January 2011

Welcome back readers! It's been a busy month--so we'll just dive right in! Since Scott had 6 weeks off in between jobs, we decided to take advantage of the downtime by setting off on a road trip: Atlanta to Columbus (where Jay and Angie were wonderful hosts and talented chefs); Columbus to Mobile (where we whipped Paul's place into shape in exchange for loads of fresh shrimp right off the boat); then onto New Orleans!















It was everyone's first time in New Orleans. Jack got to jam with a local street band in the French Quarter ("Who 'dat say dey gonna beat 'dem Saints" - to which Jack responded emphatically "the Chargers!"). From the powdered sugar on his shirt, you can tell that he was quite the fan of the New Orlean beignets. We went to the WWII museum, walked down Bourbon Street, went to the Cathedral and the cemetary, and went to a new Katrina Museum. The Katrina exhibit made quite an impression on Jack as just yesterday in the car he said "Man that was terrible" What was terrible? "That hurricane in New Orleans."





Next we planned on shooting up to NYC for a few days to stay with John and Becky before our closing that Friday--no such luck. Mother nature had a different plan; so instead of attending The Blue Man Show and eating rare delectable cheeses, we were attending the Scott Snowman Show and eating our weight in snow cones. But we still had a great time, and since everyone was snowed in, our aunt Elaine, who was planning on heading up to North Carolina, ended up being able to spend a lot of time with the kids.









Which brings us to the most exciting news of the month. We closed on our house! We feel SO blessed. We are located just inside the perimeter, between Scott's work and my parent's house, 4 miles from the church, 2 miles from the little league park, and .9 miles from the YMCA! We're on such a fun cul-de-sac with lots of boys that play sports with Jackson all day. The families are super nice, and we've been enjoying dessert every night from their gifts of pumpkin bread, cookie pie, ice cream and this latest bouquet of cookies.




Once we closed, the next step was getting everything squared away before Scott started work. We were able to get all unpacked thanks to mom who worked like a Spartan, and another big thanks to Alyssa and Susan who came over to help - it was so fun to see them!

With me, I found a job working one evening a week at a nearby psychiatric hospital. And with Jack, after a little bit of drama, we finally found a preschool for him. Scott had to wait in line at 7 in the morning to try to get him a spot at the preschool for next fall - he got the very last one; and he's lucky he did, or he would have had a tough time explaining why we didn't get in when he insisted against my urgings that he could wait 15 more minutes before heading over to the preschool. Given that preschool for next fall was so tight, there wasn't even hope for something this semester, so we thought we'd try to get Jack in a preschool group led by some of the moms in our ward. I was told that this was 'not a glorified play group,' that all the women teaching had a master's in something, and that it was taken quite seriously. After all my reassuring them that we'd be positive contributors and that Jack was a delight to teach, we were granted a 'trial period.' A few weeks later, the group reconvened to discuss our fate. Luckily for Jack's preschool situation and for the social awkwardness that could have been felt in the church halls each week, Jackson passed with flying colors, and we were admitted into the group. Preschool is no joke in Georgia!

Here is Jack's favorite room in the house. The basement isn't finished, so we nailed up the extra boxes to the walls and turned it into a batting cage. It comes in handy with all the Georgia rain!

Scotty had his first day of work on Monday. So far so good, he's just waiting to get staffed on a project and I am steeling myself for the bleak reality that Scott will shortly be gone a lot.

Oh and Scott and I both received callings at church--Ward Missionaries. The leader takes this role very seriously--we have people to teach, and assignments to complete each week. So we will be flexing our gospel sharing muscles even more than usual here for the next little bit. Our first assignment was to create profiles on www.mormon.org.


Anyway, we hope you all had a great month and a great start to the new year. Lots of love from us to you--TFK

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!

October

Dear friends and family--here is what's on the docket:

Jackson Turns 4!

Dianna gets married!

10 year high school reunion!

BCG Atlanta here we come!

Record breaking month in terms of events/craziness! So sorry for the delay--I don't think we have ever been this late.

