Dahlonega, Georgia

After Christmas, we took a quick weekend getaway to Dahlonega, Georgia, with the fam. We stayed at a laid back spa-resort-slash-b&b, and the town square reminded us alot of Oxford. Dahlonega is near the base of the Appalachian Trail, but it rained almost the entire time so we only ventured out for one short hike.
This was the view from the front porch where we spent most of our time.

We played thousands of hands of Gin Rummy! I took this photo before I went to get a massage, and when I got back an hour and a half later Tanner and Aunt Susan were still in the same spot playing cards - with an empty bottle of wine!

Rachael turned 27 on the 27th of December while we were at the spa. The chef made a special bday cake just for her. Happy Birthday Ray!!!

And this is Rachael's face when she opened her present from US!! (full disclosure: this is a reinactment)

Since we didn't get to see Aunt Susan on Christmas, we exchanged gifts in Dahlonega. She got us this beautiful sushi set - much needed, after ours mysteriously disappeared when we moved into the condo earlier this year.

Here's the fabulous Aunt Susan opening her gifts (another reinactment, but still cute)!!

I have a more serious version of the fam photo, but I like this one best. The guy who was taking the picture was teasing Rachael and asking if she was planning a wild and crazy birthday yoga party at the spa and it totally cracked us up.

Tanner and Laura during a wine-tasting brunch at local winery. I didn't realize there were so many vineyards near Dahlonega. The wine was really great.

Here's a shot of the vineyards at Frogtown where we had brunch http://www.frogtownwine.com

Loading up the car to head back to the real world...with plenty of wine!!

..then one foggy Christmas Eve (and Christmas Day)

This is our third Christmas together, and we've decided that the third time must be the charm. Tanner and I seem to have finally figured out how to balance both our families, and still get some quality time together for just the two of us during the holidays. In the past, we've dragged ourselves from Long Beach to Pensacola in 24 hours trying to be sure we were there for every single party on both sides of our family. It completely wore us out and we were just too tired and stressed to really enjoy it. This year, we simply had Christmas Eve in Pascagoula, Christmas morning in Biloxi, and Christmas afternoon in Ocean Springs - perfect!!

Here is my dad allowing his dog - I mean 'my younger brother' - Skip to approve the Christmas gifts he received.

Laura got this for Tanner. Nice. One of his friends (who shall remain nameless) said that he wants one that reads "I Heart Your Sister-In-Law".

Rachael gave Laura tickets to a Britney Spears concert this spring. Looks like Laura was more than just a little pumped about it.

Rachael, Tanner and Laura.

I think this is one of my all-time-fave photos of Tanner's parents. I got these from Tanner's cousin Brittany, who is a wonderful photographer and always seems to grab "The Moment" just perfectly. Check out Chevis' traditional holiday attire. Love it!!

The grinches!!! Tanner's dad with new cousins Anna Belle and Darcey, courtesy of Brittany.

I think I'm a little obsessed with tutus this year. I got Tanner's cousins Anna Belle ( http://aliandjohnathon.blogspot.com/ ) and Darcey ( http://audriandcorey.blogspot.com/ ) some for Christmas and they looked so presh!! Brittany's caption for this pic on Flickr was "Bad idea in 3...2...1..."

Tanner and Annabelle. This child has SO much personality!! She is just the cutest thing!!!

Tanner's thoughts on the New Orleans Bowl

I think this is Tanner's Okay-We-Won-But-I'm-Not-Entirely-Pleased-With-The-Performance (or something like that) Face. Final in OT: USM 30, Troy 27.

And if you don't want to see the grossest most disgusting thing I've ever had the sincere misfortune to witness in my WholeEntireLife (or if you've just finished eating a big meal), then please for the love of God DO NOT CLICK HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEbGNb00_2s

Older...but not up!!

Tanner is 30!! I threw a surprise birthday party for him last night and we had a fantastic time. After dinner with his parents, we went to a bar in downtown OS, where all his friends and family were waiting. He was so surprised!! So many people came that we haven't seen in a while and Tanner agreed that the best part about it was having all his friends in one place. Here are a few pics!

Here's Nate giving the best toast EVER!!
For some reason, Tanner didn't want to take a pretty picture with me!! We took about 5 pictures together and this was the best I could get. In all the others, he was sticking out his tongue, putting bunny ears on me, scowling, etc. WHAT A HAM!!!

Some of the cousins!

Tanner and Ryan. I have no idea why they decided this was a cute pose.

My dad signing the cigar box. This was something Tanner's dad did for us at our rehearsal dinner, and Tanner just cherishes that box. It was such a hit there, Chevis decided to bring another one for the birthday party.

Tanner, Matt, Nate and Jeremy.

Here's Chevis, Marcia, George and Ann. I think they had a great time!!

My cute sister Laura, my presh mom and Tanner.

Jason (Tanner's best man in our wedding) and his cute wife Rachel. I swear, they always look like they belong on a postcard or something!!

