A lot of life has happened since my last post.  Holidays came and went....Thanksgiving and Christmas were both pretty low key.  I ended up working more than I wanted to, but it is the busy season.  I received a huge surprise for Christmas....my mom!!  One of the boys flew her up for Christmas.  It is not often I am 100% surprised, but they pulled that off.  Another son gave me a lap top for Christmas (I got a new phone and computer within days of each other and I am technologied out) and the third made me a really cool wooden 2 drawer chest that they laser imposed a picture on top.  The most amazing thing, I don't think I had ever seen the picture (the black and white one below).  It was years ago and was cool because it did not even look familiar to me.

Benjamin continues serving at a busy downtown breakfast spot.  This week he is interviewing for work through a temporary (of sorts) agency.  He has some fun plans ahead and needs the money for it.  He has just committed to staying in his current apartment for another year - good news for us since we comes over few times a week for laundry, food etc.

Jacob is several months into the elevator job.  He does new construction and he has enjoyed learning a niche skill he has never known anything about.  He is always brainstorming ways to work/earn money and his creative ideas blow me away.

Joseph is not playing any more sports, so that has been weird for me.  But he loves his down time.  He is working Saturdays at a local car dealership - throwing tires, helping with oil changes etc.  I would love a car mechanic in the family.  He recently upgraded his motorcycle and paid cash.  The boys did not always catch everything I was trying to teach them, but so far, all three of them are dialed in financially!

The second weekend of January we set out on a short 3 night cruise.  The first family vacation for us.  We all have our own take on the cruising industry now, but all enjoyed it.  We flew into Miami the night before departure.  I have never come so close to missing a flight, as I did in Dallas.  Gate D1 - the worst.  I was so out of breath I could not even talk to the gate agent when I got there.  They had given the 'doors are closing' announcement a few minutes prior.  I sent everyone else ahead of me and somehow found favor with the gate agent because he held the plane for me (and one other gentleman who had also been on our late arriving flight out of Montana).  The morning before we headed to the port, Benjamin said he wanted to watch the sunrise at Miami Beach.  So at 6am, he, Joseph and myself took an Uber to the beach. So cool and glad we have that memory.  We had cabins on the ship with ocean views - very comfortable cabins.  I was concerned about small rooms, but amazing how the balcony and large glass doors help.  The boys stayed right next door, so that was convenient.  The two full days on the ship we were both docked.  One at CoCo Cay and the other at Nassau.  Nassau was a hoot because through strange set of circumstances we ended up with a local guy driving us around in a side by side - our own personal tour guide!  We saw a cool ice skating show and a water/diving show that was all women.  I was not quite prepared for the night light on the ship.  I have not yet figured out what kind of a cruiser I am because I don't enjoy hours of laying in the sun or staying up until 3 am.  We mostly found ourself over by the sports deck where a lot of basketball happened with boys and they had a cool surfing pool (Flow Rider) that Benjamin and Joseph did.  I would have loved another 36 hours on the ship because it seemed just as we were learning our way around, etc, it was time to leave.

With holidays, I have put in way more hours than I wanted to, so hoping for a little down time.  Fortunately, our winter has been very mild.  We have only had about 2 inches of snow since first of the year and warmer temperatures so many days I did not wear a coat.  We have seen the grass most of the winter - nice change but will mean a very very dry summer.

Lots of travel for 2026 coming up.  Benjamin has just booked a 10 plus day trip with two friends to Italy in August.  He is probably going to be making a Texas trip in March.  Jacob has his eye on a Hawaii hunting trip middle of May - which, because of some amazing contacts, thinking he can get all in for under $1,000.  JR has an 11 day trip to Peru planned.  He will be on an extended hike with several other people (unknown to him) and a guide, cooks and pack animals.  This will have some overlap with Jacob's trip in May.  Joseph and I are talking about someplace the two of us could go....he suggested NYC, but I just don't know that I want to venture there without a third.  Love seeing my boys desire for travel.

I think that is the latest....now for huge photo dump (in most random order) 

(I know some of you periodically drop in on the blog.  Because of the infrequency, if you are interested in getting email notice when a new blog is posted, let me know and I will see if I can set it up)