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.

May 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome back readers! 

Summer is in full swing here in Atlanta Ga!  This month we wrapped up preschool, joy school, and baseball.

It’s nice not to rush out every morning (at least until the 6 summer camps start!)

 

News with Scott has been good.  He’s been on a hotel project for the last couple of months, and this last month, it’s been a breeze.  He’s worked from home just about every day and puts in a solid ~35 hours a week or so.  We even went to the lake last Thursday – figured he could “work” from the lake just as well as he “works” from home.  One thing he was working on was his flip on the wakeboard – HE FINALLY GOT IT!  He landed it twice.  Unfortunately the whole event is on our friend’s camera (convenient story, I know), but we’ll try to get it in for next month’s TFK.

And the kids had a great month wrapping up Preschool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Chamblee Methodist Preschool, the year culminates with the much anticipated “Spring Sing.” The kids sang their hearts out! And in addition to Grammy and Granddad, Scott even got to make it (since he continues to “work” at home).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each parent has to sign up to plan/prepare one of the parties throughout the year, and probably wanting to delay my volunteer time as long as possible, I signed up for both of the kids’ “end of the year party.”  They both turned out to be a lot of fun (but a lot of work!).

Tay actually had two graduations this year – pre-school and Joy school.  You can tell it was quite the graduating class – ready to go out into the world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And let’s not forget the end of the Grasshopper season.  Jack had a great year and he was really hitting the ball well near the end of the season.  In the last inning of the very last game, Jack was on deck but his team had just reached the 4-run limit, which meant the game and season were over.  But, rather than wrap up the game, the coach made everyone stay out there so that Jack could have one last hit – he had a great season!

Jack at the plate

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also this month was Trey’s birthday party.  This was apparently a mult-week, multi-event affair, but we made it to one day of the fun at Stone Mountain.  They’ve actually done a lot to commercialize the park – the kids had a great time!

Other fun events this month included the father and son campout.  Highlight definitely being banana boats.  A trick we learned from Jay and Angie’s campout for Trey’s birthday party – take a banana, stuff it with marshmallows, peanut butter, chocolate chips and coconut, wrap it in foil and put it in the fire…it’s a beautiful thing.  Other favorites of the trip were the fire and the soccer game with all the kids the next morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In terms of other fun events, here’s a quick blurb and a picture of each:

Scott’s dad came into town, so we all met him for Hibachi grill – the kids loved it.  They weren’t sure whether to be thrilled or terrified at times!

Also, Scott’s cousin and our San Diego dinner compadre, Brent, got married back in April – to a great girl also named April.  They were in town for an Atlanta reception, so we got to see them and other bits and pieces of the Douglas crew.  Makes us miss the sunny days of San Diego and surfing at the beach!

 

Jack’s biggest news by far was going to the SEC Baseball Playoffs with Grammy and Granddad in the RV.  They drove down to Hoover, AL and spent all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday watching baseball games.  Jack of course was tireless in this endeavor and the hot Alabama heat did nothing to slow him down – they got to see 10 games in all.  While there, he for some reason found a strange connection with the Florida Gators while at the same time rooting consistently against Vanderbilt.  I was happy when Vandy made it into the final game.  Jack was happy when they lost :-)  Go figure.

Also fun was Jeff’s Birthday – second time we’ve been able to accompany him for an unexpected birthday
celebration at a Mexican restaurant.

 

 

Also got to see the wedding of one of my neighbor’s growing up, Matt Sears.  We were in the mood to celebrate apparently!

 

 

And that’s about it.  We’re looking forward to a fun summer and hoping to get lots of lake time in.  Hope you guys have a great one!

Love, TFK

April, 2012

 

Welcome back to the next edition and welcome to Spring!  After a non-existent winter, we’re enjoying afternoons in the mid-80’s – making us excited for wakeboarding season!

Month kicked off with a super fun event at the Hawks.  Lee was nice enough to hook us up with a box suite at the Hawks-Knicks game.  Interestingly enough, we reached out to Lee way before Lin-sanity was ever on the radar, so we thought getting tickets would be easy.  Once we got the verbal nod that we’d get tickets, Lin became the rage of the nation.  So since we didn’t actually have any tickets in our hands, we were a little worried that our verbally committed  tickets might not actually materialize.  In the end it worked out great.  Lin didn’t play that night, but everyone had a great time, Jack watched every play and the Hawks won.  Hard to beat that.

