Back from the holidays

It's been almost a month since our last post. Things have finally settled down enough from our travels over the Christmas-New Year's season that we needed to update this blog. Although we enjoyed our travels up north, we hope not to have that experience again!! This is because of the waves of illness that swept over our family (and many of yours, as well). Lil' Beth got sick on the drive north, and soon her flu passed to mom and dad, followed by Kenny and Hope's parents (and eventually Don's brother Bill). We all seemed to shed the flu quickly, but both Kenny and Beth had nasty colds, and Beth's even became a slight case of pneumonia. Kenny also seemed to be having problems hearing us, so when we got back to Arkansas, we took him to his doctor, and she said "ear infections"!! Both of the kids are largely over their illnesses, and energetic as ever.

Unfortunately, these illnesses kept us from visiting as many of you as we wanted to, and we are sorry for that. (Here are a couple images of the kids playing in the snow in Michigan). We spent

our first week with Hope's parents Rick and Ann Pruden in Whitmore Lake, Michigan. The kids had fun in the snow, and Kenny really enjoyed making (and then demolishing) a snowman. We got to visit most of the family in the area, and then on Sunday (Christmas Day) we drove to my sister's house in Madison for the big Bragg Family get-together (Rick and Ann also made the trip). Much good food was consumed, gifts exchanged, and another inglorious Packer defeat was witnessed. The next day, we drove to Rhinelander, and spent the next week at Rose and Don Bragg's house. The kids played in the snow some more, and Aggie the dog got some much needed attention from the kids. Beth went from being afraid of the dog to constantly chasing him around. After watching the final Packer game of the season (a victory over Seattle that may have been Brett Favre's last game) with brothers Bob and Bill, we left Rhinelander and headed south.

Since returning home, we have set up the HDTV we bought in Rhinelander, and are enjoying the remarkable picture HDTV provides. We are also going to fix up and repaint the small master bathroom over the next week or so before my back surgery (more on this later).