Watermelon Eating Contest

This weekend was our ward Chili Cook-off. I was intimidated by how seriously Texans take their chili that I wimped out and didn't do an entry. Next year, though... Anyway, the chili was good and we had a great time sampling all the different entries while the kids played the carnival games that were set up for them. I thought having those games for the kids were genius. While they played I think we had something like 13 bowls of chili in front of us. It was fun to play food critic.

After the chili tasting they had some adult games and Robert volunteered to participate in the first one without knowing what it was. It turned out to be the watermelon eating contest. He's been battling a really nasty cold and congestion bug so I was surprised when he decided to go through with it. I think it might have had something to do with our friend the big BYU decathlete that also volunteered that was right next to him for the competition!
Robert dug right in. I was really impressed with how quickly he cleaned his piece.
You can see our friend next to him in this picture. It came down to the two of them for the win. It was hilarious to see them go into double time near the end. Unfortunately, Robert didn't swallow his mouthful fast enough so he placed second.

After the eating...pretty impressive, I think. Good thing he took off his button down shirt before the contest.

Of course, after seeing the parents go to town on giant pieces of watermelon the kids wanted their turn too. So we set Nate up to go and he was so excited.

Daddy was a good teacher because Nate didn't hesitate for a second. He got right in there and did a great job.

We love our ward here and feel so lucky to be in it. It's really helped us transition into life here in Houston. We are grateful for all the good people and friends we have here and look forward to more fun memories like these.