It’s Been a Wild Year

To our wonderful family and friends,

This year has been a big one for our little crew. We wrapped up a huge chapter marked by our moving from Omaha to St Louis, we joined the Air Force to see the Midwest, apparently. We also hit some other huge milestones this year by by adding a new little man to the team (Dude always wanted a brother). We finished and sold the home we’ve spent the last several years DIY-ing and making beautiful, Stuart finished his Family Medicine residency, and started his first “big boy” job on the faculty of the Scott AFB Residency program.  Lastly we moved to our new home in St Louis with the biggest backyard that we are so pumped to make our own little slice of paradise. We are farther from family than we have ever been, but we are excited to put down roots, make new friends, and keep chipping away at renovations in the new house.

Stuart is loving his job and loving the freedom of not being a medical student or resident for the first time in more than eight years. That alone feels like a huge miracle. We have made it to more BYU football games, more hunting trips, and more family visits this year because of it and it’s been great. Stuart got a new calling as Primary teacher in our church teaching kids age 9-11 and he couldn’t be happier. He’s been able to hit the gym almost daily and he is very happy to show us how his flabs are slowly turning back into abs. He is overjoyed to be using belt notches that he hasn’t touched since college. There truly was light at the end of the tunnel.

Crystel has been going non-stop this year as well, running her social media business, keeping up with the older kids and new baby, and working hard to make this new house feel like home. She traded a restful night’s sleep for the cutest, drooliest baby boy, and traded a beautiful, finished home for a fresh (even bigger) canvas. As always, there is always a project in progress, and the ideas come faster than we can finish, but what else is new. A big blessing this year was finding someone wonderful to take over homeschooling for the girls. This has been an excellent move for everyone involved.  

The kids have each had a big year of their own:

Evelyn, Eleanor, and Charlotte all took ballet in Omaha and had their first recital right before we moved. Evelyn (9) still loves reading, and if she goes missing, she is usually tucked away in a quiet corner with her nose in a book. She is such a big help at home and often hops in to do things before Mom even asks. The little baby girl who made us parents is growing like a weed and often catches us off guard with her depth of thought and understanding of complex subjects. She’s only 9 in years, but is actually much closer to mom’s age in maturity.

Eleanor (7) (“Squish”) is working hard to read the Book of Mormon before she turns eight in the spring. She has been reading four pages out loud to Mom every day to reach her goal. She has done so well this year in transitioning into an older sister and helper, we have many times been pleasantly surprised to find her cleaning up or doing someone else’s job, just because. She is silly and happy and usually deep in imaginative play with Evelyn and Lolly. She is a natural athlete and dancer and will start busting a move in the middle of chores or wherever we happen to be.

Charlotte (5) (“Lolly”) has been loving school and is already a strong reader at five years old. She refuses to be left behind by her big sisters, in school, in play, or anything else for that that matter. Well, except for chores, she doesn’t mind being left behind there. It is a rare thing to find her with a clean face and kept hair as she cannot be bothered with such things. She is absolutely over the moon about having a baby in the house and is so attentive to him. She can hardly handle how cute he is and lets us know it constantly, she cherishes her role as a big sister. She also likes being mom’s helper and always wants to contribute to projects, she especially loves to help paint. She’s done so well health-wise, we met her new doc in St Louis and got the wonderful news that she’s still cancer free and we can do check ins only twice a year. We are all so grateful.

Malcom (2) has had a big year with his speech. It has been so fun to finally hear all the things that are going on in his head. A lot of it is very random and hilarious, but we have been impressed with how well he connects ideas and remembers things. He is all boy and has fallen in love with throwing and catching footballs, shooting hoops on his little basketball hoop, and everything dinosaurs, trucks, airplanes, and any other stereotypical “boy” thing you can think of. He also remembers song lyrics incredibly well, it is so funny to hear bits of songs in his little two-year-old voice throughout the day. His most common request is “Eye of the Tiger, speaker please” although he has recently also taken a liking to Billy Joel. He’s memorized nearly the entire BYU fight song, sings it several times a day, and is always looking for a chance to yell “Go Cougars” no matter what teams are playing on TV.

