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| Natural History Museum |
Summer is so much fun! We really had a blast . We kept a pretty crazy schedule, and it still worked. It hasn't overloaded us too much. We have had a few days that were low key mixed in to keep us sane. I am surprised how much the kids are growing up, though. It is getting harder to find activities that everyone wants to do. Usually, when we add a friend or two, everyone is more willing to go on the adventures together. Here are some of our July trips:
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| Lowe's Extreme Air Sports |
UofU Natural History Museum. Love their new building and spent forever visiting the Natural Disasters Exhibit. The rest of the museum was a quick spin through, the older ones getting bored of this place already.
We went to Lowe's Extreme Air Sports. It was a great time with our friends. The kids loved jumping on their VERY bouncy European Trampolines and into these pits. The girls loved the trapeze rings and tumbling runs. Boys loved the rock walls and jumping and falling like crazy. Good times.
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| Sandy City 5K on 4th of July |
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| Provo 7 Peaks with Cousins on July 4th |
On July 4th, our family did a 5K race together. Audrey placed in her age division, she did really well. All of the soccer training is starting to pay off!
We also went to 7 Peaks and met up with our cousins for the day. It was fun to ride with them.
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| Lagoon! Love this place. |
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| Tracy Aviary |
We missed Lagoon last year, we decided to take the year off because of our Disneyland and Knotts visits that year. We were glad to be back. It was especially fun to introduce it to Graham, who loved everything and cried to ride Wicked with the older folks. He has no fear, and will ride anything that they will let him. Kate also had several firsts this year because she is tall enough for everything now.
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| Liberty Park "Lake" |
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| Liberty Park Canyons |
We got to have cousins come stay with us for a few days, and oh boy, we kept them running. We went to Liberty Park and enjoyed the Aviary, paddle boating on the lake, playing in the canyons water feature, and having a picnic lunch. It was a fun and very HOT day (over 100 F).
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| Scheels |
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| Scheels catch |
We were really excited to take Mason to Scheels, so we fit that in on the next day before our bowling adventure. We did several fun things and showed Mason around. Of course we did a few photo ops of fish and off-roading.
That weekend was the Fathers and Sons. Chad took both boys and the girls and I had a BIG party. We had a pizza buffet, played arcade games and then went to the movie Epic. We had such a fun time! I hope we don't have to top it next year.
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| Mother's and Daughters Night |
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| Fathers and Sons |
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| Lagoon, we bounced back! |
Well, that is not enough adventure for the weekend. We also bounced back to Lagoon on Saturday. As soon as I was done with my morning run and Chad and the boys got back, we high tailed it to Lagoon for the day. We ran hard most of the day, again, but we were quite exhausted as well. I think we had our fill of Lagoon for the summer.
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| Our baby bird. |
Look at our little miracle. These baby robins were born at eye level in our maple tree. It was so fun to watch the 3 eggs hatch, see the scrawny birds that emerged, then watch them grow feathers and move on. We were all surprised to find the nest empty only a couple of weeks after they were born. We did see one of them, however, jumping around on our doorstep, wings not big enough to fly far yet. It was such a cool thing to be part of that.
Carson had his raingutter regatta in July. He was very excited to put his boat design to the test. A sudden storm BLEW in and the regatta was a little more exciting than we expected. He had a lot of fun, though.
The kids all did a week of camps in July. Carson did Super Sport camp, and it was a mix of a lot of sports, including his favorite rock wall and swimming in the pool. The best part was that his friend Miles was also in the class (which we didn't know until after we signed him up!)
Kate and Audrey did the REAL soccer camp for a week. Kate had 3 friends in her camp with her and Audrey had a friend as well. Everyone had a great time and they are already asking about next year.
Okay, for my biggest surprise - I had a great time on our family back pack camping trip. We all hiked in all of our gear, including Graham. Here he is with his sleeping bag and backpack. We had a tough hike in (it was short, but very steep). But, once we got there, it was so fun to explore and enjoy our surroundings. The tents were a hit, and the fact we were all alone at the beautiful mountain lake was a peaceful fulfilling feeling for me. The echoes were amazing! It was a really good night.
