Merry Christmas!

Dear family and friends,

Merry Christmas!  All is calm-ish and bright here in Northern Virginia.  For the first time in years, we haven’t had any major changes come into our life.  After the big move/job change/birth of Amy in 2014, we are all thankful for the calmer year.  

This year has been filled with park days, splash pads, walks, bike rides and trips to the library.  We are settling into our new home and have spent much of this year organizing and painting.  Heber and I celebrated our 10^th wedding anniversary with a trip to Outer Banks.  The highlight of the year was heading out to Utah to visit family and friends over Easter. 

Heber continues to his work in digital forensics trying to help catch the bad guys. One day he and his coworkers were working on a project together and another coworker stopped by and asked “Hey, did any of you help catch a bank robber today? Because, I did!”  He is a wonderful and supportive dad who wrestles with the kids and reads them stories at night.  He joined Toastmasters International, a public speaking group.  He often comes home with a ribbon for best speech of the night.

 Gentri kept the house together and everyone alive, which is a feat worth touting!  She was able to visit her dream bead store, Ornamentea, in Raleigh, NC during a quick weekend trip.  She visited Chicago.  Over the summer, she took a flameworking course that led to some beautiful new beads and knobs.  She learned how to fuse metal and added a new small torch and rock tumbler to her studio.  She continued to serve with the Activity Day Girls (8-9 year olds) at church and spearheaded a three day summer camp.

Leo turned four and is still our joyful and enthusiastic guy who loves the color blue.  He spent the first part of the year attending a joy school (with mom helping to teach) and then started at a traditional preschool in the fall.   He is most excited about space and planets and can identify each one and share details about moons and atmospheres (can you tell how proud we are).  He loves to wear shorts, wrestle and play with cars. 

Amy, at nearly two, is our determined and spirited red head.   She loves to run and to dress herself.  She loves her mom and is her constant shadow.  She talks all day long and we are starting to actually understand some of it.  Our girl is fearless and especially likes to play at the park.  She decides that she is going to do something and goes right for it even if it’s the big slide at 16 months old.  Baby dolls are her favorite.

We are so thankful for you all in our lives. We hope that 2016 is a wonderful year.  We wish you the happiest of holiday season!

Love,

Gentri, Heber, Leo and Amy Green (or as Leo says, G-R-two Es-and an N)

Christmas Letter 2014

Dear friends and family,

Merry Christmas to you all!  We wish we were all in the same area to celebrate together!  Know that we think of you often and appreciate that you are a part of our lives.  What a year 2014 has been.

We started out the year in snowy Logan.  The big highlight was the birth of Amy Lois.  We are so happy that she is a part of our family.  We enjoyed attending Summerfest and visiting the farmers markets.  In July, a new job offer prompted us to pack up once again and return to the East coast. We moved to a suburb of Washington DC and bought our first real home, with a yard and everything.   We’ve spent the past months unpacking and working on the house.  We have especially liked being out on our deck.  Heber has been cooking up delicious meats out there on the new smoker. He’s also had to mow a lawn regularly for the first time since being a teenager.

Heber’s new job is in digital forensics supporting law enforcement. He helps recover data from cell phones that the bad guys have “accidently” hit with a sledge hammer once or twice. It is creative and challenging engineering, but the best part is that Heber has only spent 45 minutes in meetings since he started!

Gentri has spent the last year hanging out with Amy and Leo.  They filled their days with playgroups, friends and making their new house a home.  We set up a torch and glass studio in our home (so exciting!) this year and she has been hard at work creating glass knobs and Christmas ornaments. She is serving with the 8-9 year old girls in the ward and enjoyed getting to know them.

Amy was born in January and it has been a joyful year watching her learn.  She is right on the verge of walking and is a great eater!  She has a little bit of red hair and bright blue eyes.  Amy loves her mom and chewing on shoes.  She is a determined little one and it is always a delight to hear her play and giggle with her older brother.

Our happy little Leo turned three in November.  He still loves to read stories and run around outside.  He just recently mastered his scooter and it’s been fun to watch him ride. He likes to go “really, really fast!”   He especially loved our music class and would ask if we were going there any time we left the house.

It has been a year filled with so many changes but we are happy to be settling into our new life.  We have been so blessed to have good people in our life.  We wish you all the happiest of holiday seasons!

With Love,  Heber, Gentri, Leo and Amy Green

See what Gentri’s been up to in the glass studio at gentrigreen.com.

The Christmas Letter

Dear friends and family,

2013 is coming to a close and what a year it’s been!  The biggest news is the upcoming arrival of a new baby GIRL in January!  In November we moved back across the country to Logan, Utah.  We are thankful to be in a familiar place with old friends, family and great doctors.   You know us, we like to have all the changes at once.  

Heber left the space division at the Naval Research Lab and was quickly scooped up by his old manager back at Space Dynamics Lab. He continued to take guitar lessons and to be Leo’s absolute favorite person.   As a summer project, he built a pair of Adirondack chairs.  He’s been figuring out how to build his own hand tools and has a growing collection. 

Gentri was happy to be home with Leo.  She has been hard at work in the glass studio this year and mastered several new techniques including making fish.  She was able to take some extra classes including a course in the hot shop doing glass blowing.  She served as the secretary for the Virginia Firebirds, a chapter of ISGB and taught classes at the local bead store.  She served on the ward Relief Society Activities Committee and on Mormon Prom (google it, seriously.)  In between everything else, she managed to complete all 120 hours of training to receive her real estate license. 

Leo turned 2 in November.  Over the course of this year, he learned how to walk and talk.  He has become quite the curious guy and is obsessed with anything that moves (trains, cars, planes….).  He has really grown into a little boy this past year.  He loves to be outside and we spent a lot of time at some beautiful parks.  We were very active with our playgroup and friends and had many wonderful times.   

The Green Family Bed and Breakfast was in full swing this year with visitors from all over the continental US.  We enjoyed sharing the sights in DC with all of them.  Unfortunately, we ran out of pillow mints and had to close up shop.

We rented a beach house in Outer Banks, NC with some friends in September.  The highlight for us, besides spending time on the beach, was watching Heber hang glide at 2,000 feet.  You’ve got to do something big to celebrate turning 30!

To say goodbye to the DC area, we did a lot of sightseeing.  We visited all our favorite haunts like Eastern Market, the Botanical Gardens, the Air and Space Museum and Old Town Alexandria.  We visited some new spots like George Mason’s Home (amazing!), Intercourse, PA and Hershey, PA. 

As we closed the Virginia chapter, we realized how blessed we have been with good friends and support in all chapters of our life.  We appreciate you all and wish you the happiest of holiday seasons! 

Love,

Heber, Gentri, Leo and new baby girl