Day In Phoenix

My sister and brother-in-law, Stephanie & Paul, were up in the Phoenix area this past weekend to celebrate their grandson, Alex's 1st birthday. Although, we have had a flurry of activities going on we decided that it had been way too long since we had seen some of my siblings. So Doug took the day off and we took Cam out of school and headed to Phoenix for the day. We met my brother, Jason and two of his girls, Malory and Kasey at lunch and then we headed to the state fair. We had a great time riding some rides, playing in the kid zone and checking out all the animals. Oh and sweltering in the heat as well.

The gang taking a junk food break.

Camden enjoying the slide.

Camden feeding some of the animals at the petting zoo.

Zebra's are so cool!

Camden & Malory at the petting zoo.

The Dad's enjoying the Kid's Zone at the fair. Side note - my brother always has this face. He is having a great time! :)

Kasey enjoying her cotton candy.

Following the fair, we met the rest of my family at our favorite Mexican food restaurant, Don Jose's. We have been going to Don Jose's for as long as I can remember. My brother was even a bus boy for awhile which would have made me around the age of 5. The restaurant may be in an old pancake house but the food is excellent and cheap! If your in the Phoenix area check it out!

Following dinner we headed over to John & Marcia's, my brother and sister-in-law's house for desert and a little hangout time. It was wonderful to spend a little time with everyone. It had been way to long.

Here are a few pictures from the evening:

My sister, Stephanie and my brother, John.

My brother-in-law, Paul and brother, Jeff.

The cousins having a grand old time!

Uncle John up to his same old tricks...tickling Camden until he pees his pants.

Just gotta love family!

Rocky Point

Our local China Adoption buddies, Matt & Jenn Bouton invited us to join them down in Rocky Point for a long weekend. They do an annual trip with some neighbors and friends. I think the group totalled around 50 adults and kids. Camden of course was in heaven as there were tons of other kids to play with. But he especially loved playing with the Bouton kids. He just adores them. As do I. What great kids! It was also a great opportunity for us adults to bond a bit as well. Jenn and I yak over lunch quite often about "the wait" etc. but the men had only met each other once previously. We actually hope to be in China at the same time to adopt our little girls and it is a possibility as they are logged in just three days before us. But we will see what God has planned.

It was so great to be back in Rocky Point. It has been three years since we there and boy has it changed. I could not believe it...there is now Burger King, Subway and even Circle K's. The shopping deals weren't quite as good as previously. But I still managed to buy a few things. :) The beach as usual was wonderful. It was flat and not at all rocky so it was great for the kiddos. In addition, it was the first time we had been there and weren't sweltering in the heat. It was such a treat! The water was a bit chilly but once you got in you got used to it. The only downside to the trip was the sand storm that caked us and the car (inside and out) with sand as we were packing up to head home and the back-up at the border. We waited more than four hours to cross which made the trip home more that eight hours (normally it takes 4 -4 1/2 hours to get home). It was still well worth it though! :)

Here are a few snapshots from our trip:

Our little surfer boy.

Nothing like looking for hermit crabs with Dad.

Zander & Noah Bouton & Camden

Camden trying out the new boogie board on the wave less ocean.

I think someone needs to feed this boy!

The Boutons - what a handsome family!

Camden & Dad enjoying the wait to cross the border.

Thank you so much for inviting us Matt & Jenn! We had such a great time!

A Total Racket!

One fine afternoon last week Camden & I headed to our friendly neighborhood Build-A-Bear store. Camden had received a gift card for his birthday. So that along with a small gift card from last Christmas we had a total of $35.00 to spend. Having not been there before I assumed that would allow us to get something "descent". Well, lets just say I was VERY VERY WRONG! $35.00 doesn't go very far there. It gets you a bear but that's about it. For some of you that would be plenty but being who I am...when I saw the little Suns outfit, socks, shoes, basketball and sunglasses. Yes - sunglasses! I couldn't resist the boy (He loves basketball). Although all along I could hear the other boy in my life in the back of my mind saying "This is a total racket!" Of course I knew he was right. They get you in the door and then you can't resist all the accessories. But we had so much fun making the bear well actually it was a Cheetah that Camden named Speedy. In my defence, since returning home, Speedy has enjoyed equal billing in Cam's bed along with Teddy, whom he has loved since birth. So I am happy that he hasn't become just one of one of the other three thousand stuffed animals we have and it all cost just a bit more than $35.00. :)

