Merry Christmas to friends near and far! The Boss family has had another eventful year. If you haven’t heard already, we are expecting baby boy number 8! He will make his arrival near the beginning of April next year. The whole family is thrilled!
Elder Andrew Boss (almost 20) is faithfully serving in the Arizona Mesa Mission. He entered the MTC on May 18th, spent 3 weeks there, and flew to Mesa, where he was assigned to his first area in Mesa, serving the Lehi 1st and Monument wards. He gets to attend 6 hours of church every Sunday! We so enjoy reading his letters each week and seeing his testimony and faithfulness continue to grow. He is an obedient and hard-working missionary.
Chandler (17 ½) is a Senior, applying to BYU, and preparing to serve a mission as well. Right now he is preparing to leave next summer, but he’s also considering doing a semester or two of college first. He has continued to take challenging school courses, including AP Physics 2 and an Engineering course. He is in his seventh and final year of playing cello in the school orchestras. Chandler is also part of the Robotics team at the high school for the second year, and has joined the school swim team again this year. He is enjoying dating, driving and having fun with friends, and we are most pleased with his spiritual growth as he has studied the Book of Mormon on his own, has stellar attendance at early morning seminary, continues to serve as Priest’s Quorum 2nd Assistant and serves on the Stake Youth Leadership Committee. No doubt the Lord has great plans for him as a missionary and beyond.
Jordan (15) is having a great sophomore year at Heritage High. He just finished performing as a guard in Shrek the Musical, loves book club and is talking about joining other after-school clubs now that he’s not in play practice every day. He’s just joined the Fiddle club but is playing the bass there instead of the cello. Jordan has also had near-perfect attendance at early morning seminary, and is doing a great job serving as teachers’ quorum president. Jordan also plays cello for the school orchestra and takes a piano keyboarding class at school. The progress he has made on the piano this year has been phenomenal! He plays Pirates of the Caribbean like a pro, and takes on new pieces with ease. Jordan is a great caretaker and despite his busy schedule helps out with the little ones whenever needed, without complaint. He’ll soon be “man of the house” when Chandler leaves, and he will fill that role very well.
Seth (12) is taking on 7th grade like a natural! He is becoming quite the perfectionist, and is still maintaining straight A’s in his honors schedule. He decided to join the cross country team this fall. We were so pleased with how hard he worked, and how dedicated he still is to his studies despite hours of practice every day and 2 meets almost every week. He was sad to miss out on his favorite sport, soccer, but is determined to resume that in the Spring, along with swimming, basketball, and possibly track and field. I think Seth is our sports man! Seth was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood this year and serves dutifully in his Deacon duties every Sunday. Seth sets the bar high for himself, and we are so pleased to see him meet and exceed it in so many ways.
Michael (10) is in his last year of elementary school (5th grade). He is taking on the responsibility of school work and being organized, and we are confident he will do great in middle school next year. Michael is quite the scientist and engineer. He loves all things scientific, loves to build things, take things apart, etc. Earlier this year a Nexus tablet that had been passed down to him stopped working. He figured out that it was the charging port that was damaged, and on his own, googled a fix for it. He watched a video about it on youtube, and ordered the correct part with his dad from Amazon. When the part arrived, despite his mother’s wariness, he took the Nexus apart on his own, replaced the part with some help from his dad, and put it back together. Mom was pretty amazed when it worked! As you can see, Michael is a creative, self-motivated, determined young man! 
Bentley (6) is a great 1st grader! He is very organized, and gets out his yellow folder every day after school, and while eating his snack gets all his schoolwork done. We are working on his shyness with other adults, but he has no sign of it when it comes to friends. He loves playdates and recess and all things social. He is such a sweet older brother to Clayton. He very often gives up a toy or item when he sees that Clayton wants it. He is excited to have a new baby brother to help take care of in the spring. With Mom’s morning sickness, Bentley missed soccer this last fall, but is excited to play it in the spring. He also became a much more comfortable in the pool this summer, finally dunking his head all the way and swimming around like a fish. Bentley is hard-working and determined, often serious, but at times bursting with plenty of 6-year-old silliness with his friends and brothers.
