This is my dad, and he is really doing great. My cousin Marilyn kindly invited us over to their house for Christmas. We had a good time, great food and fun being together. We missed seeing some of the Brtis kids, but maybe next time. Sorry Billy that I didn't get a picture of you, but you looked so sweet sleeping and I didn't want to disturb you.

This is my Aunt Peg. She is the mother of this group of 1st cousins.

This is my 1st cousin Johnny and his wife Sue. They live outside Boston and flew in for the Holidays.

This is my 1st cousin Bobby and his wife Sandy.

These are Bobby & Sandy's children - Tracy, Tim and Chelsea.

This is my 1st cousin Marilyn and her husband Gus. Hope they get some time to visit us out in Idaho.

This is 1st cousin Marilyn again and another 1st cousin Tommy.

This is my 1st cousin Jimmy and 4 of his girls. His wife Laura wasn't feeling good so Jimmy came over with Cassie, Maggie, Ellie & Annie.

This is my cousin Jimmy's oldest daughter Lexie and her boyfriend John.

On Saturday, Jack and I met my girfriend Jan at Fox's Pub for lunch. They had excellent lasagna and let us sit and gossip for 2 - 3 hours.

Jack & I arrived in Chicago on Tuesday, Dec. 19th. That night some of my cousins, my aunt, my dad and Jack & I went out to dinner together. We really had a great time.

This is my dad. We went to Chicago to spend the Christmas Holiday with him.

This is my Aunt Peg (she is my mom's sister) and my 1st cousin Tommy. My aunt lives in Orland Park, Illinois and Tommy lives in Crestwood, Illinois.

This is my 1st cousin Rae Marie. She lives in Hobart, Indiana.

This is my 1st cousin Sis and her husband Chuck. They live in Valpariso, Indiana.

PICTURES OF THE GRANDCHILDREN

Left Row - Top Luke - Middle Cherri (and me) - Bottom Luke

Middle Row - Top Zach - Bottom Ashlyn

Right Row - Top Michael - Middle Arron - Bottom Ryen

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

Last Saturday, December 2nd, Jack and I left on a little road trip. First we went to St. Martin, Minnesota to pick up his new detachable double drop trailer. From there we went on to Burlington, Iowa to get a new 580SMII Backhoe for Pioneer Equipment. We got back to Idaho Falls on Friday, December 8th, after going 3050 miles and visiting 7 states. We hit a lot of cold weather but no rain or snow.

A bridge over the Mississippi River in Burlington, Iowa.

Statue of Abraham Lincoln at a rest area in Wyoming.

The largest holstein cow in the world on a hill in North Dakota.

On November 17th, I flew home to Chicago. My dad was taken to the hospital due to pains in his chest. His chest was fine, just a pulled muscle, but he had some gravel in his bile duct that had to be removed. This was taken the night before I flew back. He was doing pretty good, and Jane (she comes in twice a week to do the wash, clean the house, and check up on him) and her husband stopped by to see how he was doing.

Rae Marie, my first cousin, came to visit my dad and me while I was back in Chicago.

This is a picture of my dad's house.

This is the house next door to my dad's in Chicago. A young couple moved in a couple of year's ago and they have completely redone the outside landscaping. It really looks sharp.

THE PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN

Well Ashlyn is feeling a whole lot better. She just went on her first real date. She invited a young man named Ryan Joos. They, along with 3 other couples, spent the day date and evening together - it was really a group date. During the day they went to TSR to do some racing, then on to Blast Off for some laser tag, and ending up at Gracos for some Monster Cookies. After that everyone went home to get ready for the evening. The theme of the dance was "Pirates of the Carribean" and all the couples were to wear matching T shirts. They then had dinner at Pizza Hut and went to the school dance. After the dance, all four couples went over to Kalli's house and watched the movie "Pirates of the Carribean". It sounds like a great time was had by all.

Today we went to a Birthday/Anniversary Party for Dean Kramer. At one time or another we had all worked with Dean. I got a good picture of Dad, Val and Jack.

Jack got these beautiful flowers this past week from Luana (his sister) and her husband Ramy. I have never seen the orange flowers before, but they sure are pretty.

Basket of munchies that Jack got from the Pioneer employees at the Idaho Division Office.

More goodies for Jack from the Pioneer employees at the Idaho Falls Store.

This is Charlie (Jack's brother-in-law) and his wife Roberta. On our first ALMOST RETIRED trip, we left to tour parts of Utah. On Sunday (October 8th) we drive as far as Payson, Utah and stayed overnight with Charlie and Roberta. We spent an enjoyable evening with them, and after Roberta served us breakfast we took off for our camping adventure.

Charlie and his son Jake. Jake is home for 30 days. He is working over in Iraq, and it was nice to see him and talk to him.

Charlie and Roberta's house in Payson, Utah.

After we left Charlie and Roberta's on Monday morning, we stopped by Cove Fort and went on a tour. The Fort was built as a way-station for travelers to protect them from the indians. The setup and construction was really amazing.

On Monday (October 9th) we stopped and had lunch at the base of the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

This was some of the scenery that we went past on our way to Bryce Canyon National Park.