Gymnastics

Here are just a few fun photos from last nights gymnastics. The girls both really love it and cant wait to go every week. They do get really bummed it is only once a week though. Jesse's teacher talked to us last night and would like her to try to test out next week and move to the intermediate level. This comes from both excitement and sadness since she has a great friend in her current group. But, we all must move on to succeed. Way to go Jesse!

An Adventurous Wednesday.

It's been a great week here in Big Sky Country. We have had lots of warm weather, but also some wind. As I was talking on the phone yesterday in mid sentence I was cut off. I quickly realized that the power was out. No biggie I thought.

A short time later it was time for me to go and get the babies up from their nap. As I got downstairs I could feel a cold draft and found that the downstairs door was wide opened. Hmmm. I thought to myself. That's really weird and freaky. By nature I reached to turn on the light in the baby room and there was electricity. Getting even more strange because now only half of my house had power. So, this set my mind a thinking that now maybe there was some intruder in the house and had flipped some of the breakers on the box. I ended back upstairs and within 30 min the lights flipped on. All was well for the rest of the night. Although, anyone I talked to about this thought I was totally nuts and that I must have made a mistake.

As I awoke this morning I showered as usual and headed up the steps. As I approached the top of the steps there was a dead silence. Uh oh...not again. Sure enough only power to half the house. This is now becoming annoying. I ended up calling the power company at 6:30 to find out something. They ended up sending out a tech guy who was at my door by 7. WOW! Speedy fast service. I must say. He seemed to be kinda of a jerk at first grumping at me for not calling yesterday. After standing outside helping him hold flashlights and the breaker lid he tells me we half power. Uh..REALLY?..I thought. This guys is brilliant. He did end up telling me that they were going to have to shut all the power off and dig the ground to fix the wire. Oh brother, It's going to be a long day, especially with no FB. LOL After a few hours he arrived at my door and walked me to the neighbors yard. The wire basically burst and lucky for me it was in her yard they had to dig AND it cost me nothing to fix. Whew. What a day we had. I am so thankful that it ended up being a fairly quick easy fix. The pics posted are of the wire that was shot.

Weight loss challenge

Recently Justin and I have joined the well with blue put on by BCBS of MT. We have 3 months to lose weight. We each have our individual goals. Mine is 10 pounds. I have never really exercised much in my life, and I love food. So this really will be a challenge. Over the weekend we went to our local Good Samaritin Thrift Store. They have everything there. We came acrossed a used treadmill brought in only hours earlier. We decided to turn it on and check it out. In the process of the store clerk moving it a part fell off the bottom of it so he dropped the price to 20$. We soon loaded it up and hauled it home.

Hopefully this will help with the weight loss challenge. We'll see.

Beautiful Montana

Here are some pictures of some of the places we have been to in Montana. I am excited for the summer to get here to get out and enjoy this beautiful place some more. Trying to enjoy the winters as much as I can in the mean time.

Years end and new beginnings.

What a blessed year we have had here in the Elkins house. I must say the year 2010 has been prosperous and fun. There of course are always some bumps but nothing major. We have been blessed to be healthy and that in itself is all I want.
Some new adventures we took on were the motorcycles. With the first bike I owned it was a little to large for me, for a beginner bike anyway, and someone who crashes it was not a good fit. Recently though, we purchased a TTR125. It it a small bike. Probably more for an older child/teen. It is something I can control and lift up off the ground and does not weigh 248 pounds like my last bike. Whew. I am hoping for a more confident summer in that department. I WILL be out to tackle those switchbacks!

As for the winter months. I am not a fan. We recently have started the downhill skiing. It is a blast and it does help me to get out and try to enjoy the cold. Thank goodness for the hot tub! We hope to get the girls interested in this sport as well. So far though, Jesse is the risk taker. Sami would rather stay home and watch tv. She doesnt enjoy motorcycles or anything that involves falling or the possibility of getting hurt. I dont really understand this though. I do believe both Justin and I were somewhat of risk takers all our lives, and thoroughly enjoy the outdoorsy stuff. I do understand not wanting to get hurt though. No one likes that ;)

The girls are doing well in school. They both work very hard. Jesse only got one C and the rest A's and B's. Sami will not receive letter grades until the 4th grade. They both struggle with reading but seem to like it and that is half the battle. Work work work!!!

I hope that everyone that reads this has a wonderful 2011. That you are all blessed with health and wealth and hopefully a prosperous enonomy as well.
God Bless!

October is busy!

