Christmas Newsletter 2010

Here is a copy of my Christmas newsletter this year....

Merry Christmas 2010!
A lot has happened over the last year… we’ve had our ups and downs this past year. 2010 started with me & the kids traveling to Delaware in February for a week during the “biggest snowstorm” in the last century. We went to visit my parents, and especially to see my dad who was still going through chemo and radiation treatments for brain cancer. We had a great visit with my parents and sister, Katherine. Devin loved the snow and cold. To say Kyle didn’t like the cold is an understatement. Sadly, my father passed away 3 weeks later. We then all traveled back to Delaware for another week for his funeral and to be with my family.
For the rest of the spring and summer, we kept busy with everyday activities and work. The kids both took swim lessons all summer. They are both great swimmers and love the water. Kyle even moved up to the 3-4 yr old class at 2 ½ because the kid has no fear in the water…scary for the lifeguards and me, great for him. Kyle is doing well. He has been fully potty trained since July and just turned 3 yrs in November. He is talking up a storm and has been using full sentences since last summer. We mostly hear… “Why? I’m hungry! I want to do that!” ... ALL DAY LONG. . He is still car and truck crazy and wants a “purple Mac truck” and cement truck from Santa this year. Devin turned 6 yrs old in August. Devin finished preschool in July and started kindergarten in August which caused some school anxiety. So, it was very stressful for all of us the first couple months of school. Thankfully, she is doing well and enjoys school now. Devin has been doing tap/ballet classes for the last 6 months and likes it. She just had her first successful recital this weekend. Currently, “all she wants for Christmas is her 2 front teeth”. She recently lost a tooth and has one ready to go anytime…can’t convince her to let me pull them out even though I do it all the time with horses!
Jack is now working for Netsian. They offered him a job this past summer. He used to work for them about 10 yrs ago when they were Adkins Cabling. He is glad to be back in his nitch and enjoys working there again. He is still actively Dutch oven cooking and does fly fishing when he can. In October and November, he suffered from severe sciatica which was very painful (literally a pain in the @$$). He is almost completely healed now. Sadly, Jack also lost his brother, Joe, in September. We recently had a memorial service for Joe in Camp Verde the day after Thanksgiving.
My mom came out to visit for the month of October. It was great to have her here and we celebrated her 80th birthday in conjunction with an Arizona Bradshaw reunion at our house that weekend. My 3 sisters, Vicki, Katherine and Susan, flew out for the weekend to celebrate. We had about 40 relatives come to the reunion and it was a great success to see family during a happy occasion. We also had our annual Thanksgiving Bash at our house with about 50-60 relatives (mostly Jack’s). We had our usual horseback rides, tractor rides, fire pit, and potluck dinner.
I am still working actively as a horse vet. I still love my job and try to balance being a working mother and veterinarian. Not always easy to do. I crave boredom. In between all this, I try to find time for myself with Mom’s Club activities, working out, and riding my horses when I can. This spring, I went on a painting rampage in the back and power-washed and repainted the pool fence, the storage shed, our barn, and tack shed. Stress reliever--- kind of…until you realize you now need to finish these monumental projects that you started. We are looking forward to a much overdue vacation in late December with my vet school friend, Mo, and her family, in Durango, Colorado. We plan to go on the train ride the “Polar Express” to the North Pole to see Santa with the kids. We hope to get a little skiing and sledding in with the family (if we can convince Kyle to go out in the “coldy” snow).
Hoping all of you have a great 2011… Love, Traci, Jack, Devin & Kyle Hulse