One for the books

On Friday morning our "neighbor" 

( who lives about 5 miles away from us), 

let us babysit her chicken eggs while she left town for the weekend.

The girls walked through the door from early morning seminary

 carrying a dozen eggs, a heating pad, incubator, and cage in their arms.

And now Jane has been sitting all weekend in front of the

 incubator waiting and watching.

The ranch has an old chicken coop and I think it's time we  

 fix it up and raise our own chickens.

Saturday morning, as usual, we cleaned the ranch house and then

 Mr. Nielson took all of us (Angus too) on the wheelers to a beautiful area

on our property north of the ranch house.

As we hiked up the riverbed the kids examined beautiful colored rocks, 

petrified wood, bugs, bones, and tracks.
And we stumbled upon several large holes in the ground,

we aren't sure who or what they belong to.

We saw a couple tarantulas, lizards, and a toad
(that resembled Gerald! Remember him?!).

As we walked further up the canyon the sky darkened and it began to rain.  

We all huddled under a juniper tree with Angus to wait it out.

I am learning about the weather patterns here in New Mexico, 

and I realize that storms don't last more than 2 minutes (boooo).

I am dying for a big storm that will last all day and night.  

I am aching for rain (and SNOW).  Just as a storm rolls in, 

it's on its way out before it gets good, which kinda makes me homesick. 

As we continued on our hike through the riverbed,
 Angus started to whimper and walk really close

 to Oliver who was leading the hike.

I noticed that Angus wouldn't let Ollie walk forward without him 

close to his feet, and sometimes he'd stop in the middle

of the trail blocking Ollie from going forward.

Then Angus stopped and started barking.

I realize now that his Giant Schnauzer instincts were protecting us.

  Just up ahead was a very large, very mean rattlesnake

 curled up in the middle of the trail. 

Oliver almost stepped right on top of the snake (just kidding, Mom).

The rattlesnake had just had lunch because in the center of his body was a huge lump.

It made me a little uneasy even to look at him.  

Snakes to me are evil.  

We rushed back home so we could drive to the Q

and make our usual shopping stops for the upcoming week.

The girls and I were planning to be back to join our church sisters
for the General Women's Session,

but due to some unplanned events, we didn't make it.

Luckily we live in this amazing day and age and were able to

watch the broadcast on my phone while at dinner.

It was one of the best conferences I have ever heard. 

 So inspiring and faith-promoting.

Christian and I had an answer to a heartfelt and constant
prayer this weekend, 

and I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who hears us,
loves us, and provides for us.

It was a weekend I will never forget.