birth of a caber bunny

It's official. The Caber Bunnies (me and Abby... still waiting for Lorri to follow suit) will make their first appearance at the Cache Valley Scottish Games.
I just hope I don't make a complete dork of myself when I'm there, because my muscles are regretting my choice already.

a day to myself

Taking advantage of unemployment, Mark has taken the children to the mountains today. This is a two-fold blessing. One, he always complains that he doesn't get to spend enough time in the mountains, and two, he always complains that he doesn't get to spend enough time with the children. Two birds, one stone.
Kind soul that he is, he also has allowed me a day at home to suffer alone in the heat, rather than dealing with others who are also resigned to a similar fate as I. I hope he remembered to take the camera.

MEN MORE LIKELY TO DIE FROM HEAT

I found an interesting article today put out by ABC News. It states: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a review of heat-related deaths in the United States from 1999 to 2003, finding that an average of 688 people die from heat-related illnesses each year. Men are much more likely to die from the heat than women -- for every three heat deaths, two are male.

I find it interesting that they blame the deaths on HEAT as opposed to their wives who killed their cheap-a** husbands for not getting them air conditioners. So, remember, if my husband dies, do not blame me, blame the HEAT.

Bombshell, tonight (ala Nancy Grace)

My husband informs me tonight: "I might have to go to work in Wyoming."

"What's a few weeks apart," I say, "as long as you are employed."

"Umm... it'll be a 1 year commitment and I'll have to be living up there", he says. "You and the kids can come up and visit me on the weekends."

"(cricket, cricket...silence)". I say nothing as I stare at him in disbelief.

Well, having to live apart is better than having him unemployed, I suppose. . Why can't life just be easier than this?

Heat so thick, like a blanket

After weeks of complaining about the rain, it's now time to complain about the oppressive heat.
Okay, so it's not oppressive, but for those of us who are accustomed to temperature-controlled environments, being at the mercy of Mother Nature is... oppressive.
I just keep telling myself "I had fun at Disneyland, I had fun at Disneyland" in hopes that the memories alone will bring cool breezes wafting past me.

endless rain

This is how I'm feeling after all these weeks of ENDLESS rain, rain, rain. I thought we lived in a desert.

Ye'll ken you're a man when you're wearing a kilt

This weekend was the Utah Scottish Festival.
What a blast!
We went Friday night to the Military Tattoo and Concert.
These pictures give a brief idea of how large the massed bands were. There were over 120 Pipe bands. It was amazing!






Shortly thereafter, the rain came down, and the floods came up! (The mud anyway!) We couldn't resist dancing in the rain to the Wicked Tinkers though!


Then on Saturday, Mark competed in the Scottish Heavy Games. He did soooo good!

See his kilt twirling? I love it when the kilt twirls.

This is Mark and his friend Mike. Mike kicks Mark's butt. Mike always gets third. Mark always gets fourth. His goal is to beat Mike in at least one event.





Sprout and Panda participated in the children's Highland Games. Sprout even turned the Caber! Way to go, buddy!


Lulu beat the Giant! She loved it!
The best part of the whole day came after this:





Mark turned the caber on all three tries. He got third place and earned his FIRST (and only) medal! (Not to mention he beat Mike!)