Asheville

This weekend Doug and I made the 3.5hr drive to Asheville. The drive was beautiful, I thoroughly enjoyed the mountains covered in colorful trees - but I forgot to take pictures en route! While there, we celebrated Jenny's (Doug's cousin) marriage.

The lovely bride and her father - look at her bouquet!!

 The reception was in a barn, reminiscent of the Schoharie pumpkin patch, beautifully decorated with lights. I just wish it had been 10 degrees warmer!

Afterward, they served a nice dinner - my favorite part was the settings! Each person had a unique goblet, and personalized place settings. So classy.

While in Asheville we stayed with Doug's Grandma Christie and spent a lot of time with her, Uncle John, Aunt Heather & Uncle Grant & family, cousin Natalie & family, and cousin Susannah & family. (We don't call them "cousin Natalie", or "Uncle John", those are just there so you can figure our the relations haha.) Heather fed everyone snacks, lunch (zuppa toscana from olive garden!!) and dessert (apple and pumpkin pies!!). We also went to a nearby park where the boys men, couldn't help showing off:

Grant

Doug - he really did get all the way up, haha,  I just had bad timing.

Grant

Doug

David, Natalie's boy.

Needless to say, we had a delightful time. Thanks especially to Heather for the food, and Grandma Christie for housing and feeding us! We really look forward to Thanksgiving :).

It's Gametime

I am such a game person. I don't care if you need strategy or stupid luck to win the game. I actually prefer a mix of both (then if I lose, I don't feel totally ridiculous, right?). Oh, and I really like to win. I'm such a sore loser. 

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$45 new

Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking, "this is boring, what's your point?" Surprise: no point. But I did find a new game that I decided I like - probably because I won the third time we played it (and Doug hasn't won yet, heh heh). Dominion. It's fun because it takes a little while to learn, there are so many variations of the game, there's no "always-winning" one strategy, yet it's still quite easy. 

 

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$25 new

Another game that I totally love: Word on the Street. Two teams play tug of war for letters. Super simple. Really fun if you like word games. Which I do. :)

Unfortunately, they kind of cost a lot. But if they're on the "want" list for a really long time it means I can buy them, right? That means we only have 3 games: Pass the pigs, Rook, and a deck of cards. Rook isn't even opened, why can't it be a  two-person game?! We really just need to get some kids, problem solved.

Anyway, what kind of games do you have? Or do you just "borrow" games from your neighbors like someone else I know...ahem.

The view from my window

When the shades are open, that is.

Live from the Vandys!

The Progressive Jingle was stuck in everybody's heads on Halloween - well, actually, the 29th (that's when the parties were, and since we didn't get any trick-or-treaters....); because we were dressed like this:

We didn't think to take pictures of each other to better document our awesome costumes. Awesome and cheap costumes! I bought a white apron for $4, the ribbon was inexpensive, and the phone was $2.50 at a thrift store. The rest is stuff we already had or I printed and taped to our costumes.

On our way to the ward trunk or treat we considered the possibility that no other adults would be dressed up! We  were happy to discover that our costumes could easily be transformed into somewhat normal clothing. Fortunately, most adults dressed up, so it was all okay.

That night our friends, the Johnsons, hosted a Halloween party, which was totally awesome. We (six couples) went out for dinner at Chili's all dressed up! Another table was also dressed up and they looked relieved when we showed up as they were no longer alone in publicly celebrating Halloween 2 days early. Needless to say we got a lot of stares and even requests for insurance quotes!

It was a good thing we celebrated on the 29th, because the 31st ended up being a disappointment. Oh well, the more candy for me!!!