Birthdays, Snowmobiling, Hair Cuts & Rats

(Take note: I just did four new posts and hope to do three more later today. Make sure you don't miss any!)

We had a fun surprise party for Lee on his 36th birthday in January. His sister Meredith came down, along with his sister Ruth and her kids Kiersten and Elijah. Lee knew everyone was coming for dinner, but he didn't know we were going to turn it into a birthday party. I just realized our rat Oreo even made it into the picture (look in the rat cage in the back)! :)

January 23rd we got to do something really fun: go snowmobiling! My cousin Lauren and her husband Westen have snowmobiles at Weston's family's house up Hobble Creek Canyon in Springville. They invited us up to snowmobile with them. It was perfect because there was fresh snow! Weston gave me a crash course on driving the snowmobile, and then I drove around a bit to get used to it. When I felt comfortable, we hooked up a tube for Morgan and Brynne to ride behind the snowmobile. The girls took turns riding with me and riding on the tube. We went round and round in the pasture probably 30+ times. The girls had so much fun!

In other news, Morgan decided she wanted bangs. She cut some for herself one night before bed. The next day I took her to get her hair cut. I normally cut everyone's hair in the family, but I had some good coupons and decided to take Morgan to a shop instead. I think her hair looks really cute! She actually likes it too, but you'd never know that from the picture below:

And just for fun, here's a cute picture of Brynne feeding Oreo some cheese. Yep, the rats are still alive and kicking!

New Pets!

Here's a riddle for you (it's a little longer than most riddles, but try and follow me here...):

What kind of pet do you get your kids when you travel a lot and therefore need a low maintenance pet (i.e. no dogs), but when your husband is allergic to cats? Any guesses?

Rats! Yep, you heard me right, we got rats! Two of them! Introducing...Oreo (also known as Little Rascal--he's the darker one to the left) and Cocoa (he's the one on the right trying to give Brynne a kiss)!
For those of you who are freaking out, click here and/or google about rats as pets --you'll be amazed! I NEVER would have considered getting rats, but now I'm almost as excited as the girls! We were really lucky and found a lady who was selling two female rats and a huge cage she had just got less than two months ago. They got a dog at the same time (hello!) and weren't playing with the rats as much. It was a great deal for us! I was especially excited about the huge cage because the rats have enough room to move around during those times when we are gone for a week.

Look at this cute picture of cocoa; she was kind enough to look up for the camera!

I went to meet the rats a week ago. I played with them a little to see whether or not I could get used to those darn tails. I was a bit nervous at first and had to keep thinking about all the great things I had read about rats being super clean animals and not biting and loving people. By the time we went and got the rats today I was totally over the tails -- no worries at all!

And here's a picture of cocoa with Brynne (who has sores on her face that she won't leave alone so they keep getting worse...):

This picture is kind of dark, but you can see Oreo on the wheel and Cocoa in the background getting a drink. You want to talk about cute rats!

Oreo is like a little girl with tons of energy. In her cage, she runs on the wheel for a while, stops for a drink, runs some more, stops for another drink, and on and on. She runs all around the cage playing with the different toys and such. When you get her out, she loves to climb all over you and is very curious.

Cocoa is a lot more calm and timid. She sometimes even sits still on laps. When we first took the girls to meet the rats, Cocoa sat on Brynne's lap for several minutes; which was a great thing for helping her get used to the idea of pet rats! Morgan was quick to point out how much Oreo is like her and Cocoa is like Brynne! :)

The rats are snuggled up together napping now, and I'm like a silly little mom. We might as well have gotten kittens for how excited we are and how much fun we've had playing with them. We stopped at a pet store on the way home with them tonight, and I found myself looking around at all the fun rat chew toys and thinking about which one I wanted to get them for Christmas. I didn't even mind spending $20 on food and bedding (anyone who knows me knows this is a HUGE deal!)!

The best part is really how happy Morgan and Brynne are. They have been asking for pets DAILY since the beginning of the summer. Here's hoping Oreo and Cocoa have long lives and don't poop on our floor... :)