Corn Hole Tournament!

There are couple things in Columbus that I have never seen before. Glow bugs, Asian markets at ever corner, humidity, and corn hole. Corn hole is a really popular game that at first sight, seems kind of like a game you'd play in nursery or in the little kid section of a carnival. But here, it is really competitive. People play it at the beach, picnics, tail gate parties, and I think some people play it as a drinking game.

A couple in our ward organized a big tournament with root beer floats.

Everyone wore matching outfits with their spouses and matching leis. Benjamin and I wore our matching BYU-I gym shirts. We were the Vikings (and we came in last place).

The golden corn bag was the prize for the winner. We had a tournament bracket and we all played for  quite awhile. But right before the two remaining couples played the final round, it started pouring. So the golden corn bag is still up for grabs.

The rules of the game: Each team is composed of two players. One person from each of the two teams stands on each side. Two corn hole boards face each other. Each side takes turns throwing bags filled with dried corn at the board across from them, alternating between the two players until the bags are gone. So if you look at the picture above, Benj would throw one, then the guy in the yellow would throw and so one until each has thrown four bags.

Each bag that sticks on the board is worth 1 point. Each bag that goes in the hole is worth 3 points. However, the two teams’ bags cancel each other out. So in the picture above , the blue bag cancels out one of the red bags. So the red team got 1 point. Who ever reaches 21 points first wins. If you go over 21 points, you automatically go back down to 13.

Go Cougs!

I love this action shot of my friend Jen tossing the corn bag.

Although we lost every match, we had a blast hanging out with our friends. I am sure that we will have plenty of opportunities to improve our skills.

Glow Bugs!

One of the highlights of moving to Ohio was seeing my first fire-fly. There are no lightning bugs in Idaho. Out of sight, out of mind. I had never seen one and I never really expected or thought about seeing one, so when one started flashing in front of me a couple days after we moved here, I was super excited. I screamed really loud and started laughing. I followed the little bug around the park until I lost it.

Since then, we see a tons of little flashing bugs at dusk almost every night. It is so cool to see little flashing lights everywhere.

I caught a glow bug, but it wouldn’t glow in the jar. I felt bad keeping it in there so I let it go. You can see it crawling on the edge of the jar. Also, that little blurry yellow light is another glow bug.

Comm. Fest. and North Market

Benj and I decided to ride the bus downtown to see what all the Community Festivsl hype was all about. It was basically a big hippie festival in a park. It had lots of booths with all sorts of trinkets and fair food. There were lots of live bands and lots of hippies and weirdoes. We didn’t last long, but it was interesting to walk around for a little while and observe all different kinds of interesting people.

There were lots of people hula hooping in the middle of a crowd. This girl was pretty good. She had two going at once for a really long time and kept switching them around from neck to waist to hands to legs.

Ok, so maybe I shouldn’t post this, but it was the funniest thing I have ever seen. There was a band playing and they were pretty good. Then all of a sudden this guy comes out of the crowd and stands right in front of the band and starts dancing like no one was watching. It was awesome.

Oh, how I wish that I had been able to record this!

There were lots of other strange people at comm fest and a little too much beer for our liking, so we moved along to the North Market. This is a really neat indoor market downtown. I loved it! there were so many neat things. We got some delicious ice cream. There were really interesting flavors we tried rhubarb lime cardamom, brambleberry crisp, salty caramel, and blueberry lemon.  There were also stands that sold dessert crepes and waffles,  candy vendors, lots of produce, salsa vendors, and lots of really yummy food stands.

This is looking down on the market from the second floor.

Come on Over

Hello everybody! I just thought I would invite you all into my new home. Come in, stay awhile, make your self at home. I wanted to show you my new apartment. I don’t have pictures of the whole thing because we still have some boxes in the upstairs rooms. And I didn’t have the gumption to spiff up the upstairs bathroom, so you don’t get to see that either. Oh, and you can’t see the main room of the basement because it is full of our empty card board boxes.

We live in the one with the light blinds up and the light on.

Our little flower bed.

Right when you walk in the front door, you see the stairs going up to the two bedrooms, a closet, and a full bathroom.

Then, if you turn to the left of the stairs, you will see our living room. It has nice hardwood flooring and is nice and roomy. We really need to get a rug.

Then keep walking down the hall and to the right there is a doorway that leads down to the basement. There is a big carpeted room down there and a really big closet. Then there is a utility room where we keep our washer and dryer.

Back up stairs: there is another door just after the basement door and inside is a half-bath. We are so happy to have a second bathroom. For some reason Benj and I both need to use the bathroom at the same time, all the time.

Keep walking back and you enter the dining room.

Then to the left is the kitchen. It has a dishwasher!!! Hooray!

Out the sliding glass door is our patio. We have a little bit of space to plant vegetables. We have a handful of tomato plans, some peppers, some herbs, a couple strawberries, and on the other side there are a couple of squash plants and some flowers that were there when we moved in.

I can’t wait for our tomatoes to ripen!

We love our new home. Thanks for stopping by! We have plenty of room, so come visit us!

New Arrivals

My newest nephews!!!

Duncan (middle name to be decided) Romney

Brigham Scott Stewart

Shoes!

I just thought I would post and let everyone know that I got a job! I am working and a shoe store called Easton Shoes. It sells really nice (expensive) comfortable shoes. It is really close to home and I really like working there. My bosses are so nice, and it I like helping the customers try on shoes and find the ones they like.

And I get an employee discount. Do you like my new pink shoes?

Columbus Crew vs. Salt Lake Real

Last week we had the opportunity to go to a pro soccer game! We went with some of our friends in the ward. It was so much fun!!! The Columbus Crew beat Salt Lake 2 to 1. We were clear up in the nose bleeds, but you can’t beat ten dollar tickets and “buck a brat” night.

We were rooting for the yellow players.

I love seeing down town Columbus in the distance.

GOAL!!!