Baby Walker is the most popular person in the family. He is so calm, happy, and easygoing, even though he likes to pretend he has a fake cough, which is usually triggered by someone else coughing, or 30 seconds without someone’s undivided attention. He is our first thumb sucker and came out of the womb ready to go with that. He is the drooliest kid we’ve ever seen, and also isn’t sure how he feels about sleeping, which he lets us know every couple hours at night. It’s tough to be upset though because he smiles so big each time that we can tell he just missed us. He loves to bounce in his jumper for long stretches and he’s recently become mobile, scooting around looking for things to try his new tooth on. Everywhere we go he gets complimented on being the baby-est looking baby there ever was, and isn’t shy in the least about sharing his sweet smile with strangers.

We are excited for what the future holds here in St. Louis and feel so grateful for the blessings we have been given this year. Most of all, we are grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the chance to celebrate His birth again this Christmas season.

With love,
The Montenegros

Throughout the year, we keep track of the funny things our kids say. Enjoy!

• Lolly, after dad asked her to pick up the Play-Doh she had been playing with. “This is the hardest thing ever, you do NOT want to be me.”

• Lolly while working with Dad on her little project: “Dad, I’m just a little girl but together we can do big things!”

• Lolly helps Dad with the new Chipa recipe. It was not tasty. Lolly tries it and says, “It’s too yummy, I can’t even eat it. Here you go, Dad” as she hands it back.

• We were driving home from church and the girls wanted Dad to drive crazy, but he told the girls no because Mom doesn’t like it and it makes her sick. Evelyn said “so?” Dad said “I love your mom and I’m married to her” and Evelyn said, “but that’s why she made us, so we could give her a hard time and she could become a better person and live with Heavenly Father again”. 

• Lolly asked for some trail mix and so dad gave it to her in a bowl. About 20 minutes later there was an abandoned bowl of trail mix sans M&Ms on the counter. Dad said, “Lolly, did you just eat the M&Ms and leave all the peanuts?“ Lolly responded, “I’m just saving the peanuts for tomorrow, promise!”

• At dinner we were reading from our manners book to teach the girls how to behave properly in certain situations. One of the prompts was “what to do when someone looks very different” and we were trying to explain that it’s not polite to stare or make comments. In an effort to give them real life examples to prepare for, Dad asked, “What would you do if you saw someone in the grocery store who was really really fat?” Evelyn said: “just SQUEEZE right on past ‘em!”

• Evelyn asked Dad “How old will you be when I’m 25?” Dad said, “I’ll be 51.” Lolly said, “no you won’t, you’ll be dead!”

• Squish: “Dad, what are we gonna do at halftime of General Conference?”

• Squish: “That lady in the choir is missing her front tooth.” Dad said, “Are you sure?” Squish responded, “Trust me dad, I’m an expert on losing teeth”

• Dad was reading Harry Potter to the girls, and Evelyn asked out of the blue “how long are periods?” Since we recently had the discussion with her about what a period was, Dad said “usually 3 or 4 days, sometimes a week.” Evelyn said, “So Harry had a class that lasted 3 or 4 days?!”

• We were sitting in the pew waiting for church to start. Lolly said, “Dad, I’m keeping an eye out for the Robinson’s so that I can give Thoreau his dagger” and then produces a 10in wooden dagger from her purse.

• “Mom, this year I’m really trying to get my life together” Evelyn, 9

• Dad had explained to the girls about how girls are born with all the eggs they’ll have to make babies in the future. The girls were messing around while they were doing the dishes and Evelyn accidentally hit Squish in the stomach. Squish said, “Evelyn! You hit my eggs! Now when I get old they won’t crack!” 

