Perfect way to top off a great day...

Last Friday (July 17th, my sister's b-day) I was invited by Laura and Justin to go to a fundraiser for Point Defiance Zoo called Zoobilee. Basically you get all fancied up and go to the zoo, eat, drink and be merry. It was such a good celebration...especially because Justin finally, after 4 1/2 years, asked Laura to marry her. If you want to read how he did it, go to her blog here.

Before getting into the limo.

L & J with the "Proposal Tree"

Ok, so Mrs. Handy #1 has a ring, Ms. Handy #2 has a ring...
I'm feeling a bit left out. :)

Justin's best man Brian, Justin, Laura & I

Apparently people like to walk in front of us as we take pictures,
then get mad at us. haha

Had to rest the feet and call the boyfriend.

And this is what happens when there is unlimited alcohol,
a designated driver, and a nerve racking proposal over with.
Did you notice the bling on the left ring finger?

Update on Laura's Nepal trip...

Just wanted to update some of you on my sister's trip to Nepal. She will be coming home this Wednesday after a month in Kathmandu and Narti. From the few emails, updates from Justin and her blog, she has had a great time but to see the countries poverty is a bit unbearable. Their culture is completely different from ours and the views on women are especially different.

Laura worked in an orphanage for a couple weeks with girls who have been in slavery and abused. Most of them have scars from being beaten during their time in slavery. Thankfully, they were rescued and now live in the orphanage where they receive care and schooling. They have few possessions and often can't afford the luxuries we have here including fruit, meat and clothes. Most of their meals consist of rice and curry vegetables.

One of the reason's I'm writing this is because my mom and I were just on the phone talking about possibilities for collecting clean, undamaged, used or new clothing to send to these orphanages. If any of you do have items you can donate, I'd love to start collecting them so we can ship them to these little girls who have little to nothing. (ANY sizes, anything you might give to a thrift shop or any of your children's/niece's/nephew's outgrown clothing would be really fabulous.) To me, it puts a new perspective on going out and buying a $60 pair of jeans when it is equal to 4,620 rupees. To give you an idea: a coke is 15 rupees, a skirt is about 400 rupees ($5.20) and a nice meal might cost 77 rupees ($1). It makes me realize how frivolous our culture is and how such a small amount can make a huge difference. Completely eye opening.

If you want to see more about Laura's trip, you can go to her blog at: Laura's Nepal Blog

If anyone has any clothes or contributions to donate, please email me at KaraHandy@gmail.com

I think together we can help makes the lives of these sweet girls a little more happy. Please wish my sister a safe travel home and I'll post more when I have more information to share on her trip!

4th of July

This 4th of July we were lucky enough to have our good friends Trent and Tiffani come to Albany from Portland with their almost 16 month old daughter Madison. Colin went to school with Trent and Tiffani and I became good friends during that time. It's amazing seeing Madison now that she is so big, because we were at the hospital the day she was born. Seems like just yesterday!

We had a small BBQ which included Colin's parents. It was a nice and relaxing day...and super hot too! I think it was in the mid 90's. Madison was even brave enough to try out the kiddie pool. Well, kind of. Lets just say she got used to the idea after Trent jumped in with her. Later that night we headed down to a park in Albany and watched the fireworks show.

Here are a few pics from the day...

Madison is SO happy! Barely a peep from her all day!
How stinkin' cute is she??? I personally think she looks like the Gerber baby.

And she's just learned how to give kisses!

Did I mention Tiff's almost 7 months pregnant with her 2nd?
A little boy this time! How amazing does she look?

Oh I just love how squishy she is!

Here you go Katie!!! Finally snapped one of her big belly.
If that's what you want to call it! :)

Let's just say Madison didn't exactly love the idea of the kiddie pool.
We had to fill it with warmer water so she'd sit in it.

Happy Birthday Colin!

7.2.09


Happy 27th Birthday to my wonderful, smart, hansom boyfriend Colin! He's certainly accomplished a lot in his 27 years of life including getting his BS & Doctor of Chiropractic (DC), buying his first house and getting the chocolate lab he's always dreamed of! (And girlfriend too...right?) :) I know he will have a great birthday with a BBQ at his parents and a couple of softball games in the evening...and I'm sure he'll find a way to squeeze in a few beers in the meantime! Happy Birthday Colin...I love you!

Peace Out!

As Colin's 2 year old nephew would say, "Peace Out"! We're on our way to camp on the Potholes sand dunes tomorrow through Sunday. We can't wait to see the puppies play and for Rissy to swim...hopefully! And I personally can't wait for Colin to get to experience this with my family. (Our tradition since I was a baby). I'll post pics next week!

A dollar here, a fish there...all in a days work.

Last Sunday Colin and I headed up to Detroit Lake and a nearby river to go fishing with Granny, Gramps and Colin's cousin Tarren. It was about an hour or so away and had really beautiful scenery! On the way up to the Lake Granny made a deal that the first person to catch a fish, and the person to catch the biggest fish would get a dollar each. First we headed to the River and fished for awhile. Guess who caught the first fish??? Muah! Guess I just got myself a dollar! Guess who broke their fishing pole first? Colin! The darn thing just snapped right off at the end!

