December 2010

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We hope everyone had a great December and a great Holiday. It was a fun month - here are some highlights:

First was the QT with fam. Scott's last day of work at ProFlowers was on Dec 10, so we've got to have him all to ourselves for the last couple of weeks. We started off enjoying the winter season by sledding down the grass in my parent's front yard.













Once we had that down, we were ready for the next level, so we took a trip to Snow Mountain, where they fill the lawn in front of Stone Mountain with man-made snow and have downhill tubing, snowball targets, igloo building and other assorted snow fun - the kids of course had a blast.












Being Christmas and also currently being homeless, we had plenty of time to spend with mine and Scott's family. Here is a photo of Jack and Tay at a gingerbread-making shop with Grammy, and also a photo from the park with Grandpa and Grandma Becky. That modified see-saw looks harmless, but Scott's brother, Jay, is still limping from an attempted back flip off of it. His consolation was that it looked cool AND it got on video. Definitely Scott's brother.












The next big event was, obviously, Christmas. It's great having little kids around for the Christmas season, because it brings back all the magic. While Scott is still undecided as to how he feels about promoting the myth of Santa Clause for our children, this is a point of childhood that I do not want them to miss, so we mae sure to put out cookies for Santa on Christmas eve and even scrapped together some carrots from a salad for the reindeer. You can see Jack, Tay and their cousins below just full of excitement for the big day.












Gift highlights for the kids were a powerwheel for Jack and a doll house and stroller for Tay. We again did the back-to-back-to-back-to-back Christmas functions with all of my family / extended family and then Scott's family and extended family - we started at 7 and ended around 7 at night.

Perhaps the coolest part of the Xmas this year was that it was the first white Christmas in Atlanta since 1882 - we were apparently due.











The last big event of the month was Meg Nemeth's wedding! She was stunning, Brian is a great guy, and we're totally stoked they got married and that we got to go up to Chicago for it (A big thank you to the Hendricks for letting us crash at their place). They had the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night and then the ceremony and reception on Friday, New Year's Eve. There was a great band and we danced until the countdown to ring in the new year - we had a great time (my dress compliments of Mayer--Roomies forever!!)!













After brining in the new year on such a high note, we decided to make it official by doing the polar bear plunge in Lake Michigan. Now we all know who was behind this event, and my being in tears just seconds before shedding my coats and jumping in the water was not enough to dissuade Scott's resolution that this was the right way to celebrate the dawn of 2011. You can see the shore of Lake Michigan - and no, that's not white sand!










So we did it! it felt like needles poking into your entire body, and after getting out of the water and getting back into our car, we put our hands in front of the heater and gritted our teeth while our hands pulsated with an intense burning pain. But we survived. Who knows why we do these kind of things, but now we can all enjoy the pictures and videos, so the memories can last a life time.

We hope you all have a great start to 2011 and hope to hear how you're all doing.

Lots of love,

TFK

November

Welcome back readers!


We're in Atlanta and we're here to stay! BCG was going to fly Scott and I out for a weekend to get to meet the different consultants at the firm, but rather than going out and coming back, we decided to all just get one-way ticekts - so here we are. It was kind of spur of the moment and definitely a whirlwind, but after having forgotten basic necessities like jackets and Jack's baseball stuff (which he reminds me of everyday) and after a 2 hour stand still between Scott and the movers as Scott tried to negotiate a better rate, we finally made it!



The BCG weekend was great - dinners, Hawk's game, rock climbing - we got to meet some neat people and Scott is really excited about getting started. For the next two weeks Scott needs to fly back and forth between Atlanta and San Diego to finish up at ProFlowers, but then we'll have 7 weeks until he starts at BCG. So we're trying to think of some fun trips...ideas anyone?


Fortunately, while we're homeless in Atlanta, Mama and Papo O have graciously allowed us to crash at Sugarloaf while we look around for a place. We've been shopping, and we've seen so many homes that they're all starting to blur together at this point, but we have found a house that we really like--right inside the perimeter, good church ward, great school, good commute, etc. I want to wrap it up, but Scott wants to drag his feet so he's insisted on placing an offer $100k less than the asking price. I tell him we're going to get told to 'take a hike' and he tells me 'there's a city full of houses', so we'll see how this experience turns out and who's right.

Besides the move, the biggest event was definitely Thanksgiving. Over the past 4 years or so my parents had gotten out of the habit of cooking a Thanksgiving meal and eating it at home, but this year when Dad found out we'd be in town, the habit came roaring back. We had all the Thanksgiving favorites, and my dad even invited the owner his favorite Cajun Seafood restaurant over - so we had the full spectrum from Turkey and cranberry sauce to shrimp & grits and gumbo.

After the first feeding, it was off to Scott's house for round 2, which was kicked off by the annual Turkey Bowl in the front yard. This was the year of Jackson's and Trey's debut as they were each the all-star snappers for their respective teams.


In other fun events, we all went to see 'Tangled', the Disney Rapunzel movie (which was great), and also went to The Festival of Lights (Thank you Grandma Becky!) at Lake Lanier. Jack and Tay rode the whole way standing up through the sun roof! Accompanied by Jack and Tay and sitting in the front seat is Scott's sister, Jolanta. She just got her mission call to SLC and reports to the MTC on December 15th - we're so excited for her!

Now we are in full swing for Christmas...It is starting to feel real that we are here for good. Even though there are things we are missing about San Diego, namely the weather and the ward, we feel so blessed be be 'settling down' near family. It was cute, the other day Jack started crying inconsolably, and we asked him: "Jack, what's wrong", and he said: "I miss It's a Small World" (a ride at Disneyland). So we tried to comfort him and had him think about all the things he could be grateful for now that he's in Atlanta, like being close to Grammy, and playing in a yard, and he tried to get over the loss, but he still couldn't help whimpering that "Nothing is better than small world". Scott and I couldn't stop laughing!

In any event, we are grateful for our family and for this time of the year to reflect more closely upon our Savior, and we wish each of you a wonderful holiday season!

Love,


TFK

















...in other newsworthy events, Tays first pedicure!