11-9-05

 

Dear Family,

 

Last family newsletter, clicked “send” and emailed it off just before my midnight deadline so that Chuck couldn’t say I was late.  However, this time around, I got the dreaded “You missed the deadline” memo from Chuck earlier today.   I send this newsletter with my deepest apologies for being late.  The big question is, why is it that Scott is always out of town when the newsletter deadline comes and goes?  Let me answer that for you….it is because statistically speaking, the odds are that he is always going to be out of town. 

 

Scott seems to be getting deeper and deeper into work stuff all the time; his product now exceeds all others in dollar volumes sold, including bridges, so the company relies a lot on him to keep the air conditioners going, so to speak.  This is great, but puts a lot of pressure on him, and he has been working on several huge contracts that are all coming together.  In September, he went to Bangkok, Orlando, and Minnesota; October was Munich, London and Sweden.  He went to California two weekends in a row, and today, he just left Orlando to go back to London again.    One of the exciting things about his product is that it is being sought after by military from the US and foreign, so there’s a new market that he’s hoping to capitalize on.   

 

We closed on our building about a month ago, and have been doing as much work as possible on it ourselves to get ready to move in.  I am now an expert sheetrocker, framer, painter, cabinet installer and electrician.  It’s been a lot of work, but we moved over Halloween weekend, and it’s finally starting to look like a real office.  There’s still much to be done, but at least everybody is back at a desk and functioning again.  To top it all off in the craziness of the move, we had a record sales month, so we’ve been busy.  Hopefully, we will be able to find a tenant for the empty suite in the building soon.   .  My niece, Natalee, has been helping me at home with shopping, meals, and housekeeping to compensate for the extra hours I have been working.  I’ve become very spoiled having her help.   My Primary program went really well…it’s amazing how loud kids can sing when they are being bribed by candy

 

Jim’s life is a whirlwind of activity, as always.  He continues to do well in school, and  is pleased about having his senior project almost over with.  He created a  “charge balanced pulse stimulator box for use in sensory control feedback loop of upper limb amputees” which provides stimulation to peripheral nerves eliciting tactile and proprioceptive sensations in the amputee.    I can’t even spell the words, let alone try to say what they mean, but I think this means that it makes the arm feel and act like a real human arm. Recently, we attended a banquet at the U of U where he was honored by receiving a Bio engineering departmental scholarship.  He took two institute classes this semester so that he’d have double blessings.  He loves being involved in his student ward, where he was recently crowned “Mr. 47th Ward” by winning a competition with other select men who competed in push ups, changing a baby diaper, and other “manly” things.  He also won “Best Overall Costume” at the recent Halloween activity, where he went dressed in solid black, with dozens of little yellow chicks pinned all over him….yes, you guessed it.  He was a “chick magnet.”  Jim has been carefully looking at cars, and is cautiously researching and analyzing which car would be the best value for him.  I think he plans to buy a car by the end of the year.

 

Tyler’s mission time is nearing an end, and just had his last transfer.  He was made a trainer, and is excited about how wonderful his “greenie” is doing.  Jim is working on Tyler’s school schedule, and I am working on housing, and he will head back to school just a few weeks after arriving home.  His return date is December 20th, and he will speak in church on December 25th.   We are so excited to have him home for Christmas, and we are going to try to do a little remodeling in his room before he returns.

 

Landon has been a good, responsible driver so far.  He is driving a Cougar that was given to us by my Aunt Evelyn.  I love having an extra driver again.  Landon made the Taylorsville City Youth Council, and is involved in city activities throughout the school year.  He loves being in the Priest Quorum, and is very faithful in his duties.  Landon asked a girl to Homecoming, and was recently asked to Sadies by another girl (a senior, no less).  He’s got quite a schedule at school, with 3 AP classes (English, Calculus and Psychology) and 1 Concurrent Enrollment class (Spanish), but he has still managed to get straight A’s.  The kid is just too weird—he just got ACT test result back from October testing, and got a 34, and it’s just not a big deal to him, but he’s got some great opportunities ahead of him.  He’s getting ready to buy another snowboarding pass, in hopes to make it through the season without a broken collar bone this year.

 

Lauren added voice lessons to her list of things to do.  In fact, she takes piano and voice during the time that Nicole tends for their teacher.  They have a recital next week.  Dance company is performing several times between now and the end of the year, so she’s really busy.  She loves all of her classes except fashion strategies, which was one of those classes that they put her into because nothing else fit her schedule.  She is mentoring handicapped students in the special needs seminary class with two other girls from our ward that were recommended to be involved in that program.  She loves young women and her leaders.  She has been cooking some great meals and treats at home,  and is such a great little chef.  She just got her braces off, and has a beautiful smile!  Her and four friends were a caterpillar for Halloween—check out the pictures to see the cute costume they made.

 

Sorry for the lateness, but we hope that this letter finds everyone well and that everyone has a great Thanksgiving and Christmas!

 

Love,

 

Scott, Heather and kids