November Blessings

We were very grateful in November for many blessings we have.  It marked a change to our usual traditions at Thanksgiving time, but maybe created a few new ones.  We are most grateful to have spent time with family and enjoying the surprisingly warm weather.

We spent Thanksgiving day in with Chad's family, and that was super.  There was a ton of good food, and I enjoyed running with the ladies, and it was a lot more simple than Thanksgivings where I have had to cook the entire meal!  It was calm . . .  Chad took the kids to play a turkey bowl and soccer along with other members of the family and kids.  I just enjoyed the peace.

After dinner and dessert, we hit the road to St. George.  It was a long haul, but we made it fine.  The kids were watching movies - so they enjoyed it.  Friday and Saturday, Audrey had a soccer tournament, and it was fun to watch her play.  She missed so many games in the Fall, it is fun to see her playing.

We also enjoyed Snow Canyon, movies, eating at restaurants, and a visit with Grandpa Iverson.  It was a wonderful trip.  We have great memories and only small pangs of sadness for the lost ones (skiing on Friday, setting up the tree after Thanksgiving, etc.)

Anyway - now we are off to Christmas - and with quite a bang!

Sunny, October Fun

Following such a rainy September, October was wonderful.  I was not as good at getting out and enjoying the fall weather with Graham during the day as in past years, but when I did, it was wonderful.  In October, we had a ton of fun.  A highlight was having Grandpa King stay with us for a few days.  We did a camping trip over UEA weekend, and the weather was warm.  Halloween was perfect!  We are so lucky to have little kids still that make that holiday so much fun.

 Here is a picture of my dad and grandpa King at the funeral for my step-grandma.  I found it very poignant to see the two men together who had so recently both had their wives pass on.  I am sure their souls were bonding.  I miss Helen, she was a wonderful woman, and it was very nice to celebrate her life at the funeral.  The good news of the sudden funeral this month was that my dad came and stayed for a few days.  We took him on the preschool field trip to the pumpkin farm.  Graham was so happy he came.  He gave him hugs all day.

 Audrey's class did a Monster Convention, and here is her presenting group.  They did a terrific job.  It was fun to see her present and interact with her peers.  What a wonderful young lady she is becoming.

Now, time for Halloween!  I got to help in Preschool class on the day before Halloween, and in Carson's class the day of Halloween.  They were both a lot of fun!  It is such a pleasure to be with these kids at their school.  Every week, I get to spend an afternoon with either Kate's or Carson's class, and I treasure that time I get to be part of their school routine.  The parties are just FUN!

Going trick or treating with the kids on a beautiful night was rewarding.  They had a great time, we wore them out, and afterwards, we chatted with our neighbors at a party.  What good memories we are building.  I dread the day that they no longer let us tag along!

Sailing Through September

 September is Audrey's birthday month, and she is now 13 years old!  I can't believe how grownup she is becoming!  She has had a tough go of it with her ankle problems, and she has had to navigate missing soccer, dealing with a new school year, and sitting out while friends are doing activities because of her ankle.  But over the last few weeks, she is finally able to participate and strengthen her ankle.  Yea!  It is really looking up for her now!

 Carson had his pinewood derby this month.  He had the coolest car!  He carved the wood to look like it was made of lego's, and he had lego guys drive the car in the race.  It was a fun car for him to build, and he worked on it for hours.  Way to go, Carson!

Kate has been playing a ton of soccer, and loving it!  Her team is a 3rd grade team, who is playing up one year.  They are playing 4th graders, and doing great!  They are 3-1 and are looking forward to the re-match against the team they lost to.  It has been fun watching her and her team play,  They have sure learned a lot!

Graham is in pre-school, and they went to the Tracy Aviary for their first field trip.  I tagged along, and had fun being with these cute kids.  He is loving learning and playing with friends.  He is my little buddy this year while the older kids are away at school.  He is a fun guy.

Taking August a little slower

The biggest event of August was Audrey rolling her foot at soccer camp, and having crutches, boot and limited activities.  We found that most places had wheelchairs, however, and that gave us more options that she could do.  Here Audrey is with her cousin Breanne at the Utah Museum of Natural History.  We had a great visit.