Here's the newest addition to our family:

Camden with his two favorite fellas. You can't tell in the picture but Teddy has a new little t-shirt that says Arizona Wildcats. I bet you can't guess where I got that from. :)

Two Wheels

Today was a big milestone for Camden. We removed his training wheels from his bike. We knew he could have done it long ago but we just hadn't got around to taking them off and forcing him into it. :) We had been talking it up for quite awhile but it wasn't until a few weeks ago when he was on a Fathers & Son's camping trip that he saw kiddo's younger than him riding without training wheels. Not wanting to be out done by someone younger he suddenly became interested in taking his training wheels off. So on the advice of a friend we took them off and headed to the closest grassy area (or mildly grassy as this is Tucson) we could find which was Fruchthendler, Camden's school. Doug gave him a good push to start and told him to just keep pedaling. We were amazed, he took off and rode across the soccer field...no problems. Although later there were a few tears and throw downs of the bike as we had him try to navigate some more complicated areas. He did great. We are proud of you sweet Camquat!

Favorite Foto Friday

Doug & I love taking (or attempting to take) photos of flowers and animals (among other things) especially when we travel. They are such an amazing part of God's handiwork! I found these flowers just outside the Smithsonian museum in DC. We were there with friends this past April. These flowers were so beautiful! I just couldn't resist. Can you see all the different colors in them?

The Latest

Here's the latest from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) which is the organization that handles all adoptions in China:

At the beginning of each month we wonder and anticipate "How far will they match this month?" And once again we are extremely disappointed! Back when we were first praying about whether or not to adopt from China (2.5 almost 3 years ago) the wait time was 5-6 months after a dossier had been logged in. At that time they were also matching a whole month worth of LID's (Log In Dates) at a time. Ever since then they have not matched a whole month at a time and in fact have matched as little as 2 days of dossiers for a whole month. What does this mean for us? Well, it means that every single month the CCAA gets further behind and our wait grows. Our dossier was logged in 3/13/06 which means we have been waiting almost 19 months. This month they matched dossiers that were logged in 11/26/05 through 11/30/05 which was a mere 5 days. If you do the math we only have 102 days of LID's between 11/30/05 and our log in. But if the CCAA continues to match only 5 days a month our wait could grow way past the incomprehensible. However each month we hear of possible speed up rumors. November '05 took 5 months to get through. But we knew there were a lot of people logged in that month. Supposedly Dec '05, Jan & Feb '06 are smaller so the hope is that the CCAA will go back to referring at least two weeks at a time. I think next month's referrals will be a tell tale sign for us if our referral will happen by May of next year or closer to the end of the year. Here's to praying for God's perfect timing for our family!

Treasures

Camden has been getting into such a neat stage. He loves to draw things for us and give us little notes. The other day all by himself he wrote, "I love my Mom." Although the letters were all there the words weren't quite in a easy to read order. But hey its the thought that counts right? And last week he drew a little flower in a pot and gave it me and said. "Carry it in your wallet so you always now that I love you." What can you say to that? This boy sure knows how to melt his Mother's heart! Here is another example of his latest artwork:

Favorite Foto Friday

Often when I tell Cam that I want to take a picture his first response is to make a funny face. But usually I can get get a nice smile once he gets the funny one out of his system. These pictures are from our trip to San Diego in May.

Friendship

I am continually in awe with all the good friends God has put in our midst. With not having family in town I know this is God's way of blessing us. We are so thankful Lord!