The scenery was really beautiful around Detroit Lake. It's about 45 minutes east of Salem and is a huge lake! Sunday was free fishing day where you didn't need a licence to fish so we were just hoping to get a few to take home. I had to take this picture below because Colin just LOVES to get his picture taken! He always begs me to whip out the camera! :)

Gramps and Tarren tried to figure out where those fish were but there didn't seem to be much in the river! And poor Tarren slipped in the river a little and got one of his feet wet...poor guy. It was definitely a cold river!

We got to the lake after not having much luck at the river, and all but Granny fished for about an hour or so with not much more luck! Once Granny decided to pick up a pole she caught about 6 in a row! While all of us just watched her. We eventually started to get some bites and it was as if a school of fish just passed on by for about an hour!

Next time we go fishing, we're for sure bringing Granny along!

So I ended up catching the biggest fish of the day, a real whopper I know, so I got a total of $2! I must have just gotten lucky!

I couldn't NOT take a picture of my first dollar earned! :)

A little more wiggle room...

Just to keep myself accountable...

I've lost a total of 19 pounds since the middle of January! As a reward for myself, when I lose 20 pounds I'm buying myself a "skinny" dress! Our good friends Dan and Mandy are getting married August 1st and I'd love to find a cute dress for their wedding! And also a couple more "events" this summer. Yay for a skinnier me!

Getting Bigger!

Rissy lost her first tooth last night. She probably swallowed it or something because I saw it hanging then the next hour it was gone! She also had a nasty tick...probably from camping last weekend. Colin got it out with some tweezers. The darn thing popped right out! She's gained another 6 pounds in the last 2 weeks and is bigger than Duke now! We are taking her camping with my parents at the end of June and we are SO excited to see if she will swim or not! She's a lab so I'm sure she will!

That's all for now!

What a difference a few months make...

Here's a fun side by side shot of the old yard and the new one. :) Look at the difference!

Beautiful Yard...

We have been so busy with the puppies we haven't blogged about our yard recently! I'll get to that in a minute. Rissy has gained ANOTHER 6 pounds since we went to the vet 2 weeks ago. She is now 33 pounds. We have a feeling she is going to be a BIG girl! Duke had a bad ear infection last week so he has to have ear drops in his ear twice a day. Poor thing. He is feeling much better though.

Ok now to the yard...today Colin and I mowed our newly redone front yard for the first time. We also pulled weeds, edged the grass and flower beds and created some new plans for a small walkway. I am SO excited for our lilies, dahlias, clematis and other random flowers to start blooming. Here are a few pictures of the front yard.





A couple random things around the yard...
This is the planter on our fence my dad made and my mom planted.

This is the cute puppy planter my mom got me for my birthday last year because it reminded her of Duke. :)


And this is the bird house my dad made us for Christmas...it's up in our tree and have seen birds in there already!



That's it for now! I'll keep everyone updated on Rissy and the whole clan...as soon as something exciting happens. :)

Puppy Updates...

Today Rissy and Duke went to the vet for some shots. Luckily, our next door neighbor is a vet and owns a veterinary hospital right down the road! Rissy now weighs 27.7 lbs at 11.5 weeks old. She outweighs duke by about 4 pounds now! They are about the same height but Rissy is much thicker than Duke.

For Mother's Day, Duke, Rissy and I loaded up in the car and headed up to my parents house for the weekend. Rissy only slept about 30 mins on the way up. Duke is the BEST car dog ever. He always sleeps behind the drivers seat on the floor, no matter what car we are in. Below are a couple pictures from the ride home. Rissy slept all but 10 mins and Duke was great. They were so tuckered out this is how they were sleeping in the car! We had a great weekend visiting with everyone and they were exciting to meet Rissy. That Saturday we went over to my sisters house and brought the dogs. I wanted to see if Rissy would swim in their lake. I had to push her in a little and she did great swimming back. The water was so cold I didn't want to force her to swim too much.

This weekend we are headed out to Loon Lake for a weekend of camping with Colin's sisters, brother in law and nephew. We are leaving Duke to play with Bella at Colin's parents house and Rissy is coming along for some camping fun. Hopefully she'll prove to be a good swimmer! Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day!

Rissy LOVES her hamburger...

...as if she wasn't chubby enough!



...as if she wasn't chubby enough!

I just love my Grandma's house...

...but I get sleepy playing with all my new cousins! My new favorite place to sleep is under the dining room table...of course with my chin on this hard pillow I found!

Love, Rissy

To help or not to help...

I learned today that by helping yourself, often times you helps others as well. Back in January I signed up for the Pound For Pound challenge on the Biggest Loser website and made a goal to lose 10 lbs. For each pound lost, they donate 1 pound of food to a local food bank. Today was the final reporting date and I was happy to report a total loss of 16 pounds...which means that 16 pounds of groceries would be donated locally to help feed people in need.

Hopefully next year they have this challenge again!

The perfect place to nap...

Sometimes a puppy just can't make it to her bed.

And yes that's a wedding magazine, no I'm not getting married. I just like all the pretty dresses. :)