Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Dozes' Dilemma 2008

Our year begins with Christmas season 2007. Jesse, Carissa and Curtis spent about three weeks with us and they along with Jared, Kent, and I spent Christmas Eve sledding at the Heise Home. Even this big mama took her turn on the sled! We had a lot of fun. We had two Christmases, one on Christmas Day and one the weekend after when son Dustin, Karen, Brett, and Cody came. We had a great time and it was fun to see how Curtis took to his aunt Karen and cousins Brett and Cody! He really loved them. I think Dustin got a kick our of watching his nephew have so much fun. Curtis was dressed as Santa Claus and he knew exactly what presents were for him! Jan. found us in San Antonio, TX for Jesse's last surgery. We stayed with him for three weeks. Jared stayed with his Aunt Barbara during this time and we're very grateful to her. One day when Jesse was feeling fairly good we drove to Corpus Christy, TX and Port Aransas. It was the first time I had ever seen the Gulf of Mexico and the first time any of us had been on a cruise ship. We had a lovely dinner on board and spent 8 hours in the Gulf of Mexico, which was a little rough. None of us got sick, but all of us had problems with dizziness! It was also the first time we had traveled on a ferry that took us back and forth to Port Aransas where we spent the night. We saw dolphins and enjoyed that very much. The trip turned out to be too much for Jesse and he was glad to get home. We called Jesse when we arrived home to find he wasn't doing well, so Kent flew down to Texas and spent another two weeks with him. He helped him move to another house and get some medical care. While Kent was gone we had 8 inches of snow. One morning I locked my keys in the car with the motor running and our good neighbor found a nice policeman who got my door unlocked in a snap. Then driving into work was a nightmare. The streets Topeka were snow packed and slick. I passed several car accidents. I was glad my trip had been delayed because of the locked car and felt I was spared from driving during rush hour. I was sure glad when I got to work, but I worried all day about getting home, but I made it safe and sound. I let the television stations know how I felt about Topeka not getting their streets cleaned off and how our little town of Carbondale had the roads cleared before I went to work. I got response from the stations and there was a little special about it on the 6:00 news. I took advantage of the snow and got out the sled to slide down the hill in our front yard. It was so much fun, but I couldn't talk Jared into going down. I guess he thought I looked silly or something. We had some special birthdays in the family this year: Jesse turned 30, Jared turned 35 (and he's so proud of that), Brett turned 13 and is now officially a teenager, and my sister Tammy turned 50! This year we worked on the yard and house. We tore down the large water soaked storm shelter in our front yard and had everything bulldozed in; the big hill also went (now where can I go sledding?) We tore out the cracked asphalt driveway and had tons and tons of gravel poured all around the circle drive, our neighbor cut down the ugly wagon wheel at the front of the drive, also some fence posts were taken down and three gigantic gates given away. Now our front yard looks open and spacious. Kent built a beautiful deck on the back of the house and we've gotten so much enjoyment from it. I enjoyed planting flowers this year and even managed to take better care of them, thanks to an online friend who has picture perfect gardens. She was quite an inspiration. We even planted roses this year. I bought one plant and Kent decided we needed two more! I experimented with my camera and got some great closeups of one of my orange roses! We had all five boys home, along with their families, and Jillian, a friend of Cub's for July 4th. We had a great day. My brother David and his wife Brenda and a friend Elaine came over to watch the awesome fireworks display. I think the boys outdid themselves from last year! Brett was really into fireworks this year and had a marvelous time! Cody didn't seem too impressed, played with his Wii games instead. Curtis was absolutely scared to death. While Karen was at our house that weekend she spent a lot of time pulling weeds in Kent's vegetable garden and David helped her bag the weeds up. While Jesse, Carissa, and Curtis were home, we spent a day at Gage Park and Zoo in Topeka until it started storming. Jared had never ridden on the train and he loved it. We didn't get to ride the carousel because of the lightening. We went to two reunions this year. Mom hosted the Hudson Reunion in Lindsborg, KS. It was great to visit our Colorado cousins, Christina and Merle Stambaugh, Gary Hudson, and son. Just prior to the reunion we went to Wichita to visit Kent's brother-in-law Don Jenkins, who had just been operated on for lung cancer. Don is doing well and even managed to go elk hunting in the Rockies. Kent's sister Barbara has had some health problems. She takes care of everyone else before she takes care of herself. Kent, Jared, and I went to Syracuse in Oct. so we could watch Brett run Junior High cross country in Johnson, KS. We had to stop outside of Great Bend to take Jared to a hospital emergency room before we got to Syracuse. He was having an adverse reaction to some new medication. The nurses and doctors took very good care of him, ran lots of tests, talked with Jared's doctor in Osage City and soon we were on our way. Jared had a difficult time during the whole trip. Brett is 13 years old and in the 8th grade. HE is presently playing basketball. He plays the piano, sings, still loves golf, swimming and baseball. HE gets top grades and is president of his 8th grade class. HE loves fishing, hunting,and camping, too. He has gotten his deer three years in a row, this year a large trophy mule deer! Cody is in the first grade and is doing so well that there is talk about gifted classes. HE reads at a3.7 grade