clogging blogging

Now that Mark has computer up and running again knock on wood) I can finally begin to attempt blog catch-up, starting with Sarah's national clogging competition at the end of May.

My good friend Linda drove to Utah with Sarah and I. We were making good time, and I had just remarked on it to Linda when she said, "Well, I hate to tell you this, but I think we've got a problem." Not good words to hear on a road trip.

The temperature gauge on her oh-so-reliable Subaru looked like this (aren't you impressed I thought to take a photo?):

After a stop at a Grease Monkey in Rifle, Colorado, where the car's fluids were replenished, we were on our way to Grand Junction, where we would have the car looked at by a Subaru dealer. (It turned out that nothing was wrong at all--perhaps just a loose radiator cap.) We laughed at this Grease Monkey sign, which of course would not have been so funny if the car had not been so easily fixed.

Charlotte got to spend the weekend with us, too, which proved an added bonus. We went shopping for wedding necessities on Friday night and then went to Pleasant Grove to stay with Linda's hospitable relatives.

The morning of Saturday's competition dawned cloudy, COLD, and rainy. Did Utah not get the memo that it was ALMOST JUNE? Linda, having packed for warmer weather, had to make a quick run to Kohl's for pants and socks before we left for Lagoon--the site of Clogging Nationals. We were all a bit skeptical upon arriving and parking at the amusement park, as evidenced by Charlotte's "I'm dreading being cold all day" expression.

I didn't take many photos of the actual dancing because I would rather watch the dance live than through the lens of my camera, if that makes sense. I'm really grateful that I have no cause in life that requires me to wear silver lame pants. I did enjoy watching the team perform in the tops I was hired to sew for them.

Sarah's team did really well, earning a Best Overall Team (in the intermediate division) for one of their dances, and the Best Overall Studio for their entire division! We celebrated that night by having dinner at the famed In-and-Out Burger.

Sarah looks a little too grown-up in her stage makeup, don't you think?

It was a short but fun trip. Now we get a break from clogging classes until August--that is, unless Sarah hears a toe-tapping tune on the radio and starts one of her routines in the kitchen, or down the aisles of Costco, or in the driveway. . . .