Jennifer's Joyous Journal

Relaxed in Dallas/Ft. Worth

We had a wonderful, but quick, trip to Dallas this weekend. We headed up to Dad's on Saturday afternoon after I got back from Team Danskin Training (it was our first open water swim practice). We got there around 4pm and just hung out all night watching old movies on cable. While Dad was grilling steaks for dinner, Stepan, Homer, and I went swimming in the pool. I think we'll have to do that more often! After dinner, Stepan fell asleep on the couch around 7:30pm while Dad and I stayed up until 11pm watching the first two Die Hard movies.

On Sunday, Dad and I went to 8am Mass (the church was celebrating Pentecost). Then Stepan and I drove to Dallas to spend the day with The Schells and to celebrate Hanka's birthday. Ron's extended family came over in the early afternoon and we had a wonderful lunch of smoked/grilled/baked game including wild boar, antelope, venison, and elk...all bagged by Ron and/or his brothers on various hunting trips in Colorado and Texas. My favorite was the elk and Stepan really enjoyed the boar ribs. Most of the women in Ron's family brought a side dish; there was macaroni and cheese, a wonderful potato salad, and deliscious baked beans. Ron's mom brought an oreo cookie pie and an apple crumble...the apple crumble was delicious - I think I'll find a recipe for it and start making it for myself.

The main purpose of the whole trip to Dallas was to do a belly mold for Hanka. It turned out beautifully. I think it helped this one that Petra (a Czech friend of Hanka's) and I were the only ones working on it...though Verunka (Petra's 5-year-old daughter) helped by getting the plaster strips wet for us. I'm very pleased with the outcome and am looking forward to doing my own even more now.