Christmas 2006

Dear Family and Friends, 

Well, another crazy year. Bret has updated all the websites- our family one, Terri’s acting one, and Terri’s faux finishing one. So be sure to check them out, especially for details and pictures on all the following events mentioned. Terri and her best friend, Angela, still have their faux finishing and decorative painting business “Faux du Jour”. They’ve been doing this now for 6 years. Bret is still an Intelligence Captain at Ellington Field here in Houston and is a Traditional Guardsman in the Texas Air National Guard doing the one weekend a month drills and deployments. He still has his job with Tybrin, providing Flight Planning Services for the Air Force’s array of mission planning software suite. 

In January, we went to China with our Mothers, Liz and Mary. This is the 3rd trip the four of us have taken together. We spent 8 days touring Beijing, including visiting the Forbidden City and climbing a section of the Great Wall. We had a several day layover in New Jersey on the way home to visit with Grammy, Tom, and Sue. After being home a week, Terri took off to LA for another 4 month stint. Bret was able to help drive her out but had to fly home the next day with a busy work schedule (though he still had to unload the car, up two flights of stairs, and set up all the electronics). She sublet a room in an apartment in Toluca Lake (The Valley) very close to all her classes. Not only was her roommate, Shawna, great, but Terri fell in love with her two dogs, Duncan and Dozer. Terri did fly back to Houston once in March to greet her new nephew, RJ (Robert and Rachel’s 2nd child).

Bret had his annual Tybrin convention in Las Vegas in May, which was perfect timing for Terri to drive there and spend a week with him. Not only do we highly recommend Avenue Q, we also got to witness a building implode. Very cool (and loud) sight to see. Then Bob flew out to Vegas to help her with the drive home, as Bret said he had to get right back to work. Back home just for a few days, then we made a road trip to Dallas (for Bret’s Godson Drew’s birthday party) and Mt. Pleasant (to visit Bret’s family). Terri’s movie ‘Read On’ made a theatrical premiere for cast, crew, family, and friends. Terri had 20 people there supporting her. For Memorial Day weekend, we joined the regular group (including Scott, Lucy, Mike and Craig) for the annual camping trip. Terri and her mom, Liz, left the next day for New Jersey again. Terri got to also visit with Barbara (our college friend who just moved with her family to a town very close to Grammy).

Over the summer, Terri worked a few weeks at the Houston Museum of Natural Science teaching at the Summer Xploration Camps. They are activity intensive weeklong camps on various topics. In July, we joined most of Terri’s family for the annual summer family trip. This time it was to Salt Lake City. We joined Scott and Lucy for an additional tour of Bryce and Zion National Parks afterwards. August included a quick trip back to LA for an audition, classes, and catching up with friends. Then Bret left for San Angelo for a month for training. Labor Day was the halfway point, so we met in San Antonio for a quick getaway. In September, poor Bob had no one to join him for the A&M football game of which he share season tickets, so he was forced to take Terri, Liz and Mary (the three most unenthusiastic football fans ever). 

Bret finally came home mid September, so we joined Mary and her friend in Hawaii. We spent 5 nights on Oahu and 3 nights on the Big Island, where Mary still has a condo. We were only back a few days when Bret had to deploy to Las Vegas for a ‘Green Flag’ exercise. ‘Read On’ made its official festival premiere and is now available on DVD. In October we had to say goodbye to two close friends. Tim, who we met with Young Adults in 1998 moved back to Michigan. And our favorite neighbors (okay, the only ones we really know, but still…) moved to Thailand for four years. We will definitely be visiting Kathy and Norm. We also attended the ‘Wings Over Houston’ airshow at Ellington Field. Another perk of Bret working at Ellington was President Bush’s visit to Houston, where he did a meet and greet with the military and their family. All of us got to shake his hand and say a few words. He kissed our niece and “held” our nephew. You definitely need to check out that webpage. 

In November, Bret’s grandmother, Bea, celebrated her 100th birthday. We also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on the 20th of November. Terri spent a lot of time in Austin on the weekends in November shooting the lead in a film. We were fortunate to have three Thanksgivings this year. One was in Mt. Pleasant the weekend before Thanksgiving (which Terri missed for filming), and two were on Thanksgiving Day. First we went to Mary’s house (Bret’s mom bought a house near us last year) where we dined with her friends from Italy and Hawaii, as well as Bret’s uncle and aunt from San Antonio, and then we went to Bob and Liz’s house later that day.

In December, Terri was in another play, the Kaufman and Hart classic comedy, The Man Who Came to Dinner. Bret took his annual Texan’s away trip, this time to San Francisco with Craig, Brad, and Sandra.

Our hobbies still include going to the movies, eating out, napping, and planning for the next trip. We still have season tickets to the Broadway Series and TUTS Series in Houston, along with most the family. This year we saw Dr. Doolittle, Beauty and the Beast, Golda’s Balcony, 110 in the Shade, Bombay Dreams, Lion King, West Side Story, and Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Bret still golfs occasionally. Terri convinced Bret to finally join a gym. They had just completed a huge, beautiful new facility with racquetball courts (the selling point for Bret). Bret’s best friend, Craig joined the same gym to partake in friendly racquetball competition. Terri’s also began doing yoga and pilates classes there with Liz. Our daughter, Abby (the tortoise-shell calico cat) is also doing well. She will turn 10 in a couple months. 

We hope this letter finds you in good health and happiness, and we hope you have a great holiday season and Happy New Year!

          Love,

         Terri and Bret Brogoitti (and Abby J)

 

 

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