Christmas Newsletter 2006

Dear Family and Friends:

January was cold and dark for the Porter family. I was struggling to find an interesting topic for my Masters research at BYU, and Suzanne was suffering from a condition with no official medical description but which is commonly referred to as morning sickness. A side-effect of her affliction was the super human ability to smell my suddenly bad breath from 50 yards away and sometimes even over the phone. Even Parley had just recovered from a broken leg two months earlier. Things were bad, really bad.

As spring emerged, the clouds parted for a moment, and Suzanne’s sickness somewhat subsided. However, I remained heavily invested in Orbit gum and Listerine to allow me to sleep on the same side of the house as my wife. Parley was running and jumping and jabbering away. I was even getting excited about computerized reputation systems and thought that maybe somebody might like me to write a 100-page paper on them in exchange for a fancy, framed document. Then on a whim, I decided to apply for an internship at a small start-up* located in Redmond, Washington. Things were really looking up, especially when we found out I got accepted. One minor note, though. While I was interviewing at said start-up, Parley decided to start his play-acting career by performing an interpretive dance to the song “No more monkeys…” before an audience of six laughing adults who were incidentally singing along. Unfortunately, to the audience’s horror, he did an all too perfect rendition by falling of the bed and breaking his right arm. Picture a little boomerang.

Anyway, in sunny June, we packed up our car and drove to Seattle. It was sad to leave our house and lawn in Springville to the scorching summer sun. It was especially hard for Suzanne to leave her big plans for producing the sequel to the “best, most abundant garden in the neighborhood” that had been so critically acclaimed the summer before. But we knew that this little adventure would bear fruit sweeter than…okay, enough.

The internship was very demanding but very rewarding. Suzanne and Parley had fun during the day going on walks and visiting the library just a block away from our apartment in downtown Bellevue. The weather was actually quite nice, and it only rained four or five times all summer. We loved going to the Seattle aquarium, riding on a real live train, and getting appalled at the outrageous housing prices. In fact, Suzanne and Parley maxed out on their fun a little early, so they flew back to Rexburg a month before Suzi’s due date. Here is where it gets exciting…

It was 2 a.m. on the last day of July. I was asleep on the couch with the cell phone tucked under my chin. Suddenly, the phone rang. Away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shudders and threw up the sash. Then I realized Suzanne was calling. I answered, and she said, “I think it’s happening. You better get to the airport.” I dashed out the door and caught an early morning bus to the airport and bought a ticket for a 6 a.m. flight. Unfortunately for me, she had the baby at 5:50 a.m. while I was waiting to board. However, Suzanne and the baby were just fine. Charlotte Virginia Porter was a healthy, 8 pound, 6 ounce little girl. Thankfully, I was able to spend three days with my suddenly larger family before flying back to finish the internship.

Suzanne, Parley, and Charlotte flew back to Seattle for the last few weeks of the internship. Maybe it was the new addition to our family, or maybe it was the great experience working full-time, but I had a change of heart and decided to quit school and go to work. So we drove back to Utah with plans to return to work for said start-up as soon as we could sell our house. However, the company** I’ve been working for part-time for the last four years threatened to make my life miserable if I didn’t stay and work for them. They even gave me the funny title of CTO. So, we decided to stay in Utah. We still sold our house and bought another in Lehi. We moved in over Thanksgiving.

Seriously, we have been so richly blessed, and we have felt Heavenly Father guiding us this year to opportunities that sometimes seemed strange and irrational. We are so grateful for our two healthy kids.

Parley is such a good boy. He says so many funny things. One of our favorites is how he always says okay instead of yes as if he’s compromising in response to questions such as Do you love your sister, Charlotte? Okay.

Charlotte was born with a disease known as smile-too-much-itis, or inflammation of the smile. She just can’t quit grinning. She also has some impressive thunder thighs. She is a wonderfully calm baby and puts up well with Parley’s energy.

Suzanne is so happy to be able to stay home with our two kids. Besides keeping them happy, she stays plenty busy by maintaining her Nursing license through continuing education, decorating our home, serving in the Church, and keeping up with friends and family.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas season. Merry Christmas!

- Sterling, Suzanne, Parley, and Charlotte

* Microsoft
** Sewell Direct (sewelldirect.com)