Shaving cream day!!!! What a fun day.  My sister Julie does this with her boys every summer, and we just happened to visit on the right day!!!  The kids had so much fun, and it was hilarious to watch.

Before

On the ground!

Captivated audience!

Another highlight of our month was getting rid of our huge Russian Olive Tree.  We do enjoy the shade it gave, but NOTHING else.  It was too close to our house, it has horrible thorns, etc.  We got a tree removal crew in, and it was a fascinating experience for a couple of boys to watch (and a mom!)



 I always love the pictures of the hot air balloon festival!  It is so pretty.  The kids are good sports to get up really early on a summer day and go watch.  It was fun to share with our cousins this year, also!

Our visit to the Thanksgiving Point flower gardens.  Audrey in a wheelchair, but it worked really well.  We had a nice morning there.

 We made it to the remodeled Bean Museum of Natural History at BYU.  The kids had fun, it was good to see the place looking so pretty and new.  There is something about getting to see the animals so close up that is really cool.

Audrey has sat out for a lot of soccer in August.  She missed soccer camp, soccer training, the Adidas Cup, and her first games of her season.  Her team did very well, just missing being the champion of the tournament by losing in penalty kicks after a tie game and overtime.  Here is her team photo.

Graham started T-ball, and it is adorable!!!! He is cute at hitting, base running and fielding.  This league is definitely low key and perfect to "play" in.  So far, all smiles.  He loves his baseball cap the best!

One last thing:  Graham and I rode the train to downtown and played at the children's museum while the older kids were in school.  Graham brought friend Camden, and they had a blast playing together.  It was really fun to sneak away for a trip together.

August was great - we still had some amazing trips and experiences.  School is off with a bang.  I am sad to see summer go . . .

Bair Gutsman and Odgen Temple

The Bair Gutsman was Saturday, and Audrey and cousin BJ both ran the epic race.  Since it is a very tough 4000 foot climb and over 10 mile distance, we expected it to take 4 - 5 hours.  However, these tough kids finished it in about 3:22.  Way to go!  It was so fun to see them accomplish hard things.

We also toured the Ogden Temple together on Saturday afternoon.  That was really special.  Temples and families are such neat blessings in our life.

July is a ton of fun

 This month we did swimming lesson at dimple dell (it was quite a change for us from the outdoor pool that we are used to, but they all learned a lot.)  Audrey, Carson and Kate were all in the same class.  Graham couldn't get into a class, so we will probably do him in the fall.  While the others did their lessons, Graham did splash play on the toys the first week and bouldering on their rock wall the second week.  We had fun together.
July was also our big Lagoon trips.  We have gotten in the tradition of going two weeks in a row - because we always want to do their bounce back.  The first week we hit it so hard - and had a great time.  The second week we moved a little slower . . .  We watched their show, Graham explored Pioneer Village, and a few train rides.  It was a fun couple of weeks.

We discovered the Museum of Natural Curiosity this month. The lines and need for close-toed shoes turned us away the first try at it - but we hit is hard the next week, and had a blast.  The kids loved the high tech exhibits, and it was fun to let them try a high ropes course.

July is Chad's birthday month - so Happy Birthday to you Chad!

On the day of his birthday we did a tram ride to the top of Jackson Hole ski resort, and then walked all 7 miles down.  It was memorable because of the extreme storms and hail.  We had to pull together to survive.  My favorite quote of the day from Chad "I want someone else to plan my birthday next year!"

We spent a week camping in Yellowstone.  It was quite a fun experience.  We did so many things we hadn't done before.  One of the coolest parts was that we were joined by cousins and grandparents as well.  It is pretty funny that both brothers planned very similar trips for their families in the same month, almost to the day.  Only slight adjustments and we were all together!


 We stopped at Bear World on the way home.  It was really amazing to see these bears close up.   We drove through 3 times - and thought the baby bears were the cutest.  It was a good day.