First piece of news this month was Spring Break 2012!  We originally planned to use Scotty’s Hilton points and get a place a San Destin, but given that it was Spring Break and when we called the week before, the rooms had been given away a long time ago.  All the better, because instead we stayed at a family friends house of the Ordners and went to St George island.  Biggest highlights were:

#1 Oysters – we shucked and ate ~ 250 oysters over the course of the week.  Even Jackson and Taylor had their first oyster.

#2 Dolphin Trip – went on a sunset cruise to find sea shells, do some minor fishing w/ the kids, eat oysters fresh out of the bay, watch the sunset, and see dolphins.  We saw plenty of dolphins.

#3 Playing on the beach w/ sharks – kids loved the water and during the week we were there, people right next door caught two sharks.  This was no dull pool we were swimming in!

#4 Family – Great to spend time with all the kids, Mom, Dad and Jeff.  Even Scott who we thought was going to have to fly out for the week and then fly back in to drive us home got to spend the entire week down there with us.

After a great week at the beach we got home right in time for Easter Sunday.  We did church then a neighborhood Easter dinner and egg hunt!  Becky even got to join us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best part of the month; however, was a spontaneous (at least on my part) trip to Chicago!  I (and Grant) accompanied Scott on business.  And to top it off it was a free trip!  We got 2 coach tickets (instead of 1 first class ticket), we shared his hotel room (obviously), and we both ate on his expense account (which is more than enough to cover both of us).  Not to mention free child care, by my generous parents—we are so blessed!  Our favorite part was of course seeing some of our favorite people:  David/Dianna (why oh why didn’t we get a pic??); Mark/Natalie; and Meg and Brian—3 all star couples!  While we were away, Jackson and Taylor celebrated their beloved Grammy’s 57th birthday!  Happy Birthday Mom! 

 

 

 

Lastly, we got a few professional pictures of the kids:  we figured it was about time for poor Grant (who is 3 months now, sleeping through the night and can’t stop smiling—such a fun kid!).  He had his 2nd hair cut recently…This time by a professional!

 

 

 

 

 

Jackson is having a great baseball season—complete with 3 double plays!  He and the rest of the Grasshoppers are tearing it up.  I have to admit though, like basketball, it can be painful to watch. 

He also got a glowing report from this teacher at Pre-K:  “He is a leader who loves to lead.”  I’m wondering if that is a nice way of saying “He loves being the boss.”  He brings his chess board everyday and challenges the janitor, his teacher, and the principle to games…He is currently tying to teach everyone in his class how to play also…

Finally, we received more good  news that his follow up stool sample was free of inflammation markers.  We have one more follow up in 3 months, and then we should be in the clear.

Check out the garden!  This year we ditched the seeds (way too impatient for that), and went straight for the mature strawberry and tomato plants…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Sis has a good report too!  Her teachers were equally complimentary, quite the 180 from my fall reports.  “Taylor is one of the only ones who always cleans up, she has great manners, and she can read everyone’s name in the class.”  Taylor deserves all the credit for this, as I have had little time to work one on one with her lately. 

And we got her hair chopped—SOOO much easier.  Lastly she is almost potty trained.  She has put us through the ringer with this situation…

Scotty is on a funny case at the moment.  He is working with a travel and leisure client, and what’s odd is that by Sunday evening every week, he still doesn’t know what part of the country he will be in the following day! Usually he’ll get a call Monday morning, book a flight, and head out Monday afternoon.  Everyone is happy with his work, which is good, but he is working with a Dallas team so he is not getting exposure to the Atlanta partners/principles/project leaders etc…Oh well, he is enjoying the project, but it will be nice to get him with an Atlanta team ASAP.

And things for me are going really well at the moment.  At General Conference this month we were reminded that rather than spiritually coasting during good/easy times, we should really be growing closer to the Lord through scripture study/prayer/attending church.  Then, when trials come (and they do/will for everyone), we will have the faith to endure.  So that is the current plan!

Love to you all!  Can’t believe it is May!  Last month in my 20s!!!

TFK