Healthy Living, Cancer, Scentsy, Grandma, Garages, Birthdays, Sports, Games and Diapers

I don't know how things are going for you, but life here seems busier than ever.

The other day I was thinking about how much I miss all of you. Thoughts of what to tell you run through my mind, but making time to sit down and share them has not been an option until today.

So, get your cup of coffee, find a comfy spot on the couch and let's catch up.

If you follow me on facebook at all, you may have seen that I recently started selling Scentsy. For those of you that have no clue what Scentsy is, it is a home fragrance line. We have everything from wax warmers to dish soap. In Septemberish of last year I had attended a party and learned of Scentsy. I had been using some plug-ins to make my house smell good for a while and was getting frustrated because the one scent that I liked, I could only find at Kroger occasionally. So, when I found several fragrances from Scentsy, I had to switch! In February, I decided to join the Scentsy team. It's been super fun so far. I have been extremely happy with the products as well as the customer support. Here is my website if you want to check it out.

Join me!

Through Scentsy, I found my healthy living motivation. Pretty much since August I have struggled once again with eating right and being active. Laziness is definitely a sin issue for me that I know the Lord is constantly chiseling away at. Molding and growing. In January, along with everyone else in the world, I made resolutions to get back at it and have failed miserably off and on since then. At the beginning of March, I received an email about Scentsy's Health Challenge and I knew I had to sign-up to participate. It started this week and I am dying. Haha. The hardest part is drinking 64 ounces of water every day. Before this week, I drank coffee and about 0 ounces of water. Yikes! So with 4 days in, I am feeling more motivated and that is such a great feeling. Onward! Oh and I signed up for my first race of the year which is in June. :)

Adam's game is officially in game stores. It's be so great to see him light up when sharing his game with others and hearing about people playing it. I still cannot beat him in a two-player game and when I do I will never play two-player again. Ha. You can check out more info here if you would like.

Other things going on here. Adam's sweet grandma has been in rehab so the girls and I have made efforts to see her every other week. It is such a delightful visit. The girls talk her ears off and it's even more so now that Charlotte has joined in.

Homeschooling has been going well for the most part. Kaylee is reading non-stop and loving it which makes me super excited! We have the occasional melt-down which can make some days hard. Overall though, I would say this year has gone well.

Kaylee just finished up her first season of basketball. It was awesome to see her make progress and to cheer her team on. I loved it and so did she. I am looking forward to her playing again.

Her ball goes in here. :)

Elanor just turned 5. She had a Barbie fashion party. My sister-in-law's, Grace and Kati, helped me give the girls makeovers and then they put dress-up clothes on and walked the runway. It was so cute! I think fun was had by all.

Charlotte has been spending a lot of her time running around naked lately. She may be ready to be potty trained, but I am not. Mainly because it requires being home for several days in a row and I just don't have that right now. Maybe once co-op is done. I am also not sure if I am ready for her to officially be out of the baby stage. It's hard to say that that phase in my life is done. I'll get there. Until then duct tape is the only way to keep her diaper on at bed time. There has been a time or two that even that didn't work.

Doesn't this look fun?

My momma has been having a rough go at things. The medications have all been messing with her leaving her weak and making it impossible for her to get around. I know a lot of you have been praying for her. Thank you for that. I get to go visit and help after her next chemo treatment which is this Thursday. Even though it is not a vacation visit of sorts, I am looking forward to being able to hug her and my dad. I hate living states away and not being able to help more often. Adam, friends, and family will have the girls while I am away. Please pray that my girls will be so good for everyone watching them. Thanks to all for helping.

Our garage. We were finally having one put on. It is so close to being done. It's been hard to park with all the construction going on, but I am excited to be able to park inside again. Especially on rainy days like today.

Beginning stages.

Softball for the girls and for Adam starts soon. In the meantime, I am enjoying the brief break from sports.

That catches you up on things here for the most part. How have you been? Anything new? I am so behind on everyone else's life. So, tell me. How are things? I hope you are doing well.

Top 10 Board Games (2 Player)

Adam likes to pick on me about being predictable when it comes to the boardgames that I pick for us to play. What can I say, I like what I like. Anyways, it got me thinking about those games so I decided to make a list.

My Top 10 Board Games (2 Player)

10. Carcassonne - This game is a tile-placement game where you are matching sides to create a French landscape in hopes to score the most points on your cloisters, cities, roads, or farms. Carcassonne is quick with 2 players. I prefer the basic game since I have found it difficult to keep my "sore loserness" in check when it is just Adam and I playing. The basic game can be mean, but not as mean as with the other expansions. I like this game because it is unique in the fact that you design the board as you go.




9. Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries - In this game, you collect cards that correspond with the board to place out trains in order to complete routes on tickets that are hidden from others by connecting different cities. In all honesty, I like this game because Adam is great at most games, but this game is one that I most consistently beat him at. So aside from winning, I enjoy this game because of being able to complete routes secretly and see them come together on the board. And it is a really pretty game.

8. Castles of Burgundy - Castles is all about building your settlement in the order that will help you gain the most points overall. This game is also in my original top 10 games ever that I wrote last January. I like this game because I enjoy putting my settlement together and that you can win with lots of different strategies. Adam likes to ship a lot and I like to collect the different buildings.






7. Galaxy Trucker: Anniversary Edition - This game is fun and crazy. Everyone races to build their spaceship before the time runs out. Then, you face all sort of good things like goods to ship and bad things like space pirates that shoot at you and hope that your spaceship can survive the trip. I hated this game the first time I played it because I ended the game with 0 points. One of the expansions in the anniversary edition even adds negative points, but I was playing the base game the first time I played. After playing a few times, I learned how to build my ship better so it can withstand the torments that it faces, making me a little better at the game. I like this game because it is unique in it's game-play as well as it doesn't burn the brain like others can. All around just lots of fun.



6. Suburbia - In this game, you lay tiles in your own little city to make money in hopes of gaining a higher population than anyone else. Everyone also has their own secret goals that gain them extra population if they are completed by the end of the game. I like this game because of the interaction between the tiles you place in your city. For instance if you place a lake next to a tile, you get $2 for that tile. So, it really matters where you place your tiles.




5. Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy - Legacy is about, well your legacy. You are marrying people off in hopes to have the most prestigious legacy. I like this game because I enjoy watching my family line come together. If you were to play this with more than 2 players, you better have a very large table to play on because the family trees take up quite a bit of space.





4. Le Havre - This game is all about gaining wealth. You want to purchase buildings that are efficient and help you gain more wealth. You also want to gain resources to use to build ships to gain food to feed your family. I like this game because it moves quickly and has the building aspect that I enjoy.







3. Trajan - In Trajan, you are trying to get the most points by gaining power in different areas of Roman culture. The turns are guided by a Mancala like mechanic. This is my favorite part of the game because you are limited to certain actions by the number of cubes you have in each bowl. I also like this game because it seems to have multiple ways to win. I enjoy trying different strategies.






2. Ginkopolis - In this game you add tiles to the edge of the city or to the existing city to give you points, resources, or more tiles. I like this game because I feel like I could always do better. Adam and I just played this for our best of 3 and I lost because of silly mistakes that I had made. I already look forward to playing this one again and hopefully this time I will win.






1. Agricola - Agricola is a farming game. You have your own individual farm and farmers that you use to take actions in hopes to make your own farm more successful than all of the other farms. I like this game because I get to build my own little farm and watch it grow. This is a game I feel as though I have gotten better at, but honestly still feel terrible at. I also like this game because it is so logical that I feel like anyone can understand how to play.





If you haven't played one of these games, you should definitely come over and play or find someone who owns them and play. It would totally be worth your time. 

Lately

Our March was super crazy busy and awesome!

The month started out with Indy Con, our local gaming convention that Adam helps run. It is an invitation only 3 day board game convention limited to 150 people. 3 full days of board gaming with Adam without our girls so we get to game with each other.

The second weekend Adam went to a tournament with our friend Jeremy, and Jeremy's wife came over with their daughter Paige to hang out while they were gone. We spent the morning at Target. (of course I couldn't get a picture of all 3 of them looking.)

    

The third weekend was full of celebration. My parents came into town on Thursday and it was nice to have some time with them alone before all of the festivities. Friday, my Mema and Pepa came. I haven't seen them in person in 4 years! It was definitely wonderful to see them and hug their necks. Saturday we took them to Carmel and went to Bubs for lunch. It was a tad cold so we didn't spend as much time outside as we would have liked, but it was still a fun day. Sunday we had Charlotte's dedication at church, lunch afterwards, and then Elanor's birthday party that evening. Adam's family and my Uncle Dennis and his family came for the festivities along with a few friends that joined us for the dedication. It was such a fun busy day and I was exhausted by the end of it. The weekend as a whole was a blast. My cup was full and running over after the weekend ended.

The third weekend was our usual game day that we have every month. We have been averaging 20 people and this month did not disappoint. Annie, at one point, had all of the little girls on the couch with her.

The last weekend of the month I went to my very first home-school convention with my mother-in-law, Markita. It was a day packed with sessions and walking around the exhibit hall looking at curriculum. First off, I must admit, I enjoyed the sessions that I went to. They were incredible and insightful. They were both by Heidi St John, who is a tremendous speaker not only about home-schooling, but about being a momma in general. Looking forward to reading her book. I also had a marvelous time talking with Markita about life and about my handsome husband. It was really a great day.