• Mom, Dad and Grandma were upstairs in the girls room and could hear Eleanor and Lolly bickering about something downstairs. Lolly started angrily marching up the stairs and Squish, in the most sarcastic voice she could muster called up to her and said, “I’m SURE they’ll believe you!”

• The kids spent a few weeks in Utah with grandma and grandpa while Mom and Dad moved from Omaha to St Louis. At breakfast they were stirring and drinking their chocolate milk. Squish said: “Our parents don’t let us drink chocolate milk”. (Not true) Evelyn said in response, “Yeah, our parents are kind of rough on us.”

• The girls slept in long sleeve grandma shirts. Squish and Lolly were having a fun little battle with the extra length of the sleeves and Lolly said, “Oww, you hit my face!” Squish said, “Toughen up buttercup!” Lolly clapped back, “You are not the cakeboss!“ 

• Mom asked at dinnertime, “When’s the last time you felt the Spirit?” 2 year old Dude, in his baby voice said and who was barely learning to talk said, “At church.” Everyone, shocked asked, “At church?” Dude: “Yep. At nursery.” Everyone: “At nursery?” Dude: “Yep. At snacks.”

• Dad was talking about how in the olden days they didn’t have cars or planes and they had to walk or ride a horse. Lolly said, “Well, they could ride a cow… Or a very, very, very large bunny.“

• Dad had been diluting down some leftover Crystal lite from a party we had in an effort to limit the amount of sugar the kids were consuming. Dude pushed his glass back and said, “juice not working Dada.”

• Mom sliced some leftover brownies just after breakfast. Squish said, “Brownies? In the morning?!” Mom said, “Yep, for today.” Squish said, “We’re not eating healthy today, and I like it!”

• 9 year old Evelyn said, “Hey Dad, did you write your will yet?” Dad said, “No, not yet. Why?” Evelyn said, “Oh, just wonderin’. Wondering if you left me any money.”

• Evelyn said, “Nothing’s sure but death in Texas”. I think she meant “Death and Taxes”.

• Dad was singing the star spangled banner randomly at dinner time, and asked the girls if they wanted to hear the best rendition of that song ever recorded. He proceeded to show them the 1991 Super Bowl National Anthem recording sung by Whitney Houston and afterward Lolly said: “Dad, I don’t mean to be rude, but she’s better than you.”

• Evelyn’s Primary class was given a piece of paper for General Conference and told to write down something the prophet said, then return the paper the next class for a treat. President Nelson passed away just a few days before the Conference. The teacher told us Evelyn was the only kid to turn in a paper next class. It read, “The prophet didn’t say anything because he is dead.”

• Dad: “Where’s Dude?” Lolly: “Oh, just probably downstairs wrecking someone’s piano practice.”

• Lolly asked, “Dad, what hairdos can you do? Can you do a bun?” Dad responded, “Mostly I do pony tails and crappy braids.” Lolly said, “Crappy braids, is that like a Jasmine braid?”

• Dad sleepily bathing Lolly in the middle of the night after she threw up in her bed and all over her hair. She was feeling better and laying back in the tub while Dad washed crumbs out of her hair. Lolly, with a cute smile said, “Dad, I look like a dead body.”

• Lolly after walking half a block trick-or-treating said, “Dad, I’m burning calories and getting skinny today.”

• Lolly: Where’s the second coming going to be? Dad: I don’t know, hon. Lolly: What if it’s in Hawaii and they give him a flower necklace!

• 9 year old Evelyn, explaining to her sisters how to drive: “Stop at all the red lights and keep going at all the green ones, seems reasonable enough.” Dad asked, “What about the yellow ones?” Evelyn said, “Those mean you go extra super fast!” She is her mother’s daughter.

• Mom: Hey Dude, can I have some of your candy? Dude: No it’s bad for you. Mom: it’s bad for you too! Dude: No it isn’t. My a growin’ boy!

• Lolly said, “Dad, Evelyn wants footie PJs for Christmas.” Evelyn said, “Actually what I want is deep snow.” Lolly said, “What I want is $1000 dollars.”