Game On!

We regularly get together and play games with my family. We're all currently obsessed with a card game called BANG! (thanks to Jamo & Sarah) It's basically a game of Outlaws, Renegades & Sheriff's wiping each other out with 'Bang' cards and restoring their life with 'Beer' cards. It makes for interesting conversation as you play, whether we're mocking my Mom, the perpetually drunk Sheriff, or commending Talina for buying a round of whiskey for the table. Annie always has to be in on the action. So, we set her up at the head of the table with her own deck of cards ("Choose the Right" cards), and she randomly participates by yelling "BANG!" and chucking a 'Lehi' card at Uncle Cody (Literally, she throws the card at the person she's shooting . . . which makes sense, I guess.) Or she'll throw down a 'Helaman' card and say she needs a beer. If you think this sounds sacrilegious, wait 'til you hear about chess! Today she cracked us all up though when she said, "Dang it! Beer it up!" That's what we get for letting her hang out around Uncle Cody.

My Dad decided it was high time Annie learned to play chess. ("Something her Dad should have taught her months ago," he commented.) So, setting up his "Lord of the Rings" chess set, he started explaining the pieces to Annie. Annie turned Gandolf the wizard around so she could see him and said excitedly, "Look! A Jesus!" She also found a King, a Queen, a 'Missionary' and a 'Mommy' (Legalos . . . I don't know how to take that . . . at least he's fairly effeminate. And the 'Missionary' thing came from their being two of them, and she sees a lot of Elder's since her Dad is Ward Mission Leader,) She then found the 'Monkey' guys, and the (as she called them), 'Bad Monkey' guys. At first she wasn't getting the game. She'd use her turn to rotate a single piece towards her so she could see it's face, then it was Grandpa's turn. Then, I showed her how to actually move the piece to a NEW square on her turn. On the next turn I showed her how to take her piece and knock Grandpa's piece over and replace it with her own. She was pretty excited by this, how Grandpa's piece got placed back into the box. So on her next turn she just grabbed one of Grandpa's pieces and set it back into the box. Best not to waste any time. I don't know if it was her superior strategy, playing skills or better pieces, but she whipped Grandpa at the game. She was destined to win though. 'Cause really, if Jesus can't take out a bad monkey, who can?