Party in the Midwestern USA, part 1

The past two weekends have been chock full of nonstop fun thanks to visits from some of our friends from our BYU days. It's been fun reminiscing and catching up, and it's always nice to hear Kevin's deep laugh that I just can't quite get out of him by making puns with the names of Eastern European countries at 11 at night, but that flows easily when talking with old friends.

The first friends to visit were the Toblers. We've both visited each other in Columbus and Ann Arbor since we moved out here 2 years ago, but we hadn't met their beautiful baby girl yet, so we were so excited.

The meeting of Hazel and Joseph. Hard to say what they thought of each other.

We set off Saturday morning to County Farm Park, primarily for Joseph's benefit. We considered going on some of the trails, but we got stalled at the playground.

I guess a picture of the Toblers would make more sense here. We took pictures of them with their camera.

After takeout from Palm Palace, we played Bang. Between late night talking and baby-soothing, playing hard at the playground, and getting stuffed with Mediterranean food, I don't think any of us were too heartbroken at dying if it meant we got to doze for the rest of the game.

Soon after that, we made taco soup to add to the chili-strone event put on by some ward members. The idea was for everyone to bring a can of soup to contribute to a giant pot. The result would be chili or minestrone or something in between. It sounded disgusting, but everyone was down for it, so we put the soup together pretty quickly and walked over.

The end result wasn't all that bad, at least until Joseph accidentally spilled some horchata in my bowl. Not my top choice, but definitely not the taste bud nightmare I was fearing. And the Toblers were very patient explaining to everyone "No, we're not new. We're just visiting."

We left that party early so we could catch Central Campus before bedtime. We wandered through the quad, past the train exhibit in the art museum, into the magical law library, and past tailgate-trash-littered yards near the fraternities (only worth mentioning because it was so unbelievable).

And this was the only picture I took.

Once we got back and got the littles in bed, it was time to pull out the time-tested Killer Bunnies. If you don't know how the game goes, it's hard to describe the sheer mania it descends into, how winning becomes less important than certain people not winning, how impossible it is to turn down weapons that destroy everyone else's bunnies, how long certain bunnies can survive being passed from player to player, and how a suggestion that "You've already shuffled the deck enough, Kevin," can cause a player to pick several "Play immediately" cards in succession, most of them killing off all your bunnies. It was pretty great.

The next morning, after church, there was a linger longer. Again, the Toblers were very patient in explaining, "We're just visiting." After naps, we headed to the Botanical Gardens. As we pulled in, the parking lot seemed strangely full.

"Are you here for the wedding?" people asked as we walked in. Loads of people were in suits, dresses, and formal clothing. Had we stayed in our church clothes, we would have fit right in. Although we briefly considered it, we opted for other parts of the gardens. (Not the greenhouse so much though. What feels great in an arctic freeze feels like being mugged by angry heat gods in August.)

Flowers in boots. "That's so silly." I think the Lord of the Rings music was still playing down at the wedding at this point.

Speaking of hobbits, we found this charming little house.

And Joseph insisted on taking one of the chairs with him everywhere.

It was eventually returned.

It was hot!

All too soon, the Toblers had to head back to Columbus for random things like classes and clinicals and real life. We considered joining them the next day for their ward's Labor Day BBQ, but we decided we were done with "Are you new?" "No, just visiting" conversations.

And, of course, we had to prep for our next Midwestern visitors . . .