Chad and Andrea

Chad Hopkins is our oldest grandchild. He is the son of Lisa and Steve Long and the brother of Lucy Long. Chad is engaged to Andrea, and they will be married next August.

Chad has just purchased a lovely home in Sandy (near Alta High School). Previous to this time, Chad had bought two other homes. He lived in each of these homes while fixing them up and improving them for resale. After renovating each house, Chad would sell it and increase the equity he had toward buying his next home. He is a hard worker and clearly has set some enterprising goals for himself. Chad and Andrea are now going through their newly purchased home and painting and doing other improvements.

We all love Andrea. She is a student at the University of Utah and works for American Express. One fun thing I learned about Andrea was that she and her younger brother danced in The Nutcracker Ballet for several years as children. Andrea has fond memories of her experiences in ballet.

Chad has been a manager of several restuarants in the Salt Lake Valley. He works well with people and oversees the operations to keep them running efficiently. This next month he will be in Boston for two weeks for training in a new position.

Chad has been a wonderful big brother to his sister Lucy. She clearly adores him. Chad teases her (in a nice way) and takes an interest in her activities both in and out of school. Lucy is thrilled to have Andrea join their family.

The family goes each November on a vacation together. This year they are going to Disneyworld. Last year they went on a cruise. This is a fun time for the family to enjoy leisure time together. Chad and Andrea will have a lot of fun with Lucy in Disneyworld.

Chad is the oldest of our grandchildren. It has been satisfying to watch Chad grow into a mature young man. He and Andrea are looking forward to sharing their world together in their new home. We love Chad and are proud of his accomplishments.

(This is the last post of our 13 grandchildren. It has been fun to think about personality traits and acheivements of each grandchild. Paul and I couldn't be more pleased about these 13 precious grandchildren who have made our lives richer. As children usually do, they have also helped us feel young.)