Clayton (2 ½) has more and more personality emerging every day! He’s been a little slow to talk, so we’ve had him in speech therapy to help him along. He continues to say more and more and each day, and we love hearing the things he comes up with. He is all about Star Wars, and one of his hands is almost always in a ship or airplane-type formation, with sound effects to boot. He loves kicking balls, throwing balls, hitting balls with a bat, hitting balls with a golf club, and catching balls. Like his brothers, this boy is all boy! He’s mostly been in denial about a new baby brother headed his way, but just recently has begun to understand and accept the news. He likes to pat mommy’s tummy as she rocks him at night. Clayton has a giggle that brightens everyone’s day!
Greg continues to serve as Stake YM President. This year’s youth conference was service-oriented, and Chandler and Jordan had a great time serving with their dad. Greg continues to work for IBM, and is now exceeding over 450 patents filed with the patent office. He is passing on his inventive and problem-solving attributes to his children - several of them have expressed an interest in being an inventor. Bentley was shocked to find out, when saying he wanted to be an inventor when he grows up, that his dad is an inventor! Greg’s travels this year have taken him from coast to coast, as well as to Dublin, Ireland in the spring. He may be traveling to Seoul, North Korea or Germany this next month. Sherie just hopes the trips continue after the kids are raised so she can join him on his worldwide adventures!
Sherie is in the best part of her pregnancy and relishing the 2nd trimester energy. The house is getting purged, the closets are getting re-organized, the pantries are getting stocked! She really is thrilled to have another sweet baby boy to look forward to, and knowing the ropes for boys, is anticipating a smooth transition to 8 children. It’s rather strange adding to the brood as the older ones are leaving, but it feels only like a blessing. Sherie served for a short time in the Primary presidency this year after being released as Activity Days leader, but was recently called as Wolf Den leader, one of her favorite callings. The beginning of next year will bring a lot of changes with a new baby, and a senior graduating from high school and leaving for a mission or college. But change keeps life exciting, right? Sherie tries to keep tabs on some of her hobbies and interests, such as scrapbooking, piano, cello, and baking. Spare time is something that has to made though - that’s for sure!
Our family had a fun “last family vacation before Andrew leaves” in May. We spent a few days at Boyne Mountain here in Michigan (don’t fool yourselves Michiganders - it’s no mountain - just a big hill!). Boyne is a ski resort in the winter, but has other fun activities in the spring and summer. We went on a zipline adventure, played golf and tennis, stayed in a fun resort, and had a blast at the indoor waterpark.
In April, Chandler, Jordan, Greg and Sherie flew to Utah for a few days to take Andrew through the temple for the first time, and see our niece, Sarah Ann get married in that same temple, the new temple in Provo. We also got to attend General Conference in the Conference center, which was a first for all of us, and very memorable. We couldn’t leave without hiking the ‘Y’ and left Utah exhausted and filled with great memories.
In July Greg went with Chandler and Seth on a high adventure to the Porcupine Mountains in the upper peninsula of Michigan. There was a tornado nearby the night they arrived, and over 11 inches of rain fell in one night! The boys ended up traversing rivers that hadn’t been there the night before, making new bridges where they no longer existed, and so on. It was quite literally a high adventure!
Sherie went out to Utah again in August with Chandler and Jordan where we all attended Education Week at BYU and saw our nephew Alex get married in the SLC temple. It’s so nice of our relatives to schedule their weddings so conveniently for us!
We had our last family vacation just before school started. We camped several days on Lake Michigan and had a blast dutch cooking, playing on the beach, playing in the sand, and hiking up the sand dunes. It will be a repeat vacation next year too!
We send our love to all of you! We hope the spirit of Christmas burns bright in your hearts this season as we reflect on the gift of His Son’s birth into mortality.
Love,
Greg, Sherie, Elder Andrew Boss, Chandler, Jordan,
Seth, Michael, Bentley, Clayton, and number 8!
