Last week I took advantage of six days off from work and no other scheduled obligations to visit my dad and my lovely stepmom. They've been married over a year and a half now and they're so much fun to be around. The visit with family cheered me up a lot. I hadn't even realized I was homesick until I went to see them.
It was fun to see all of Elaine's decorations. She always puts a manger out in front of the Christmas tree and then on Christmas morning, everyone wakes up to find Baby Jesus lying there.
When I left for Utah, it had not snowed yet in Portland. I enjoyed a beautiful winter wonderland at their house. They live in a beautiful community with gorgeous views of the mountains.
The Wasach Mountains as seen from the driveway.
There is a really nice racquetball court, jungle gym, and slide in their backyard. Notice all the deer tracks in the snow. Being nocturnal, I woke up at one o'clock in the morning and saw several deer strolling and lounging all over the lawn in the moonlight the night before I took this picture.
Deer tracks in the driveway
My dad is really good at playing the piano. He is the one who inspired me to learn how to play. He and his brother both play very well and they used to play in shows together when they were young. My mom used to say, "When those brothers came to Redmond High School my senior year they knocked our socks off! We had never seen anything like them." It has been a dream of my dad's for many years to get a grand piano. But not just any grand piano, a Chickering grand piano. Well, he was looking online a while back and saw that the Chicago Philharmonic was selling one of their old pianos and he bought it. With a piano like that in your house, you can't help but want to play it all the time. It's beautiful. This video of him playing for his grandchildren brings back fond memories of singing around the piano as a kid.
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