Tremendous Thursday

Wow! The last two days turned out be a great deal busier and a lot more fun than I’d expected!

As you read in my earlier post, my two cousins Colleen and Charity are "home" for a couple of days from Tennessee.

Well, their dad hosted an impromptu BBQ Thursday night!

Grandpa Boehm and his wife, Evelyn, were visiting, along with my cousins’ Aunt Betty and some other relatives from the Boehm side which was actually the REAL reason for the celebration.

But you add Rehfeldts to any occasion, and you get a party!

Uncle Billy and Lina were gracious enough to open up their home to the lot of us! I should mention…that we kind of invited ourselves. We’re not too proud to admit we’re not above doing that on occasion!

In addition to Uncle Billy and Lina, there was me and Brett; Mom and Gary; my cousin Brad, his wife Paula, and their adorable little toddler Aidan; Grandpa Boehm and Evelyn; Betty Boehm; Maria and Paola; Charity, Colleen, Candice, and BJ (who is moving back, yea!), our old high school friend – the terrific – Toinette; and some other assorted Boehm relatives that I didn’t personally know!

Sounds like a fun party, doesn’t it?!

Brett and I got there late – as usual. This time it was my fault. I was invited to go out after work with "the girls" from the office to nosh on appetizers and indulge in a little water cooler talk at the Olympic, and I just couldn’t resist.

So, I was running late when I got home. Brett didn’t mind, since he had just mowed the grass and was diving into a much needed shower when I got home.

When we finally did get to Uncle Billy’s, we enjoyed delicious freshly-grilled food and (my favorite) Colleen’s World-Famous Frosted Brownies! We spent a lot of time watching Aidan, my cousin’s adorable little boy, as he toddled around handing toys to various people and just being cute as a button.

Candice showed me and Brett Uncle Billy’s new GIGANTIC swimming pool! He could teach canoeing in that thing!!! It’s really nice, though, and we got the invite to come over sometime and use it, so it got a thumbs-up from us.

After the food and the fellowship, it was time for the traditional playing of the BOARD GAME!

Muwahahahahah!!!!

Colleen, Candice, Maria, Paola, Charity, Brett, Toinette, Mom, and I gathered around the coffee table to play Apples to Apples. It was a competitive game - complete with teasing, arguing, and laughing - but in the end, petite Paola proved she has what it takes to win!

Don’t let her fool you – behind those pretty eyes is a SHARK!!! She’s really good!

We tried to convince Lina to play with us by chanting "LINA! LINA! LINA!" loud and obnoxiously, but she resisted our juvenile persuasion and stayed with "the adults" in the kitchen. Mom kept saying how we were all "young" in the living room. Whatever we have to tell ourselves, Mom!

We had SUCH a good time. I could hardly believe it was time to go home SO fast. Of course, if I had known how busy I was going to be on Friday, I probably would have tried to grab a little more shut-eye.