So I've mentioned this game pretty often, mostly in conjunction with visits to the Smith home. Basically when you take this game and add various Bradens/Izatts/Smiths/Hugos, you get hilarious results.
The basic premise of the game is simple: each player pulls a 'who' card, a 'what' card, and a 'where' card. Each player then draws the three separately or attempts to create a cohesive drawing of what's on their cards - the 'who' doing the 'what' in the 'where.' The drawings are then passed around as everyone quietly records their guesses. We then share all of our guesses in a fit of laughter as the artist reveals the correct answer and tries to defend their (questionable) depictions. Here are a few examples from our most recent night of playing:
1. This is actually a decent one that Quinner drew: it's Dracula (the who) surfing (the what) in a forest (the where) . . . although there was a small contingency that insisted the cape was misleadingly Superman-ish :).
2. Heidi's drawings are usually pretty close to perfect (her guessing, on the other hand . . . well, she resorted to cheating off my paper that night, which is a definite sign of desperation!). This is clearly Cinderella lifting weights in New York City.
3. We're all impressed with Ben for playing with us again after his 'Hillary Clinton' was brutally mocked last time by my mom. He redeemed himself here with the Hunchback of Notre Dame playing baseball on Mount Everest - although several cheaters, er, people, wanted 'on a mountaintop' to count for Mount Everest. Sorry, dudes, Ben made it clear that it was the
highest mountain! (Can you tell I got it right? Because I did).
4. So this one makes me laugh because everyone but me (and Heidi, who as I mentioned was cheating off of me) got the 'what' right - drilling oil. (The who was Einstein and the where was on a boat). I seriously thought it was digging a hole to China. Don't know why.
5. This is one of Courtney's, which established that sunglasses = Hollywood/show business/movies/etc. It also established that some people don't know what jousting is. (This is Clint Eastwood jousting on a school bus, for those of you playing along at home. . . )
6. Ah, Chuck's. This is where Heidi and I dissolved into a fit of giggles as we tried to figure out the 'dead horses' aspect. We all loved Chuck's depiction of Hollywood, since it used Courtney's 'sunglasses' idea as well as poked fun at my mom's horrible rendition a few games back (she drew nine squares side by side, sure that we would fill in HOLLYWOOD. Oh, Mom). For the record, this is Bambi mugging an old lady in Hollywood.
7. So, Gloria's makes me laugh because I was soooo close on the 'what' - my guess was Mickey Mouse picturing dead animals' bones at the zoo . . . and the answer was using x-ray vision. Reminds me of one of my mom's best quotes of the night: "Oh, if I had only put that I would have gotten a point!" Yep, Mom, that's kind of how the game works; if you put the RIGHT answer, you get a point :).
8. Well, I can't post everyone else's pictures without putting my own up too. I have absolutely NO artistic talent, so it's understandable why few people could tell it was a frog that Spiderman was dissecting and not an alien . . . a discussion about the where (a modern art museum) also led to another classic quote by Courtney: "Well, modern art
is the easiest to draw." Hahaha, I love Courtney!!
Now we move on to drawings by Big Will and Grandma Pam. I love both of them dearly, but for some reason theirs are the most easily mocked - luckily they're both good sports!!
9. (Now, please ignore the blocked out areas; I had to erase where people afterwards attempted to show my mom a much simpler and clear way to draw her 'where'). Basically we were all seriously stupefied by this one - to quote Gloria, "I think I know what this is, but I can't believe they'd put it on a card. . ." Her guess was 'concentration camp'. Mine was Hiroshima. The correct answer was Miss Piggy swing dancing at a nuclear power plant. Are you kidding me?? Unless it's Chernobyl, there shouldn't be DEAD people there. Oh, Mom. Way to bring us down during an otherwise fun game :).
10. Ahhh, just give yourself a minute to take it in. Like Heidi and Courtney, your first reaction might be, "Will, are you sure you didn't mix together two different Asian countries?" In Will's defense, he didn't . . . he just (honorably) kept a card that the rest of us would have put back without a second thought: Mikhail Gorbachev (who was winning a beauty pageant on the Titanic). Now it becomes apparent that top to bottom on the left it's the Berlin Wall, Russia, and . . . a nuclear explosion. Oh, Will.
11. Now to another Grandma Pam classic and her continued obsession with dead people. Quite a few of us correctly guessed 'Wallace and Grommit' for the who, and with a little imagination I can even see how they're cloning sheep (although the second sheep has more hair and less girth) but it was much trickier to get 'in a dungeon' for the where. I believe this one is where we got the Pam classic quote "Mine will be much easier to understand once you find out what it is . . . "
12. And finally, another Will masterpiece. Will has a habit of drawing his 'who' and then helpfully adding a few small additional clues to help, which usually end up confusing everyone, leading to the best laughs of the night. My guess for this one was Robin Hood hot tubbing at the White House. The
correct answer, however, was Bill Clinton swordfighting in a hot tub. How we didn't get that from the White House, LITTLE ROCK, and a dollar
bill is still a mystery. Seriously, this ranks up there with Will's 'Al Gore' clues of a laptop with a cord, a unicorn/bull, and Florida.
The good news is that the gut-wrenching laughter allowed us to burn off any and all calories consumed as we ate Heidi's delicious chocolate chip cookies during the game :). Love y'all, can't wait to play again next time!!
Pops came up to help Chuck with our backyard patio project. We (meaning my hard-working husband and various good friends and family members, NOT me) started our backyard renovations about a year ago, beginning with putting in a sprinkler system and fire pit and laying sod. We left a large area of dirt just off our existing patio with the intention of extending it out a bit at some point - and that point was last week!
The first job was to dig a whole bunch o' dirt out, which Chuck, Clyde, and Will readily took care of.
Isn't it hilarious how little boys idolize and imitate their dads? Clyde insisted on being out there with his little red shovel the whole time Chuck was working. Plus Clyde kept professing the most cheesy sentiments - "Wow Dad, we are working hard to get the job done!" "Let's go, Dad, we have a lot of digging to do . . . to get the job done!" Oh, thank you Disney Playhouse for instilling such an admirable work ethic in my child.
Pops arrived on the scene and the work progressed quickly.
Layer of . . . sand? Can you tell I mostly tried to stay out of the way and therefore know precious little about the whole process? There weren't any complaints, though, since I spent one afternoon making banana bread for the hungry laborers :).
Clyde and Will were a great help in shoveling the extra sand out of Grandpa's truck!
Clyde also went hands on when it was time to lay the tiles and pound them in with the mallet.
Will preferred to just walk around and double-check the work quality :).
After all the tile was laid, yay!
We're sooo excited to have all the extra space back there now.
All finished! Chuck and Pops did such a great job.
Thanks to their efficiency, Chuck and Pops had a couple free days at the end of Pops' visit, so they packed up Clyde and headed out for an all-day hunting trip. It turned out to be more of a nature drive/walk, but they still reported having a great time - Clyde especially!! We also fit in some Trivial Pursuit, a trip to Linder Farms, watching the BSU game, a temple trip for Chuck and myself while Pops baby-sat Clyde and Will, and some car repairs.
Thanks for visiting us and helping out so much while you were here Pops! Sorry if we tired you out a bit :). 