To start, our little man turned 4! As you can see his 'Padres' cake was spectacular (at least to Jackson). We actually got to see the lady at the grocery store decorate it, much to Jackson's delight. And it was huge, good thing, as jack had 70 guests! The party had all the 4 y.o. essentials--a pinata (gigantic baseball of course), games, goody bags, and even a treasure hunt in the sand (ring pops) to win over even the toughest preschool critics.

Before guest arrived.

Next to his best buddy Oliver.

Classic Duck Duck Goose!

Then 2 weeks later, the moment that all of us Douglas's have been praying for, finally came to fruition. Dianna got married! And not just to anybody! David Burk is a handsome, charming, smart (Stanford, now Econ PhD at the University of Chicago), kind, MORMON! Everyone couldn't be happier--especially the bride's parents.

The weekend was a blast, mainly because we were kid-free! The rehearsal dinner was a hoot--vegetarian/Chinese cuisine, a T-bone shaped cake, and lots of memorable roasts/toasts. Then it was right to bed, but not before a quick lingerie/sex education shower! On Saturday morning we headed to the DC temple for the sealing/marriage. The Spirit was strong, and the sealer spoke about how there are no coincidences in life and that these two were destined to be together. It was powerful to see David and Dianna knelt across the alter committing themselves to each other for eternity.

After lots of pictures and an afternoon nap at the hotel, it was time to party! The reception was incredible--ate the Congressional Country Club. Some Jewish wedding customs were observed that were neat for the guests and special for the father of the groom. The food was exquisite, the band was fabulous, and the couple truly seemed to glow. My favorite part was the father's blessing that John gave the new couple.

As an added bonus to the weekend, I, along with Becky were privileged to escort Jolanta through the temple for the first time. She was amazingly unphased, perhaps the result of being the 9th Douglas sibling to go through the temple. Also, in addition to getting to meet baby Derek for the first time, I also go to catch up with close friend and former bridesmaid, Elizabeth Melnikof. These things combined wit the fact that I got to eat at Potbellies twice made the weekend a perfect 10. (Unfortunately at the rehearsal dinner, we realized our camera was broke, so a lot of important moments have been missed, and we have been hounding others for pictures)

The last weekend in October kept pace in terms of excitement of the previous 3 weekends. I had been anxiously awaiting our 10 year high school reunion and it went off without a hitch! It really was a blast. On Friday night of homecoming weekend, the Class of 2000 mingled in one of the new buildings a GAC, enjoying food catered completely free of charge by Chris Maddox's mom. The kids were a hit, and we were surprised at how many people had kids. Even a few favorite teachers swung by which was great. Then we all wandered over to the football game to see our Spartans crush some poor school that barely had enough players to form a team.

Then on Saturday after a delicious girls only brunch (thanks Susans!), it was the adults only night at a bar downtown. Even more people came this night. It was so fun to catch up, and reconnect. I loved high school, and now I remember why! Our class was inclusive and tight then, and we continue to be so now--we had the strongest turnout GACS has had in years! If you didn't make it, we missed you and want you there next time!

Towards the end of the night, things got pretty tipsy--and by the very end a lot of us were dancing. It probably was especially fun for us, because neither Scott nor I could remember the last time we went to a club/bar. With Mayer by my side, I felt like I was back at Vandy!

Then to top off this month, we got wonderful news. After being disappointed with Scott's raise, recognition, and the current challenge of ProFlowers, he reached out to BCG--a consulting firm that we erroneously turned down for the dreadful :) McKinsey during business school. Fortunately they didn't hold a grudge, and invited him to come interview. He prepared for a couple of weeks, practicing cases almost nightly with his dad, interviewed, gave himself a score of 93%, and then we left it in the Lord's hands. That Friday evening (reunion), BCG called with the good news, saying that "We loved you 2 years ago, and we love you now." We were ecstatic! But nobody was happier than my parents.

We feel extremely blessed. I had made this a matter of person prayer about a week before this all started coming together, and I was reminded once again of the Lord's mindfulness of his children and that he does answer prayers.

Everything just happened so fast. We are moving to Atlanta on Nov 18!

While we were in Atlanta, my parents were wonderful hosts and even took us to the lake to wakeboard. We kept saying, "Wow, I forgot how beautiful Georgia is." There is a lot we will miss about San Diego, but watch out ATL here we come!!

Love,

TFK