Favorite Pics from Christmas
Posted on January 11, 2018 by Ching under Events, Family, Food and Drink, Zumba.
Christmas Eve was AMAZING! I completed two Zumba classes (Missy’s and mine) with a Sneaky Santa sandwiched in between. Some friends danced with me twice that day and we even took an after pic.
That night we went to my parents’ house for our annual Christmas Eve celebration (Noche Buena) where we feasted on lots of yummy Filipino food.
Brian and Quentin were both wearing their Shocker tees that night.
The next day we had grandma over for Christmas.
We had breakfast and then opened presents over video chat with Brian’s parents in Oklahoma. That took a lot out of grandma, apparently. Here she is taking an nap while Saki served as lookout.
You can see other pics that we took on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in our Flickr album. Enjoy!
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Zumba World Party Party 2.0
Posted on January 8, 2018 by Ching under Events, Zumba.
I didn’t get to take as many pics of the dancing during the Zumba World Party Party as I did the last time but Missy got a ton of great video footage which you can find on the Facebook event here.
I did, however, get some awesome photos during the optional White Elephant gift exchange. I was mean and made everyone go by age instead of drawing numbers.
There were some gems in there but no toilet seat and plunger this year. We still don’t know who brought those to the last White Elephant gift exchange we had at the house. LOL. No one would fess up.
Missy was so excited to get these blankets, which promptly got stolen.
Laurie got a nice bowl and plate set.
There were lots of chocolates this time. Speaking of, I have some chocolates to eat at home! I should have brought them here with me. Darn it!
The irony of the gift that Meader got is that Holly can’t have peanuts.
Deanna got some booze.
Holly got the Zumba goodies that I hid inside a chocolate box.
Brandon stole the throw blankets from Missy.
Thus, the sad face.
Missy got her presents stolen multiple times, which we all found hilarious.
I think she finally ended up with this one.
Brynden ended up stealing the throw blankets from Brandon.
Kari ended up with the Zumba shirt, which Brian didn’t even realize that I had wrapped for him so he could participate in the White Elephant gift exchange with us. He didn’t even know he had a gift or which one was his. LOL.
Anyway, it was super fun having everyone over. We’ll have to do this again soon. Hopefully, we’ll do it more than once a year.
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White Elephant and Sneaky Santa
Posted on January 8, 2018 by Ching under Things to Do.
I got to participate in several White Elephant (or, as Missy calls it, Sneaky Santa) gift exchanges this holiday season with one more coming up this Friday because my work (CRC) one had to be postponed until more people could attend.
The Smiths hosted a beer-themed White Elephant gift exchange at their home. Brian and I missed it last year so we were happy to be able to attend this time.
Chad posted the most hilarious instructions on the event page. See below.
Official Beer Gift Exchange Rules
Guests are welcome, but anyone wanting to participate must bring a beer gift. All guests must be of age.
All beer gifts must be wrapped. If possible, please chill your gift before the exchange.
Upon arrival, beer gifts will be placed under our festive holiday tree and you will be given a number from our festive holiday hat. Festive holiday sweaters are encouraged.
Anyone who wants to participate, but cannot attend can drop off their beer gift before the exchange and FaceTime/Hangout/Skype their selection.
Beer gifts can be stolen twice during the exchange. You are welcome to trade bottles afterwards.
Mass produced light beers are strictly prohibited. Anyone caught gifting one will be forced to leave with their poor choice of beverage. (We will review security footage if necessary.)
Brian brought his favorite beer for the gift exchange, which Jeff ended up getting.
My team had our holiday luncheon in Topeka where we played the “ball of plastic wrap” game and had a White Elephant gift exchange. The funniest part about this is that I attended a meeting in Topeka on Monday and left my gift on Kelsey’s desk for safe keeping. I told her that I didn’t want to lug the present to my hotel room in Kansas City (or leave it in the car and tempt people) only to bring it back on Thursday. Well, she must not have been paying attention because she accidentally unwrapped it later that day. LOL.
She repackaged it for me but I guess at least one other person on our team saw her unwrap it so my White Elephant gift wasn’t as much of a surprise.
I did get this nifty wall décor at the luncheon that Brian helped me hang. I immediately wanted it when I saw it because both of our cork catchers were getting quite full. This worked out perfect!
Missy had a Sneaky Santa (that’s what she calls White Elephant gift exchanges) at the end of her Christmas Eve class. I got a Bath and Body Works, warm vanilla sugar shower gel from that one.
We also had one at our house during the Zumba World Party Party. I made the price range $5-10 for this one so no one brought a toilet seat and plunger this time.
Oh, I was a jerk who didn’t want to mess with drawing numbers so I made everyone go by age — oldest first. Some people, who do not like to reveal their ages, were not too thrilled about that one. LOL.
I love White Elephant gift exchanges. It’s definitely one of my favorite things to do during the holidays. I can’t wait until we have the CRC one this Friday.
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Holiday Ping Pong Tournament
Posted on January 7, 2018 by Ching under Events.
I played in Uncle Roy’s first Holiday Ping Pong Tournament last month and didn’t do too bad. I’m still learning how to play so I didn’t really expect to get very far in the field. I think in the very first ping pong tournament I played, I was eliminated in the first round.
I was a little bit worried because my first match was with Vic. It was a close one but I came from behind to win it. My next match after that was with Roy and I knew I wouldn’t be advancing.
I lost my match in the losers bracket also. However, the guy who ultimately won the tournament came from the losers bracket to win it. He was new to Uncle Roy’s ping pong events as well. He was a friend of a friend and, much to everyone’s surprise, he walked away with the trophy — the trophy that we all thought Uncle Roy would win because he ALWAYS wins. Not this time, apparently.
Here’s a picture of the champ, Robbie. He actually had to beat Roy twice to win since Roy was undefeated going into the championship round.
Check out this beautiful trophy. It’s heavy too.
Brian got a few photos of me playing.
I think Vic was completely shocked that I won against him and he challenged me to another game after the tournament. As luck would have it, I won again!
Here’s a picture of me and Jen, Vic’s better half.
It was super fun. I hope I get invited to one of these events again.
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Brynden’s First Zumba Class
Posted on January 5, 2018 by Ching under Zumba.
One of my newest Zumba friends recently completed Zumba Basic 1 training and got her license to teach Zumba. I was lucky enough to attend her very first class at La Selva MMA and Fitness in Derby.
Here are few pictures from her first class.
This is Brynden’s mom, Laurie.
We took a couple of group photos after class.
We celebrated her first class at Carlos O’Kelly’s after, which is our usual post-Zumba thing. I’m so glad I could be there for her first class and support her.
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