The Ranch and the Rat.

Hey guys! I took a little me cation this weekend and headed up to the ranch with my family. The leaves were changing, and the weather was perfect. I couldn’t of asked for a better vacation.. well, maybe if I could of gotten a little sleep, more on that later.

Before I left Saturday, I taught Body Pump – in a cheerleading uniform…

It was rivalry week! UTAH VS. BYU. This is a big deal in Utah. So every year we dress to impress.

After class I packed up the kids and headed to the Ranch with the family and I was able to watch the first little bit of the game with my family before I had to get the kids to bed. Brent stayed home because he had tickets to get in on all the action.

Post-game! UTES WIN!!!!

So, the first night at the ranch, the twins didn’t sleep very well. I took them into my bed (for the first time ever..) They were both little tornados and I did not sleep at all! I also couldn’t fall asleep because I could hear something scurrying around the cabin. The next day I found mouse poop and the little thing had gotten into snacks and a bucket of marbles my grandma keeps there.

GREAT night…

SICK! I hate mice.. cute little things, but not on my turf.

The next night, I slept up in the loft, where I can see into the living room. Sure enough, 10 minutes after I laid down (around midnight) I could hear the thing running around and it was not little.

I got up out of bed and peeked over the railing and I SAW it! It stood there and stared at me for a minute before dodging under the couch. It then became my mission to catch the rodent.. Which was not actually a mouse but a wood rat.

source

Except for the fact it was bigger then this one pictured…

I went downstairs and grabbed some glue traps and set a cheddar bunny from T & B’s snack bucket, smack dab in the center of trap, in hopes of luring the little guy into the glue. I put one on the ground next to the staircase and another one on a step and went back to bed.

About 10 minutes passed and I could hear the wood rat running around then I heard it on the glue trap. “I GOT IT!”---- or so I thought… I waited a few more minutes and then I heard it scamper away… What?! I got up and looked down at the trap… NO wood rat in sight, and the cracker had been eaten down to the glue! This thing was smart! HOW did it get the cracker without getting stuck in the glue?!

It then became my mission to catch the rat so from then on I was waiting and listening for it to hopefully find its way into another glue trap… No such luck… our little game went on until 4am…that thing was crazy fast and there was no catching it. I ended up going into the one bedroom with my kids because I couldn’t fall asleep with that thing running around.

The next morning one of the traps was actually flipped over with one of Tanners toy cars.. (the one that was on the step) The rat flipped it so it could go up the stairs! It got in the kitchen and into the flour that was on the counter and left its little footprints all over the stove. EW.

I cleaned up the best I could and told my dad about my little adventure of the night. He is going to set some more traps and hopefully it gets caught. Wood Rats are very destructive in homes, the rip into furniture and pretty much make themselves at home.

The rest of the trip was fantastic though. We had some zip line fun and hung out on the porch for hours admiring the leaves changing and enjoying some great conversation and of course food.

It was a great weekend and now I’m home, sort of re-charged and happy to be back home to Brent and a house free of wood-rats..

I was able to catch a night class at GPP. We did this weekend and I definitely could tell I haven’t gotten great sleep this weekend and ate in a  “vacation diet” sort of way.. Tomorrow, I’m really going to dial back into nutrition and get back on track.

Question of the day

Any crazy mouse/rodent/animal stories out there?

Where or what is your favorite place to relax and recharge?