Lobo Pride!

The first day of school was August 11th.  Summer went WAY too fast!  I really enjoyed having the girls home all summer and enjoying no schedules.  I like having them around and doing things with them.  They make me laugh and they certainly keep me company, so I (for one) wasn't very excited to see school start.  It should be a good year for both of them, tho, although they will be at different schools.  Kate's going to be the low man on the totem pole and Eliza will be in the middle.  They were both excited and I know they're gonna do awesome!

Go Snowflake Lobos!!!

Little Lobo

First day of fourth grade!

Kate moved to the Intermediate School this year and got a male teacher, Mr. Decker.  My favorite elementary school teachers were the guys, so she's pretty excited to have a guy teacher.

Lobo Pup

The first day of second grade!

Eliza was excited 'cuz she heard her new teacher, Mrs. Sims, was excited to have such a wonderful student in her class! 

(You gotta love the vitamin tucked away in her cheek?!)

From city to country!

So, if someone would've told me five years ago that my husband would be a rabbit farmer and I'd haul bales of straw for our chickens in the back of my Durango I would've laughed hysterically!  I guess you never know what twists and turns your life will take.  I'm learning it's probably better to roll with the punches than try to fight back; altho, I have to admit--I still have a lot of fight in me!

Be careful where you put your head!

I know this post will bring up a few questions; I'll have to address those later.  But, in the meantime . . .

The other day I went outside and found Lehi washing his head with the hose.  Here's how the conversation went:

Me:  "What are you doing Lehi?"

Lehi:  "Getting the pee off my head."

Me:  "How'd you get pee on your head?"

Lehi:  "When you stick your head where you shouldn't that's what happens."

He had been cleaning out our rabbit cages and I guess he forgot where his head was?

Gotta love my man!!!

It's Raining, It's Pouring . . .

We've had so much rain in the past two weeks, and it's been such a blessing.  On Sunday it rained for over an hour and we didn't know if we'd be able to make it to church--and if we did, if we'd be able to make it back home!  We were able to go to church, but one of the roads was completely washed out!  Makes for exciting times out here in the wilderness!?  We had had rain almost every day for two weeks so the ground was pretty saturated.  Our roads quickly turned into rivers and our garden was flooded.  But, what a blessing!  We haven't had to water it for over two weeks now!  These are couple of pictures of our garden and the blessed water that's keeping our electricity bill nice and low!  (We are on a well, so our electricity is necessary to pump the well.  When we water it raises our bill, so the rain allows for less electricity.  Nice!)

And, if you're interested here's what my farmer husband is growing:  watermelon, cantalope, zucchini, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, green beans, beets, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, red potatoes, corn, tomatoes, peppers, onions, chard, a variety of herbs (basil, oregano, sage, thyme, cilantro),

and his very own pumpkin patch!  He's always wanted one so he finally did it this year.  (I think he has some sort of childhood love for Linus and the Great Pumpkin!)  There are some huge pumpkins out there!  So far the beans, zucchini, and yellow squash have been fabulous!  I'm so grateful that gardening is one of his loves and that he's so good at it!

Meet Dakota!

Dakota LOVES the rain!  She runs, plays, dodges, and I believe gets as wet as she possibly can!  The whole time she's smiling!  We love our Dakota!  She makes us laugh!

Frightening Lightning!

I've had a few people comment to me that our lives are nothing like boring, and that I need to post on a regular basis because something weird/crazy/exciting/unexpected is always happening at the Montierth home.  I don't know that that's true because it just seems like "life" to me, but on account of their requests I'm going to try to find something interesting to blog about on a more regular basis.  Having said that, I must admit that we did have a rather "exciting" occurrence last week. 

We've been very blessed with heavy monsoon rains for the past two weeks.  It has been wonderful for our garden, as we've seen our corn stalks grow at least two feet!  Amazing!  However, there's got to be opposition in all things and with monsoon rains comes frightening lightning!

