Meet the Twins

I recently received my "Christmas bonus".  Recent as in maybe two Friday's ago.  My company does that in order to make sure of our profits in the four quarter of the year.  I wanted to pay bills will all the money so we could be that much closer to being out of debt.  But Rob wanted me to at least spend a little on myself.  He told me I deserved it and that a bonus shouldn't just go to bills.

Last Friday, Rob and I went to our new favorite place for dinner.  If you haven't tried Zupas yet, you are missing out!  It is awesome.  Anyway, Rob needed to get some supplies for his fish and Petco was across the parking lot from Zupas.  So after dinner we headed in there.  While he was looking for fish stuff, I started looking around trying to entertain myself.  I have wanted guinea pigs for about 6 months now.  Well, Petco had two guinea pigs up for adoption which were only $10!  The guinea pigs for sale were $35.  I asked one of the worker what the difference between "adopting" and "buying" the guinea pigs were.  She told me when you adopt then you get to take the animal home.  I asked her if you got to take the animal home if you bought it or if you had to buy it but leave it in the store.  She had a real cofusing look on her face.  She told me you could take any animal home you bought.  So I asked again what the difference between "adopting" and "buying" an animal was.  She finally made sense by telling me the "adopted" animals were previously owned.  The guinea pigs for sale were about 6 months old.  The ones for adoption were 9 months old.  That isn't a big enough difference for me to care.

I talked it over with Rob and he told me I should get them with my bonus money.  So I did just that.  I bought two guinea pigs.  I actually was only going to buy one but the guy at the store told me they were twins who had been together since birth.  Rob told me I should just get both.  What's one more...

 After a lot of thought and suggestions from people on Facebook I decided their names are Bert and Ernie.  The guinea pig on the left with the pink ear is Ernie and the one on the right is Bert.

 

Ernie's close up.

 

Bert's close up.

Aren't they so cute!  Guinea pigs are supposed to be the cleanest out of the rodent family.  They are still dirty pets.  Way more dirty then the two dogs we have.  But the dirt is all contained in one cage so it really isn't that bad.  Rob says we can be considered a farm now.  With two dogs, two guinea pigs and two fish, he might be right.  However, I think if we had more property we would own more animals.  Rob and I love animals.  I love these boys already and I have only had them a few days.  Our dogs aren't quite sure what to think about these two yet.  Cody mostly just ignores them.  Maggie goes between being concerned at what they are and wanting to play with them.  I might let her play with them if I didn't see how she "played" with the bugs she found last year.  She plays with them til they stop moving and then decides the bug is boring and moves onto the next shiny thing.  So she won't be playing with the twins anytime soon!

I love to watch them eat and drink.  I don't know why it fascinates me but it does.  I think it is just so cute!  You can hear them squeak in this video.

Anyway, I think it will be fun to have these.  I think my brothers had hamsters once but I never remember having a pet of my own as a kid.  Maybe that is why I want pets now.  Who knows...

Oh! P.S. You are welcome to come and visit our animals anytime.  Just call Rob and I and let us know you're coming!

Mixed Up Hamburger

Rob makes me laugh all the time!  I made hamburgers for dinner one night last week.  As Rob was finishing the assembly of his hamburgers he noticed something strange about them.  One of his hamburgers just had the tops of the bun for both sides of the burger and the other hamburger had just the bottoms of the bun for both sides.

 

I'm sure they still tasted the same...

Bird Droppings

I have the WORST luck!  It was a night Sunday afternoon. A bit chilly but still nice.  Rob and I were on our way to have dinner at his parents house when we say one of my friends from the ward visiting with the neighbors.  We pulled over to the side of the road to chat with my friend for a bit.  We were getting ready to leave and I felt something hit my arm but I didn't think anything of it.  As we were pulling away I looked down at my sleeve and was very grossed out by what I discovered to be the thing that hit my arm no more than five minutes earlier.

 

I was sitting in our car with the window rolled down.  This bird must have been really talented to get me on an arm that was inside the car with me!  The worst part about this is I am already paranoid I am going to be pooped on by a bird.  I was pooped on once before when paddle boating with my sister and her husband in San Francisco.  Then, just when I let my guard down, it happens!  Again!!  I may never leave my house again!

Go Fish!

Ever since our last fish died over five years ago, Rob has wanted to get more fish. So this year I bought him some fish for his birthday. You can't totally see the fish tank but I think it looks classy. It isn't very big and fits nicely on our kitchen counter. I fish I got him are called "Mickey Mouse" fish. If you look really close at the fish's tail, you can see Mickey Mouse's face and ears.

Since Rob LOVES Mickey Mouse, I knew this was the perfect fish for him. We have two. They are appropriately named Mickey and Minnie. Who knows what gender they really are but that doesn't really matter to us. Three weeks after getting Mickey and Minnie Rob wanted to get some algae eating fish. So we went and got two more small fish. Rob has since named them Tweetle-Dee and Tweetle-Dumb! I think Rob is really happy he has fish again.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

Earlier this year I told Rob I didn't want to do a Christmas tree this year because we are remodeling our basement and everything from down there is upstairs.  I already feel like it's too crowded upstairs.  However, once I saw all the other Christmas trees going up and started to get into the Christmas spirit I decided we should do a "small" tree.

We have been getting a live tree for the past three or so years and I love the tradition.  Once we got to the tree place, we ended up with a bigger tree then I had imagined.  However, it fits ok in our front room.  So I guess it all worked out.  I wanted to share our tree with you for those who will not have a chance to see it in person.

The girls camp theme for this past summer was Christmas so I made stockings for all the girls with their names on them.  As well as making stockings for the leaders who came to camp.  I had a couple of extras so I decided to make Rob one for Christmas.  They don't really match each other, and they aren't the ones I would pick, but I think they turned out good.

I also thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite ornaments with you this year!  Rob and I buy each other an ornament every year and I think it's a fun tradition.  Some of the ornaments are a bit crazy but I think it just shows our personality and what we think the other person would like.

My grandmother gave me the grandma making cookies years ago.  She passed away and when I pulled this ornament out it made me miss her.  She was the best!

Merry Christmas Everyone!  Enjoy the holidays!