After a year in our new house, we are pretty much moved in but still have occasional problems remembering where we put things. Hopefully the expensive part of the moving experience is behind us. Among other things, we had new windows put in and insulated the attic. Paul spent a good deal of time raising a section of the attic floor so the insulation would fit underneath and still give us storage room for our "treasures." His last project was to put a dedicated electrical circuit in the eaves for use in Christmas lighting.

Becky, meanwhile, put in a beautiful garden out front and is planning for a water garden in the back. She also painted every room except the Living and Dining rooms. Please click here for photos of the house. Becky acquired a router and a table saw and her mother gave us her father’s drill press. When the holidays are over, Paul will extend the Christmas light circuit into the garage because Becky’s power tools need all the power they can get! Paul is still not quite sure what these power tools will be used to build.  Click here for more photos of Becky.

Danny is working at Pizza Hut in San Marcos, while Crystal works part time as she is in the middle of her Junior year at Texas State University-San Marcos. They recently adopted Crystal’s mother’s cat, and Danny has a small garden on their porch. Danny and Crystal moved this year as well...and luckily managed it without our help. Both are quite busy, but we’ve had a few visits this year in addition to the funeral for Paul’s father.  Please click here for more "Danny" photos.

    Angela graduated from Texas Tech University in May (Bachelor of Arts in Music, Minor in Chemistry.)  Paul helped her move out of Lubbock and it was quite a sight as U-Haul ran out of 19-foot trucks and gave us a 35 foot truck instead.  Her belongings fit in one layer inside the truck.  Meanwhile, Angela has settled into life at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in College Station. It’s a 90-minute drive from our house, and we have been enjoying more frequent visits with Angela. Angela also gave us one of her cats, Cleo, but we expect her to repossess the cat when her studies are completed in 2009. She still has a cat, Joey, and a dog, Ruby, sharing her apartment.  Please click here for more photos of Angela.

    There were two trips to Ohio this year. The first, of course, for the funeral. On the way up, Paul stopped frequently to take rural landscape photos and also took in a Cardinals ball game in St. Louis with his brother, Robert. The trip home featured a Cincinnati Reds game, a ferry boat ride across the Mississippi River, and a day in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Please click here for photos from our 2004 travels or here for more of Paul's landscape photos.

    Other baseball-related highlights included attending the All-Star Game’s Home Run Derby in Houston as well as a long-awaited Astros’ NLCS playoff game!  Here's a link for the 2004 baseball photos.

    Our second trip to Ohio began with Becky driving up first to visit family members. She also spent some time repainting the "girl’s room" at her mother’s house. Then Paul flew up later so we could attend the wedding of Paul’s niece, Sharon (and Mike), before driving home.

    Oh, and I forgot to mention in last year’s newsletter that during Becky’s 2003 trip to Ohio she attended the wedding of her nephew Chad (and Bernice).

    In October we flew northeast to see the Autumn colors. In a route that took us through New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts, we saw some awesome colors, lots of covered bridges, and lighthouses. We even drove to the top of Mount Washington.  Click here for photos from our New England Trip.

The year will conclude with Angela getting knee surgery during Christmas break. I don’t think anybody is looking forward to that!

We hope you had a great year and wish you the best in 2005!