Christmas 2016

Dear friends and family,                                                                                                              December 2016

            Our family is growing up fast. Audrey and Claire are getting taller and taller and have become such great company. Mark and I are as fascinating and good looking as ever, but are experiencing a few of the joint and hair challenges that come with the middle 40s. Overall, it's a happy stage for our family.

            Audrey is our new teenager and she's just as sweet and funny as ever. She takes care of all of us in her quiet and sensible way. Audrey is a helpful and caring person, a good friend and sister, and has a great sense of humor and a lot of intelligence. She works hard and has made the principal's honor roll for every semester of middle school. Audrey takes piano lessons, which she tolerates; and ice skating lessons, which she loves. She also sings in two choirs, so the holiday season is a tour of concerts all around town. Audrey is in 7^th grade and each morning she gets herself up, makes her own breakfast and lunch and walks to school with her friends. We are impressed by and grateful for her self sufficiency every day. On weekends, she makes up for it by sleeping in, lounging in her pajamas as long as we let her and reading for hours at a time. When she's not reading, she's writing or drawing.  Audrey got contacts in October, and we love seeing her beautiful face without glasses.

            Claire is in 4^th grade and adapting to the higher expectations that come with being almost 10. She takes piano and sewing lessons and has a real interest in robots, Star Wars and Minecraft. She has made pillow cases, stuffed animals, tote bags and blankets, villages, sculptures, Zen gardens, jewelry and Lego structures of all kinds. She dabbles in every possible art and craft form, but seems to be looking for a specialty. She loves to read, make up games and activities for herself and anyone who will join her, and has a thing for plants. Claire is really energetic and wants to be busy and interacting pretty much all the time. Between her three family members and a few friends in the neighborhood, she manages to fill her hours. Claire has always been a very loving person, and we can still count on her for hugs and kisses and sensitivity, but she is emphatically grossed out by romantic displays of affection. Claire doesn't mind messes, sleeps in a tangle of blankets, and loves just about every kind of food except meat. She wants to do everything right, but mostly wants to be happy.

            Mark is busy at Western Digital. He has been traveling at least once a quarter - mostly to Asia. This year he has been to Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. He is a trooper about the long flights, exotic meals, and deadly jet lag. I know that if our family's financial success depended on me going three days without sleep and then eating chicken-feet soup out of a worn-out coconut shell, we'd be in trouble. We are lucky to have him. When Mark is home his womenfolk swarm him and make many demands on his time and energy. He does his best to accommodate us. Mark is always reading something interesting, often impresses us with his knowledge of geography, and tries hard to inspire his daughters to put down their books and throw a ball or ride a skateboard. When he has time he watches BYU sports, squeezes in some yard work or golf, and does a little painting.

            Now that our girls are growing up my job has really changed. They don't need me to do everything for them, but they need a mentor, a sounding board and a soft place to land. I try to help them sort out all the stuff going on in their worlds. I still do freelance writing and proofreading and am always hoping to widen my client base. My garden keeps me busy - this summer my tomato, zucchini and cucumber harvests were enormous. I was the only one happy about the zucchini. I've been sidelined from most sports for awhile because I can't seem to play without injuring myself. I'm keeping up with yoga and hope to be on the tennis court again soon – I might have to develop a slower speed, I guess. I don't volunteer at the school much anymore and can't say I miss it. I'm the last person Audrey wants to see on her campus, and Claire is pretty understanding about my lack of involvement. But I feel like I am as busy as ever and happily finding that, for me, teens and tweens are much easier than toddlers.

            Our kids filled their summer days with all the fun things we can't get enough of during the busy school season: camps and swimming, the beach and a lot of books. We've taken a few vacations this year: Phoenix and Sedona where we saw Taliesin West and some amazing ruins, rock formations and sunsets; Idaho where we visited family, toured Yellowstone, and survived a scary micro burst that struck while we were floating the Snake River; and camping in Santa Barbara. We love our trips, and I often see the parallel between a good vacation and life in general: sometimes it's terrible, sometimes it's wonderful and there's a lot of in between. I'm sure we have many adventures are ahead of us in 2017 and beyond. We are thankful.

                                                                        God bless you all, Mark, Melissa, Audrey, and Claire Sterzick