Merry Christmas to our friends, family and loved ones near and far! We are so grateful as the year comes to a close for the chance to reflect on our blessings. We include each one of you in our list of things we are thankful for! It is with great joy that we share with you the happenings of the past year.
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| Receiving a scholarship at Senior Honors night |
Andrew (almost 19) graduated magna cum laude from Heritage High School in May. He worked for Michigan Sugar over the summer (thinning sugar beets - ah, could there be anything more fun?!) and prepared for attendance at BYU in the fall. He is in the midst of finals right now, and we are so excited to have him visit home for Christmas. He plans to put in his mission papers in a month, and will be heading somewhere exciting next May! We have missed having him around here, but we couldn’t be more pleased with the future he is building for himself. He’s doing very well in school, and is working towards a Chemistry major, with talk of possibly becoming a pharmacist! |
| Orchestra concert |
Chandler (16 ½) is now the man of the house (after his dad, of course). He is driving himself and Jordan to early-morning seminary each morning, and we are quite pleased with how well he and Jordan are meeting the 5:15am alarm each day! He continues to excel in school, and is managing to earn a 4.0 on his heavy-on-the-math-and-science load, including AP Physics and AP Calculus. He also continues to play cello in the philharmonic orchestra. He serves at the ward level as Priest’s Second Assistant and also serves on the stake youth committee. Chandler now has the distinction of being the tallest one in our family - that’s right - he’s outgrown Greg. Six foot one and counting! |
| Picking Michigan blueberries! |
Jordan (14) is in high school now and is already a pro! Surviving and thriving in early-morning seminary, and ace-ing his honors classes. Jordan is also continuing the Boss boy tradition of playing the cello - he plays in the Concert Orchestra. He also loves to play the piano, and enjoys picking out pieces that he finds on youtube, and adding his own flair to it. Playing the piano seems to help him unwind from the stress of the day. Jordan is also very helpful with his younger brothers, and can be counted on to assist with any babysitting needs, whether mom is gone or at home (and needing a break!) We are excited to see what the future holds for Jordan. |
| Wax Museum project |
Seth (11 ½) is now in middle school! He is also ace-ing his honors classes and shows his strengths in the math and science areas like his brothers. You’ll never guess what instrument he plays in orchestra - that’s right…….cello! In addition, Seth still continues to play the piano and loves to play his favorite piece, Pachelbel’s Canon in D. He still loves soccer and plays both spring and fall. He is also a very hard worker - he is often the first to get his chores done, and he does them well. He also has such a loving and sweet personality, an easy smile and peacemaking skills. What great gifts to share with the world! |
| Loving Cub scouts! |
Michael (9) just got back from his first overnighter away from home, and LOVED it! He attended Hartley, a 3-day adventure the 4th graders get to attend. Some of those 4th graders may have been a bit nervous the night before, but Michael was only E-X-C-I-T-E-D!! He is super excited to share the pictures he took once we get his disposable cameras developed. Michael is doing great in school, and has also shown some promise in the area of public speaking! We really think his future career may involve something in that area, because this boy is fearless. For several months in a row this year, Michael, with no prompting from any of us, got up in sacrament meeting and bore a heartfelt and touching testimony. We can’t wait to see how he will use this gift to bless others! |
| Happy birthday! |
Bentley (5 ½) is now in kindergarten! He really loves it, and each day comes home excited to show Mom what’s in his red folder. In fact, his day is quite discombobulated if Mom is not there right when he gets home, because “Mom! We have to do my red folder!” He is also very thorough about finishing any work that isn’t all the way complete, including coloring the pictures. I haven’t had a boy quite like this before! He is all about the details, and is very careful about them as well. He is loving learning how to read and is writing like a pro. Bentley is a little shy guy, so we’re working on getting him to talk to other adults besides Mom. Sometimes he likes to just pretend they aren’t there, or aren’t talking to him. But once he gets talking, get ready - because this boy has a lot to say! He is so much fun (five is one of Mom’s favorite ages!), and he is also such a great brother to little Clayton. Clayton just cries his eyes out when Bentley goes to school! |
| Having fun in the swing at the treehouse |
Clayton (almost 2) is our fun little caboose! Speaking of trains, he, like Bentley, is a choo-choo train boy! We got a train to go around our Christmas tree, and he and Bentley and LOVE turning that on and playing the music to it. Clayton has a cute little dance, and his head bobs from side to side any time he hears music - you just can’t not laugh! He also loves to kick anything resembling a ball around the house - we may have another soccer player around here! We’re working on trying to get Clayton to talk more - he thinks grunts, sounds and head bobs are enough - as long as Mom gets it figured out eventually! But Clayton truly is a joy - we all just love stealing kisses, tickling him to pieces, and finding ways to make his day, because his squeals of delight are precious! |
| The whole family at the Indianapolis temple open housoe |
One of our family trips this year that involved the entire family was a weekend trip to Indianapolis. We got to go through the Indianapolis temple open house (according to Michael, something he has wanted to do his ENTIRE life!), visit some good friends, do some high speed indoor kart racing, and see the famous Indy 500 track. The kids always enjoy a road trip - nowadays, it takes two cars to take a road trip with the whole family!
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| Andrew, Sherie and Chandler in front of the almost completed Provo City Center temple |
In August, Sherie, Andrew and Chandler drove out to Utah to take Andrew to BYU. The three of us attended Education Week with Sherie’s mom and it was such a great experience! We also had fun catching up with family and friends. While we were gone, Greg not only took care of all the other kids, but completely purged the garage, put a new flooring on it, and prepped it for painting (which he and Sherie did when she got back).
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| Our new shed |
Another big summer project this year was getting making our back yard bigger! More than half of our yard is forest, so we had many trees removed, sprinklers and grass put in, and even a really nice looking shed. The kids can now play games out there and run around on the grass. And, in their spare time, the older boys can split wood from all the trees we took down!
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| The backyard before the shed is built |
Sherie is still serving as Activity Days leader and loving it! She also plays the piano for the choir, and serves as Advancement Coordinator on the Scouting committee. She’s looking forward to heading up Chess club at the elementary school again, and has Seth begging her to start something at the middle school as well - we’ll see! She was thrilled about her birthday present - Greg built her a sewing and craft area in an unused part of the master bedroom - cabinets, drawers and plenty of flat space to spread out! She is super excited to find lots of spare time to use it!
Greg is still serving as Stake Young Men’s President. This year for youth conference, they went to Kirtland Ohio. He continues to be an amazing father and husband. This in addition to the hard work he puts in at IBM, continuing to file patents as in years past. He is now listed on Wikipedia under prolific inventors, along with Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, and others (no kidding!).
We hope this next year brings many great memories and blessings. We love you all!
Love,
Greg, Sherie, Andrew, Chandler, Jordan, Seth, Michael, Bentley and Clayton