A week filled with friends and family

On Tuesday Dan and I hosted a dinner for his former boss and co-workers from Portland Advertising and Design. This is a really great group of guys...and some serious story tellers in this bunch.

Dan, Stan (former boss), Mo and Ben.

I've been camping with Mo and Ben (and Dan of course!) and they are super funny. Stan loves to talk and we would always yak on the phone when I called for Dan. Sometimes I would talk with Stan longer than with Dan! Anyway, it has been years since we have all seen each other and it was so great to catch up. I was still recovering from my cold, so Dan even made the dinner...well, most of it anyway! For the past (I'm guessing 6-7 years) Dan has designed and updated Mo's website for his door and window company. You can check it out here...and be sure to call Mo if you ever need windows. Mo will be flying to Egypt (where he was from originally) to get married in a week or so. As it turns out Ben is a very talented painter and has some of his paintings here. I think they're great, you should check them out.

Last night we had our friends Shawn and Katie over with their 3 kids. It was great catching up with them and having their kids over to play too. Sadly, I left my camera in the car and don't have any pictures.

Today was my nephew Brandon's first birthday party so in keeping with the Roush family first birthday tradition, my sister borrowed my lamb cake mold and made Brandon a lamb cake! I bought it at an antique store, but it's the same cake mold my mom used for our first birthdays and I think even my grandma used one for my dad and siblings.

"...and he saw that it was good!"

Brandon got lots of goodies for his birthday, so I'm sure he will have plenty of fun playing with everything.

...but really...who needs toys, when you've got grandpa?

Brandon couldn't get enough!

...and it looks like grandpa was having fun too!!!

Not long after we got home from Brandon's party, we were out the door again to a surprise 50th birthday party for our friend and neighbor, David.

His wife had him pick up his brother at the airport and David had no idea that we were all waiting for him when he arrived home.

The kids, especially Zander, were drawn to the live music (mandolin and guitar). These musicians were top notch and really set the mood.


A big ol' piece of cake (angel food I think) for the birthday boy! It was a fun party and Dan and I got to mingle and meet lots of great people.

Okay, this is totally off topic, but I'm noticing that my photos look a little grainy on my monitor...Do they look that way to anyone else? Last weekend, my display stopped working on my digital camera, so I can't see the photos until I upload them and for some reason, they seem a little lower res than I am used to. Let me know what you think.