Blackout

The storm that sent us home early from Tahoe ended up affecting us more once we got home. Our power went out on Saturday morning and stayed gone until Monday at 2:00 am. I was miserable! We had no heat or light. Luckily there was some hot water left in the tank so we could get a hot shower. Patrick and I spent most of the last two days camped out at the movies, in bookstores and at restaurants. At night we drove around searching for wood and Patrick built us fires. It kind of felt like we were homeless. What a way to end our vacation. Here is Patrick building us a fire; the flash make the room look light, but he was doing this in the dark with a small flashlight.

My Birthday

I had a small party with my family after returning from Tahoe. Dad cooked prime rib and yorkshire pudding. Mom made me a fruit pizza for dessert. Our family friend, Kathy, gave each of us a red plate that you are supposed to eat off on special occasions. Then you write down the event on the back of the plate. My birthday was the first time we got to use ours.

Cousins

My cousins Kris & Doug and their kids Kaitlyn and Kyle stopped in Sacramento on their way to visit Doug's family in the bay area. We had dinner with them before heading up to Tahoe, My mom made the famous sour cream cookies and we ate at least a dozen before morning.

Tahoe

Patrick and I went to Tahoe for a week for the New Year and my birthday. Here are the views from our condo; it was on the lake. We went sledding on the first day and built a snowman. The rest of the week, I took snowboarding lessons and Patrick skied. He is good and I am not! I did have a great time and by Thursday I was on my feet more than my rear. I went down my first blue run (although I was really bad and blame most of my falling on the melting snow.) My parents, Garrett, Cheryll and Owen joined us for New Years' Eve. We dragged Owen around on the sled. He didn't like it at first because his snowsuit was slippery and he couldn't sit up, but once Garrett put him on his belly, he could look around and he loved it. Owen just stared out the windows of the condo at the snow and was happy. Cheryll, mom and I went to the casino to see a comedy show and the boys stayed in the room to play video games. One of the three comedians was really funny, but don't you just hate that outside of California, people can smoke indoors. GAG! The next morning I made Garrett and Cheryll snowboard with me. We all fell down so many times that they aren't sure if they want to do it again. (I'm sure I can change their minds!) One time Garrett and I fell so hard that our beanies and goggles flew off. That night we were all so tired that we went to a BBQ dinner and fell asleep. At dinner, Cheryll ordered these deep fried pickles - sounds gross, but was amazing. On my birthday, Patrick and I went to dinner at Restaurant 19; it is on the top floor of one of the casinos. The food was great and they give you cotton candy at the end of the meal. I had the grilled Chilean Sea Bass over a bed of cheesy risotto. Yum! We had to end our trip early due to a blizzard that put 10 feet of snow on the mountains. We left town a few hours before the storm started. We waited things out it Sacramento with family.

In the morning

Here is Patrick with his favorite new toy and my fabulous slippers. Later, mom and I tortured Patrick by making him watch episodes of one of our favorite BBC mystery shows: Rosemary and Thyme. What a great day.

Holiday Tradition

Cheryll started a great new tradition of giving Owen a holiday book after dinner and having us all take turns reading it to him. It was hilarious because all references to Christmas became Hanukkah on my turn and Kwanzaa on Grandpa's turn. We were very multicultural!