June adventures

 Our adventures continue from our home base in Draper.  Audrey had a wild girls' camp the week after we got home from Costa Rica.  It snowed 8 inches on their tent, and they had to leave for home.  The leaders improvised, and I think everyone still had fun, though they never returned to their camp site.  Meanwhile, we played at the Children's Museum with the little kids.  Bob the Builder is one of Graham's favorite - and it was fun to check out their Bob exhibit.

 In the midst of it all, Graham learned to ride a bike, and he is very good at it.  Here he is, riding very easily.

We had a girls' night at Grandma's house.  That was really fun.  The girls loved craft projects, hanging out, and eating at a restaurant.

The next day, we all had a family get together, and played sports, laughed a ton, and had dinner.  It was a tremendous time for us all to catch up with each other.

June is Wasatch Back, and this year, we did it Ultra Style.  Half as many people, same distance to go.  I can't believe the six of us did all of the nearly 200 miles of back-country mountain climbs and passes.  What an accomplishment.  It was so fun.

We got our re-visit of the aquarium in.  It was fun to see all the animals in their exhibits, and share it with Kate for the first time.  We also did the 4-D theatre, which was really cool.

We have done 7 peaks twice now, and we are going strong to hit it a few times more.  Here is Audrey with her friend Morgan at 7 peaks.

We went to the former Incredible Pizza turned into All Star bowling - and had a fabulous time.  However, it is not so much a pizza place anymore.  We ended up getting lunch at a pizza restaurant, and then buying passes for here.  The kids had a ton of fun, and we had to hurry home to beat dad there at 6:30 pm!

Fourth of July festivities:  We ran the Sandy Classic 5K - ALL of us!  Even Graham ran it.  They all did really well.  Carson and Kate have been training, and Audrey's soccer keeps her in shape.  Graham just worked his heart out, and he did so well to finish.  We are so proud of these little guys!  Graham got 2nd in his age group, and "won" his race. He was very proud of that.  Audrey got 4th, so just missed a medal.

Then we partied at a carnival in Riverton.  It was fun to ride the rides and watch the kids have fun, but it was VERY hot.  We brought spray bottles to spray ourselves with, but in the end, we all decided to leave and go to the reservoir.

Here we are playing at Herriman Reservoir.  This is such a fun activity for the kids.  We could really spend more time here!  We had to leave for dinner, but we could have stayed longer.

 And finally, the most exciting thing this whole year - Kate was baptized!  July 5th, surrounded by family and friends, our sweet angel was baptized.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  I know the Holy Ghost testified to us about the sacred and important nature of baptism that day.  What a wonderful memory.  Thank you everyone that shared it with us.

Costa Rica will never be the same!

 Our amazing trip to Costa Rica!  Here are the cloud forests we drove through on narrow, wind-y roads.

Audrey becomes fast buddies with fellow team mate, Morgan.

 Body boarding on the beach at Jaco.  Teaching the girls, then not seeing the boards again until we left.

 Hiking rain forests most days of the week we were there.

Visiting downtown San Jose, Costa Rica.  What an experience.  Very fun to see the fusion of latin with modern, with colonial, with american culture.  What a unique place.

Helping out in an orphanage for 2 days, seeing the girls play together, love being together, then crying when it is time to say goodbye.  What a neat experience.

Playing soccer in the Heredia stadium.  One of the best teams in central america, and we were there, in their stadium for 4 days, being trained by expert coaches.  And the tournament was really neat.  It made every one long for an annual cultural exchange.

Catching soccer fever with the rest of  Costa Rica.  Audrey and Chad wearing the Heredia uniform.  World Cup began, and seeing the country celebrate after their first surprise win.  Very fun to experience.


 Ziplining near Arenal Volcano.  Here is Audrey, brave enough to volunteer to go first!

Canyoneering in Lost Canyon with Desafio adventures.  definitely a high-light of our adventure!

And finally, white water rafting with Desafio - on the Sarapaqui River.  Great times, fun to share with each other.  I am sure the start of more adventures like it.