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/

Oliver continues to change at nearly the speed of light. He is now 8 months old and seems more like a little boy than a baby. He recently learned how to pull himself up to a standing position along the side of his crib, and it is now one of his favorite things to do. Oliver’s other favorite thing is riding in his new stroller (which Mom and Dad bought with some of their Christmas money). His old stroller was his car seat on a stroller base, so he couldn’t really look around very well. His new stroller is a real “big boy” stroller and he loves sitting at the very front, leaning over the edge, and gawking at everything around him! Kay gets lots of compliments on her cute baby wherever she goes.

Oliver hasn’t quite learned to crawl yet, but he can scoot across the floor on his tummy very quickly. He loves to try and grab the VCR and DVD player when he is on the living room floor and the alarm clock when he is on Mom and Dad’s bed. He is very careful and gentle as he explores and pushes all the buttons. He must have inherited his love of electronics from his Grandpas.

Just yesterday Kay put Oliver down on the floor of his room to play with his toys while she went to the bathroom. He was crying when she left; however, the crying seemed to get strangely louder and louder. To her surprise, Kay opened the door and found Oliver there! He had crawled/scooted all the way from his bedroom to the bathroom door. Oliver will do whatever it takes to keep track of Mom!

Kay Lynn was busy throughout the holidays making life fun for Oliver and Jason. She made a beautiful advent calendar with special activities for each day. She also planned some fun Christmas family home evenings like making snow globe Christmas tree ornaments and making donut-hole snowman cupcakes to take to the neighbors.

In between taking care of Oliver and Jason, Kay continues to work hard on her artwork. She recently designed and ordered a postcard mailer to send out to publishers. The mailer looks fabulous—very professional! Kay is hopeful that her mailer will catch the eye of art directors at the publishers she sends it to.

Jason is finally feeling settled in at work. He is working on a paper with a young economist exploring why European banks were so much more exposed to the U.S. sub prime mortgage market than U.S. banks were. Although the project is only in the “working paper” stages, they are hopeful that it will become something that can be published in a major academic journal. Jason also continues to enjoy rubbing shoulders with some very influential economists. He recently was able to attend a Board meeting where Chairman Bernanke and the other governors were briefed on the Fed’s projections for the economy. Although the meeting was classified, (hence he won’t discuss the dreaded ‘r’ word [recession]) Jason did let Kay know that the near-term economic future looks bleak. (So be wary of the stock market for now!)

We love you and miss you all!

The Kotters are finally settled in (at least mostly) to their new home in Arlington, Virginia. It has been a busy couple of months filled with lots of changes!

Oliver has changed the most over the last couple of months. In late September he started teething, which meant that he wanted to put everything that he could get his hands on in his mouth. By mid-October his first two teeth (in the bottom front of his mouth) were clearly showing. Now he has two top teeth starting to poke through his gums. He still loves to chew on everything, but Mom and Dad have to be careful not to let him chew on their fingers too much because he can bite really hard now!

On October 18, after turning five months old the day before, Oliver got to eat his first real meal of rice cereal. Mom and Dad fed him first thing in the morning so that he would be good and hungry. Oliver loves eating! He ate his whole bowl of cereal (and he didn’t even get too much on his face!). Since then, Oliver has had a bowl of rice or oatmeal cereal once or twice a day.

Finally, Oliver has mastered the trick of rolling over from his back onto his tummy. Unfortunately, he doesn’t like to be on his tummy very long and he doesn’t know how to roll back over. As a result, he has started waking up in the middle of the night screaming because he is stuck on his tummy. Most of the time Mom or Dad can roll him over on to his back and he will go back to sleep very quickly. With any luck, Oliver will learn how to roll back over by himself soon!

Kay Lynn has her hands full taking care of Oliver. Most days she wishes that she had a little more time to draw and paint. Still, she has found time to paint a couple of paintings to hang in Oliver’s room. She is doing a great job as a mother and spends lots of time taking Oliver on walks, going to the park to swing, and singing songs with Oliver. She was recently called to serve in the Arlington ward as a visiting teaching district leader.

Jason is learning lots at his job. He still wishes that he could do more academic research, but he appreciates the computer programming skills he is learning including SAS and PERL. He recently attended a retirement party where he was able to stand next to Chairman Bernanke and he saw former Chairman Alan Greenspan. It is fun to be able to rub shoulders with some very impressive people!

All in all, the Kotter family continues to do well. We miss our friends and think about you often.

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