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The Baum Family
2007 Review
Dear Friends and Family,
I wish all of you the happiest and healthiest of New Years in 2008. Hopefully the recently past Holiday Season brought you much joy spent in the company of good friends and family!
Dixie and I finally found a hobby that we could participate in together, and as usual it revolves around food and eating out! On occasional Saturdays, we get up really early and visit garage and estate sales buying stuff that we can resell on Ebay before heading to Cindi’s for breakfast. We don’t make a lot of money, but on a good day we can pay for our meal! Our most exciting transaction? A Coleman Vintage Electric Blue Metal Ice Chest bought by us for $3 that a local attorney (most likely involved in suing the Tobacco Industry) “really” wanted and purchased for $194. Now, that’s what I call a return on your investment!
Things are going great in real estate at the Keller Williams Preston Road Office where I am again serving on the ALC (Agent Leadership Council). In the face of the sub-prime mortgage melt down, residential real estate, was to say the least, a “challenge” in 2007! Thankfully, I had a good year due to my many friends and clients who continue to send me referrals for which I am MOST grateful!
I remain an active supporter of the Richardson Independent School District where I am serving another year on the RISD Tomorrow Fund, continuing to help raise money for those projects which the District needs but is outside their budget. RISD had 17 campuses in Texas Monthly’s Top Schools in Texas list this year. The RISD also won the $100K 2007 HEB Stores Large District Excellence in Education Award!
Michael returns to Texas State in San Marcos this month. He will finish, over the next two years, his undergraduate education with a degree in Advertising and Communications. Higher education has been a roller coaster ride for young Michael who just turned 21! However, he is really doing well with his studies and thoroughly enjoys working part-time at REI.
The highlight of the year was the birth of our first grandson Dawson Reece Baum on September 9th in Hattiesburg, MS. Dawson is the first child of our oldest son, David and his wife Sarah. We thoroughly enjoyed having them visit us for 6 days over the Christmas Holidays. Dawson is a delight! David works for a startup telecommunications company and Sarah is a dental hygienist.
Dixie is doing well and absolutely relishes her role as a grandmother, but has been unable to decide what name she wants Dawson to call her. Hopefully by the time he enters the 1st grade we will have decided on something! I’ve decided on the name “Den” because everything with grand or pop or poppa sounds WAY too old! Dixie enjoys her job at the dental office where she helps to manage the front end and handles insurance claims.
What vacations and trips did we take last year? Not too many, but we did visit Hattiesburg when Dawson was born and again in early October. On our second visit, I made a day trip to New Orleans for a post-Katrina tour. Much of New Orleans is not a pleasant sight. We plan to visit Hattiesburg again in March when Sarah and David take a cruise. We did go to a lovely family Bat Mitzvah in LA and had the opportunity to see friends, visit the Getty, and relax a bit. Hopefully this year we’ll make it to Yellowstone at the end of August. Our Yellowstone sojourn has been postponed several times, so we’re hoping it becomes a reality in 2008!
Sincerely,
Dennis
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