We are very proud of John and Tracy for their service in the fight against terrorism. Enjoy the pictures.
Christmas in Iraq…
So Christmas was nice here. The weather was good. We had a safety stand down day, so there were NO military convoys on the road that day (except for patrols). So at noon all the NCOs went and discussed safety topics together for about 2 hours. Then we had our Combat Patch Ceremony–I already had mine and wasn’t trading it in. :-) Then “Santa” came. People from all over the state had contacted our first sergeant and had sent everyone in the company care packages and stockings. So that was pretty cool. It helped it to feel more like Christmas, so Sue–my roommate–and I opened our “gifts” and relaxed for the rest of the day.
The food that day was pretty good, too. They really like to do seafood for holidays here–but I’m definately not going to complain about that. :-D Yum Yum!!!! Just don’t try the military version of eggnog; it will ruin eggnog for you…it’s horrible!!! They did more butter decorations and even had set up a nativity in the center of the chow hall.
I really can’t complain about life here and what they try to do for us to make us more comfortable and less homesick.
Thank you for all your prayers and happy thoughts.
I miss you all and can’t wait to come home. Hopefully its sooner than later.
Love you,
Tracy 
Thanksgiving Message from Johnny
Thanksgiving dinner was ok, but the army will never get stuffing right. EVER. The meat is always over cooked and dry, except the turkey which is processed. Please let grandma know that I got her package, and took it to a Marine captain that runs a MITT team. They live in Habanea with the Iraqi soldiers they work with. They do some medical support missions in the city and they always see children. While they don’t understand Christmas they do understand candy. Our operational tempo is very low. We are looking at one mission weekly, then one day of QRF. My squad still hasn’t made contact, so we are either lucky or good. I’ll take either one. All of the other squads in our troop have made some kind of enemy contact. I hope this year is the most boring ever.
We are finally getting our vehicles cleaned out and looking like they have real owners. Kinda crazy. I’m trying to load a picture to send to you.
Love,
Johnny
News from Johnny and Tracy
November 10
Hey Dad so I have a minute and I thought I’d write a little more. I’m at TQ and our living area looks like a chanty town. I can’t believe that NCO’s would let their guys live in these conditions. The room I have is 7x 10 and it was very dirty.
I’m going to have to buy a small tv with a dvd player. My room is very small. The walls are already closing in, but it will keep me out with my guys making sure they aren’t living in a 3rd world whore house.
well gotta get goin.
Love ya,
John
November 11
Hope all is well. I haven’t heard from Tracy since she left Kuwait. It sucks were we are. I will have lots of time to work out and get in shape. I’ve lost 25 pounds, its about 1200 meters to the chow hall. Good for the diet plan. How is everything there?
I miss you guys.
Love,
Johnny
November 13
So things have been pretty busy since I got here on the 8th; we pretty much hit the ground running. The infantry unit we are replacing is helping us out a lot with tips and tricks for what we’ll be doing. In fact some of them are going with us tomorrow on our first convoy. I am really excited to finally be getting on the road and to some semblance of normalcy… YEA!!! The days will be long and probably tedious, what with sitting in one place for 6-14 hours. Oh, I’ll be in charge of an ASV (you can google it if you’re curious), but it’s a pretty safe vehicle to be in though a little tight on space.
Well, I gotta get going to bed. I love you and miss you! And just keep in mind… “no news, is good news”
T
Tracy McKenzie
Consultant w/The Pampered Chef
November 14
Made it to Ramadi and Al Asad with out incident last night. Iraq is a stinky place. Miss you.
John
Jared and Kell were married on Friday October 10th
We are happy to add another daughter to the McKenzie bunch. Kell and Jared were married on October 10th in a private cerimony just for them. We are very happy form them and wish them all the best in their new family parying for God’s blessing upon them. We are looking forward to their visit on the weekend ot the 18th.
Kell and Jared. San Francisco
We love Great Uncle Noel
Uncle Noel…what to say? He is probably one of the greatest Uncles a kid could ever ask for. He is my mom’s brother. While I was growing up he and his brother, Lowell, would always play with us kids. They were the ones to pull out the basket ball and get a game started at grandma’s. Everything is more fun when they are around.
Uncle Noel is a great athlete. Even now in his late 60’s he goes running most days. One morning he wanted to see how far he could run and went 10 miles! He was gone so long that Aunt Carol drove all around town looking for him!
Josh loves when Uncle Noel visits. He wants to be with him and no one else! He even talks about him when He’s not around! One morning at Grandma’s Josh and I where looking at her books. She has a Noah’s Ark book with a little Noah and 2 Giraffe. Josh pulled out the Noah and said, “Look Mom, Uncle Noel!” Josh loves playing with Uncle Noel….and I bet Uncle Noel loves playing with Josh too!
Josh and Uncle Noel at Grandma Johnson's house
Another site bites the dust
Our “updated website” hasn’t been updated since November 6, 2007, right after James was born. It was either due to the fact of pure laziness or pure determination to do something else. I mean, you have to turn on the computer, type some stuff, and export the website.
With the new age of blogs, all you have to do is type and click one button. Now that’s my kind of website publishing.
What’s been up with us? Two wild rambunctiously awesome kids. Just like they say for every cigarette you smoke you lose 7 minutes off your life… add a kid in there and you are done for. They suck every last ounce of energy left in you. Wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t after 3 minutes in the morning. I once asked a guy who has 4 kids, “How do you do it?”, he said, “Numb your mind, its the only way.”
With that said, we couldn’t be happier. What in life is really worth its salt that wasn’t difficult? Well, I guess winning the lottery could be in there. But aside from winning the lottery, most good things in life take a good working for. No money on earth could ever buy Josh’s smile right here. Josh is the joy of our lives. He keeps us happy, energetic, and continually going grey. We love him so much.
James’er (as we like to call him) is a blast. Either laughing really hard or screaming really hard. He doesn’t do mediocre. That’s my boy, never settling for less. He has started crawling and putting everything in his mouth including soda can tops, coins, and stale unidentified food crumbs. Jackie says he gets it from me, but I really don’t see anything wrong with swishing those things around in my mouth.
Parenthood rocks. These guys are what makes life worth living for… and at times what makes death worth longing for. But all in all, I wouldn’t trade these boys for the world. Unless of course the world consisted of a baconator from Wendy’s. But even then, it would be a hard choice.
But really, look at these two pictures and tell me if you have ever seen happier kids! We love our boys!!