Last summer we received an indirect hit, but it was enough to blow out our phones.  This year has been no different.  Last Monday, as I was standing in our laundry room, I felt a tremendous shock wave hit my legs at the same time there was an extremely loud thunder boom.  My heart pounded as I yelled for Kate and Eliza to see if they were okay.  Remembering last symmer's experience, I quickly unplugged the phones, only to find out later that I was too late!  There was a faint electric fire smell and the computer I had been working on only moments before was black.  I couldn't get it to come up.  We all ran outside in the downpour, looking for smoke coming from our roof.  To my relief (and VERY much to Kate's!), I didn't see any.  I frantically called Lehi at work to see what he thought.  I realized shortly thereafter that he wouldn't know because he wasn't here!  As the storm subsided, we began to realize the damage that had been done.  We had lost one computer completely (the one I had been working on); the other one received damage, but it looks like it might be repairable (with a hubby that's computer literate and some new parts); and our phones were gone.  When the phone repairman came a couple of days later, he found phone jacks blown completely apart and many, many wires fried!  He left, telling me, "This is one of the worst ones I've seen in a while."

Needless to say, I've learned that when thunder starts booming and lightning starts crashing I start unplugging and praying!  I am NOT a fan of lightning anymore!  It's fascinating and it can be beautiful--but, only from a distance--like maybe on TV!

I think we're acclimating . . .

So, I was in the garage this morning and we leave it cracked open to allow for ventilation, which means the cats (three) have access to it.  So, I see three skinny black things, a couple of inches long each, and I ask the girls, “Are those kitty poos?” Their response was very calm and nonchalant:

“No, those are tarantula legs.”

You know they’re used to our country-style-living when they can respond like that!

I'm thankful for . . .

Our GRATITUDE TREE . . .

Times are really, REALLY hard for everyone right now. I haven't been posting for quite a while because we've been going thru some difficult times ourselves. I just haven't felt like taking pictures, and I've been extremely busy.
Anyway, last night I decided to focus on the good in our lives, especially since this is the week of Thanksgiving. I read a short story from The Friend, which our family can relate to very well right now. As I read, the girls and Lehi each colored six fall leaves, and wrote something on each one for which they are grateful. (I did mine later.) Then we hung them on our "Grateful Tree." It was simple, but it felt good to remember some of the many blessings in our lives--our Savior, the atonement, family, cousins, brownies, freedom, and many more!
Our Grateful Tree is now sitting in our entryway, to remind us of our blessings--on those difficult days when everything seems messed up!

Onion Braids

This is one reason I haven't blogged for a few months--I've been doing strange things like braiding onions! Who ever woulda thought? . . .

This was one of my projects today--to put up some of the onions from the huge garden Lehi grew this summer! He grew two types of onions--spanish yellows and white. I LOVE the smell of fresh onions, so it was nice to sit out on my porch and braid them.

Meet Hairy!

As you look at these pictures, you have to notice the look on my face!

Notice Kate hiding in the background--where you would've found me when I was a kid! And, to be honest, I'm surprised I'm not there now!!

Yes, the glove--just a little nervous!?! Never held a tarantula before!!

But, then . . . Hairy and I are fast friends!!! Actually, he's quite nice--didn't even try to bite!

Notice, again, where our daughter is -- Eliza, hiding behind the post!

But, then look who warms up to our fine, hairy friend!

Notice the look on her face through all of these pictures! Quite a contrast to her mother's!! "Here little spidey. . . ."

And, then the glove came off! She's definitely my little adventurer!

I know, I know! I haven't blogged in months. I might take the time to explain that in a later post, but for now I wanted to let you in on the newest addition to our family!

If you ever would've told me I'd hold a tarantula, I would've told you you were out of your mind. But, it's interesting . . . when you become a mom and your kids find something fascinating, that fascination takes over you, too! I, honestly, have to say that finding this tarantula yesterday really has been fun!! I can't believe I'm saying that.

Eliza found it right outside our door, right off of our porch. I quickly grabbed a jar and he walked right in. We spent the next hour online, learning all about "our" tarantula. We discovered which (of 800) species it was (a desert tarantula), what sex he is, what its normal habitat is, what it eats, and how to care for a pet tarantula. Then, last night I (yes, ME!) caught a moth because they eat moths, and we put it in Hairy's jar. He attacked it, and sucked the life right out! Very interesting! I'm kind of excited to keep the guy because I'd love to watch it molt--what a great learning experience! This is fun!

Oh, and thanx to our cute cousin, Jonah, for his name. It's perfect!!

