Games We Love

Robert and I LOVE playing games.  It's a great way to interact with each other without watching TV.  My family has always been big into games.  Each year "Santa" brings us a new family game.  It's a great tradition that Robert and I are already continuing.  So here's a list of some of our favorite games:

1. Phase 10 - A great standby.  I first learned how to play this game one summer in high school with Tarah.  Personally, I'm not a fan of playing it with more than 3 or 4 people though.  When it gets to be much more than that the game just seems to last forever.
2. Skip Bo- My family bought this game one time when we were visiting my great-grandmother Sweetie.  It moves pretty quickly, so you have time to play multiple rounds in case you're one of those people who feels the need to keep playing until you win. 
3. Quiddler - This is a newer addition to the family.  Santa brought it to our home for Christmas in 2012.  It seems to be a lesser known game, but so far everyone we have taught to play it has really liked it and caught on quickly.
4. Settlers of Catan  - I learned how to play this one in college.  I don't know why, but I always feel self-conscious playing strategy games at first.  With games that have quite an element of luck (Life, Yahtzee, etc.) you don't feel as vulnerable, but with a game like Settlers, I'm always afraid that seasoned players are critiquing my moves in their mind.  Regardless, after playing the game time and time again I really do like it.
5. Ticket to Ride - I played this game for the first time when Robert and I started dating.  It was visitation night in the dorms.  I went to Robert's room, and we ended up playing Ticket to Ride with his roommate Josh.  Since then, the three of us have also gotten Ticket to Ride on our iPhones and enjoy playing each other virtually.
6. Hand and Foot (Amazon doesn't have a link to the game if that shows you how unheard of this game truly is) - I was introduced to this one when I first met Robert's family.  To date, I haven't met anyone else that has ever heard of it.  It takes quite awhile as there are four rounds, but Robert and I like to play one round a night.  The game takes four nights that way.
7. Anomia - This was Santa's gift to Robert and me this year.  We really like it a lot.  The main downfall to it would be the fact that you have to have at least three people to play it, so the two of us can't play it on our own.  It's a word game.  I pretty much always love a good word game.
8. Monopoly Deal - Robert and Josh introduced me to this one as well.  I have fond memories of playing this game with Josh and Robert when I first met them.  Robert and I spent about two hours playing it in the dorm office one Saturday when he had to work all day.  We weren't dating yet so I'm sure I let him win.  I big positive about this game is that it's infinitely faster than the traditional Monopoly board game.

So what are your favorite games?

3 Day Weekend

My 3 day Martin Luther King weekend was absolutely wonderful!  May parents had made plans about two months ago to come to NC for the weekend for a little visit.  The trip was way to short, as usual, but I cherish any amount of time we get to spend together.  We picked them up from the airport Saturday morning at 11:00 and said goodbye Monday evening at 4:00.  Highlights of their visit included:

• Church together
• Getting a little tune up for my car - Oil change, new brake pads, wash, and vacuum
• Grocery shopping
• Delicious restaurants - Brigs, Los Tres Magueyes, Dairy Depot
  
• Games - Anomia and Wits & Wagers
• Mom teaching Robert how to do some mending with the sewing machine
• Replacing the tire on Robert's bike so Dad and I could go for a ride
• Giving Mom and Dad a tour inside several of the buildings at SEBTS.  The last tour we gave them was before Robert started school, and we only showed them the outside of the buildings.
• Hanging with the Vaughts - Dinner, dessert, games, and football on TV
• Catching up with family friends (The Morgans) at Chick Fil A
• Visiting Robert at work, getting to see the flower shop, and meeting his boss and co-workers

Saying goodbye to them never gets any easier.  We'll see them again in about 10 weeks for Easter.  So far away!

Breakfast at Brigs

Chick Fil A with the Morgans

Robert with his co-worker Logan and boss, Alison

Robert started his new semester today.  He has kind of a packed school schedule Tuesday-Thursday in order to be off on Monday and Friday to work at the flower shop all day (plus Saturday).  He's taking Greek 2, Pastoral Ministries, Missions, and Evangelism this semester.  It'll be 12 hours just like last semester.  Wednesdays he'll have 3 classes, and on Thursdays he'll only have one class, so really only Tuesday and Wednesday are crazy.  Hopefully that will pay off in order to have slower days the rest of the week.

Robert finished his Greek class with flying colors!!!  He ended up with an A.  I guess it's all Greek to him?

Winter Updates

It seems like things have been super boring lately, but I guess quite a bit has happened since my last blog post.  We spent Christmas in NC with Robert's parents.  It was definitely good not to be all by ourselves, but it was strange not being in Bolivar with my parents, brother, and grandparents.  I had to work every day that week except for Christmas day, so that didn't really leave time to travel anywhere.  Also, with plane tickets being super expensive around holidays it just couldn't happen.  Robert is still on his Christmas break, so he was able to be with his parents quite a bit while they were in town.

For New Years Eve we were able to go to PA to visit my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.  I got two days off for New Years, and since it coincided with the weekend I had 4 days off which allowed us to make the eight hour drive to Northeastern Pennsylvania.  It was so great!  We hadn't seen everybody since our wedding.  It was perfect - it snowed the day before we got there and the day after we got there so we got to enjoy the lovely white stuff without having to brave terrible roads.  We were able to go sledding twice with my cousin Ryan.  We also had lots of delicious food, had an early celebration for Uncle Doug's birthday, went to church with Grandma and Grandpa, had a little belated Christmas, and played tons and tons of games.  It was great!

Robert is in Jan term right now.  He's taking Greek 1.  It's 13 days from 8:30-12:00, and he is doing so well.  He has gotten A's on all of his quizzes and his one test.  I am very impressed!  He will continue by taking Greek 2 in the spring.  He was also able to clep out of Hebrew 1 and 2 last week.  He took Hebrew 3 in the fall, and since he passed we were able to pay a small fee in order to get the six credit hours for Hebrew 1 and 2.  I'm so happy that Robert was able to save us time and money by skipping Hebrew 1 and 2.

We were able to have quite a bit of friend time this weekend.  We had one of Robert's old coworkers (Christine) and her husband (Brian) over for dinner on Saturday.  I made homemade pizza and they brought salad with homemade honey goat milk dressing.  I can honestly say I had never had that before, but it was really good.  We spent the evening playing Anomia, Sequence, and working on a puzzle.  On Saturday I was able to go for a walk with Katie, and Allie, and Jolie, and last night we were able to have Allie and Jolie over for some playtime. 

My parents will be here for Martin Luther King weekend, and we are so excited!  We don't have any big plans while they're here, but I know it'll be a great time.  Robert hasn't seen my dad since August, and he hasn't seen Mom since October.  I saw both of them in Bolivar the last weekend of November, but it still feels like it's been way too long.

Robert started a new job at Wake Forest Florist and is absolutely loving it.  He works from 9:00-5:00 on Friday and Monday and 9:00-2:00 on Saturday.  It's perfect since he won't have class on Mondays or Fridays this semester.  He really likes his boss and co-workers, and he loves that he gets to just load up the car for deliveries and do his thing and be on his own for a bit.  It's definitely helping him get around town even better.  This job pays quite a bit better than his old job too - definitely not complaining about that. :) 

We had unseasonably warm weather this weekend.  We turned off the heater and pulled open the sliding glass door.  I was able to take two nice walks outside, and we both got to wear shorts, t-shirts, and sandals.  It was great!  Bolivar got some freezing rain/ice this weekend.  It might sound weird to some people, but I miss that.  Don't get me wrong, warm weather is obviously nice, but I'm just so used to it being cold in the winter.  I miss the snow, ice, cold, and wind of the winter.