April isn't as packed as March was, but I am really looking forward to what is on the calendar so far.

Crazy Days

Things have been super crazy busy here and so I apologize for my absence. I am here. We just have had a lot going on.

The main reason is that Adam has been spending most of his time working on our 6th annual IndyCon. He spent countless hours working on the website and emailing/calling companies to support the convention. He worked hard and his hard work paid off. The weekend was a huge success.

Over the weekend I played Tzolk'in the Mayan Calendar Game, Lifeboats, Endeavor twice, Pillars of the Earth twice, Trajan, Traders of Carthage,Wits and Wagers, Crokinole, Le Havre, Guild Hall, Tichu, Bora, Bora and Ticket to Ride Africa.

Personally, this year was by far my favorite year. I played lots of different games with lots of different people. I taught several games to other people. But I must say that the best part of the weekend.... well I am torn between two events... The first one is when Anna, Annie, Laura and I came back and won the Wits and Wagers Tournament all on the last question. The second one is when Annie and I both had grand tichu's during our Tichu game. Both things were super fun and exciting, making the weekend a blast for me.

Already looking forward to next year!

Top 10 Board Games

Adam keeps harassing me about writing this blog. Apparently he asked me to write quite a while ago and I agreed to do it, but until now have put it off. (If you would like to know more about any of these games just search for them here.) So, my Love, here is my list.

TOP 10 BOARD GAMES

10. 7 Wonders - This game can be played with 7 players and it does not change the length of the game whatsoever because you all play at the same time. I enjoy it because it takes some thinking, but it is not a brain burner so it doesn't have a ton of waiting on other players. And I probably like it more because I beat a table full of guys in the demo hall at GenCon the first time I played it. :)

9. Traders of Carthage - This game is 2-4 players, but I prefer it 2 player. There is more control in a 2 player game and that makes the game have more strategy. It is not a long game and it does not take up a lot of room so this is usually a date night at Starbucks game. This game is enjoyable because Adam and I can have conversation and still play a strategic game.

8. Macao - Macao is also 2-4 players. Adam and I usually play it 2 player, but I really don't have a preference for how many play. Everyone has a ship's wheel numbered 1-6 that you rotate each turn that points to the number of cubes you get that turn. That mechanic is what makes this game different than other games we play and is why I like this game.

7. Endeavor - It is funny to me that I like Endeavor as much as I do. I hate conflict so if a game offers a war element, I am not usually on board to play. This game has that element and yet I really like it. This game plays 3-5 players. I think I like it best with 4 simply because most shipping lanes open up. My favorite thing about Endeavor is that it is a fairly simple game with minimal rules, but is super strategic and can be won in a variety of ways. There are not a lot of games that I don't mind teaching and this is one of them.

6. The Castles of Burgundy - I was torn between this and Endeavor, but since this can be played 2 player it beat Endeavor for 6th place. Personally I like this game because I like that I have my own player board that I get to build on. I prefer to play this 2 player because it can be a pretty long game with more players.

5. Puerto Rico - This game is awesome. It is 2-5 players. With my own player board, I get to build again. There is shipping and trading and city building and prospecting. I think what I like most about this game is how pretty it is. Even before we bought the anniversary copy, I have always thought this game had nice bits. Not to mention that this was one of the first games we bought as a married couple. We played it a ton with our neighbors and friends Derrick and Renee. So, this game is extra special because it has been with us for most of our gaming life.

4. Avalon - Best party game in my opinion. 5-10 players. Much like Mafia with the suspense and intensity, but nobody dies so everyone gets to play the entire game. I like this game because even my Mom likes it, meaning that people that don't usually play games would most likely enjoy this one. It is best to play with people you know or at least very outgoing people.

3. Le Havre - This plays 1-5 players. I like this game because I feel like it never plays the same way twice. The buildings come out in different ways every time so you are forced to switch strategy based on there order. It is a longer game, but it feels like it goes really fast.

2. Galaxy Trucker - Unlike all of the other games, this game is very chaotic. It is in real time. Building a space ship as fast as you can, but as pretty as possible hoping it helps you last through the round. After all ships are built, you face a bunch of pirates and meteors while collecting goods. You do this 3 times. Each time your ship gets bigger. I like this game because the most strategic part of it is simply in building your ship as that is the only part in your control. It is very fast paced.





1. Agricola - This game is my favorite, but I am terrible at it. I enjoy it because no matter how badly I play, my farm still looks so nice by the end. As you can tell from above, I enjoy games where I get to build on my own player board. This one has AMAZING bits. We have the farmer meeples and the animeeples as well, making playing even more fun.








There you have it. I like games where I can build and that look pretty. That about sums it up.