There are still cakes to be made...

In honor of the birth and departure of one W. Matthew Critchley. Rise and Shout!!!

If you look at the pictures backwards, you can see the cougar leap around the cake.






My mom was responsible for the genius that was melting chocolate to make the cougars. I thank Bing image search for the cougar pictures in various stages of jumping. I was only disapointed with this cake inasmuch as Matt didn't know what it meant to "Rise and Shout" or that BYU is the Cougars.

On a side note, the cake was four layers of two blue and two "white" funfetti cakes.

Local walkers nearly mauled by pack of dogs

Well, okay, mauled is a bit strong. Though, the little jerk did bite a hole in the roo pocket of my Tahoma sweatshirt. I love that sweatshirt. It has my name on the back!

Set the scene:
Renae and I are walking three miles round trip to the river and back to our parents' house. We take Zu since she is a small dog that rarely goes on big walks. We are dressed in regular clothes and grouchy attitudes. We are traveling at a nice clip and admiring the swans in the field to our left on our return route. We perhaps just shared a witty bit of banter (that happens to us a lot, as you can imagine).


The action:
Suddenly, I look to the right to see four smallish dogs CHARGING us! Yeah, two were long haired chihuahua freaky guys, but still. The two JR terrier mix looking fellows were clearly the leaders and most aggressive. I turn back to Zuzu, who is now cowering behind us at the end of her leash (because I am a responsible pet owner and keep my smallette on a leash!). The dogs have come around Renae and myself to surround Zu and are growling and gnashing their teeth, not unlike unhappy spirits in the Book of Mormon. I reached down and scooped Zu up to hold her between Renae and myself. Since they can't get at her form the back, the bravest of the bunch comes around the front to try again. We, of course, have started walking again because we are first: serious walkers, and second: not interested in being harassed by many mini canines. This little jerk, however, is determined to get at Zu, so he jumps up teeth bared and gets a nip of me instead. He didn't make it past my pocket, luckily for both of us. Unluckily for him, my foot was waiting for his face when he landed. Renae kept yelling at his cohorts "No! No! No!" I turned to see one coming towards me again and yelled "Are you kidding me!?!" I then proceeded to shake my foot at him until I noticed a lady on the far side of the yard we were walking past.

The resolution:
She started calling her mutt pack back to her yard in very stern tones. They reluctantly went. Renae and I kept walking. Zuzu held very still and kept a very nervous demeanor tucked away under my arm.

Misadventure indeed.