Life's lessons from chickens

Last night I fed our chickens a large pile of brussels sprouts leaves. I didn't just feed them a few; there were plenty to go around. I was interested to see how they would take to this new addition to their diet, so I stuck around to watch.

They were slightly hesitant at first, but pretty soon one chicken grab a leaf. Then another, and then another. However, after the first couple grabbed their leaves, the other chickens began chasing the ones with the leaves--trying to steal the precious treasure. They hadn't even tasted it yet, or really even knew what it was. But, they chased the chickens with the food.

As I watched, I thought about a few things.
1. Why did they chase the one with the food, without even knowing what it is?
2. Why didn't they just get their own? There was a huge pile of it! In fact, some of them were standing right in the middle of the pile when they darted after the one with the food!

As I pondered these questions, it dawned on me that many times we're like chickens!
We always want what the other guy has. Why? Sometimes we even want it when we don't know exactly what they have! It's just that we don't have it, too!
Sometimes we don't take advantage of the opportunities that are right under our feet! We're so busy looking around to see what we're missing out on that we don't see what's right there!
And, sometimes we just follow blindly. There are leaders that get what they want because they lead. And, there are followers that are always missing out and making life difficult for others.

Today, I'm deciding I don't want to grovel with the chickens.

Bits-n-Pieces

'Liza lost her first tooth!

The joys of peanuts!

We got a package and the girls went crazy!

Needless to say, we had peanuts and peanut pieces throughout the house, but it was SO fun!

And, there's nothing like cousins--especially when uncles take everyone for a ride on a Mule!

Life is awesome--especially when you're a kid!

New Additions To The Fam!!!

On Easter Sunday we got ten chicks! Yep! What Easter is complete without chicks? We thought we'd enter the world of "growing our own eggs"! I'll have to post when we get our first one--the $50 egg! Actually, it's been pretty fun--the girls have loved it! They hold 'em every day--even now, and they've gotten a lot bigger! We've kept them in our garage while Lehi's been building a coop. It's getting a little stinky in there--and they're noisy!

And, this is Fluffy! (He's not looking too fluffy in his "newborn" pic, tho.)

He got cuter.

And then he got a lot cuter!

Eliza wanted a dog for her birthday but we just weren't ready for that kind of a commitment, and I had parakeets growing up. I'd been wanting one for a while, so we got the girls a parakeet.

It's been awesome because I found a breeder that hand-fed and parent-fed the birds from the time they hatched. So, when we got Fluffy he had only been away from (fledged) his momma bird for about a week! But he was used to people. We got the "baby pictures" from the breeder. I guess they document every bird they hatch and when you buy from them they send you baby pictures. That made it kinda fun!

The girls have played with/held him quite a bit every day, and he's the best parakeet! He crawls on their shoulders, plays in their hair, crawls down their shirts. He's a crazy bird!

They wanted to take him for show-n-tell last week, so I took him to each of their classrooms, where they each put him on their finger and took him to each kid in the class and let them pet him. Fluffy did awesome! He stayed on their fingers and didn't squawk or bite any of the kids. What a great bird! I think the worst part for him was riding on the 2-mile dirt road from our house to the highway?!

The BIG Move!

So, this was moving day! Can you believe it? We LOVE snow, and get so excited when it comes, but when it comes the day you're supposed to move, well it just . . . doesn't make it easy!?

We had to install our own mailbox, and we had to get it done because I had forwarded all of our mail as of April 1. Well, our mailbox wasn't up and it was a few days after April 1 because Lehi had gotten sick. So, it had to be done, and I think it just happened to be THE windy-est day EVER!

As you can see, I got a little wind-blown! Although I was outside helping Lehi hold up the mailbox so we could have a mailbox that was perpendicular to the ground rather than horizontal to it, it was so freakin' windy that it was all I could do to keep myself perpendicular to the ground! I'm not kidding--I kept getting knocked over! CRAZY!!

And, Lehi after the ordeal! We had never experienced wind like that! Little did we know--it was just the beginning! Since that day, we've experienced many days of 60 mph winds. It's crazy! Everyone told us it was windy here in the spring, but we didn't think they meant 60 mph for 24 hours! I swear, if I lifted both arms at the same time I'm sure I could be in Colorado within 30 minutes! (That's probably partly due to my "wings", too, tho?!)

