Norah's First Camping Trip

Sunday after church we headed to Lake Takhlakh in Washington for Norah's first camping adventure. It started out a bit cold and damp which is always hard for a camping trip, much less with an almost ten month old. Here Norah is with her camping shirt on, waiting for the light rain to stop. 

We were going up to meet the Stuart family for our yearly camping trip (new tradition). 

Norah and Calvin (one week apart in age) enjoyed the kayaks for a short time while we unpacked. 

Meal time was fun, the babies faced each other on the table. I suppose they were our mascots. 

Norah's working on being a camping expert. 

This is just part one, so stayed tuned for more pictures from our camping trip!

Fun with Friends

We hooked up with the Stuart family in Portland last week. Had a fun excursion. It was a hot day, so we started at the fountain. 

These two. Born one week apart. Already almost ten months old.

A special day in Portland. A park with a fountain, pizza and ice cream!

Calvin and Norah aren't really sure why they didn't get their own piece of pepperoni pizza. Maybe next time they will.

Here we are waiting for the streetcar. 

Fundraiser #1

A fundraiser? Yes indeed! A few months ago we had the idea to do a yard sale for fund-raise for adoption! We started telling our friends and family all about it! And we started getting donations from people. Bags of stuff to sell at our sale would arrive in our carport or at our door step. Some friends and family brought over things multiple times. Even some of my co-workers and a previous patient and her family brought us some items to sell!

 So, June 17-18th were the days of the sale. What a lot of work to set up and price everything! I couldn't have done that without Joan! She came over on Wednesday and Thursday to sticker things up for me and tell me how much to sell things for. Then, Friday morning we started. Karen (Brian's mom) was watching Norah, our friend, Peter came over to help us get things started!

Brian and I, day two. enjoying a hot day in the sun!

The first day went really well. We sold a lot of stuff and made a total of $700 that day. Peter stayed with us all day, thank goodness! And throughout the day, my sister and my mom both came and helped us too!

Brian and Norah, enjoying a break on the blankets

Day two, we started off a little slower, but people came and bought more of our "stuff".  Even a few returners from the day before. This day, my good friend Allie came to help. Along with Peter. We started selling stuff rapidly. We started practically giving stuff away, better to sell it for a few quarters than not sell it at all!

A few more items that were for sale!

By the end of the day we had made another $300 or so for a total of $1010 to put in our adoption fund!

Dressed in some of the best! Waiting to sell a few more purses, we only had like 30 or so in the beginning.

I am so thankful for our family, our friends, our church family and other random people who helped us out. It was a true team effort. And in order to bring our next child home we definitely need the help.  Thanks everyone!!! The next fundraiser is in the works!

Brian, Peter, Allie and I. Ready to sell!

New Happenings at Home!

A huge shout out to my Dad!! He did some work at our house last week! Big stuff. So thankful he is good at building things, Brian and I had a desire for a covering of some sort over our patio and Dad made it happen. Before picture:

Brian was an awesome builder too and helped Dad the whole time. I was just the assistant.

And the finished product!!!

Almost finished anyway, we will place some clear plastic on top to make it useful during the rain.

And my garden, flourishing with all the sunshine we are having!