and were scheduled to pick him up at PDX on June 20, 2008 at 11:25 a.m.


For the longest time, Chris and I had decided on the name “Akamaru.” Since I wanted a dog so badly, I let Chris choose his name. Akamaru is the name of a cool dog on one of his favorite TV shows. I liked it. It was original and witty that it was from a cartoon. Before we had even picked our dog we had always said, Akamaru this and Akamaru that. But when we finally picked out “Chico” we realized that it would be too hard to yell at him, and really annoying to have to explain to people why we had chosen that name. So to avoid all of the headache and confusion, we decided to go back to the drawing board. That’s when “Bear” popped up. I found it in a list of names and it stuck out. It’s cute and to get Chris to agree I told him we would name him after Bear Grylls. Bear is the coolest guy alive, from Man vs. Wild, one of our favorite shows on Discovery Channel. So this is “Bear Grylls Levanger.” (Even though Chris never let’s me call him by his full name.)

Finally!!!

Well, we finally made it! We have our own blog. Don't expect too much from us though people, we live relatively boring lives. We eat, sleep, and work with the ocassional fun activity. We'll try and take some photos and videos along the way for your enjoyment. Until next time... Tiff & Chris