Yah, do you see that SNAKE?

And, do you notice that is my PORCH?

Here's how our conversation went. . . .

Lehi: "Hey, Darc! Do you want to come and see something?"

Me: "I don't know. Do I"

Lehi: "You might find it interesting."

Darce: "Am I gonna say something like 'hell'?"

Lehi: "Ummm, I said a little more than that."
Then, he lovingly took me out to our front porch and this is what I saw! A freakin' 5 foot long bull snake! YIKES! It was the second one he's found by our house in two weeks! I'm not likin' that!

Actually, the animal situation is rather interesting here.

One morning Lehi saw a rabbit that was so big he thought it was a dog at first!

One night I found a mouse that had fallen into a bucket of water by our back door. We left it overnight. (We figured it was thirsty.) Much to our dismay, it couldn't swim ALL night long so it, well, drowned. Darn!

One day Lehi was chainsawing the trees our builder pulled out so we can have wood this winter, and he found a kangaroo rat with two babies hooked to her teets. He accidentally almost sawed it right in half!

Then, last week he caught a lizard and brought it into the house--to show us all! Yah, that's what I like in my house!?

And, this morning I woke to a "lovely"? sound. It sounded like Lehi had shot a rabbit but hadn't killed it. It kept whining and screaming and crying--for at least ten minutes! A coyote--howling. It's crazy! Such a different life than what we're used to! But, we love it!!!

Time-Out

Just a quick post to let you all know where I've gone. We've moving and I'm losing internet service for a couple of weeks. So, I'll have to come back and post later. FYI--we are in our new house. I just finished cleaning the old one tonight--thanx to two awesome women from my ward! I couldn't have done it without them. They even did the worst jobs--the bathrooms and the moldy window sills! Thank you for angels!

I'll post again as soon as I can!

Day 149

We got our certificate of ownership!!!

And the key!!!

Time to move in, baby!!!

Liza Lou is more than two!!!

We celebrated Eliza's birthday this week! She wanted everything dog, but she turned her nose up at all the cute dog cakes I found online. She wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting--and her little toy dogs standing in the frosting. Do ya think she wanted to lick the frosting off her toys? She's all about the chocolate! It was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate ice-cream! Death by chocolate!

Can I tell you how many of us finished our cake and ice-cream? Only Eliza, I think!

The little girl that lives next door to us (In our new home.) has a birthday the same day as Eliza, and they're both the same age! Fun coincidence! So, we all went to the park. The day was perfect--70 degrees, and it was a half day at school. It couldn't have been any better!

And, as an added bonus--and a surprise for Eliza!--her cousins from the Valley met us at the park! Since it was all about dogs that day, I made chocolate pudding with crushed oreos and gummi worms--and let 'em dig like a dog! They loved it!

However, I'm not thinkin' she was too thrilled when she opened a dress for her present?!

Her sweet sister spent a couple of weeks writing a story, illustrating it, painting the pictures, and binding it into a book to give Eliza for her birthday.

"Horatio's B-Day Surprise"

Kate worried that Eliza wouldn't like it because it wasn't a toy, but it was a hit. That was our bedtime story that night.

I LOVE her enthusiasm--for everything! What a great smile! Thanx for the sticker book, Grandma!

I love this picture! Thank goodness for grandmas and grandpas--we love 'em!!

I love my little girl! I love her smile. I love that she skips everywhere she goes. I love her hugs, and that she ALWAYS wants to share them. I love that she is so considerate of others--especially her sister. I love that she's a tease--and she lets me tease her. I love that Heavenly Father sent such a sweet person to our home--to teach us, to love us, and to help me be a better person. I hope I'm all that I need to be to help her return to her Heavenly Father--and that I get to go with her!

I love you Eliza!

Day 148

I LOVE my door knobs!!!

I know. I know. I'm probably a complete nut, but I love 'em! They are the thing I like the most--right now! I loved the wood floor (the most) when Lehi did that. I loved my light fixtures (the most), too. But, right now it's the door knobs!!!

Aren't they awesome? (If you don't think so, don't tell me. Just let me enjoy. Thanx.)