Goodbye 2013. Hello 2014!

The Gregory Family certainly keeps busy, so busy that we haven't written a family update in two years!  

Quinn is in second grade and turned seven last March.  He loves playing a computer game named Minecraft, which was the theme of his birthday party.  Here is a photo of him with his cake.

Evan is ten years old and in fifth grade, which is the last year at the elementary school.  In fourth grade, he had to learn various poems such as "Jim" by Hilare Belloc.  He still loves everything to do with computers.  He also loves Minecraft and created his mission report in Minecraft.  We all dressed up as Minecraft characters for Halloween.  Evan is Notch (the creator of Minecraft), Quinn is HeroBrine, Jason is the Creeper (tall, green thing), and I am Nyan Cat (an Internet meme, but also a mod in Minecraft).  Here's a photo.

Jason still works for Naughty Dog and has been one of two engineering leads on the game The Last of Us, which was released last June.  The game has been immensely popular and has won 170 "Game of the Year" awards and counting.  The second edition to his book Game Engine Architecture will be out in March.  Jason will be speaking in February at a conference in Portugal and at GDC (Game Developers' Conference) in March.

2013 has been an extremely busy year for me (Trina).  I started a Master's of Science in Computer Science at USC in order to advance my career.  I am still teaching full-time at USC for ITP (Information Technology Program) and was promoted to Senior Lecturer.  For several years, I have been developing curriculum for a new minor entitled Mobile App Development, which is now available at USC.  I was featured in an article for CBS Local and USC's Daily Trojan.  Before Halloween, I went down to San Diego to spend the weekend with Tracy while all of our boys (husbands included) went camping on Catalina Island.  We dressed up as the DoubleMint twins for a Halloween party.

This past year has brought some challenges and resolutions.  Jason was diagnosed with skin cancer on his cheek at the end of June and had surgery to remove it.  He now has a long scar and makes up funny stories on how he got it.  Jason mum, Rikki Gregory, passed away from cancer on November 7th.  We had a lovely funeral for her in Toronto, ON.  It was a time to celebrate her life and love for her Kenneth and Jason.  You can see photos and read Jason's eulogy on her memorial website.  Here is a photo from our wedding 15 years ago.

In 2012, our beloved cat Mango had to be put to rest.  Our other cat Topaz really missed having a friend, and we missed having another cat.  Through a cat rescue group, we adopted two Persian cats who are brothers and around eight years old.  They are so sweet and have the loudest purrs.  Meet Rocket (aka Rocky) and Apollo (aka Paully).

We spent Christmas with the Provins family in San Diego.  I love to buy my boys and my nephews (Carter who is almost 10 and Cooper who is almost 5) matching pajamas.  Here are the "Candy Cane Cousins" on Christmas Eve.  Tracy and I continued the family tradition and made Swedish bread.

We hope 2014 is filled with love, joy, and peace!