Fore!

Lately, everything we've been doing has to do with sports! We have recently made 3 trips up north. Two of them were to go golfing with my brother, and the third was to see the Red Sox play the Mariners (I'll post on that later.).

The first trip we made up north was up to see Dale, Jaimie and Jackson. We spent a couple days at their house. Usually we get fast food breakfast from the local burger joint, but we wised up this time and made our own biscuits and gravy as well as scrambled eggs with Cougar Cheese (smokey chedder from WSU's creamery). Dale and Dan went golfing (to get ready for a local charity tournament) and I went along to drive the cart. It was my first time driving, and man, it was fun.

Here is a picture of Dale with the gorgeous Oaksridge Country Club behind him:

Dan lining up for a shot:

And here I am driving the cart:

We went on to have a great time at the charity tournament, though our team had no chance of winning. The tournament went to support the Aberdeen Police Guild which gives to various charities around the Harbor. We had six people on our team, and I drove a cart around again. It was great fun, until our cart died on the 10th hole. Luckily, it's located pretty close to the office, and I quickly got a replacement. Jaimie spent the day helping raise money with a marshmallow chipping contest. I felt pretty bad for her because it was a cold, drizzly day (unlike our practice day that you seen in the photos- it was nice and sunny that day).

Dale and Dan were complaining that their arms hurt after about 10 holes. Now that we are home, Dan is complaining about his hip as well. Man, getting older is a blast!

Safeway Marathon Madness

I fancy myself as a frugal shopper. Sure, Dan and I fly over to the East Coast more than the budget allows and we drive all over to watch Pearl Jam. In order to do this, however, we have to save money here and there. During my summer vacation, I try to stockpile up on products we can use (during the school year I don't seem to have time to shop around). I think this is my best savings yet (91%). Here is a picture of the loot:

I spent.......... $5.80! That's it. I got over $56 worth of groceries for only $5.80. And the best part? I got a coupon good for $10 off my next shopping trip. Good on anything! Sure we got a few free things we would not normally buy or use, but we can donate them to the local shelter. $5.80 is more than we usually pay for the two ketchups alone! Here is what we got:
2 jars of salsa
1 jar of cheddar salsa dip
1 box chocolate special K (Dan wants to try it)
2 boxes of yogo bits (little yogurt covered balls... got them for 16 cents each)
4 boxes of pop tarts (going to the shelter... got them for free)
2 bottles of heinz ketchup
2 boxes of green giant broccoli with cheese sauce
1 package of kraft singles
1 package of wacky mac noodle
1 box of barilla pasta plus
2 containers of betty crocker frosting (made carrot cake cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting)
1 box of electrisol dishwasher tablets

Go team!

Mario Kart

This one is for T- to the Revor. You said you didn't like all of the boring day to day stuff. You said you wanted pictures of Dan playing Mario Kart. Here you go. PS... I finally beat him (He is the best in our family, even beating my brother Dale.). I was racing as Koopa Troppa- He was Baby Peach. Usually we race as our own people (Dan and Susan), however, we wanted fun little vehicles. He rode in a duck... I had a spaceship similiar to a Star Wars TY Fighter.

I threw in a bonus picture of Dan painting our new closet door (downstairs). Don't mind the messy closet!

Ruby

It's just a little past our two year anniversary. We were back at McMenamins a few weeks ago with Dale, Jaimie and Jackson to watch the Death Cab for Cutie Concert. It was amazing! They rocked (as usual). The beer stand was about 6 paces away and there was NO LINE.

Anyway... Dan and I went back to McMenamins today because he had the day off. We decided to have a picnic. We brought in some sandwiches and found a picnic bench by the little red shed. It was a gorgeous day and the place had just enough people there to look postcard perfect, but not so many people that we couldn't find a peaceful place to play cribbage. We played the best of 3 games (I won the first 2, meaning there was no need for a 3rd).

We walked around the property. All the flowers are in full bloom and the place is gorgeous. The first time we went there, I told Dan that it was the place I wanted to be married at. He thought it was run down and old looking. He mentioned today how wrong he was. We both are so happy that we chose a place with so much character.

When we were married we wanted to commemorate it with a piece from the glass blowing shop (on-site). We couldn't afford it at the time. Now that it is our 2nd anniversary we can finally afford a vase! We agreed on a green vase. We were watching the glass blower and his cashier and they actually brought up Pearl Jam. It was perfect!

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

This is how our garden grows! We only have a few feet of space outside of our balcony. We have recently decided to dedicate this space to growing a garden. We decided on one foliage plant (the gardenia), one tomato plant a couple of herbs. We are growing spicy oregano, basil, tarragon and sage. We have already used the herbs in a couple of dishes (including mini-burgers... for which I made homemade mini hamburger buns). We have also almost lost the gardenia bush in the great June heat. It reached 104 degrees here after months of rain.