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.

Working in Colorado

I moved here with the promise of a rewarding job working as a preschool teacher at one of the schools in Pueblo, Colorado. Unfortunately it turned out to be less than a desirable position and I soon left it for what would work out to be greener pastures.

I quickly secured a job with District 70 schools working as a substitute. I work almost every day, get paid better than I would be getting at the last job and I often work at the elementary school that is just over a mile from my house. I am getting to know the teachers and the students very well and I love the challenge and the fun of working with a new group of kids each day.

Working with the different age groups has also been good because I have gotten to know more about myself and the kind of position that I hope to secure in the future. Working with preschool all the way through high school I have come to realize that I love those little ones, with all their buggers, tantrums, and wild crazy energy.

I have also been working for the local newspaper as a journalist writing human interest stories, and some stories that are not of much interest. It has been fun and challenging. Kendall has been my editor and now that he is here with me he will take more of a front seat to the writing that we are doing. It's a fun thing for us to do together and we are starting to get to know some of the people in the community better through following leads and chasing down stories.

I've decided to start a blog to let everyone know what is going on in our life. We have had such a great time checking out the blogs that some of our other friends have posted and we decided to join in on the fun. We miss everyone so much and hope that this will be a good way to stay in touch.