Now What?

After tears, fears and negotiations, the appointed hour arrived when I had agreed to taste Dave's new and improved chocolate tea with almond milk.

Oh, I liked it.  A lot!  This will mean a new routine and a requirement that I always have room in the fridge for almond milk.  I'm not certain I'm up to this big of a change in my life.

Dave's family spent the day in Tooele visiting members of Carolyn's family.  Ben and I ate sukiyaki leftovers.  Two words come to mind:  delicious, and quiet.

At 5:57 pm, Mel texted to ask if I could have my emergency meal of sweet and sour meatballs ready in one hour.

This is a tasty meal, easy to prepare because it came from my freezer.

Someone asked about edamame.  Papa retrieved the bags from the downstairs freezer, and that turned out to be a nice touch.

While everyone else watched a movie, I played pool with Matt.  I know I'm not going to win, but I play anyway.

We had a blast.

Living the Dream

Dave has tweaked his chocolate tea by adding almond milk.  He's asked me to try it, but the truth is -- I'm afraid of almond milk.  I have promised to taste it tomorrow.  We'll see how that goes.

We had a great breakfast with hot bagels from the oven and bacon off the griddle.  I cooked perfect eggs.

After breakfast I completed several errands.  Julia accompanied me on the last trip.  On the way home she told me she wanted edamame. This is a new treat for her.

Mel has played the piano a lot during this vacation.  She has a beautiful touch.

Dave has not played the guitar as much as I would have preferred, but I certainly enjoyed it today,

Lots of pool happens.  I am having so much fun!  During this game, Nathan asked me if he could stay in his pajamas all day long.  I suggested he make it a goal.  It was already after 12, so I figured he was well on his way to success.

Everyone was excited when Dave joined us.

Julia played the first game with him.

Nate and Matt played an online game together.  I love it when this happens.  So does Nate.

Carolyn and Melanie accompanied Papa to buy the ingredients for sukiyaki.  Other essential items were purchased, it appears.

Jacob stayed in the kitchen for almost two hours and helped Papa chop.

Sukiyaki is one of Ben's specialties.  I assure you, it is very delicious.  It has long been a tradition in our family to eat this meal during the Christmas holidays.

Julia couldn't resist heading outside in the back to play in the snow.

She's making snow balls in this photo.  By this time Jacob had joined her.

He's stockpiling snowballs, too.  You can guess what happened next.

It always takes a few minutes for the family to gather for a meal.  I can't ever figure out why this is true, but it is.

I had my egg cracked.

In no time, it was ready to eat.  I love this meal.

The fact is, we all love this meal, and almost everyone cracks an egg.

The noodles did not cooperate today.

Dave dished up most of the bowls.

When the meal is special, people tend to linger and talk.  It's my favorite part of our gatherings.

Matt's been really good this week about sitting on the stool next to me so I don't have to.  We are one chair short.  Well, that's not exactly true.  We have plenty of chairs.  We are one space short.

Once the dishes were done, it was pool for the rest of the day.  Nathan was up to the challenge.  Notice, he's still in pajamas.

Matt offered to beat me.  I accepted the challenge, but that's exactly what happened.  He did tell me I'd do better if I held the cue stick closer to the ball.  He was right.

He broke for the second game and got three balls in the three side pockets.  It was pretty exciting!  Two were solids, one was a stripe.  For the record, that made me stripes.

By this time everyone else had left to see the lights in Spanish Fork.  Jacob and I played pool for the next 90 minutes.  Did I win one game?  Nope.  Did I have a blast?  Yes, for sure.  Jacob taught me to hold the cue stick level.

Pretty soon the rest of the family was home.  This was a fun day, quiet, and yet not quiet at all.

Almost Victory

Carolyn built a fort for Julia this morning.  Julia occupied it for quite some time.

Lots happens in this house.  And outside, too.

We all still love the fish tank.  Julia's turtle made his first appearance.

With several books being received as gifts yesterday, quite a bit of reading happened today.

Jacob taught Nate how to cut fudge into bite-size pieces.  At least we think it's fudge.  It's dark and delicious, but no one is actually sure.  We are eating it anyway.

I played more pool today than I have in my entire life.  Jacob is an excellent teacher.

Four of the five people in this picture spent the afternoon skiing.  Carolyn was the person who made sure everyone had gloves and caps.

Painting happened while they were gone.

Carolyn has been on several field trips recently and has noticed that snakes have interesting patterns.  She used that theme to practice technique.

While anxiously awaiting the skiers to return, Jacob, Melanie, Carolyn and I played on teams.

Mine and Melanie's team won one game.  I am getting good enough that I don't scratch very often.  Melanie suggested that if we counted our "almost" hits, we could win.

Carolyn wasn't buying it.  For the record, she doesn't ever scratch.  And she can hit bank shots.

In the meantime, the skiers had a fantastic day!  I mentioned to Julia that I had never skied.  She volunteered that she saw many old people like me on the slopes.

And we had a fantastic meal ready when they returned, chicken pot pie with biscuits on top.  I happened to remember that this is one of Nate's favorite, but we all enjoyed it.