Saturday, December 31, 2011

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Montoyas!


Christmas Eve
On our way to church we stopped at urgent care to see if Macy had
pink eye...yep, she did.
We were the best dressed patients in the urgent care that night.  =) 



What a blessing these two are...these are the "Little House on the Prairie"
dresses my Mom made the girls for Christmas.







Cute story on this one...because Macy had pink eye,
her and I stayed home from church Christmas morning.
She put this little "nativity" together with her stuff animals.
She did glue the star to the couch, which was not cool, but it was
hard to be upset with all that sweetness attached to it.

Macy made these for me all on her own. She had been saving the toilet
paper rolls in a secret spot at home and dug the bow out of the trash.
I will treasure these forever! 

Marian made me this bobcat scarf in class. She is the sweetest spirit I know.



Monday, December 12, 2011

We headed up to get our tree this weekend and, as always, enjoyed some neat family time. (Nathan and Kaylee Kelm-- if you're reading this, we thought of you much of the time and the fun we had with you last year. Macy even asked if we could see if you wanted to join us. I guess the distance of Montana to Bolivia hasn't solidified in her mind yet. =) Anyway, it was so much fun and the sledding was fun and FAST which translates in our family to cheers by Marian and tears by Macy. At one point, I had finally convinced Macy to go with me (she felt safer going alone =) and we ended up spinning around and heading FAST backwards with trees on either side. I had to literally hold her down because she was trying to "jump ship." =) Good times. Guess that didn't build her trust and confidence in me. =) 


Here are a few pictures...









As we were hiking up to where we cut down our tree Macy was lagging quite a bit behind us. She rarely lags because she has way more energy than any of us. We kept encouraging her to keep up and eventually Jon mentioned "Just watch out for the mountain lions who like little girls who are not with their Moms." Because the girls know Jon is such a joker, I figured she's say "yeah right, Dad." But, there was silence behind us and we just kept going. All of a sudden Macy runs up to me, and sweetly says "I'm gonna hold your hand, Mama." Problem solved. =)



She's been looking so old to me lately. Kind of makes my heart hurt.  =) 



Love her hat...thanks to Auntie Holly and Auntie Maria.


Monday, December 5, 2011

Nerdy 30

We had a "Nerdy 30" party with the youth group on November 30th. We got the idea for this party from our friends John and Rachel. We had to think of some way to do this with our youth group, so Jon suggested we do it on November 30. Oh my was this fun. Our students had such a blast and it was neat to give them a night where they didn't have to "worry" about looking good and to just have fun with one another.

Here are some pics from the fun night...









Some of our other leaders...

Justin and Justine



Dan and Kimberly


Dan has got to be one of the funniest people ever.
He was our M.C. for the night...and he and Justin performed a
"surprise"serenade to me, whom they lovingly referred to as "Mama Montoya."
Not sure I like that name, but the performance was hilarious.
They sang "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler.

We are so thankful for our leaders. They are some of our best friends
and it's so awesome to serve alongside them.

If you want to see more of the students, you'll just have to hop on facebook. =) 

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! 

What we've been up to the last month or so...

Jon and I went to a Boise State football game with the Gannons. It was a fun road trip and weekend away as a couple. Why Boise State? Jon's defensive coordinator from MSU is now the d-coordinator at BSU and he hooked us up with some tickets. It was a super fun game to go to. 






Justin and Justine...we love road-tripping it with these guys! We laugh a lot. 

Jon with Coach K after a BSU win!

Had to add this one, because he's just hot stuff!


Then for our real team... the BOBCATS!! We all went to a VERY cold Bobcat game. The girls had a blast and had fun cheering them on and holding up the signs they made themselves.











Macy dressed up like a pilgrim for Harvest Night at AWANA. Marian was sick, so she didn't get to go.


I know I'm her Mom, but she is just the cutest.
She even got this little basket of food together for her costume.






Then for Pumpkin Carving...we were thankful for a warm fall afternoon to be outside.














My sweet girls...









Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Loving the Fall

We are enjoying Fall. Life is busy as it usually is this time of year, but things are going well. The girls are settled at school and are loving it. I am enjoying my photography business that has just launched this Fall. It's super fun to get paid doing what I love and still be a stay-at-home wife and mom. 

We are so thankful to live in such a beautiful place. Fall is awesome in Montana as it brings with it beautiful colors and lots of leaves on the ground. We have two huge trees in our front yard that drop quite a bit of leaves in our yard. Thankfully the girls love raking leaves because it's a chore that needs to be done. A few weeks ago they were helping Jon rake in their purple tutus (thanks to Nana and Papa =). Wish I had a picture of that, but I was doing a photo shoot. Well, later that day we let them have fun in the leaves and here are a few pictures. Enjoy!














Anyone know how I can press "pause" on these little girls' growing??
It's going too fast. =)

Monday, September 26, 2011

Six and Counting!

Macy has had a big month! She started Kindergarten at the beginning of the month and then turned 6 last week! It has been so fun to watch her grow and mature. It is definitely bitter-sweet at times to watch my baby get so big. I'm glad she still wants me to hold her sometimes.

 Here are some pictures of Macy's recent happenings:

The First Day of Kindergarten

I got back from my run at 6:45 and she was completely dressed,
ready and waiting with her backpack on in the hallway.
Needless to say, she was excited!










She looks so small with Daddy.



They love being at school together and seeing each other around.
When we had asked Macy what she was most excited about concerning school she said,
"to be with Marian ALL DAY."


The best thing of all...Grammy is the new school secretary!
We all love that she gets to be there with the girls.

It's hard to send them off on that first day, but so exciting all at the same time!


Macy's teacher had the parents stay for 20 minutes or so and help their child
decorate their pencil box. What a neat idea!
It definitely helped with the transition. For both the kiddos and the parents. =)



Turning Six!
We opted for a simple family party this year, and Macy wanted a doll cake.
She obviously loved her a lot!












Macy with her AMAZING teacher, Mrs. King.
I brought brownies to celebrate her birthday with her class.



Happy Birthday Macy!
We love you more than you could ever imagine.

"I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better." Ephesians 1:16-17


Sunday, September 11, 2011

Picking Raspberries

After we got home from our trip, life was so crazy getting everything back together on our house. Pretty soon we just had a few short weeks before school started, and I wanted to think of one fun (and simple =) thing to do together. We decided to go to Rocky Creek Farm to pick raspberries. We usually go there in the Fall for the hay maze and pumpkin picking, but this was a whole different experience. The girls loved it and we kept thinking of one of our favorite books, Blueberries for Sal. 

Here are some shots from our time there: 


I love the pink stained lips and fingers....the people told us to eat some berries to make sure we
were picking good ones. They definitely listened to that instruction! =)

Probably should explain the "bonnet."
The girls love Little House on the Prairie and my Mom found them these
bonnets awhile back. Marian wanted to wear her's and pretend she was Laura
Ingalls picking berries for Ma. =) 




They were as tasty as they look!
The best part was that we made raspberry jelly with the berries we picked
and it was amazing. Can't wait to do it next year. 

Love the people at Rocky Creek.
They gave the kids Otter Pops when we got back.
 I couldn't resist the opportunity to make them lay down for a few pictures. =) 





Still has on her raspberry "lipstick" =)