Elena's Birthday

For my mom's birthday we took her to a local Italian restaurant that has live music on Thursday nights. The band played a variety of blues. The food was great, we ordered pizza and gelato. I didn't have the pizza, but my eggplant rolottini were delicious. Nathan and Sarah came with us. It was a lovely evening.


Sara and David


Mom


Nathan & Sarah

David's Birthday Rock Fest 2008

OK, so it's no big secret that we are quite geeky and that we have wonderfully geeky friends. For David's birthday I threw a Rock Band Party complete with Dueling Guitar Contest, trophy, prizes, and of course, costumes. Everyone got into character and we had a blast. Dave and Holly O. brought a projector and we had an 8 foot screen on our wall and Dave R. hooked up huge speakers.

For those that don't know about Rock Band, it is a video game for four players, two guitars, a drum set and a microphone. Points are accumulated for accuracy. The four-player mode is a cooperative effort. There is a tug-of war mode that allows two guitarists to compete. We usually play on the 4-player mode, switching off instruments and microphone. It is a great social game. 

Happy Birthday David!

Boy Band

Girl Band

Mosh Pit

First Place: Holly "Hotfingers" O.

Second Place: Nathan "Tap Out" B.

Third Place: David "Ramb 'a Lam" R.

Best Costumes: David O. and Holly O.

David's Birthday

Because of Father's Day we postponed David's party for a couple weeks. My mom and brother took us out to brunch to celebrate and we went to see "The Incredible Hulk" while we were in Eugene for Laura's graduation party. The stadium seating and recliner seats in the theaters in Eugene are much more comfortable than the ones in town.

For his birthday this year we are having friends over for a Rock Band party and Guitar Competition. We have trophies and prizes for the winners. I'll write more about that complete with pictures when the time comes.

Hawaiian Themed Dinner

We were invited to a Luau Murder Mystery Party at Dave and Holly O's house. We didn't get to play the murder mystery game because one of the guests couldn't make it, but we had a great time anyway with Holly's sister and her husband. We had all prepared part of the Hawaiian themed dinner and it was delicious. We dressed up as our characters, I was supposed to be a hula girl and David was going as a tribal chief. They picked the "gringo"-est two to play the natives.

We will get together another time to play the game, but dressing in a theme was fun too. 

When we decided not to proceed without the last guest, we headed to our house and played Rock Band for the rest of the evening. 

Working on the House

At the beginning of June David and I decided to take a week off, since he was off school, to do some work around the house. These are the before pictures of the front "lawn" and flower bed.

Here is David working the roto-tiller. I shoveled in all the edges. David said he was surprised at how much work I did. I think he thought he was going to have to do this all by himself. Our neighbor told him he was lucky because he has a wife that will do the work with him. We got a lot of compliments from the neighbors and lots of drive-by lookers. 
Here are the after pictures. The lawn is seeded but hasn't started sprouting yet. We are looking forward to it turning green. The path expanded as we removed the dirt and weeds that had grown into it. We put borders around the tree and the flower bed on the sunny side of the lawn. We leveled the part under the tree which had a lot of big holes. It took a lot of dirt to get it flattened out. A wheel barrow would have come in handy but we didn't think of it until we were almost done. We learned a lot during this big project. 

I am filling in these front two planters with ground covers and stepping stones.

Sara's Birthday

Ken, Stephanie, Holly, Dave O
Nathan, Mom, Me, David
May 9, 2008

More Gardening

It is an exciting time in our garden. Since it is the first spring we have spent in this house we are still discovering new plants that have been established here. Before making too many changes we are going to see what is already here.
This was our side-garden back in the Fall before we could really see anything growing. 
Here is the same garden at the beginning of the year when it snowed.
After some pruning it sure filled out with roses, lilacs and irises.
Aren't they beautiful! What a wonderful surprise!
Under my kitchen window we built a box for herbs.
This is the beginning of a flavorful garden. Sage, rosemary, lavender, parsley and basil are just the beginning.