Archive for "Events"
Hummel-Ward Wedding
Posted on May 20, 2026 by Ching under Events.
We got to witness the union of two beautiful souls earlier this month. Our friend Parker Ward married is perfect match, Madison Hummel.
The ceremony was at the Church of the Nativity in Leawood, Kansas.
Their reception was the Abbott in Kansas City. It was probably the most creative celebration we’ve ever attended. Throughout their relationship, Parker would leave Madison post-it notes so, when he proposed, he also did it in a similar fashion – via a giant post-it note.
They continued this theme at the reception by putting everyone’s table assignments on post-it notes. Our placeholders at dinner were also post-it notes.
It was absolutely brilliant!
Initially, I was worried that we wouldn’t know anyone there. Thankfully, they put us at a table with other pickleball players.
The Abbott, located in the Crossroads arts district of Kansas City, was the perfect reception venue. We hung out on the rooftop patio before dinner for some pre-dinner drinks and rays of sunshine.
Brian enjoyed some old fashioneds, Parker’s favorite drink.
Dinner was fantastic. The tables were beautifully decorated and consistent with the couple’s fun vibe. They also chose a great band. I think everyone had a blast.
Here are some pictures of the food. They went with a plated salad and multiple food stations. I don’t think anyone went hungry.
Honestly, I was surprised we made Parker’s invite list as we hadn’t seen him in a while. He is always so busy with his various business endeavors. I am grateful for the invite though, because I just love weddings. It reminds me of our own wedding and brings back all the good feels. Every time we are witness to another couple’s union, it’s like Brian and I are renewing our vows to each other at the same time. It gives me the warm fuzzies.
Anyway, congratulations to Parker and Madison. We with you both the best and may you both live happily ever after!
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Christmas 2025 Festivities
Posted on January 12, 2026 by Ching under Events.
My friend Laurie Adams came to visit.
Checked out several holiday pop-ups.
Attended several fun Christmas parties.
Cindy’s annual Christmas gathering
Ladies’ annual pickleball gift exchange
Attend Chad and Laura’s annual beer and wine gift exchange
We also attended Brian’s work Christmas dinner at Kobe, and met a bunch of pickleball friends at Chicken N Pickle’s Holiday Hideaway. December was a really fun month. Looking forward to what this month and the rest of 2026 has in store. Happy New Year!
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Birthday Festivities
Posted on December 30, 2025 by Ching under Events, Pickleball.
I thought by leaving town the weekend before my birthday I would get out of birthday festivities. I just don’t like when people make a fuss. It makes me feel bad. However, Dawn texted with me while we were in St. Louis and she insisted on hosting a birthday get together at TapNPaddles. I was a reluctant participant but it was very thoughtful of her and I appreciated it.
Here are some fun pics from that day.
Pic with Cindy and Joe Witte. My US Open travel pals.
Picture with my good friend Ryan Kellenbarger. This isn’t his first appearance on the blog. I think he made his debut as early as 2021. We’ve done quite a few things together over the years.
Picture with James Pham who I met for the first time a couple of months ago in open play. He just happened to be at Tap at the same time as my birthday pickle so he got to celebrate with us.
With Cindy Witte and Fong Witte — no relation. Actually, Cindy pronounces her last name as “Witty” and Fong pronounces her last name as “Wit” so same spelling but totally different.
With Keith Lietzke and Chris Wilson.
With Jeanette Santo, Janelle Lindeman, and Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance.
With Chandi Bongers.
With Jeanette, Monica McGehee, and Chandi.
Two of our favorite girls — Huyen Nguyen and Hannah Wesolowski. They’re so fun!
With Uyen Dang, Hannah, Senda Vu, Fong, and Tiffany.
Jeanette, Dawn Hazlewood (she’s the one who orchestrated the whole thing), and Karen Fox.
Brian with Dawn.
Me with Sandi Dobbs.
Jeanette, Sandi, and Chandi.
With Dawn and Trung Ho-Nguyen.
As much as I don’t like to make a thing of my birthday, it was nice being able to see and play with everyone.
Dawn is the best birthday pickle organizer!
She even got me a fun cake!
But I also brought cake for everyone to try. I’m weirdo who brings cake to her own birthday celebration. Anyway, the funny story about this cake is that it has been showing up on my social media feed for over a year and I’ve been dying to try it but there’s no way I could eat the entire cake by myself — not even with Brian’s help. So, when Dawn decided she was hosting a birthday pickleball party for me, I rush ordered the cake so that it would arrive in time. This was the perfect excuse for me to try and it wouldn’t go to waste because several people would be helping me eat it.
Before the birthday pickleball party on Sunday afternoon, Susie and Grant Ternes had invited us to dinner at Bella Vita. This was our first time back since they moved to their new location. It was lovely dinner but I started to get a headache.
After dinner with the amazing Terneses, Brian and I went to Barleycorn’s to watch Grandma the Band perform. I had promised our friend Kyle Starkel that we would go. Although, we contemplated not going because my headache was getting worse. I didn’t want to go back on my word though because I had bailed on coming to his band perform a few times before.
It was fun seeing Kyle in his element.
