Leah's Baby Shower

Leah and Anthony are having a little girl this August! We had a great time celebrating my cousin Leah's baby shower on June 23rd.

85 Stoner Wedding

On June 30th we travelled to the Mountain Springs Lodge near Leavenworth, WA to celebrate our friends and neighbors, Tricia and Steve's, wedding. We drove to Leavenworth with our next door neighbors, Trent, Rachelle, and baby Kylee. We had a fun time stopping for ice cream in Leavenworth before heading to the wedding. At the wedding we met up with our fellow 85 Stoner, Dave and his girlfriend Alice. It was a beautiful wedding!!

Dan's New Stomping Grounds

On July 21st, Dan took Rufus and I on a tour of his new "home away from home," the UW MBA school on the grounds of the UW campus.

Rufus Swims Greenlake

We don't know what got into Rufus. I guess it was a hot day for starters!! Dan and I took Rufus for our usual trip around Greenlake on Saturday morning. Before we could even react, Rufus was suddenly in the water swimming. He LOVES to swim and was in and out of the water 4 times that day fetching sticks and cooling off.

Mandy turns THIRTY--eek!!!

What a fabulous 30th birthday!!! After spending most of the week in Whistler (where I reflected on my 20's and wrote a list of all that I had accomplished in my 20's and all that I wanted to do in my 30's), we returned to Seattle Thursday evening to begin the festivities. After midnight on "Friday the 13th" Dan and Amy sang "Happy Birthday" to me. The next morning I awoke to a knock on the door and it was my neighbor, Trent, bringing Dan and I Chai from Starbucks to kick off the morning. After this we headed off to the 5 Sport where we met up with Amy for a little 5 spot breakfast. There Amy gave me my first present of the day...a pair of new sandals which I would wear after getting a signature pedicure after breakfast at the Gene Juarez Spa downtown. While Amy and I were at the spa, Dan was slaving away on a 30th birthday cake he was making for me back home (see the pretty picture of my pink cake). When I returned home I had presents that had arrived from dan's parents and my sister-in-law, Christina (a new purse and a Disneyland photo album that Christina had made). From here mom and dad arrived and we headed out to the Icon Grill for dinner where we met up with Carrie, Steve, and Debbie. Dinner consisted of comfort food of fried chicken and mashed potatoes. After dinner we enjoyed birthday cake and ice cream back at the Rossi household where I continued opening gifts. What a terrific day!!

Our first trip to Whistler, B.C.

On July 7th Dan and I headed off for a little R and R in Whistler, Canada at the Westin Resort. What should have taken us 4 and 1/2 hours to get there took us a little longer...let's just say we were supposed to be on Hwy 1, but somehow ended up on Hwy 1A. It all worked out in the end and we made it to our beautiful destination. The Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler was absolutely breathtaking!! It is quite the windy road, so it was all eyes on the road for Dan as I described to him all that I was seeing going on around him (like two bears drinking coffee). The first day was a little overcast and cool, but after that Whistler was in a heat wave and temperatures reached the high 90's. While we had aspirations to go zip-lining and white water rafting, we ended up spending much of our time relaxing at the pool, eating out, and shopping at the village. We also had two massages. One of the massages was sitting in massage chairs where these women practically beat us up...I think I'm still bruised from it! One day we went to the driving range and we watched five movies (one each night) at the Village Theater. Whistler exceeded our expectations!

Dan is Accepted to the UW MBA program and now husband and wife are finally "one" as part Buckeye and part Husky

On June 13th Dan received the great news via e-mail that he had been accepted into the Evening MBA program at UW. Much to our satisfaction, this news came a week and a half earlier than we had expected. To celebrate, I bought Dan some of his first Husky gear which included a Husky sweatshirt, notepad and pen. We had a celebratory dinner at Claim Jumpers and stuffed ourselves to the gills. Dan's program will consist of three years of hard work which will begin at the end of September this Fall. Dan is currently working hard at teaching himself statistics and accounting to prepare for an exam he must pass prior to the start of classes. I am soooooo proud of Dan for this accomplishment!!! He spent months preparing for the GMAT and slaving away at his application and I just new his hard work would pay off. The most exciting part of all of this is that the Rossi household is now in equilibrium (Mandy has an undergrad degree from UW and grad degree from OSU and now Dan will have just the opposite).

On June 12th the 5th Avenue Theatre Series Comes to an end with West Side Story

On our 4th Anniversary Dan came up with the idea to purchase season tickets to the 5th Avenue Theatre. We saw a total of 5 shows including: Bollywood Dreams, White Christmas, The Buddy Holly Story, Camelot, and West Side Story. We had so much fun on our date nights which included dinner out on the town prior to the show. Favorite dinner had to be Chez Shea and favorite show probably a tie between White Christmas and West Side Story. Click here for a link to the 5th Ave: http://5thavenue.org/ and Chez Shea: http://www.chezshea.com/

Dan's MBA Interview and John Mayer ALL IN ONE DAY

What a day June 2nd was! At 8am Dan had to be at the UW MBA school for a group interview for the evening MBA program. After an intense several hours, Dan arrived home around 1pm and we quickly packed a picnic before heading out to the Gorge Amphitheatre to see John Mayer. If you don't know already, I LOVE John Mayer and have all of his albums. Once Dan asked me if I could "jam" with anyone who would it be? Of course I said John Mayer, so today I was finally a little closer to this dream :) Dan started out driving the three hour trip over the pass to the Gorge, but after an intense morning he could hardly keep his eyes open. He pulled over and I drove the rest of the way (he said he blinked his eyes and suddenly we were there). The show was absolutely fantastic. The opening acts were Rocco Deluca and Ben Folds (both put on great performances, but Dan was especially excited to see Ben Folds). John Mayer played for two hours and we were so blown away by how awesome he sounds live. The backdrop of the concert was the Gorge which sits right on the Columbia River. Amazing! Our seats were in the 12th row, so we could see all of John Mayer's funny facial expressions right up close. Dan started out the drive home, but again we pulled over and I finished out the trip getting us home around 2am...What a day!!

Amy turns the BIG 3-1

On May 29th Amy turned 31. The day before (Memorial Day) mom, dad, and grandma Boes arrived to celebrate with a yummy dinner at Maggiano's over at Lincoln Square in Bellevue. We had a family style dinner with salads, pastas, and two huge desserts. After dinner we opened gifts at our house. The next day it was back to work :(, but after work we met up with Amy for pizza at the new Tom Douglas Restaurant called Serious Pie. The pizza was to die for.

85 Stoners go the Mariners Game

On May 20th Dan and I joined our neighbors to watch the Mariner's play the San Diego Padres. It was a rainy day with the roof closed at Safeco Field, but we still managed to have a great time. Dan was pleased as punch with the family pack of peanuts, red vines, and cracker jacks he bought outside the stadium for just $5.00. I of course passed on the family pack for a jumbo hot dog with all the fixins for $10.00. Unfortunately, the M's lost, but they almost came back right at the very end making for an exciting game. Thanks to our neighbors Trent and Rachelle for organizing the day and driving us to the ball park.