Holiday greetings once again from Texas! If you’re reading this you must have joined the rest of us and survived the Y2k bug. As always, it’s been a busy year, but we’re all still alive and well in spite of some setbacks.

Last year ended with Becky and Paul chaperoning a church ski trip to Breckenridge, Colorado. Angela and Danny tagged along, too. It was the first time to ski for the oldsters, and the second time for the youngsters. Angela and Danny are set to go on this year’s holiday ski trip in December. Click here for pictures of our 1999 ski trip.

Danny decided against marching band this year in favor of the high school’s new hand bell choir. The choir is so new, in fact, it didn’t have its bells until December. Luckily they had chimes and have played in one performance so far with many more scheduled in the future.

Perhaps the biggest event in Danny’s life came May 6^th when he turned 16. He didn’t have a big party, but he was ecstatic over getting his driver’s license. He’s now in charge of the 1988 Nova which he inherited from Angela. Other than an incident with a mailbox, he appears to be doing quite well behind the wheel. Danny’s a Junior in High School and remains quite active in Church Choirs. He recently took part in "Sing San Antonio 2000," a gathering of several youth choirs from around the Southern United States.  Click here for more pictures of Danny.

Angela, meanwhile, bought a Mustang. She paid for most of it after having saved furiously for quite some time. She’s a sophomore at Texas Tech University and is quite busy pursuing her degree in Music Education. She lives in an apartment with two other young women and is having a good time in spite of the hard work. She just wrapped up her second season of Marching Band and is awaiting word on which bowl the "Red Raiders" will play. Angela spent the summer away from home for the first time but is thinking about cutting expenses by living at home for Summer 2001. Click here for more Angela pictures

The family took a whirlwind trip during March while both kids were on Spring break. Becky, Paul, and Danny hooked up the trailer in Houston then drove to Lubbock to pick up Angela. We then headed west to visit Petrified National Forest, Meteor Crater and Sunset Crater Volcano near Flagstaff; the Grand Canyon, and even a Spring training game in Phoenix. We also drove through Seguaro National Park, home to the giant armed cactus, near Tucson. Click here for more pictures of our Spring break trip.

The Grand Canyon was everything we expected and more. We didn’t plan far enough in advance, so we were not able to take a Mule trip, but Paul, Angela, and Danny hiked a short distance down into the Canyon. The trail was quite icy, and there was lots of slipping and sliding on the way down. It warmed up enough to melt most of the ice by the time we came back up.

The side-trip to Phoenix was a last-minute change of plans because it was so cold in the Grand Canyon and roads to the canyon’s North rim were still closed by snow.

Becky took a tumble while playing volleyball in the sand with some friends during February and was literally hobbling on our Grand Canyon trip. She underwent knee surgery shortly after we returned and after rehabilitation and at-home exercise is now back to normal. There are no volleyball games in her future!

Becky has been quite busy tracing her family tree. She’s spent uncounted hours at libraries, in front of the computer, and even took a fact-finding trip to Ohio during August. The trip was timed perfectly to allow her to attend her nephew Adam Arnett’s wedding.

Danny and Paul kept our family’s baseball tradition alive by attending the first game ever in Houston’s new Enron Field ballpark. The Astros beat the Yankees in that game. The whole family was at the stadium for the first official National League game a couple weeks later. The Astros lost that game 4-1 on the way to a disappointing season.

We took several trips to visit Angela in Lubbock; we also met once in the tiny west Texas town of Sonora for a weekend. Sonora is home to Sonora Caverns, billed as the most beautiful cave in Texas. It is one of the most beautiful caves we’ve ever seen, but its location (in the middle of nowhere) leaves a lot to be desired.

Looks like we’re out of room. We wish God’s blessings on you and hope you have a safe and happy 2001!