After just finishing watching the second session of General Conference on the Internet (a world conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where members are instructed by Church leaders) I am very grateful for the blessings of technology. It is amazing to sit in my apartment and hear the prophet as he speaks in Salt Lake City. I am grateful that there is a prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson, to lead and direct us. I told Oliver all about prophets as we watched Conference today; he might not know what I am saying right now, but I want him to learn very early how important it is to me to learn what the Lord wants to tell us through the prophet.
Oliver keeps getting cuter every day. He loves to do whatever Mom is doing and he follows her around the house all day long. All of that crawling is hard work; the knees of some of his pants are starting to wear through! He is so excited that he is able to reach new places now, and he spends much of his time exploring what he can get into. Luckily, Dad installed locks on the kitchen cupboards so that Oliver can’t get into too much trouble! Oliver still loves to play at the park and he recently discovered that he loves to go down the slide. He also learned how to climb up the stairs at the park and he is pretty proud of himself!
Kay Lynn continues to do a fantastic job at being a mom and wife. She enjoyed the money she got for her birthday and combined it with money we had saved from Christmas to get new bedroom furniture (well, actually used—but new to us), drapes and bedding. Our redecorated bedroom looks amazing and it finally feels like we are “home” rather than just living out of our suitcases. (Stay tuned for picture updates) Kay is also finishing a large painting of boats (a special request from Jason) to hang in their bedroom. The painting looks amazing and Jason is incredibly excited to hang it up.
Jason is busier than ever at work. A couple of weeks ago his boss pulled him off of the paper he was working on so that he could help her prepare for a briefing in front of the Board of Governors. He was frustrated about that, but it has turned out to be a blessing as he has been able to work closely with an economist on a paper examining the market influence of Sovereign Wealth Funds. The topic is generating a lot of interest both in the academic world and in Congress. Jason and this economist are co-authoring a paper and will submit it to the Journal of Financial Economics sometime this summer. With any luck, it will be accepted!
We love you all! If you haven’t had a chance to see any of our church’s General Conference, check it out (along with other great programming) at http://www.byu.tv/