We can't believe that the holidays are here again. This year seems to have flown by.

Katelyn continues to grow and learn and amaze us. She's progressed from holding her head up to crawling, to pulling up, to cruising, and finally, in the last month or so, to walking. Now nothing in our house is safe! During the summer, she developed a love of sweet corn. She managed to get quite a bit off the cob with her four front teeth! She celebrated her first birthday in September. She's also started talking -- dad, mama, and "ba" (for ball or Barney, depending on what she's pointing at!) -- and performing some cute actions to songs she's learned in daycare and blowing kisses. She's also begun showing quite an interest in books and loves to be read to and look at the pictures.

Bert built himself a new racecar this year -- his first one in five years. He also changed color schemes -- instead of his traditional red, this car has a hot pink chassis with a blue and white body. Quite a change! He's really enjoying his new toy and won three special with it: one at Allison and two at Mason City.

Sue helped organize her 20-year high school reunion in June. She was in charge of putting together information on all of her classmates and really enjoyed hearing from them. She continues to develop her web design and development skills at the college and enjoys working there.

Our business continues to grow -- we're on target to have our best year ever. The mechanic work side of the business seems to be doing very well. At least once a month it seems, Bert has a full line of vehicles in front of the shop. (Usually this is right before he's planning on going somewhere or before a major holiday!) We took our parts trailer to three tracks a week this summer and Katelyn enjoyed some quality time with friends at a campsite near the river nearly every Saturday night. She does enjoy watching the cars when she gets to go to the races and made several road-trips with us this summer.

We continue to work on home improvement projects -- brush clearing, house painting, dirt work in the yard. The list of things to do seems endless.

Our plans for the holidays include a trip to Phoenix to visit Bert's mom and stepfather. We're really looking forward to getting away -- especially to someplace warmer than Iowa in December!

We want to wish all of you a very happy holiday season and hope you know that we feel blessed with the gift of your friendship!