This past weekend was Camden's good friend, Connor's birthday. They met last year in preschool and have been best friends ever since. Unfortunately they are now at different schools so they don't get to see each other as much as they would like. But we have managed to rope Connor (and family) into many activities so they do still get to see each other a bit. :) Camden and Connor played summer basketball together, they both go to Awana's on Wednesday night and will soon start playing soccer together next week. When they get together I love to eaves drop on their conversations as they are too cute. A few weeks ago I heard them say how much they missed each other, wish they could go to the same school and be brothers. With the other one piping in "Twin brothers!". Anyway, we enjoyed celebrating with him at Funtastics. Here's a few pics from the day:

Here are a few pics from summer basketball:

A New Trick

As a parent it's always so neat to see your kids acquire a new skill or just take a step of courage. For Camden letting his hands go was a huge step of courage. He had been thinking about it for a few months but couldn't quite get himself to do it until recently. What a brave boy!

Favorite Foto Friday

Here is a favorite photo of my boys during a trip to San Diego a couple of years ago. It was an amazing sunset that evening!

Simply Pleasures

What is it that they say??? That the box is always more fun than the actual present??

Camden received a box in the mail today from Aunt Stephanie & Uncle Paul. He opened it and the first thing he pulled out of the box wasn't the present but the BUBBLE WRAP! He was so excited and said, "Oh cool...my favorite...bubble wrap!" He then spent the next 10 minutes jumping on it. Too funny! But don't worry he eventually opened the birthday present and was very excited about the cool magnets as well. We spent all afternoon playing with them! For those of you who are looking for future gift ideas for our boy look no further than your neighborhood office supply store! Oh and he loves big boxes as well! He still loves to play in the big box that our tv came in. :)

Birthday weekend fun

Saturday was Camden's actually birthday so we started the day with one of his favorite breakfasts which was pancakes, bacon and spam. Yes, spam! When its fried it's not too bad (well what isn't bad when it's fried?!? ) Camden then opened a few gifts and we spent the balance of the afternoon playing with them.

That evening we met some good friends the Kehl's for dinner at Chuy's. We then headed over to the ghetto, uh I mean Magic Carpet Golf for some miniature golf. The golf experience was quite interesting. I don't think the place had been touched since '78. Most of the electronic stuff didn't work even though our engineering husbands tinkered with them along the way. Besides the fact that we all wanted to go home and scrub our kids and ourselves from head to toe (and we did) it was great fun to spend the evening with good friends.

Here's Camden getting ready to putt into one of many unique holes. The idea here was to get the ball into the toilet in the outhouse.

Here is the Easter Island head that you can climb up into. Actually you can climb all the way to the top for a pretty nice view of Tucson. Of course as you climb the spiral stair case you really had to wonder if they hadn't done any upkeep since '78 could it really be safe???

Our friend Kenyon is peeking at us from the nostril. :)

Here are all the kids (well at least some of them) trying to act like dinosaurs.

On Sunday after church, we headed to Kartchner Caverns. It was Camden's first time in a cave. Since he didn't know what to expect he was a little nervous. But once we got in he totally loved it. We were able to see all the rooms of the Caverns with the exception of the big room. During the summer they close the big room as this is where bats come to give birth to their young.

This picture was taken inside the visitor center.

These were the coolest grasshoppers. They were so pretty and we couldn't believe it...they were everywhere. Oh and yes they are doing what you think they are doing! :)

Some our obsessed with hunting animals (you know who you are!) and we are obsessed with taking pictures of them. This little guy was at Kartchner Caverns as well.

Happy 6th Birthday!

I can't believe you are turning 6 today! Where have the years gone? You are such a light in our life. A treasure from the Lord that we are so thankful for! It seems like just yesterday that you were that tiny little baby dependent on us for everything. Now you seem to get more independent by the moment. You are certainly all boy...you like to burp and toot and you have stinky tootsies. But you know what? I could still just eat you up just like the day you were born.

Your our sweetart! Don't grow up too fast!

Celebration with Camden's Class

Today we celebrated Camden's birthday in his Kindergarten class. He picked Ice cream bars as his treat to bring for everyone. It was great fun to celebrate with him and his school buddies.