Early Fall

Well it sure is fun to see the pictures and hear what is going on in the Gray clans around the country! I can't imagine the stress and fatigue that Jon is going through during his residency, and the stress Heidi Mae is fighting as well, juggling two kids and a monster baby (almost) to boot! We miss you guys, and Dave and Mindy! (Dave, maybe you should start packing heat to dental school...)

Rob and Family are doing well. He just rec'd a $10k per year raise, and so is doing better financially to the point where he is dumping his guitar students to spend more time with the wee bairn. (He'll have his house paid for in just over 4 more years!) Caleb is in soccer, and we all know how nothing is funnier than the first year of soccer for kids. Doesn't matter which goal they kick the ball in, your team or the opponent's, it's all good!

Stephen is doing...whatever it is that Stephen does. He's working 2 jobs at DiscoverCard and UPS. He seems happy as can be.

Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year, especially in the NorthEastern states and Canada! My mission covered two counties in upstate NY, and Quebec, and the colors are incredible! We had snow here in Utah last weekend-in the valleys. You know that Fall has arrived in Utah with 2 annual events: 1) General Conference, 2) Valley snow. Dacia, kids, and I drove up Parley's Canyon to Park City a couple weeks ago to see the autumn colors. Amazing how we get fall colors for about 30 minutes before the tree leaves die and drop.


Spencer is fantastic, and growing like crazy--well, for one of my runty kids I mean. He had grown 3 inches and 4 lbs since birth at his 2 month doctor visit. His exzema is almost completely cleared up, and he is starting to coo, and laugh, and has better head control--sortof. He'll follow people as they move (with his eyes/head), and loves to watch TV, or at least, stares at the flashes of light from the screen when the boys watch a movie. I still can't hear him when he cries in the middle of the night, but that isn't really news since none of the boys seemed to disturb my beauty sleep--no matter how long, hard, or loud they cried. Well, that all changed yesterday morning. I woke up from a dead sleep when Spencer pooped his diaper at 4am. Noisy! We're calling him Thunderpants now. Loud, long, and, well, noisy! My favorite is in the Chapel during Sacrament meeting--when the Sacrament is being passed or on Fast Sunday, when it is so quiet you can hear the hum of the overhead lights, then Spencer rips a nice, juicy, Thunderpants moment and you hear the little kids giggling clear at the back. (We sit on the 2nd pew from the front on the left side of the chapel facing the pulpit.) And he smiles, every time! As if he knows...Such simple pleasures.

(Jason and Dacia with President and Sister McKittrick, Oct. 5, 2007. President was diagnosed with and inoperable, malignant brain tumor in July of this year. This was a special mission reunion to say goodbye.)

Jonah loves the first grade, and Jonathan is terribly bored until his big brother comes home from school. Last year was alright for Jon-Jon, when Jonah was only gone for a couple of hours. Now, he drives us up the wall because he is so hyper, waiting for Jonah and wanting to play with someone. Jonah took a sack lunch to school for the first couple weeks, until Dad had to start making his lunches. Jonah eats a "hot lunch" at school now. Boy, is Dad lazy. Especially once he found out he can put money into Jonah's lunch account on the internet with a couple of mouse clicks. For Halloween this year, Jonah finally agreed to be someone other than Harry Potter, although that was a very recent development, and all his own thinking! He is going to be Black Spiderman, and he puts on his costume and just walks around for hours. He doesn't play Spiderman, he just wears the costume. Strange. Jonathan will be a firefighter (not fireman!), and he does play at being one, and Spencer will be a Tootsie Roll.

Dacia is recovering nicely from the birth, and has just started working again for JetBlue. Spencer usually only wakes up once per night for a feeding, usually around 3-4am which gives her 5-6 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Jason still hasn't found a new job since Capital One closed down GreenPoint Mortgage on August 23rd and laid off all the employees. He hasn't looked that hard either, which has been nice on one hand to be able to spend time with the family and help with Dacia and 3 boys, more than he could while working anyway. (Wow, kindof tough to talk about one's self in the third person...) The severance Capital One provided has been nice for that reason, but as that comes to an end the job search takes a much higher priority. It is difficult to want to work in the mortgage industry at the moment, especially with the volatility and radical product changes that are occurring so rapidly.


These pictures were taken when the Jon-Jon and Jonah were "called" on a mission for a Primary activity. They received "calls" in individually sealed envelopes that were sent home. They reported to the church on a Saturday morning for a period of one hour, and learned about 3 ward sisters' mission experiences. Well, this was an important occasion, and so Dad bought them new Sunday clothes, including clip-on ties! (First time ever for ties!) All this was Saturday morning before they were to report to their "mission" at 10am. So Dad rushed all over the place trying to find a store that carried boys' ties Saturday morning, early, in the rain, before 10am when, as I'm sure you all know, most retail stores open. Finally found the ties, and rushed home to get the boys changed, hair combed, pictures taken (Dacia's idea), and to their mission on time. They were the only two people (adults included!) to even dress in Sunday clothes, let alone white shirts and ties. Don't I feel silly.