The next day, my headache was still in full force but I couldn’t bail on the pickleball party because they were having it for me. I just had to suck it up. I’m glad I did though, because it was wonderful celebrating with everyone.
That’s my post-birthday weekend in a nutshell. I feel like I got to do everything I wanted to do during my birthday and then some.
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Sip and Support for Victory in the Valley
Posted on November 14, 2025 by Ching under Events.
Victory in the Valley had their annual wine walk event at Chicken N Pickle last month. It was on a Thursday night which was my team league night at TapNPaddles at the time so I could not go. I still wanted to support the event though, because Victory in the Valley was just so great while Brian was going through his cancer treatments. So, I got tickets for mom and dad and Brian to go. I signed mom and dad up for both the pickleball clinic and the wine walk. Brian was coming from his work and couldn’t do the clinic, which started at 4 pm, so I only got him tickets for the wine walk portion only.
Mom and dad really enjoyed the pickleball clinic. Dad even texted me what he learned that day after the fact. They’re not really big drinkers so they only stayed briefly for the wine walk portion of the festivities. Each attendee got a ticket for a full pour of their favorite wine and they both gave their tickets to Brian.
I had a feeling this would happen so, earlier that day, I asked Brian if he wanted me to drop him off at Chicken N Pickle on my way to my league and just come back to pick him up after. He was like, “No. I don’t want to be waiting around for you if you’re running late. I will drive myself.” I was not thrilled about this idea but I figured, I would go to CNP after league and, if he was in bad shape, then we’d leave his car there and he could just ride home with me.
So, he’s at the party having a great time (as you can see from the photos). Besides mom and dad, we had a bunch of our friends there also. I finish my league and give him a call. “Are you still at CNP?” I ask. He’s like, “No. I’m already home.”
“Okay. I won’t bother going to CNP then since you’ve already left. I’ll just head straight home. What are you doing right now?”
“I’m sitting in the chair,” he says. The “chair” is our loveseat recliner in front of the fireplace. It’s our favorite spot in the house (including the dog).
“How did it go tonight? Who all did you see there?” I asked him. Listen. This guy was so drunk he couldn’t even talk to me. I don’t know how he managed to get himself home. He was obviously gone so I asked him, “How did you get home?” He’s like, “Rex drove me home. Rex kept me safe.” Rex is the name of his car. Then he adds, “I’m sleepy. I think I’m going to bed.”
He tasted all of the wines (multiple times) and then he drank his full pour, mom’s full pour, and dad’s full pour. I am amazed that he didn’t (a) get pulled over on the way home, (b) get into a car crash, or (c) run over someone, or (d) all of the above. I am so grateful we don’t live that far from Chicken N Pickle because he was a mess.
When I get home, he was already laying in bed naked. He managed to move from the chair to the bedroom and undress himself. I also undress and get in the bed with him. I guess it’s bedtime now. He’s laying next to me trying to sleep off his drunkenness while I’m laying in bed, playing on my phone (doom scrolling as they call it – I just call it catching up). Then it his him. Thankfully, he still had the wastebasket next to his side of the bed from when he was feeling sick during his treatments. Off the bed he goes and he’s kneeling over the trash can vomiting. I’m thinking I should probably go help him. So I get over to his side and start rubbing his back and ask him if there’s anything I can do to help. He just shakes his head and tells me, “You’re already doing it.”
He’s on the floor puking into the wastebasket. I’m next to him. This goes on for a while before he stops and goes, “I think I’m done.”
“Okay. Should we leave the can here in case you get sick again?” He’s like, “No. I’m done.” I know what he’s thinking. He doesn’t want the putrid smell of vomit next to him all night.
We get him in bed and I grab the plastic sacks, double-bagged, careful to make sure there are no leaks. I walk it straight out to our trash bin in the garage. I didn’t want to smell it in the house either so I wasn’t going to throw it in our trash bin in the kitchen. It was going all the way outside. By the time I get back to the bedroom, he’s already puking again – over the bathroom sink this time. In my mind I’m thinking, “I told you so” as I’m looking around in the bedroom to see if there’s any puke on the floor because his side of the bed is furthest from our bathroom. Amazingly, he managed to make it to the sink without dripping puke anywhere.
Again, I stroke his back and console him, and make sure he is okay. When he’s done, we clean him up and also clean up the sink and try for bed again. We were successful the second time around. He was feeling much better when we woke up the next morning and he could finally tell me how the night went. Suddenly, he was Mr. Chatty Cathy. I was glad to hear that he had a great time (other than drinking so much that he got sick) but man, what a night!
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April’s Birthday at Napoli
Posted on November 14, 2025 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink.
We had such a wonderful time celebrating April’s birthday at Napoli. This was actually a couple of months ago but I’m super behind on posting here.
We enjoyed some fabulous food and drinks in addition to the wonderful company. It’s always great to see these guys because I don’t feel like we get to spend enough time together. Everyone is just so busy.
Food pics…
And the drinks… I only got a couple of pics, though.
Our friends are huge fans of Napoli. We love Napoli too but I think our go to for Italian right now is FioRito. The food is fantastic and it’s more centrally located. What about you all? Which Italian restaurant is your favorite?
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