Visit to The Shirkeys in El Paso, TX

Kelley and I have spent a few days in El Paso with our cousins Matt and Carrie Shirkey and with their children, Jackson and Annika. This is their home on the Fort Bliss Army Base.


My cousin Matt, below, is an Army Chaplain. On Thanksgiving morning he served dinner to the troops in his batallion. He and his fellow officers put on their Army blue dress suits.
Here below is the El Paso Shirkey family. Carrie and Matt and the kids.

They took us into New Mexico to a placed called White Sands National Park. You can see why it was called "White Sands."

Our final event of today was to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant named Barrigas.
You may wonder about my choice of "shorts"...well, it was a bit warmer than I expected and I didn't care to wear my jeans for the entire afternoon.

Weekend in Michigan

Kelley and I went home to Michigan this past weekend. It was a quick but meaningful trip. We really laid low and just spent time with our families. My parents had a nice party on Saturday night that included all of our nieces and nephews (2 of which we met for the first time), our siblings (except Austin and Amy), some aunts/uncles and cousins. It was an excellent evening.

We wish it wasn't so fast, but we are thankful that Christmas isn't too far away and we look forward to returning for the week between Christmas and New Years. We hope to be in Michigan from December 24 (probably a late night arrival) through January 3 (Saturday).

Bye for now.

My Sister...Sarah Palin...My Brother...White Trash

My sister, Marilyn, dressed up as Sarah Palin for Halloween. I think she strikes a pretty close resemblance. Apparently, some people she met last night actually thought she was Sarah Palin!

My little brother Daniel is shown here with his family. He is the one who looks like he should be in the grandstands at a NASCAR race...his son, Colin, would be the driver!