Sunday, January 4, 2009

New Years Eve...and Bunco!

Yes, we played COUPLES BUNCO on New Years Eve! Pay no mind to that sad face there. I think most of the menfolk were like, "What the heck is Bunco?" and "Why do WE have to play?" Until they started playing. And then it was all about the stickers and everyone pretty much agreed that the men thoroughly enjoyed their evening of Bunco! A total of nine couples and probably an equal number of offspring gathered at Ken & Kathy's lovely home to ring in the New Year.

Here they are...the host and hostess with the mostest! Aren't they cute?

We started with a yummy spread of appetizers.

Meatballs in sauce. What's not to smile about?

I have to include the following photo: This is a very common sight in the Pacific Northwest. (My SoCal readers will marvel at this!) When you arrive at someones home, the shoes come off. Because no one wants all the snow and water and muck on their floors that you might otherwise drag in!

Okay, back to the Bunco festivities! Here we have Table #1 or the Head Table. Left to right: Tony, Kathy, Jay, Mary and Mike. (This is the written portion my test on everyone's names!) Teehee. Also of interest: Jay is sporting the fashionable "I Rolled the Last Bunco" Hat. I think Tony actually got to wear the hat three times. And that didn't jive with his ploy to stay in his comfy chair and not move tables all night!

Here we have Table #2. The losers from Table #1 migrate to this table. I certainly didn't mean to say that this is a group of losers. That came out all wrong, huh? Forgive me. Anyway, (left to right) is Jim, Sheryl, Carrie, and Dan. Dano's eyes are closed, but he is ready to roll the dice!

I didn't get photos of the other two tables because the bell rang and I had to sit down!!!

Ken and I. Oh, look who's wearing the coveted hat now! Yes, I rolled a sweet Bunco to steal the previous game. Ask Tony, he'll tell ya! (And for my Bunco girls back in SoCal, that last Bunco was on Sexy Sixes!!! Woot woot!)

So, after three rounds of rolling the dice, Jay was triumphant. Look at all those stickers! For Jay, it was all about collecting stickers. His plan worked.

This is Mary and Mike. They were also big Bunco winners. If I remember correctly, Mike had the last Bunco and Mary came in Second Place for the most stickers. How cute are they? We'll talk about these two later...

Danny won the Booby Prize. His sticker paper looked the opposite of Jay's. Actually, it might have even been worse, but we won't go there.

Instead, let's go upstairs. The Christiansen's have this awesome bonus room full of games to play.

Ken organized a Darts tournament, with teams consisting of each couple. Here, Ken is explaining how its gonna go down.

When you weren't playing darts, you could play foosball, pool, or the ever-popular Rock Band. Left to right: Jerry, Abby, Darlene, Sheryl and Mike.

The dart action shots aren't so good, so let me just cut to the good news: Danny and I went through the bracket undefeated. Our final opponents were Mary & Mike. Mike is very good, and Mary is the queen of the "Triple 20." It was a tough match and I thought we had no chance when they had us 490 to somewhere around 440. I think I threw a 14, then I know I threw a 25 (woohoo!) and then, thinking it was over, lobbed it and it was a double 13...ding ding ding...we won! You seriously could have knocked me over with a feather. But we do concede that had the game gone only to 300, instead of 500, we would have not been victorious.

Amazingly, the Darts Tournament ended at about 11:55, so we all went downstairs and gathered around the TV to see the fireworks off of the Space Needle and ring in the New Year. This is my only proof that Hayley and Brian were there. That is Hayley in the turquoise sweater and that is Brian's foot by her elbow.

Kathy, Ken, Karen and Rob: Thank you again for such a fun evening! And for introducing us to such a sweet and fun group of friends! We are blessed. =)

Happy New Year everyone!