Old Man Winter Followed Us Home

Our drive back to Arkansas after the holidays was very uneventful. Sun a shinin', clear roads, low wind. All in all, a nice drive. We got home in plenty of time to unpack and begin to get the house back in order. Kyle even went out to run some errands and surprised me with a dip cone from DQ! I had seen a billboard somewhere back in Iowa and wanted one ever since ... perfect welcome home gift. (Do you remember me getting these as a kid, Mom? I'd always get a cherry dip cone and drip all over the place ...)

What wasn't a perfect welcome home gift was the next morning, when we woke up to this ...

Can you believe it?!?!? We woke up to 2 inches of snow ... and had another 1-2 inches fall throughout the day.

Kyle never thought he'd have any shoveling to do during our 2 year Arkansas adventure. But, that's what husbands are for, right? Gosh, I love being married. :)

The week started out with dangerous icy roads and never really crawled much out of the single digits. The local area children enjoyed a full week off from school as we were hit with a couple more flurries. It really only takes a couple inches to shut down the city. Quite dangerous since NO ONE down here knows how to drive in that kind of weather. Can't blame them, I guess.

To be completely honest, it actually feels even more like home now that we have snow covered trees out our window. A little slice of good old Hopkins, MN to warm the northerners' souls.

We'd Like You To Meet ...

Our little nephew,

Vaughn Brandt Mulhausen!

***

He arrived on January 5th, 2010 at 1:35pm Central time.

7lbs 13.5oz and 22 inches long.
Perfect in every way.

Congratulations to the proud parents, Jeff and Kathleen ...

and to my parents, who became grandparents for the first time on Tuesday.

Our family is so blessed.

We are SUPER excited to be Aunt Tracie and Uncle Kyle!

Stay tuned for more pics ...

Here's to Twenty Ten!

New Year's Eve and Dick Clark - go together like milk and cookies! (Poor guy is in bad shape, breaks my heart.)

Kyle and I spent the week between Christmas and New Year's in our old hometown of Minneapolis. Kyle worked while I took care of some important business ...


... bonded with my sister-in-law, Emily, at the Coach Outlet! (we look good with our loot, huh?)

... visited with girlfriends over some wine! (sorry, forgot to take a picture ... must have been the wine.)

... got to spend some QT with new babies in our circle of friends! (and this isn't even all of them!)

Danielle and little Helena

Adi and little Addison

Mark and little Reid

Yes, rough life, I know. But I did wake up early to take Kyle to work each day and picked him up in the evening. Made his week of work a little more bearable having a heated shuttle ready for him.


We enjoyed a quiet New Year's Eve with dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, Macaroni Grill. It's our tradition to go there for Valentine's Day every year, so we figured we'd celebrate a different holiday since there are no Mac Grill's in Arkansas. (The picture is before the 5 lbs we both gained!)



We spent the evening with Dick Clark and the Thurbush family, playing Family Feud. Guys vs. Girls. I'll give you one guess on who won ...

New Year's Day was a good start for us. The Buckeye's actually played to their potential and won the Rose Bowl game! Here we are watching the game at a bar in St. Paul with our friends Brent and Christine. Take a close look at the old lady knitting in the background - awesome!

And here is my good friend, Drew, and his new fiancee, Kasie. Congrats, you love birds! See you at the festivities in August!

Cheers to a wonderful, healthy and happy year ahead for all of our family and friends. We will be enjoying our last year in Arkansas in 2010 and welcome any and all visitors!