June 2012

Whew—it was a record high here in GA today—106!  Vegas has NOTHING on Atlanta :)…However, while so many Americans are out of power, we feel blessed to have cool air condition!

I guess the biggest news, at least in my life, is that I turned 30!  Wow, still not sure what I think about it, but ready or not, it’s here.. 

And we celebrated it for a week!  The party started the first weekend of June, when we took 6 couples from church up to the lake for a kid-free weekend.  It was, as my dad refers to it, Mormons Gone Wild!  We had 4 noise violations coming from the boat while we were wakeboarding, and super sore bodies from playing battle tubes all afternoon.  It really was so, so, so much fun (despite it being quite chilly and windy)and a major shout out to Mama and Papa O for babysitting (and for letting us ditch the minivan and take the convertible). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on my actual birthday, Scott took the kids while I enjoyed an afternoon at the spa.  After I was all buffed and polished we headed to dinner at Flemmings.  These special dates are always a treat because we have a chance to step out of the day to day and focus for a moment on the direction we want to be steering our family.  It was perfect…Scott even surprised me with a Costco membership :).

Finally to make the day even more special, Scott’s sweet sister, Jolanta, came home from her mission!  For such a big family, we were a small welcoming committee, but we tried to make it special!

Another major highlight of the month, was BCG’s family weekend get-away!  It was so well organized!  Such quality and precision, reasons #1000 and #1001 I love BCG.  All the families headed over to Reynold’s Plantation for a 2 night/3 day fun filled (and FREE) vacation.  We just showed up, and everything was planned for every person in our family!  Jackson had tennis lessons, paddle boat rides, wave runner rides, bouncy water slide time, and his favorite—kickball!  There was around the clock child care for the younger 2, so Scott and I were free to enjoy all the adult activities.  And apparently, since 5 people is such a large family, they gave us our own cottage for the weekend!  That’s it behind us—ridiculous!

Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, there might be even bigger news from our home.  This week Scott’s parents left to be the Mission President of the Dominican Republic Mission.  John and Becky were called by the leaders of our church a couple of months ago to serve for 3 years over all the 19-22 year old missionaries in Dominican Republic—and they accepted!  Such faith, sacrifice, and courage.  John is leaving his law firm in NYC, and Becky has turned over the reigns to her orphanage.  They know that this is where the Lord wants them for the next 3 years and they are making tremendous sacrifices to obey.  So they have packed up and moved down, and in order for them to see their 9 children and 5 grandchildren, we will to go there.  So…Christmas in DR!!

It is amazing that we had everyone in town (except Tommy)!  This is a record!  Friday night evening everyone starting flying/driving in and the grandkids got to go to a Braves game with John and Becky.  Saturday morning the entire family went to the temple, which was really quite special, moving, and memorable.  To me, it felt like a glimpse of what heaven will be like.  Then after a Waffle House brunch we prepared to “Shoot the Hooch.”  At first we were all a little skeptical because the water was FREEZING, but it was a great was to relax, visit, and laugh!  Together that evening, we all prepared an “Around the World Feast” complete with Esther’s curry prawns, Dianna’s brie pasta, Chip’s famous egg rolls, Muck’s pineapple cider, Jay’s bacon wrapped jalapeno shrimp, and my key lime and German chocolate pies.  It was quite the feast, followed by rousing games of Taboo, and Guesstures.

And Sunday, with the entire gang was one for the record books.  At church:  Scott gave Grant his baby blessing (see below); Jolanta gave her homecoming talk, and John and Becky gave their farewell talks.  One Douglas or another consumed the entire meeting!  It was fantastic.

Then after family pictures, it was PARTY time.  And John and Becky, really just Becky, love to go BIG!  There were a ton of people there and the food was delicious.  As we drove home, we couldn’t believe that we were saying goodbye for 3 years…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news we made it to the lake with the kids this month, and even survived without Mom, who was visiting her sister in NC.  It was fun having Big Paul and Paul Jr. with us to fish and wakeboard (we even got Jackson up behind the wave runner)! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other than these events, Scott completed his hotel case and will now be traveling to NY and Brazil for a short, yet intense, due diligence/private equity case (I might not be loving BCG quite as much next month :)).  With the hotel case, Scott got to travel to Portland, St. Louis, and SLC where he got to see his parents one last time (notice the missionary name tags).  He even swung by and saw our first home—we brought Jackson home from the hospital to this house—sigh….  Aside from saving the nations hotels, Scott has become quite skilled at “working” over the credit card companies.  He routinely orders many cards, spends enough to reap all the rewards, at which point he promptly cancels the card.

Jackson had a soccer camp this month, and sang a solo is church!  I was scared stiff in the pew, but he belted it out without a care in the world—it was adorable, and he was pretty puffed up after enjoying a storm of compliments.

Taylor, has attended a few camps too, primarily at Sugarloaf.  She is such a social bug.  She practically sprints out the door each morning, hollering “Jackson!  Get in the car!  It’s time to go to camp!!”  She is as fearless, fun, and funny as ever!

And Grant is 5 months!  Such a joy and rolling over (Jackson says “Grant did a 180 again!!!!).  He is almost weaned and eating baby food.

So life is good.  We are extremely blessed.  We hope this finds you all doing well.

Love,

TFK

 

Blessing of Grant David Douglas (6/17/2012):

Dear heavenly Father, by the power of the Holy Melchezidek priesthood, we hold this infant in our arms to give him a name and a blessing.  The name we have chosen is Grant David Douglas.

Grant, we bless you at this time with the blessings from your Father in Heaven.  Grant, we bless you with physical blessings, Grant.  That you will grow and mature and become the person and the man that God has designed you to be, that you will be a man of great strength to be a force for good in the worlds and to stand for the causes of righteousness and nobility.

Grant, we bless your mind and your intellect as well, that it will grow and thrive and that you will catch and you will nurture the spirit to continually feed and enrich your mind that it can be a powerful asset for you and for those around you and for the work of the Lord. 

Grant, we also bless you as a person, that you can be full of the spiritual truths and gospel principles of character.  Principles like integrity, faith and optimism, and resilience.  That you will be strong and learn from the example of those in your home and others around you and other great people that will be in your life and that will touch you.

Grant, we bless you also that the Lord will guide you, that he will guide you through the events that he wants you to complete and accomplish.  He will guide you through to baptism, that he will be in your life and help you serve a mission, and bring the truth and the light of the gospel to others, and also guide you as you go about and go to make your own family that you find a person that you can share your life and eternity with and make the covenants before God in the temple to take part in a celestial temple marriage.

Grant, we bless you that socially, Grant, that you will surround yourself with people that will bring the best out in you, that will teach you and inspire you and lift you to greater heights and that you will in turn lift them and lift others through deep relationships and through people you have a chance to come in contact with.

Grant, we give and we bestow all these blessings on you and we say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.