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| Girl's tent |
This is the girl's tent. We were lucky to have our own tent and send those smelly, annoying boys to the other tent.
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| Chad's party |
Chad didn't just have a birthday, he had a birth month. Every activity we did as a family was his party. Lagoon (twice), backpack camping, and here is his party. He really adds a lot of excitement to our family!
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| 24th of July Parade Preview |
We always go to the float preview, and this year we brought some friends and ran into a lot more. It was really fun getting balloons twisted, faces painted and afterwards visiting the new McDonalds. This small activity turned into an entire day's worth of events.
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| Audrey gets 1st place |
On the 24th of July, we all ran in the Brandon Evans Memorial Run. We are so sad for his family and glad to participate in remembering him. We had fun helping with the race, running, and excitedly, Audrey won her age. She ran so hard, finishing the 5 K in just over 27 minutes. We are continuing to see her hard soccer work pay off.
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| Silver Lake |
We went to Silver Lake and played around for a couple of hours on the 24th. It was so nice to be at higher elevation and enjoy the 70 degree weather. We have had the hottest July in Utah history. And, a little relief now in then is nice. The kids played around off the trail in a wooded area for an hour. It was fun to see their imaginations turn the trees into living things and create worlds I usually can't see. So nice to just take time to enjoy nature.
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| Discovery Gateway |
Graham has turned into a big truck kind of guy, and when we visited the Children's Museum, this crane was right up his alley. Even when we moved on, he would wander back and work with his crane again. He would teach other kids how it worked, and take the controls any time he could. Later, he still asks to go back to the crane.
It was a fun day to be with Graham and explore the toys through his eyes.
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| Our last Provo 7 peaks trip |
Summer is winding down, and I promised the kids one more trip to Provo 7 Peaks. It is definitely the family favorite, and they even watched Graham for me a bit so I could ride the big rides as well. Summer is flying by!
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| Red Butte Gardens |
At the end of July - we took a trip to Red Butte Gardens. We really enjoyed it there. We spent some time at the children's garden and enjoyed splashing in the fountains and playing around in the "houses" in the trees. After our snack, we explored the rest of the gardens. Thankfully, it was cloudy - so quite pleasant exploring. We played at the duck pond for a long time, getting a kick out of the ducks eating out of our hands.
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| Bair Gutsman |
And last of all - this is an August event, but a cool tradition - The Bair Gutsman. We had a very good day. Chad has run this for 27 years. His dad ran it for years before his first one. There are over 34 years of memories in this picture. Chad's sister, Nicole flew in from California for this, and Chad's other sister Carrie took first place for the women. It is an Iverson tradition, and still going strong. I love you guys, thanks for a great day.
November Thank-full Hearts. 
We had our first skiing venture of the year. It was Graham's first trip. We all had fun, and thankfully - the weather was pretty warm. It is fun to be able to all ski together as a family.
Carson and Kate both did reflections this year. They used model magic and sculpted a project. The theme was about dreaming and becoming. Here is Carson holding up his model of "when pigs fly" - and they are! It was fun to see their creativity explode with the model magic. We have a lot of little sculptures they have created around the house now.
Graham and I like to spend a little time together doing fun things when the other kids are not around, especially on Fridays. We really enjoyed watching the construction workers knock down the old Mount Jordan school. It was very cool to see them knock down the large chimney. This last Friday we went to Scheels together and played around. It was fun, but the coolest thing for Graham happened after. We drove over to where the big excavators were working in the Scheels back lot. We sat and watched them work for quite a while from the car. After a while, the worker of the biggest excavator motioned for us to come over. We got out of the car and walked over. He invited Graham to come sit in the excavator with him while he did some digging. Graham was so excited! After we were done with the digging, we stopped at Draper Park. What a perfect day for Graham!
