"It's been almost a month, Dad"

Thus sayeth Emily to goad me into finally posting something here. I'd try to come up with excuses for not doing this in so long, but they all sound lame. I'm here now.

Okay, so first of all, Paka and Grandma are here visiting us, and tonight we decided to have a family tourney of mini golf!

The competition was fierce; with Mount Timpanogos towering over us, and pleasant temps to spur us on, we tackled the Arches course at Cascade Golf Center. Could we possibly be up to the challenge? And who would come out the victor in this epic battle? Armed with overly worn putters and golf balls the color of the rainbow, we approached the first tee.

It wasn't long before Emily used her putter as a driver and ricocheted her ball into a water hazard. Anya bravely waded in to rescue the wayward ball.

It was a course not designed for the casual golfer. Unexpected dips, huge boulders and hidden sand traps (well, sand colored thicker outdoor carpet) lay in wait, taunting us as we attempted to stay somewhere near par as we progressed down the patience-challenging fairways.

After 18 grueling holes, a champion was crowned:

With a score of 59, she bested us all. (We wanted to drive the cart through the course but the paths were a bit narrow...) Paka and Grandma tied for second with a valiant 63. Jenna won the kids division with a score of 68. Emily would prefer that her score not be publicized, but let's just say if we hadn't had a per-hole limit of 6, she probably would have scored somewhere above 100.

Ah, the smell of freshly mown grass...or freshly de-molded outdoor carpet...with the splash of waterfalls in the background and the cackles of laughter as Grandma sails a ball completely out of bounds, and everyone manages to give their ball a bath in the 6th hole watering trough.

Definitely a night to remember.