Chimi-Challenge Update, My Trip Pictures, and My Left Shoe

Chimichanga Challenge Update:


Team Tamale (me): 1,256/40,000 words.


Team Gluten Intolerant (Bree): 17 handwritten pages/40,000 words


I don't know what that translates into, but I think Team GI is ahead. But I have some great news for those of you competing as well: The deadline has been randomly extended to May 10, 2011! That gives us all 4 extra days.


Please give me your totals in the comments if you are joining in the challenge. And if you're not, feel free to trash-talk either team.


On to the blog:


I can sum up our trip to Southern Utah in 9 words:

We hiked:

The gang: looking extra thrilled to be there, and proving that
despite their surroundings, they can still manage to look thoroughly unimpressed.

My bro-in-law Dave, on crutches and still hiking after extensive knee surgery.
My sister calls him "gimpy" and proclaims him to be useless. And that was before the injury.

We rode scooters:

My dad: proving that chemo can't hold him back.

Why drive anywhere when you can scooter?
And may I add that you have to have a surprising amount of butt muscles to scooter, even going downhill.

We dug:

Niece N: Sacrificing her arm and head for the glory of an extra deep hole.

We buried:

Kid B: trying to determine if he is indeed having fun,
considering we kept having to convince him.

Kid C and Niece N: A test run for when they are buried together.

And when the kids acted up, we banished them to the narrows. (We made them watch 127 hours first.)

Scared of tight spaces? Oh yeah, we totally hiked up that crack. IYOE. (Insert Your Own Euphemism)
At least, the kids hiked up it. I ran away screaming like a little girl. I swear that crack gets narrower every year. 

Kid C deep in the narrows. We encouraged him the entire way, and he only believed us for a few minutes when we told him he'd have to cut his arm off to make it through the last bit.

Kid C: This could be you!

Speaking of my awesome sister...

Erin, taking her cue from the English and wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

Erin is known for getting things not quite right, but almost. For instance, when talking about her love for Diet Coke, she said, "I have a wooden leg for that stuff." 

We went to a movie the other day, and on the way home we got talking about Daniel Day Lewis. She's all, "Wasn't he the guy in that Last of the Moccasins movie?"

Yes, Daniel Day Lewis starred in that movie about the day when everyone had to go barefoot in the wilderness because there were no more Moccasins left.

Then she was all, "And didn't he get an award for that other movie? My Left Shoe?"

Totally. He got an award for playing a guy annoyed by his left shoe. "My Left Shoe: The One That Itches."

So, so close. I love her so much. And does she have a hidden shoe fetish I don't know about?


Also, if you're in the Salt Lake area, know this: It's Emily Wing Smith's Launch Party for Back When You Were Easier to Love!


Thursday
The King's English
7:00 p.m.


Our Barry Manilow cover band, The Barely Manilows, will be debuting our hit single, at the Copacabana! 


Seriously, I'm pretty sure this will be a one time thing, so be there or be elsewhere. Who's with me?