level. HE received the schools annual Citizenship award. Cody is crazy about his Wii games, loves golf, swimming, basketball and baseball. HE also loves fishing and camping and can hardly wait until he can go deer hunting with his dad and brother. Brett and Cody entertained us with their piano playing while we were there visiting. Dustin serves on the City Council and Karen serves on the School Board. They are both so busy, it makes my head spin! Dustin says this is the last year he's coaching high school baseball, but I think he's said that before! We stopped in Tribune and Sharon Springs, looking for possible places to live when I retire, but it was disappointing. We stopped in Colby to visit my Aunt Zelma Bever Reed who is 92 years young and to visit the cemetary so I could put flowers on graves of my dad, my grandparents, and Aunt Lela Bever Hills. We enjoyed a nice dinner and visit with friends Sue and Dwayne Randolph. We had nice visits with several friends and relatives while there. Time is always so short and we wish we could see all our friends and relatives. Maybe next time? Jesse officially received his disability retirement from the USMC OCt 30th and he and his family are now living in their new home in Howard, Ohio which is close to Mt Vernon where Carissa's family lives. Jesse plans to go back to school taking classes in Human Resource Management. We hate having them live so far away and know we're going to miss out on a lot of Curtis's life, just like we have Brett and Cody's. Curtis gave his parents a terrible scare when he found a bottle of Children's Liquid Tylenol, opened the child proof lid, drank the entire contents, and put the lid back on! He was rushed to the emergency room, had an IV, two blood tests from the arm and given charcoal to make him vomit. Needless-to-say, all medicines are out of his reach now and I have put all our meds up even higher than they already were. Curtis will be 3 years old in Jan. Jared remains active with this mental health groups and his bowling. People at the bowling alley are very nice to JAred. He has been ink drawing birds. He gives a lot of his bird pictures away. He wants to sell his drawings, but I told him he would have to stop drawing on lined notebook paper! He says "No" to that! David is doing well at K-State. He even survived a tornado that hit Manhatten this year. I was pretty worried about him, but he kept in touch with me on his cell phone from the shelter he went to. Cub started raising quail, had a good business on Ebay selling blown-out quail eggs, but it got where he couldn't keep up with all the birds and eggs and work his full time job at the golf course, so he phased out the business. I believe he and some of Kent's family got to eat a lot of quail meat! Cub has started fishing and hunting again, still likes the casinos and comes home quite often, which we enjoy. Kent is doing okay-had one long emergency hospital stay but that was soon resolved, but he did pass out on me at the theater one evening-one minute he was laughing, the next minute I thought I had lost a husband. It had something to do with the medicine the doctor had prescribed HE keeps plenty busy, loves to watch Westerns on tv, and he's gone hunting with Cub and on fishing trips with Cub, Dustin, and David. HE fell out of the boat on Norton Lake this year, hit the bottom and wondered how deep he went until he pushed himself up from the bottom and found out he was only in chest high water! We laughed a lot about that! HE also put his boat our on our own pond for the first time ever and caught a bunch of perch for bait. I snapped three good pictures of him! We had hoped we could get the little boys out there in July, but by then the moss had taken over the pond and it was too dangerous. I'm doing fine. I just want to retire really badly. I had planned to retire April 30 2009 but a big hunk of my retirement funds are gone and with the economy the way it is and the fact that I probably won't be able to afford health insurance for three more years, I guess I'm not retiring unless some miracle happens! I have had some bad episodes with my heart and have no energy. My caridiologist ordered a sleep study done and I have severe sleep apnea, probably have had it for years. I was getting very little restive sleep which affected my heart, my blood pressure, caused some TIAs and loss of energy. And most people thought I was just fat and lazy! Good grief. My parents have had a rough year with their health this year. J.D. had a heart attack and ongoing problems with skin cancer. Mom has never fully regained her strength since she had heart surgery and then fell and broke her arm last year. She can still run circles around me, though! Both my sisters, as well as KEnt's sister have had health problems and I really think that getting older isn't for sissies! I've been having lots of fun on Facebook and my sister Tammy and brother Darrel are on it, too. I think Tammy and I are addicted to it! I don't know if Darrel is, but suspect he may be! FAcebook is no longer just for high school and college students-there are a lot of us Baby Boomers on it now! Were taking over the world! Facebook is great for keeping in touch with family and friends. If you join Facebook, be sure to add me as your friend, just search for Vicki Bever Doze. Thanksgiving 2008 is over now. We spent it at my Mom's and had a nice time. Cub and David came home for a few days and we always enjoy having them home. Now the tree is up, the cards are almost ready to mail and we're looking forward to Christmas. Sounds like all the kids will be here on the 20th and so our Christmas Day may be quiet with just Kent, me, and three of the boys. Merry Christmas to you all and my good health, peace and prosperity be yours in the New YEar. Please support and pray for your troops and our veterans. Pray for America. Here are two address changes-all others remain the same as last year. Jesse and Carissa Doze and Curtis 295 Glenridge Circle Drive Howard, OH 43028 David Doze 1431 Cambridge Place #1 Manhattan, KS 66502