Our baby has grown up. Joshua (16.9) is a Junior at Park City High. He is first chair violin and Concert Master in the high school orchestra and plays with a wonderful orchestra group in Salt Lake too. He got hired at his sister’s old job on Main Street and puts half of his pay away for his mission (and uses the other for “stuff”). Jessica’s old boss, who had previously avoided hiring boys, gushes, “Josh is wonderful.” A mutual friend of ours said to her (after hearing it for the umpteeth time), “Shut up, OK, just SHUT UP! Josh is not a normal teenage boy,” she laughs. Of course, she back tracks, “I mean that in the best way possible.” He often has his friends over at the house for videos on the weekends. We love having them there. He recently got his grade level performance tests back and had so many 100% levels (state levels are near 65%) that his dad wondered what he was going to do for his last two years of high school. This summer he and his sister, Sarah, flew to Virgina to stay with Art’s brother and their family for a week or so. (They are flying out in February to spend a week skiing with us.) They bummed around DC and spent a lot of time in the many museums in the area.

Andrew just turned 15. He is a freshman now and adjusting well to high school. As always, he is full of life. He teases his brothers and sisters in fun, but he has a tender heart and doesn’t like to see others have their feelings hurt. This summer he worked on his basketball skills and hopes to have a growth spurt sometime soon. While we were in Huntsville for the 4 th of July, he bid on some tickets for the Jazz and won four VIP tickets with parking, pre-game dinner and second row, center court seats. He saw Denver get whacked and saw Stockton’s jersey retired on the 22 nd. His schoolwork is very good. His last report card was all A’s and –A’s. Not an easy thing to do at PCHS. They work them hard.

Sarah is 11 and in sixth grade, her first year of middle school. She has most of the same teachers Jessica, Josh and Andrew have had. So they were ready to love her when she walked in. Sarah likes to read in quiet corners and yet she likes to be in the mix of friends and family too. Her smile is infectious and she laughs a lot. She likes her dad to read to her at bedtime and he likes the books she chooses. She had a blast in Virginia with her cousins this summer and can’t wait for them to come out this winter. She plays viola and piano and practices without being told. She is amazing.

Rachel is 6 and in first grade. She is learning to write phonetically. (Reading her work is almost like reading inter-net chat.) She has a wonderful teacher who genuinely cares for her and is a lot of fun. She likes going to school and eagerly shows us her assignments and projects when she gets home. She has started playing “bitty-basketball” and is one of the tallest players on the team. But sometimes the boys don’t want to pass her the ball as much as she would like. So, she hangs out under the basket, nails the rebound and puts up about 10 points a game.

Matthew is almost 4. He has started going to Miss Sherry’s pre-school four days a week. He loves getting out the door like the older kids do. His backpack is absolutely stuffed with boots, snow clothes, lunch, a blanket and a toy. Sherry is a friend of ours who has a very small pre-school program that spends a lot of time on great little projects that are fun for her students. She loves Matthew and he loves her. He is like a little vacuum for knowledge and yet he is probably the most sober of all our children. He thinks a lot. You can see the wheels turning in his head.

Carolee likes the people she works with at ARUP where she does bench tests on samples sent in for small batches of unusual clinical tests ordered by hospitals all over the country. Her schedule gets her home in time to pick up Matthew and Rachel at school by 3pm. ARUP is considered the 65 th best place in America to work. Her benefit package is very generous. She still teaches Matthew’s Sunbeam class and treasures it. Carolee has lost almost 20 pounds of accumulated “baby fat” over the past couple of months. She looks great and feels better too. Way to go Carolee!

Art is still doing Real Estate and Mortgages. Recently, Lorinda, Carolee’s sister, referred friends of hers to Art. They wanted a home in Park City and were a bit nervous because friends had warned them “mortgages and home buying is great once you are done, but it is horrible while you are doing it.” It was their first house and they were not sure they could do it because they were living in London. But it wasn’t nearly as bad as they were warned it would be. Art got all the designer furniture (over $80,000 worth) thrown in on the deal and negotiated a price that came in well below appraisal for his clients. Now they have a wonderful 5,500 square foot house with views of three ski resorts. They were so appreciative of how easy Art made the whole process that they actually took the unusual step of buying him a present! We have gained new friends and will enjoy visiting with them when they come in from London. If you have any questions about real estate or mortgages, give him a call. He works up and down the Wasatch Front (78% of his clients come by referral) and he is happy to answer questions, even if you don’t use his services.