"Bob and Sue": 2022 Christmas Letter :)

Thanks to all of you for sending me a Christmas card! Physical or digital, I absolutely love getting those and I'm grateful to be on your mailing list. Please keep them coming!!

If you're interested, I've prepared a bit of an update on our family to send out. I'm also sending a hard copy of this to those who mailed us cards:

A good year overall! We traveled to Utah, Idaho, Michigan, and Texas to visit family and friends. The kids are old enough now that long road trips are much more manageable :)

Alexander (15)

A sophomore in high school, eager to start driver's ed this semester, Alex is pleased with his grades and his class load. He's still working on his books and screenplays that will revolutionize the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He's even developed a new language and a base six mathematical concept to fortify his back stories. Alex is serious about this stuff. In the spring, Alex performed in the high school musical, "Anastasia". Then he and Robert tried a little fencing. Over the summer, Alex worked his first job ever: a junior counselor at the park district's nature camp. He loved it. They loved him. He's looking forward to it again this summer. Alex has been cooking and baking every Sunday afternoon all year to create delicious gifts for the Sister Missionaries in our ward...cakes, doughnuts, beef stroganoff, pies, deluxe mac and cheese, etc. He's been taking voice lessons this year and really, really enjoys it. A good teacher makes ALL the difference. He's growing more confident with his voice and even performed "O Holy Night" at the ward Christmas party this year.

Robert (12)

Now in 7th grade, this boy grew 4 inches this year! At one point his feet literally outgrew 2 successive pairs of shoes in a month. He won't let me forget that he's almost as tall as I am and can now do more pull ups (one-arm and two-arm) in one day than I've ever done in my whole life. He's taken on more responsibilities at church as a deacon. Robert is terribly good at making logical arguments and skilled at punching holes in others' logical arguments. We're all getting better at logic these days. School is great. Every once in a while, he'll show me something clever he did to bypass school internet security protocols *ugh*. And several times a week we get tangled in long discussions about physics, math, optics, and such. He asked to be moved to a more challenging math class. He got his wish. He didn't realize, however, that the real challenge would be asking for help when he didn't quite understand something. Robert's getting more confident in the kitchen. Last week, he made six dozen cookies of 7 different flavors and textures! He'll wrestle with Matthew, throw around hilarious sarcasm and wit with Alex, steer clear of James, discuss computers and video games with Bobby, and literally smother me with affection.

James (10)

Now in 4th grade, James is a confident reader, prolific and creative artist, and currently captivated by expensive sports car brands. When he spots a parked McLaren, Porsche, or Corvette, we always need to stop and take his picture with it. One of his Christmas wishes was to see a Lamborghini in real life. James is independent and resourceful, and painfully shy around people. He doesn't like practicing piano, but when he's comfortable with a song, he'll magically overcome his shyness and voluntarily perform it at school. His teacher tells me he's a leader and a good example, kind, responsible, and a bit of a jokester. He's observant. He's a master of creating complex works of art out of whatever he can find. Thus, he's already proficient with pocket knives, hand saws, hammers and nails, hot glue guns, acrylic paint, and the Dremel. He's gentle and playful with animals of all types (as evidenced by his interactions with Alex's rats, our chickens, a series of neighborhood dogs, and every living creature he encounters). James has a goal to go camping 10 times while he's 10 years old. I see a lot of hot dogs in my future.

Matthew (8)

Matthew is rocking 2nd grade. At school, he doesn't like to attract attention, but at home, he's a singing, laughing, dancing, joking, wrestling, tough little guy. And he is little. Little for our family, anyway: thin and still comfortably wearing size 5/6 clothes. Matthew is shy with strangers, so it's hard for them to see his quirky sense of humor and his eagerness to play with people he loves. He's made real strides this year in learning to advocate for himself. He was baptized on his birthday (hooray!), lost a couple teeth, visited the ER at least once (double ear infection that caused him to go deaf), spent many tortured hours practicing the piano, and learned to play a mean hand of Bohnanza. He'll gladly spend an hour on the couch reading, but he generally prefers to engage others in one-on-one play. He and James make a good pair that way: James loves leading and Matthew loves the attention and quality time. He looks up to James. A lot. Matthew has a goal this birthday year to go on 8 exciting adventures with people he loves. We've already kissed a reindeer, commandeered the gym playground, taken a train to Chicago, and visited a planetarium.

Susan (43)

I made progress on several of my goals this year! With my friend Rachel, I biked 50 miles each in Nebraska, Utah, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New York. Just 39 states to go! With my friends at Solidarity Gardens, I helped grow and donate 400+ pounds of organic produce for neighbors at risk of food insecurity. My favorite thing to grow this year was carrots. It's a beautiful feeling to tug on a bushy cluster of stems and suddenly discover a bright and perfectly shaped carrot in your hand. I've been expanding my acoustic guitar repertoire, too, and gaining confidence in singing and making harmonies. I've been able to attend the temple regularly and more often now that all the kids go to school in person. That's been a great improvement for me. I spend most of my time and energy on the kids. They are some of my favorite goals/projects/people to invest time and energy on. I'm still living with an anxiety disorder. I don't think it's going anywhere, actually, and I resigned myself to that fact this year. It's pretty much invisible most of the time, thanks to medication, therapy, and a meticulous self-care regimen. I'm currently serving at church as a counselor in the Relief Society presidency. As part of that service, I'm on the Missionary Committee and the Temple and Family History Committee. It feels like 3 jobs *sigh*. That said, I'm really glad to be in Sunday School and Relief Society again.

Bobby (43)

A very private fellow, this one. I can tell you that he's still enjoying his job as a senior software engineer at Nvidia. His team's projects are getting more attention these days, which is fantastic for job security and not so good for working quietly on your own thing. It's frustrating when companies don't use the product as directed and then blame you when things don't work. I'm oversimplifying, but you get the idea. He's run countless miles outdoors and lifted probably a hundred thousand pounds in his strength workouts over the year. He used an Nvidia GPU to build a gaming computer from scratch. Pretty much everyone in our family uses it to play their own types of games. Aaaaand pretty much everyone likes to watch other people play their games. This year, Bobby has proved a worthy opponent to Robert's frequent and unpredictable outbursts of wrestling energy. Robert usually ends up pinned to the ground, trying to twist or pull himself free. Bobby has also made dinner for our family nearly every night this year. He says it's taken the fun out of cooking *bah humbug* but I can tell you that everyone here appreciates his delicious food. Bobby is serving in the church as a stake financial clerk. He's also been diligently ministering to a few older folks in our ward. He and Robert take the sacrament to them regularly.

And that's us for this year! I've attached a few photos:

Alex and Robert all suited up and ready to fence

Bobby took this picture of us watching Alex play a video game on the new computer

Robert up close

The 6 of us and our ranger at the end of our tour of Timpanogos Cave

James holding a butterfly at Thanksgiving Point, UT

The 6 of us in Michigan at the Evans Family Reunion

Rachel and I on one of our many rides. I *think* this is New York, but I'd have to ask Rachel to be sure. Some states are a lot like their neighbor states, y'know?