I am helping this year with the PTA for the first time ever. I had so much going on in August, that I had to wait until September to even think about helping. They promptly gave me a very large job to do. Most of the students in the school are new, so it was complicated for the PTA to fill leadership this year. I was excited to help be part of the new neighborhood school. We have never had one, and it is so exciting to know the other parents in the school with us! It gives me a ton of energy to help build it up! Anyway, here is one of the two projects I did in October - Red Ribbon Week. It is an example of the 8 projects I am over this year. I produced a movie, coordinated with a team to do a Drug Free project with the kids, sent home a talking points paper for the parents, and created this cup sign. The movies are turning out to be really fun to produce. I guess we continue learning our whole life!
Well - our soccer girls did amazing this year. Both teams were undefeated. Kate's team did have one tie. Audrey's comp soccer team is hoping to move up a couple of divisions because of their dominance. It has been a pleasure to watch these girls play, VERY FUN. They are both improving so much. Audrey is growing into her new goalie role well. The most important thing - they are both just loving to play soccer.
Carson did Lego Stop Motion Animation this fall with his friend. They had a blast. He is in his element there, for sure. We are looking forward to when he starts piano lessons next week.
On Halloween, Kate and Graham went trick-or-treating with us. We joined up with Kate's friend Emily, and had a great time. 
The elementary school is new to us - new school hours, new teachers, new rules, new carpool, new, new, new. The hardest change for the kids has been getting out of school so late. There isn't time to play with friends after homework anymore. There have been tears frequently. Our new strategy is to get most of the homework done before school. Our first couple days of that went better. Overall, we are all happy with the new school. The kids love their teachers, they have close friends in their classes and carpool, and I have loved seeing all of my neighborhood friends at the SAME school! Yeah for our new neighborhood school!
The middle school thing is just NEW! Everyday we learned something else we didn't know about middle school. We were caught off guard about fees, white gym shirts with your name on them, locker decorating, and having the "cool" backpack at school. We are still trying to figure out how you have gym shoes at school and do the running assignments for soccer at home. But, Audrey is so organized, the actual classes and keeping on top of homework and schedule she has under her capable control. We are celebrating her 12th birthday. Wow, what a wonderful young woman she is becoming.
Look at our little miracle. These baby robins were born at eye level in our maple tree. It was so fun to watch the 3 eggs hatch, see the scrawny birds that emerged, then watch them grow feathers and move on. We were all surprised to find the nest empty only a couple of weeks after they were born. We did see one of them, however, jumping around on our doorstep, wings not big enough to fly far yet. It was such a cool thing to be part of that.
Carson had his raingutter regatta in July. He was very excited to put his boat design to the test. A sudden storm BLEW in and the regatta was a little more exciting than we expected. He had a lot of fun, though.
The kids all did a week of camps in July. Carson did Super Sport camp, and it was a mix of a lot of sports, including his favorite rock wall and swimming in the pool. The best part was that his friend Miles was also in the class (which we didn't know until after we signed him up!)
Okay, for my biggest surprise - I had a great time on our family back pack camping trip. We all hiked in all of our gear, including Graham. Here he is with his sleeping bag and backpack. We had a tough hike in (it was short, but very steep). But, once we got there, it was so fun to explore and enjoy our surroundings. The tents were a hit, and the fact we were all alone at the beautiful mountain lake was a peaceful fulfilling feeling for me. The echoes were amazing! It was a really good night. 
Chad somehow survived being Mr. Mom. Grandpa caught him sleeping on the job, however. How cute is that! My two boys needing a little shuteye together :)
And yes, the last few days of the month of June, it finally felt like our summer vacation could begin. We went swimming at 7 peaks! The poor kids have been dying to go, but doing laundry and packing occupied most of the days we were home this month. It was a relief to just spend time with the kids at last. We put together a fun calendar for July and August. Now we are excited to just get at the fun of summer.