Merry Christmas 2013

We had a very eventful year full of many of life's milestones.

New Job

New Program

New State

New House

New Baby

New Car (to fit new baby)

New Town

New School

New Neighbors

New Friends

The year started with Mike finishing his last credits to earn his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Degree through UAF.  We moved our household from Boise into a storage unit in Bountiful, Utah.  We were there to help my parents with their house remodel while Mike started the job search.  Day one, the kitchen was ripped out.  Little did we know we would be without a kitchen and still at my parents' house for months to follow.  Mike had a handful of exciting and interesting opportunities that came along, however our path took us on a road trip to Elko Nevada to visit Great Basin College.  The position was for an electrical instructor at the Winnmeucca, Nevada campus.  He would be starting the program for the first time at this campus.  After he was offered and accepted the position we all traveled west on I-80 to check out this new place we would be living.  If anyone has ever heard of Winnmeucca, they usually know it as a a place they stopped to get gas on their way from Utah to California.  Sure enough, it is quite small with a few Nevada casinos decorating it's main drag.  

So there we were in Northern Nevada in midst of a housing shortage.  Rentals were months out and the upcoming baby was not.  We decided that buying a house was the best option and would get us settled the quickest.  Mike's first home was grandma's 5th wheel trailer for two months.  He started work in June and the kids and I stayed in Utah to wait for the birth of the baby(...and because living in a 5th wheel with two toddlers and 9 month pregnant belly just was not that comfortable.)  He signed the papers for our new house on Friday and drove back to Utah for the birth of baby boy, Kade Stewart Elbert on Monday, July 29th.  

Kade is a beautiful new addition to our family with older siblings that adore him to bits.  He also adores them and watches them play all day long.  Kaiya gets very excited around him and loves to have him in her room for tea parties.  She got him to giggle for the very first time.  Even now she can just come up to him being her silly self and he gets excited and giggly.  Cam loves to hold him...for about 5 seconds at a time.  He's too busy running back and forth across our long house.  Cam is our big teddy bear that counts down the minutes for his dad to get home from work each day.  They love their Kader Bear and I love being their mommy.  

Kaiya started preschool at Zion Lutheran Church.  It has been a wonderful and exciting opportunity for her to grow.  As well as for me to cut some strings and get ready for Kindergarten next year.  Camdon is always a little sad and lonely without her, but I love having one on one time for just he and I.  

I started helping the Girl Scouts in Fairbanks with some bookkeeping and Kade and I took a trip to Anchorage and Fairbanks in November.  I love the work and I love the Alaska!  It certainly felt like a vacation to see old friends and feel like a human again to do "adult work".  I feel like it's a blessing to give me a little distraction from life in a small town.

However, the blessing of a small town means that the people here are amazingly friendly and warm.  We have made a good group of friends through church and are enjoying getting involved with new callings in the ward.  We also have great neighbors on all sides of our home.  This certainly isn't a place we ever imagined we would be, but we're happy to be here experiencing it.  We know the Lord looks out for us and our needs.  He has answered prayers in unique ways that is evident he knows us individually.  We are so grateful for a wonderful job, a nice warm home, healthy bodies and happy children, kind and inviting friends and neighbors, family, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ that brings us hope in everything.  

I feel humble as I imagine his birth into a stable.  The God of this Earth, Kind of All Creation, came to this earth in the most meager and humble of beginnings.  Each day we are here on the Earth we get to work and learn a little bit more to be like him.  I'm grateful for the journey and path that he has given us.  May your new year bring you closer to his abiding love and spirit!  Merry Christmas as we celebrate his birth and the joy that He Lives!

With Love,

Amanda and Family

Our New Contact Info:

Home: 775-625-1727

Mike Cell: 775-621-6355

Amanda Cell:  775-621-6356

Cam's Domain

Tea Time 

Kaiya's Domain