Gray Family Christmas Letter

Sorry to be doing this electronically this year. I tell myself that it because we are so technologically advanced, but the truth is we are just running late.

This year has been an eventful one for all of us. As a family, we flew to Portland, Oregon in July to visit Emily’s brother and his family, as well as Russ’s mom, Grandma, and cousins. We also went camping in Huntington Canyon at our stake property. Abbie loved her first camping experience, and the highlight was the new concept of “rock throwing.” We also took a little jaunt down to Capital Reef, where we spent the weekend hiking in the red rock country.

Emily started teaching this year at LDS Business College on Thursday nights. She did very well, and just finished up her second semester. Although Emily will protest, I will say that several of her students commented that they really liked her class, which made all the difficult moments of the semester pay off. Emily also chose to enter our family in a 5K in November, our first one ever. We finished in good time, and technically, Abbie finished before either of us, being pushed in the stroller. In early September, Emily also climbed Mount Olympus for her first time ever on, more than likely, the hottest day of this year. Due to the heat (and the added weight of Abbie), it was probably the most miserable hike any of us had done yet. However, the view and bragging rights were well worth the grueling climb.

Russ has managed this year working hard and coming home to be super dad every night to Abbie. He has gladly taken on bed-time duty at our house and is the highlight of his daughter’s day. He is still working at Modern8, and doing well. He enjoys his job, which is a huge plus. Liking your job makes life more fun. Russ’s highlight of the year was the opportunity to go to England with his dad, brother, and brother-in-law for some much deserved male bonding. He spent the week on a narrow boat exploring the English countryside and finishing up in London to revisit some of our favorite haunts. Russ has also starting oil painting again – much to his family’s delight. We are hoping that if things work out, he will have a show in mid-January. Russ finished off the year being called as the Elder’s Quorum President in our ward. Our ward definitely will present him with some unique challenges but Russ is looking forward to the opportunity.

Abbie is always the highlight of our lives. This year, among other things, she has learned to walk, run, climb, dig into Tupperware, take out every towel in the kitchen drawer, and drop her binky in every possible – and impossible location under her crib. She has also started talking a mile a minute – sometimes in English - and knows many animals, her colors (most of the time), her family, the parts of her face, and a large handful of other words. The biggest challenge for Abbie this year was finding out she was allergic to peanuts. One PBJ and trip to the insta-care is all it took, but it was a traumatic experience for mom, dad and Miss Abbie. Abbie has ended this year with a broken arm, which thankfully slowed her down for only two days and she is back to being our ever-pleasant, often goofy, and always beautiful little kiddo.

We hope the holidays have found you happy and well. We love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

- Russ, Em & Abbie Gray