Seems like October just began but it is already jam packed full of stuff. The girls have been doing good in school. We think we have finally got the bugs worked out and are on the right track. Seems to always take a bit of time to get adjusted to getting back into the swing of things. Recently, the girls have signed up for gymnastics. That is every Wednesday and doesnt seem to come quick enough for them. They LOVE it. They are both enrolled in Girl Scouts and Brownies for the second year. Another activity they love. Mom does not so much love this with the busy field trips and selling for fundraisers always seems to be a big headache to me. Part of being a mom I suppose.
Motorcycle adventures are going very well. We went out with some friends and went geocaching. That was such a fun time and recommended to anyone with kiddos. We enjoyed it so much we are going again this weekend.
Hope everyone is having a great October! Happy Halloween and Happy Fall!!

Busy busy day.

What a day today was. With early release today, instead of the 4 kids I had 10. Luckily they were all very well behaved. It has been really really warm and everyone has enjoyed the sun and getting out. I must say I am not looking forward to winter at all. I dont think it would be so bad if the sun shined all day. It helps a lot. But, for now I will take the heat and enjoy the sun.

Oh the blogging!

It's been an interesting night that's for sure. Who knew blogging and setting up all this stuff could be so complicated. Sheesh. But, I am learning more. After tonight I should be a pro at some of this stuff. Thanks so much Emmy for all your help earlier. There is so much out there. So many tools. It's fun.

Living the dream ;-)

It's been awhile since I have written and recently have had some inspiration to blog again. The summer flew by here in Helena, Mt. June was hectic trying to prepare the house for first time visits by my brother in Va and parents from Pa. July was the moment I have waited for for years. It was so good to see everyone. We took a trip to Yellowstone. Mike got sick and threw up a lot at every pull off in the park :-( The rest of vacation was just spent hangin out. August was the arrival from Justin's mom and grandma. We took a mini vacation up to Glacier. It was a great visit.
Towards the end of August Justin decided he wanted to get a motorcycle for running boat shuttles for fishing. He found an excellent deal with 3 bikes. So...now we are all into dirt biking. I must say it's been awesome. It has taken some practice and lots of laying the bike down. I did that one to many times with Sami on the back and needless to say she doesnt enjoy it much any more. We finally convinced her to drive the kids 4x4 alone and she forgot where to brake and plowed into a man pick up truck costing mom and dad a whopping 425$ in damages. no doubt we did owe this man something for the crash to his door but so hard to swallow when he is living in a campground out of a travel trailer and already crashed his POS truck drunk driving. Oh well. It is what it is and we are all healthy and alive and no ER bills.
we are looking forward to more bike adventures. Thats all for now.

Psalm 2010

Obama is the shepherd I did not want.He leadeth me beside the still factories.He restoreth my faith in the Republican party.He guideth me in the path of unemployment for his party’s sake.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line,I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me.He has anointed my income with taxes,My expenses runneth over.Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life,And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.I am glad I am American,I am glad that I am free..But I wish I was a dog …..And Obama was a tree.

Busy January!

The month of January has been a busy one here in our house. We have been busy with many after school activites! Jessica is in Girl Scouts this year and loves it. Sami is in Brownies too. With Jessica's meetings on Friday and Sami's on Monday. This past Sunday we attended a cookie rally for all the troops and the girls earned a cookie rally badge. They had a great time with games and activities to boot! The girls are also in an art class on Thurs. after school, then after that they have swimming which is on Tues and Thurs for the month of January. Whew! No wonder I have had a ladder in my living room for the past several weeks waiting to finish the painting. They are both doing good in school. We are also trying to enjoy the winter months as much as possible. We have been sledding several times and have had a good time. Although, I am not as young as I used to be. Getting hurt on the first slid down the hill is never a fun thing! We are all looking forward to warmer weather. Will try to post pictures soon.

New Year!

Ringing in the New Year this evening. My 2009 has been a blessed one. We have a healthy family first and foremost, and have been blessed in every other way possible. We took a wonderful trip to Oregon where we rented a little cabin for a week and explored the coast. We took our yearly trip to Nv. to visit Grandpa and Gramma. Justin got a raise and I am still working out of our home with the home daycare and that has been spectacular as well. I have been so lucky to have found so many wonderful parents. I hope next year is just as wonderful as this year has been. Happy New Year!!

Silly Stuff

Welcome to our blog page! I'm new to all of this so we'll see how it goes.We are ready for our new year to begin! Here are some pictures of things that happened over the past year. Enjoy