Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Lincoln, Nebraska! We hope this message finds you all happy and healthy as you reflect on 2009 and prepare for 2010. This has been a year of transition for our family, as we said goodbye to Sioux City, Iowa after five years. After much preparation, we made our move to Lincoln at the beginning of August and have settled in nicely over the last four months. This move did, of course, come with some sacrifice, not the least of which was saying goodbye to the four-legged members of our family, our dogs Copland and Candide. Copland was put to sleep at the end of July due to a quickly growing list of age-related health problems. The campus family housing where we now live does not allow pets, so after much thought, we decided it was best for our family, to give Candide to a friend who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is thriving. We miss them immensely, but we are grateful for the ten years we had with them.

Cliff completed his tenure as Director of Bands at Morningside College by taking the band on a performance tour of Spain in May. The ensemble performed and toured the central and southwestern portions of the country including Madrid, Granada and Sevilla. The eleven-day tour was fantastic, and it has spurred a desire in Cliff to spend more time visiting and learning more about the European continent. After a summer of landscaping, Cliff began his first semester in residency as a D.M.A. student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This semester has been very busy, but he has had some wonderful opportunities including conducting the UNL Wind Ensemble, the Lincoln Community Concert Band and the Big Red Express Pep Band, as well as working with the 290-piece Cornhusker Marching Band. To wrap up the year, Cliff will travel with the marching band to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California for the December 30th game against Arizona.

Gina continues to enjoy her role as mom and family caretaker. She spent a lot of time in the earlier half of the year preparing the details of the move, including Laura’s preschool application, apartment hunting and many other tasks. Though saying goodbye to the friends she had made through her Mothers of Preschoolers group was difficult, she was pleased to find several stay-at-home moms on our street here in Lincoln. The late summer and fall afternoons were often spent playing outdoors with the other moms and their children. She also has continued and expanded her role as a water fitness instructor, doubling her class load from three per week in Sioux City to six per week here. She teaches at two locations here and has grown very fond of her “regulars”. Gina has enjoyed the challenge of learning the new routine here in our new home. She continues to enjoy reading and scrapbooking, especially when Cliff is traveling with the band.

Laura has been successfully transitioning from a dependent toddler into a more independent young girl of four. She insists, and is mostly successful, in completing her daily and weekly tasks by herself. These include, but are not limited to, dressing, cleaning-up, using the bathroom, and getting in and out of the car (including the seatbelt). This summer Laura began swimming lessons, and thanks to a birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa Towner, has continued them this fall. Her confidence in the water is gaining strength, and she is learning the basics of floating. Mom and Dad are eager for the day when she conquers her fear of getting her face wet. The move to Lincoln meant Laura was able to start preschool this fall. Since we qualified for the Excite program (Head Start), Laura attends three and a half hours of preschool every day. This is doing wonderful things for her social and academic skills as well as her independence.

Nathan started the year as a baby and has blossomed into a little boy. He began walking independently in early July and has not looked back since. He now loves to walk, climb, run and get into everything. Earlier in the year, Nathan was very attached to Mommy, much to the chagrin of our babysitters. Now, he willingly runs into the childcare when Gina teaches her water aerobics classes and seems more comfortable around new people in general. The last few months have been a language explosion for him. He began picking up new words rapidly throughout the fall and can now use 2- and 3-word expressions to tell us what he wants. Overall, he has grown from a somewhat grumpy baby into a very, very happy toddler who laughs freely and loves to wrestle and play with his big sister.

2009 has been a year of hard work, transition and a whole heck of a lot of fun. The four of us are thriving in our new environment and, most importantly, we are all happy and healthy. We are looking forward to 2010 and what it has to offer as we set our goals for the upcoming year. We hope this year has been as joyous and fruitful for you as it has been for us. As you plan for 2010, remember to aim high and make each day your masterpiece.

The Towners
Cliff, Gina, Laura & Nathan