Bocce!

Last night marked Sammamish/Issaquah Young Life's third annual bocce ball tournament/fundraiser. Team Voldemort (Laurel, Jenna, Natalie & I) had a good run, but we were no match for the veterans on Team Dirty Santa, (John, Bryson, Phil & Warren) who won the coveted bocce trophy for the second time. Much fun was had by all while raising $$ for a great organization. Here are some pictures from the tournament and the past week.:

Bocce fans, Madeline Powell and Will
Team Voldemort being intimidating. I look downright scary

Members of Dirty Santa

Loving the grass and Olive's collar--that can't be sanitary

I Love MOM

News from the Quah

The latest from our family to yours...
We celebrated two birthdays this week (Brie Smith and Brother Andy) and otherwise occupied ourselves with selling our place which we (hopefully) succeeded in doing, as long as there's nothing dramatically wrong with our condo come inspection time. Buying and selling a house is definitely full of surprises and plenty of learning experiences.
Other news:
-Dirk got orthoscopic knee surgery today and seems to be recovering well.
-Tomorrow, Mom and Gretchen get home from their trip to Africa and we anticipate their safe return.
-This weekend, Will is getting dedicated at church and we're happy to have all our immediate family in town for the event.
-Finally, a shout out to Christy Jung who completed her first triathlon and finished in the top 10% of all participants!!

Iron woman

Kate and Will

Will and buddy, Van

This little piggy...

Brie's b-day bash

Off to go duck hunting

Jenna teaching Will how to walk

The depths of despair

I'm always trying to capture pictures of Will when he's smiling or performing some new feat, but rarely is a baby photographed when they're mad. Today, Will was upset that his peaches were all gone and I thought I'd get it on camera. I love how expressive he is, even (or especially) when angry. The lighting wasn't good, but you get the idea. I'm sure I'll have another opportunity to take a similar shot :-)

He sits, he stands, sort of

Will is at that "almost" stage of independent movement. He can sort of sit, sort of stand and sort of inch his way around. We're excited for all these developmental milestones but realize that we will be doing a lot of baby chasing. Time to baby-proof the house! For those of you who know our son, he is one busy kid. He gets excited (grunts, flails his arms, kicks, smiles, laughs) about looking at the label on my shirt, so one can only imagine what he'll do when he can explore things at his leisure. It is so fun to see the wheels turning in Will's brain as he slowly begins to figure things out. What a joy!
Here are a few pictures of Will being a baby:

Rainier

We just got back from a fun time at Mt. Rainier with the Simon and Farley family. Rainier carries special significance for us since we got engaged there almost four years ago. Besides that, it's a great spot and we make a point to go there every year.
Will's still not quite ready to get strapped into his baby backpack for long hikes, but we still had a great time taking in the beautiful scenery and spending time with family. We live in such a beautiful place! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Renton or Bust

It's official, we got the house! Closing date is set for August 31st. Time to sell our condo asap, anyone looking? :-)

Here are some more pics:

Off to Kenya

My mom and sister set off early tomorrow on the first leg of their journey to Kodera, Kenya. They will be joined by others from Pine Lake Covenant Church where they will be serving, working along side and learning from the people in Kodera. Both Gretchen and Melissa (mom) are nurses and will be utilizing their skills in a number of ways, including helping to start a hospice program so that people can have better end of life care. There is a desperate need for such a program in a place where so many lives are being cut short, and our prayers go with the team. Please see the link labeled "Just G" on our list for more info on their trip and what they specifically need prayer for.

Another less earth moving but significant event in our lives is that we are one step closer to finding a new house. I've attached a few pictures of the yard (our favorite part of the package) and we'll update everyone on the outcome. Seeing as we're close to buying something, our condo went on the market officially today, so the rest of the week will no doubt be filled with lots of activity as we show it. Updates to come...

The back yard of the house we would like to make a home



Visiting Phil & Leah at their new place in Monroe



Evey and her pal, Olive


Bath time in the sink