This was a posterboard thing I made with pics of Tanner all over it. I realized once again while making this that my husband is a complete HAM!! The huggies said "Tanner's 30!! 12-20-08."

Tanner, Michael and Nikki. Nikki helped me come up with the location for the party. It was PERFECT!!

Scott, Damian and Tanner.

The birthday boy, performing a dramatic reinactment of blowing out all THIRTY candles. The evite I sent out said:

He's growing older but not up,

As we all well know;

Still looking for his lost shaker of salt,

Tanner is turning the BIG THREE OH!

Join all your fruitcake friends,

For some boatdrinks and Margaritaville cheer;

In honor of our favorite son of a son of a banker,

Who's thirty this year!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANNER!!!!

Ainsley's First Tutu!

We've been delivering Christmas gifts all week, and BY FAR our fave delivery was to my goddaughter Ainsley!!! Here are a few pics of her opening her very first Christmas present - oh so much fun. She was a little more interested in the wrapping paper than in the actual present but she looked so stinkin cute in her little pink tutu!!

Swirly Twirly Gumdrops

We are done with our Christmas shopping!!! WAHOOOO!!

Okay I know I'm not finished that far in advance of Christmas so I probably shouldn't be quite so smug and proud of my pre-planning and organizational skills, but oh it feels so good to be done. We both took the day off yesterday to focus solely on buying Christmas gifts, mailing Christmas cards, and putting out Christmas decorations. It was a complete BLAST!! We decided last year to make this an annual tradition and set aside one vaycay day each year as Family Shopping Day. This year, we made a point to stay in Ocean Springs and buy every single one of our gifts locally. It took a little more creativity and thought than usual, but I think that's probably kind of the point, and we had such a great time.

Conveniently, the greatest children's toy store in the world is officially Miner's Toy Store in Ocean Springs http://www.minerstoystore.com/ where we had loads of fun picking out gifts for all the new nieces, nephews, godchildren, and friends' kids that have joined our lives over the past year. The owner, 'Bubs,' taught both Tanner and I - and approximately 800 other Coast kids - to swim when we were little. Evidently, on the Coast, she has legendary skills regarding swimming lessons, and kids in general it seems, as I learned yesterday. She would ask for a detailed description of each child, and then repeatedly lead us to the PERFECT gift for every little person our list. We adore Bubs!!

Anyways, now all I have left to check off the list is "Christmas Baking."

Each year, I use my mom's secret recipe to make toffee for most of our close friends, work colleagues, and ALL of Tanner's million-and-three cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. Since I'm still a relatively new addition to the family, they don't seem to be too tired of it yet. And it's an especially good choice because I don't like hard candy and am never tempted to 'taste.' I made my first four batches last night, and as usual, had to throw away the first two. I only make it once a year, so it takes a minute to remember how to get it Just Right. Now only about a million more to go!!

Ni-Hao!!

We're learning Mandarin Chinese!

Or at least, we're trying to.

Okay and right now, technically, only Tanner is.

We're going to China next spring - SO pumped - and Tanner thinks it would be more fun if we were able to find restrooms, order food, generally communicate, etc., while we're there. He's about 4 chapters ahead of me in our Rosetta Stone program - personally I think it's a duplication of efforts for BOTH of us to have to learn it, especially since I stink at picking up languages, but I'm giving it my best shot. And Tanner seems to really have an ear for it.

It's going to be really funny to see his 6-foot-6-inch-blond-haired-blue-eyed self standing out like a sore thumb among all the petite Chinese people. He thinks maybe they'll assume he's some sort of god or something and treat us like royalty - ha!

The Rosetta Stone thing is great - I would highly recommend it. It teaches you to understand meanings and messages, rather than just translating things into english in your head. We can't wait!

Christmas Cards '08

Oh I cannot look at this picture without laughing!! I came across these doggie outfits on a recent work trip to San Francisco and couldn't resist!

Argos was fine with the jingle bell collar, and even the Rudolph headband antlers. He just didn't seem to think that the "Mrs. Claus" girl-dress was a fetching wardrobe choice for him. He and Tanner had quite a wrestling match arguing about whether or not this photo was going to happen. Needless to say, Tanner emerged victorious, and Argos protested with a look of disdained misery at his oh-so-unfair parents. SO FUNNY!!!

Introducing The Tanner and Katherine Chronicles

Reasons to start a blog:

1. So Laura and Rachael will quit trying to make me actually join Facebook (and yes, Laura, I do plan to continue using your password and log on as "Laura Willis" for the foreseeable future)

2. I just got finished reading Ali and Johnathan's for the first time and LOVED it - especially the pics of Anna Belle!!

3. Tanner and I lead such incredibly exciting and fascinating lives; I know all our friends and family are just dying to hear about all our fun adventures on a regular basis....oh that one is funny, now I am laughing.

4. I just got our Christmas cards back from the printer and I think they are so darn cute, I want to share!!

5. One word: PHOTOGRAPHS. We seem to take a TON that I never do anything with - sharing a few on a blog would at least mean I'm doing something with them.

Soooooo....to be continued!!!