Greetings from the Bettencourt/Brewer/Navab clan. We hope you are all well and enjoying a holy season.

Our year was eventful. Natasha was graduated from USC, Columbia. Nadia finished her Teach for America commitment in Memphis. They joined forces for a short period here, then struck out for excitement and job hunting in NYC. Kim and I, with Alex and Opal in tow, pulled a U-Haul trailer full of "girl stuff" to Brooklyn in late summer and stayed a few days. It was a grand adventure. Tasha is well situated after a 6 week training period with Felix dot com. Nadia is working in Human Relation at the Schulte and Roth law firm.

Oh, yes. Alex and Opal (half Basset hound, half Bosten terrier) joined the family in Feb. shortly after our faithful Ruby passed away. They are great fun and challenging.

Aria has had a grand adventure as a disc jockey in Santa Cruz, CA. After joining his cousin, Aaron Wolfe, in N. California, together they have just ended a trip that took them through Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. Aria is now in Albuquerque visiting his father, Amir.

Aria, Nadia and Natasha will all convene here in Hilton Head later this week for a Christmas visit.

I had a brief reunion here in with four of the Army pilots (183 Avn.Co., "Seahorse" call sign) I flew with as an observer in O-1 Birddogs out of Phan Rang AB in Vietnam. We told war stories (some of which were true) and shared pictures and had a few nice meals together. The highlight for me was the fact that they gave me an official "Seahorse" call sign. I am now Seahorse 3B.

Jody and Sue Smith and Don and Wendy Sutton managed to get by for a few days in the spring. Jody, Don and I were on the USAFA Skeet Team. We had a nice visit to Savannah.

Kim and I took the train to DC in May. We went to the Marine Corps Barracks "Friday Night Parade", Arlington Cemetery Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Museum of Natural History, National Gallery of Art and Mount Vernon. We also spent a nice afternoon in Old Town Alexandria and visited with my Seahorse friend, Bob Hodes, at his club in the harbor. The train was an enjoyable excursion.

I flew back to DC in late June to meet with my best high school friends, Michael Hurst and Rick Zwicknagel and their wives. The occasion was the wedding of Michael's daughter, Elizabeth. Beautiful occasion and fine friendship.

The end of October found us in Denver for a Wolters (my grandmother) family reunion, brief visit to Breckenridge (Kim saw a wild bear), and then Colorado Springs for my 45th USAFA reunion. Please visit Kim's blog, thehappycardinal dot com (her most recent venture)
to read more about the trip and other projects we've accomplished this year.

On a more somber note, my oldest sister, Rochelle, passed away peacefully in early December. She was 12 years my elder and has been the family matriarch for 30 years. She lived a full life and is at peace with the Lord.

Kim (mostly) and I have spent most of December preparing the house for sale this spring. Yes, it is time for a change. We hope to be settled on a nice lake in Tennessee when you hear from us next year.

God bless and be well.
All the best,

Kim and Manuel