HE'S HOME!

As you all know by now Daniel was on school business in Brazil for 3 weeks. He had a blast! I must admit I thought the time away from each other would be HORRIBLE but it wasn't as bad as I expected lol. And I owe that in most part to great friends, or should I say friend lol, and of course my mom coming to visit! Now that Dan is home safe and sound life has resumed back to normal as I have returned to my wifely duties. But I don't mind! 12 more weeks and Daniel will have completed the MBA program at Thunderbird and a new adventure awaits us. What that adventure is, we do not know yet...but we are excited to see where life takes us!

Goodbye Dan, HELLLLO Momma!

The first week of January Daniel was Brazil bound for three weeks! Part of his school curriculum requires that he enroll in a three week course to learn and study more about business ventures abroad. He was selected to participate in the Brazil course learning about "green energy." As you may have guessed by now, NO...I did not have the pleasure of joining him in exotic Rio De Janeiro. Instead, I have to spend my time working and paying bills on top of all my other wifely duties. But seriously, I'm glad Dan has the opportunity to study abroad (again) even if it is just for a short while. It makes him happy, and that makes me happy.

Okay...what REALLY makes me happy is that while Daniel is gone my mom came to visit!!!

I was lucky enough to get two full days off work to play hooky with my mom. We slept in (oh thank you, thank you, thank you), visited old friends, went shopping, tried out hot new lunch spots, went to the movies, did some more shopping and really just enjoyed a nice long relaxing weekend! I appreciate her taking the time to come down and visit. I mean it really took some convincing...it was only 8 degrees in Kansas City! ;) 

Two weeks down and one more week to go until Dan comes home. I know I can do it! Without mom here my good friend Kylee and I spend our evenings together taking turns cooking dinner and watching movies. Good thing her husband is gone in Brazil too! 

2011 has treated the Tracy's well so far and we hope all our friends and family reading are just as fortunate as we are!!!

2011? Bring it on!

We started our New Years Eve off with an "adult's only" dinner at Genghis Khan Mongolian Barbecue, my favorite restaurant! It was my Mom, Dad, Sister Stephanie, Brothers Jason and Brandon along with our spouses.

After dinner we came back to my parents house and the partying began! We had our annual couples pool tournament that Daniel implemented last year. Last year we were the winners! This year, we were not as fortunate. In fact, I think we were dead last lol. Here we all are, showing off our wicked skills.

Stephanie and Dudley won the tournament! And Steph didn't even want to play at first! They snookered us!

My mom had lots of fun games set up for the kids and when it wasn't our turn to play pool we played Band Hero on the Wii, drank Pina Coladas and Orange Julius's. We partied till midnight and toasted to Martinelli's! Daniel and I agreed that this was the best New Years Eve we've spent since we've been married. I believe there was a year or two when I didn't even make it till midnight until this year lol.

Daniel's family has a New Years Day tradition that they go trap shooting! I choose not to partake in this tradition but Dan had a great time with his Dad and brothers as always! Looks cold doesn't it? It was 19 degrees! No thank you, Brrrrr!

New Years Day we had to say goodbye and fly back home to Phoenix. It's always bittersweet when it's time to go home. Daniel and I love going home for the Holidays and seeing our families but then it's always back to real life! Don't mind the misty eyes...they never stay dry when saying bye to our wonderful families. They mean the world to us :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! We hope that 2011 brings much love and happiness to you all in the year to come!

Baby Avery

My brother and his wife Ashley are expecting their first baby, baby Avery! Ash decided to have her baby shower while everyone was home for Christmas so we could all be there. The "Furnell" girls hosted it at my mom's house and it turned out SO CUTE! My mom and I tackled the food and decorations. I made the big "A" on the door for Avery and the cloth diaper cake . I've always wanted to make one and it turned out so adorable!

My mom made cheese ball, homemade salsa and veggie dip/tray while Margene and Olivia made the cupcakes. I have gotten into the whole "party planning" thing and it was a lot of working with my mom, Steph and Margene to throw a nice shower for Ashley. She got a lot of great stuff! I made sure to take notes for when it's my turn someday. We played games and devoured the tasty food!

Ashley and the two Grandma's to be!

Ashley about 6 months along

Congratulations Brandon and Ashley!

Christmas Break Cont.

The week following Christmas was basically just spending time with family and seeing old friends. I got to go to lunch with my favorite ladies, Jess and Sarah and miss Bailey. Love them!

Per Daniel's request, we went to dinner with his family to Jack Stack. The BEST bbq joint in the KC area. Take a look at that rib! Delicious!

I had a fun time being silly with my nieces Olivia and Sydney...we all wore our footie pajamas together!

The kiddo's loved baking with Grandma. I'm pretty sure my mom baked something new each day! No wonder I came home with 5 extra pounds...

My mom's dog, Jasper was another highlight of our trip. Jasper is obsessed with socks! He followed me around, pawing at my feet to get my socks. Once I sit down he starts to nip at your toes, trying to get the socks off your feet. Once he succeeds, he takes off with them! Some found it annoying, I found it adorable!

We also celebrated my other niece Madeleine's 15th birthday. It was another excuse to get the whole family over for pizza, cake and presents! Happy Birthday Maddy :)

Over all, we had a great week! We went to lunch and shopped during the day, watched movies at night and watched the entire first season of Vampire Diaries in 4 days! Driving back and forth from Lee's Summit and Harrisonville the whole week like always lol. I love each time I go home. New memories are made and we grow closer together as a family!

Merry Christmas from the Tracy's

Daniel finished his semester of school and I got a whole week off from work so we packed our bags and to MissourA we went! We got home on the 23rd, so not much time to waste before Christmas. 

In my family, we open presents from family on Christmas Eve and then Santa presents on Christmas morning. Dan still can't wrap his head around it but luckily he has forever to get used to it lol. So after opening presents at my house on Christmas Eve we drove to my Grandma's house in Sedalia to visit with family and open more presents! There, my whole family got together with my grandma, aunt, uncles and cousins for presents, food and fun times.

LET IT SNOW!!! On Christmas Eve it started snowing and I was SO excited to have a white Christmas...but then it stopped and melted. This is ALL the snow we got the entire trip. Pathetic!

Christmas morning we woke up and opened presents from Santa. We spent Christmas morning with my mom, dad, brother Jason, his wife Margene and their four kids. They drove down from Detroit for the Holiday's. Christmas morning is always more fun when sharing it with the kids! If you remember, Santa brought us our gift back in November, BEATLES ROCK BAND! But he was gracious enough to drop a few things in our stockings though. Thanks Santa!

After we got cleaned up we drove to Dan's parents and opened more presents. Santa was even kind enough to visit us in Harrisonville and brought us matching PJ's! We spent the whole day and night there with Dan's mom, dad and two brother's, Jacob and Joseph. We went to the movies, saw True Grit (excellent movie) and Darlene made Christmas Dinner. It was a wonderful, cozy Christmas!

Besides PJ's and Beatles Rock Band, we also got lot's of other fun stuff. I got a new coat, a couple books, Wizard of Oz on blue ray and money. Daniel got new shoes, a bunch of blue rays, an Arrested Development T-shirt and  money.  Neither of us made Christmas lists this year so we were on our own to buy gifts and I think it turned out really well! It was a zero stress, laid back Christmas, surrounded by family and those are the best kind!

We hope yours was just as great!