Welcome New Year!

As much as I hate the hustle-and-bustle of the holiday season, I absolutely love the renewal that it brings. Reconnecting with old friends, reviewing the year that has just passed by and establishing a plan for the new year ahead.

Looking back, despite some of the "bumps" that we faced, Kelsey and I had a great year. Lots of travelling (just about every month or two it seemed), great visits with my kids, lots of fantastic memories to last us a good long while. Kelsey took tons of pictures to chronicle our entire year and those that didn't make it to this blog's Image Gallery are out on ringo.com. If you're not already on our "friends" list, just email me and I'll make sure you get on it. I also was able to reconnect with friends that I had lost touch with in the multiples moves from Illinois to Missouri to Texas -- Ryan & Lisa Stough and their baby girl Sophia, Ben & Lisa Brooks and their boy Patrick, John Farrell (a co-worker from ADM), and Dave Burrus -- just to name a few.

To top of our 2005, I asked Kelsey to marry me on Christmas Eve. High atop the Reunion Tower here in Dallas, at the Antares Restaurant, I got down on one knee, read a poem to Kelsey and asked her for her hand in marriage. She, of course, said "yes". We've not yet set a date, but we're hoping to pull off a wedding sometime within the year.

Then, we trekked off to Mississippi (to get the kids) and then to Florida (by way of Alabama) to visit Kelsey's grandparents, who live just south of Tampa Bay. It was a fantastic trip, even with all the driving and we had a fantastic time with the kids. I miss them already...

So, welcome 2006 -- I'm really looking forward to what you have in store!