2006 Christmas Letter

Welcome to the Griffith Family Christmas letter for 2006. Unlike last year where the e-letter was compensation for procrastination, this year I started off deciding to do away with old paper traditions and go electronic! I'll keep sending paper versions to old timers and luddites that have no computers. We have had another great year, filled with blessings and peace. I and my wife will be authoring this letter, however tradition dictates that it be written in an anonymous third person voice. So here goes!

Family

For Spring Break in April we visited Disneyland, Joshua Tree National Park and San Diego. We stayed in Disneyland two days at the California Grand and then drove out into the desert to Twenty Nine Palms on the north edge of Joshua Tree, we had a great time climbing and playing around on the rocks. Then we were off to San Diego where we stayed on Mission Beach and saw Shamu and played on the beach.

For our Summer Vacation we drove 2067 miles in total. Our first destination was Utah where we attended Mark and Stacey's 20 year reunion (more on that later), visited Bear Lake, attended a Griffith Family Reunion, visited Yellowstone and then took an amazing road trip back through Montana, where we visited Gary Aitken for the 4th of July.

Stacey's brother Craig and his family visited us in July and we had a great time out on the lake for the first time that summer, visiting Ollalie State Park and the Seattle Center. We spent a lot of time on the lake this year playing around on the boat and enjoying the warm waters of Lake Sammamish.

We took our annual fall family trip to Scottish Lakes, this time the entire family went backpacking, and even though Stac tore ligaments in her ankle we had a great time and the kids caught a ton of trout, which we cooked up for dinner. We look forward to backpacking as a family more again next year.

This holiday season we stayed around home. We had a great time carving pumpkins for Halloween. We missed being with family for Thanksgiving but had a great time at the Turkey Bowl (the adults were victorious again). We look forward to a quiet Christmas this year, and for the first time in many years we are staying home for New Years so Kiah can go to a dance, truly the age of teendom has arrived. Our December closed out with quite a bit of weather excitement as we had a snow storm that shut down the town for 3 days and then a major windstorm that left us without power for four days!

Mark

For 2006 Mark set a 1000 mile goal, which meant he spent a lot of time outside on the trail. (Thanks to his wife Stac for putting up with that). Much of that was spent working with the young men's organization in our local congregation. Some of the highlights of the trips with the young men this year were the Snow Campout, the Father and Son's campout at Ocean Shores and the scramble up to Lake Phillipa. The highlight though was the High Adventure to the Enchantments, where we hiked 20 miles, climbing 2200 feet in 3/4's of a mile up Aasgard Pass and we swam in freezing lakes with icebergs. Mark did manage to get out without the young men a couple of times, a solo trip while in Logan up over Naomi Pass, a father daughter backpacking trip through the Enchantments again with Kiah, a month later yet another trip through the Enchantments, this time in one day with Joe Walowski and closing out the amazing fall with a trip to Ingalls Lake. Mark continued his education with photography, you can find some of his favorites here. While not hiking or taking photos, Mark worked at Amazon.com with the FBA team surfacing Amazon's fulfillment capabilities to third parties.

One of Mark's favorite rites of passage this past summer was attending his 20 year high school reunion, it was a walk down nostalgia lane. So many names and faces that it had been so long. Mark really enjoyed himself and actually looks forward to the 30 year. Next year Mark looks forward to climbing Mt. Olympus as part of Summit for Someone (thanks to all the generous donations of so many of you) and maybe even the Grand Teton with his Uncle.

Stacey

This is Stacey and I am not writing in the 3rd person! This year has been an interesting one. It has had it moments of good and not so good. This year had to be one of my most "crafty" years. I think the long rainy winter up here in the Northwest turned me domestic for a season. I knitted about 12 hats and 5 scarves. I quilted for Kiah and Sofia, plus family and friends. Summer came and went to fast. I loved our trip to Utah but not the ride back. One day we drove from the Cody,Wy to visit our friend in Montana, which was a long 500 miles. I almost had my second melt down in Bozeman,Mt. My happiest moments from 2006 were as follows. Visiting Disneyland, watching the kids turn another year older, going to Utah seeing family and friends, seeing Maya Angelou speak and also seeing the musical Wicked with Kiah and Sofia. I enjoyed backpacking (for my first time) in the Alpine Lake Wilderness (despite tearing ligaments in my ankle), going to Oceanshores and playing at the beach with Mark and the kids, and being in a bookclub now for 3 years with close dear friends. I am amazed over and over at how beautiful this country is. I am happy to be alive another year, to have 3 beautiful children who make me laugh and give me happiness. I am grateful for my husband who supports me and loves me unconditionally. I feel blessed beyond words. I am enjoying every waking moment of my life and I look forward to 2007 with hope and excitement.

Kiah

Kiah roared into teenagehood, turning 14 this year, she attends Pacific Cascades Freshman Campus with ninth graders from three other high school districts. She says it feels like high school cause it has two floors. At 14 she is old enough to go to dances, though she didn't go to a lot through the summer she has picked up steam in the fall and is looking forward to the New Years Dance. She has continued to really work hard at school and has great discipline in getting her homework done and managing her time. She is also in early morning Seminary (like Sunday School), Dad wakes her up at 4:40 so she can be ready for her ride at 5:30 and to Seminary by 6 am. Its a real sacrifice, but she has a Seminary class of 30 kids and has a great time. Kiah played soccer this year and her team took first in their division, she also had a great time playing in the Turkey Bowl. Going on a backpacking trip with Dad was challenging, since he took her on one of the toughest hikes in the region for her first time, but next year at Girls Camp their overnighter will be a walk in the park. We are extremely proud of her and what a beautiful young woman she is becoming even while continuing to be a teenager, for example she still only takes photos of herself, talks on the phone a lot and instant messenger.

Sofi

Sofi turned 7 this year and started second grade. She loves art, and is a really great artist. She could draw for hours and hours. She loves math and swings everyday on the bars and can do flips backwards and forwards on them. One of her best friend Olivia moved across the street from us. On her Christmas list this year the last two things were a dog and a million dollars, she says she'll share if she gets the latter.

Miles

Miles turned three this past November and continues to be Mark's hiking buddy, going on at least 50 miles of Mark's 1000. Miles is in intense potty training right now having mastered #1, and still needing a lot of work on #2. :) His personality has really come out this year, he runs around yelling "I'm hyper, I'm hyper, I'm hyper" and can burp on queue. He still loves Thomas the Train, and Stac bought him a John Deere he loves to drive around.

Well thats it, if you clicked on every hyperlink in this letter I bet it took you about 4 hours to read. :) No apologies for not getting out a physical Christmas letter this year, we like em this way better. Please continue to send us cards or email letters, either way we love hearing from you. Drop us a line at our email address : griffiths at niffgurd dot com and please stop by if your ever in the Seattle area.

Cheers
The Griffiths