Finally Posting the 3D Pic of our "little man"

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

Kendall and I are so excited to be expecting our son in less than 10 weeks. Everything is going well so far and I am healthy and the baby is doing great. We are getting ready, going to garage sales and accepting hand me downs from friends and family. Our little guy will be one well dressed dude.

The weather has stayed nice for me so far, so being pregnant in the summer has not been so bad. I am working in Pueblo West over the summer for an autism program and having a lot of fun. I am working with pre-school aged children and they are sweet and complicated all at the same time. I will do that job until just before the baby comes. It will be a challenge but it will keep me active and keep my mind off the delivery, at least a little.

Kendall is enjoying his job at the pool more and more every day. The stress of getting everything off the ground is gone and now it's just a matter of, as he says, "kids and water."

Spring Has Sprung!!!

It's spring time in Colorado and we have finally gotten the long awaited moisture that we all have been praying for. Kendall's favorite saying these days as the rain is falling on the mountain is, "hills green, cows fat!" Well, the hills are definitely green and we are hoping for fat cows.

We decided to go in with family and get a couple of bottle fed calves this year because they are cheaper than a weened calf and end up being much friendlier. We got a little black and white Holstein we named Knuckle Head and my cousin Clint got a little Brown Angus we call Never. We are keeping them here in our barn and they are proving to be more work than we bargained for.

A few days after bringing them home they got what is called scours, a nice way to say "the runs." This is common in bottle fed calves but it requires more attention and more regular feedings of milk alternating with electrolytes to keep them hydrated.

For the first few days Kendall would get up in the middle of the night to go out and feed the little guys. He was a dedicated farmer and it really paid off. They are doing great and growing like weeds. I have been banned from tending to them because of the potential of exposure to whatever caused the scours. Common causes are salmonella and E-Coli, things we decided I probably should stay away from.

We got a few pictures of the little guys with my cousin's kids. They were here almost every day when we first got the calves but now the thrill is gone and they seem to visit less and less.

We hope to get them eating more grain and grass so they don't require so much milk. I think Kendall and my mom would like that seeing as how the job of feeding them has fallen on them for the most part.

No matter what, you can't dispute the fact that they are cute as can be. I love the spring with all of its bright green growth and baby animals around every corner. There's nothing better.

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're having a BABY!!

We are so excited to share our news and send out the details to everyone. We found out that we were expecting a new addition to our family in early December and are now half way through the pregnancy at 20 weeks. Our due date is August 21st so be thinking of us as that day quickly approaches.

The picture that is attached is the ultrasound we got at 3 months. Kendall thinks that it's going to be a boy because the baby was doing a crazy little jig just like daddy. In two more weeks we will get another ultrasound and be able to find out what we are having. (Boy or Girl) At first I didn't know if we wanted to find out. I know we will both love whatever God has in store for us but we are excited to start decorating in blue or pink and begin to imagine our life with our new little lady or little man.

Everything has gone good so far. We both look healthy and I have gotten over the dreaded morning sickness (all day sickness) and the exhaustion that comes with the first trimester. I am more and more excited about all the changes that are taking place. I can feel the baby move now a little more every day which is a lot of fun.

We hope that you are as excited to hear our news as we are to share it. We love you all and miss you very much. Stay in touch and check out our blog for the latest goings on in the Elkins' Family.

We bought a car!!!!

Kendall and I bought a car last week. It is a 1998 Honda Passport. It's forest green and oh so cute. It has plenty of room for us and my folks, as well as tons of room for our beloved dog Sadie. It runs nice, has a good stereo and a sun roof.

The weather is getting so much nicer with some days going into the 70's. I can't wait to drive around with the windows down and the sun roof open in sunny Colorado. My hope is to post a picture of it soon for all to see.

CAR SHOPPING

Kendall and I are considering purchasing a new vehicle. Well, new for us anyway. We had to leave our other vehicles behind in California and we have been driving a loaner car that my folks are letting us borrow. We aren't very happy with its safety and reliability and we are looking at a '01 Ford Ranger like the one that our friend Mike Haley has.

We are going into town today to see what kind of a deal we can get on it.

Our dog Sadie got spayed yesterday and she doesn't feel very good. She is our baby so we are feeling bad about putting her in pain but we decided we were not ready for puppies with some of the other changes that are coming down the road for us in the future. More on that later...

Some things change and some stay the same

Things here are going good. We have had some snow recently which is so fun for our dog Sadie. Her favorite thing is to jump and run in the deep snow. We also need the moisture so it's good in a lot of ways.

Kendall is staying busy writing for the local paper and working out to get his shoulder back in shape after his surgery. I have started writing less for the paper and have limited what I am doing to the local government meetings.

I have been working a lot at the schools and I'm still having a lot of fun doing that. A friend of mine, Mary, who was also working as a sub recently decided that she wasn't cut out for the job and she is going to take a little bit of a break. I'm sure that I will be getting a lot of her shifts which will keep me even busier. It might be okay though because it means I can discriminate a little more and turn down some jobs at the high school and middle school. I will miss seeing her around at the elementary however.

I think that overall Mary is a little burnt out on life. We have been attending a Bible study at her and her husbands house for several months now and really like it. They have recently decided to take a break from that as well which is sad. We are hoping to get involved quickly in something else or maybe even start a study of our own. Who knows!!

I have been sick the last couple of days and I am not a very good patient. Kendall is a great husband and is trying his best to get me on the mend but I can tell that he is a little tired of me not feeling well.

We miss everyone so much back in Humboldt and are working hard to invent a space craft that will get us there and back at warp speed. Our first couple of prototypes were unsuccessful but we are keeping our hopes alive.

Fells Like Summer

It has been unusually hot in our town over the last week with temperatures reaching into the 70's. Kendall and I have been going on walks every day with our crazy dog Sadie. She loves bounding through the snow and chasing after sticks. She's not as good at bringing them back as we would like her to be but we figure that it's not really in her nature to retrieve as much as it is to chase so we let it go.

With the hot weather we have been leaving the windows open at night and enjoying the fresh air which is really nice. The air here is so dry in the winter time that you have to always have chap stick on hand. Also the static is so bad that if you slide across the floor in your socks and then touch some unsuspecting soul you will really give them quite a shock. The downside is, you shock the heck out of yourself in the process.