Christmas and traditions

   This Christmas has been really fun. I felt like there was plenty of time and it was a joy to make and buy Christmas gifts. I don't know if I have ever felt that much peace. I think having all four kids in school for part of the day really helped.
  One of my favorite parts this year has been seeing how loving and kind the kids have been with each other. They all made thoughtful gifts for each other. Audrey and Kate did a daily gift exchange. And the gifts they all four purchased for each other were some of the biggest hits. Their kind, sweet, giving spirit made it a special time.
   Following EVERY Christmas tradition is another important aspect of our Christmas. Over the years, we have accumulated quite a few, especially on Christmas Eve. Almost our whole day is planned out :). It makes it tons of fun to remember past years, and it involves the kids all making sure we don't forget anything!
   Christmas Day was an amazing freshly snowed white Christmas. There were quite a few fun surprises, and lots of sweet moments. Later, grandma and grandpa stopped by, and we shared dinner with them. Later, we played new toys together.
We have enjoyed some time with the whole Iverson clan the last couple of days. Hanging out, breakfast, basketball, soccer, date night and sledding. It has been wonderful to be together.
  Looking forward to a wonderful new year! 2016 will bring some wonderful new opportunities.

Warm and Cozy Thanksgiving

 It was a beautiful Thanksgiving day!  Thanks so much to Julie and Jen's families for joining us!  I had a ton of fun with you guys, the food was amazing, and I have good memories.  Thanks so much!

Audrey and I teamed up in November to redecorate her room.  It has been a long time coming, because we realized how many things were going to have to be changed.  I needed a little more energy.  All of Audrey's furniture and accents were black, and she wanted to change to white.  Painting the walls grey was pretty straight forward, it was how to convert all the black to grey that had me worried.  A little elbow grease and creativity, we got the job done.  I think she really enjoys it!

Before, circa January 2012

After - November 2015 - all art work are originals by Audrey!

Grey walls, Navy Blue with a touch of accent Coral

Cozy and nice for a 14 year old girl growing up quickly!

Halloween has invaded!!

Here are some funny sights to be seen around the Iverson's house.  Parties, Parties Parties!  And so much fun.  Here are the kids at Grandmas pumpkin party, a huge hit with the younger set!

Below are the creatures we saw leaving for school Friday, October 30th.  Who are they and where did they put our children????  What a fun season!

A little September magic

 This month has been a blast.  With school back in session, routines are returning, and every one is adjusting well.  Graham had a playgroup at his house with all of his neighborhood friends.  There are 8 boys, so I will only need to host one week every other month. But the catch is that it is a LOT of boys when it is your turn!  We did a little crafting for our turn.  It kept them busier than I thought it would.  They are all good boys.

September is Audrey's birthday. She celebrated with a chocolate cheesecake with her family, and a night of bubble balls with her friends.  It was a lot of fun to celebrate with her.  She is 14, and a very smart young lady.  We are blessed to have her.
  
 Kate's competition soccer team started in the highest division this year.  Since they were a new team, that meant being demolished in their first games, and it has been hard to see them be outplayed in every way.  Her coach has been great, giving them achievable goals, and we have seen the team growing and learning every game.  As a confidence booster, they did a tournament over Labor day weekend, playing lower division teams.  And, they came through well, getting their first wins and going on to win the tournament!  They tied the 2nd place team in regular tournament play and in the championship, beat the same team by about 4 - 0.  They did so well.  We are so proud of them.

Audrey and Kate, Chad and I all went to a BYU soccer game with Audrey's soccer team.  Then following that, we went to the BYU Football game versus Boise State.  What a fun night!  Here is Audrey's team down by the field at the soccer game.

We have watched and cheered hard for three kids at their own soccer games, and we have cheered for Carson at his cross country meets this September.  What a fun month.  We are in the groove and loving school and fall sports.

August Play and Anticipation

We started August off with the craziest schedule!  The first week of August, there were lots of camps to deliver all the kids to! Audrey left first to go to Trek.  She left early in the morning on Wednesday - and had an amazing experience!  No pics, though!

Wednesday, the rest of us went to the Discovery Gateway for some fun.  Carson brought a friend with him.  It was a great day for all.

Thursday, boy scout camp began.  Carson played and learned all day Thursday, and on Friday he spent the night into Saturday.

Friday, Kate went on a soccer retreat with her brand new competition soccer team.  Here she is loading up on the bus.  That left only Graham and I.  (Chad joined Carson at camp after work on Friday).  Graham and I went to a restaurant for dinner and then spent the night in Fruit Heights.

Saturday, let the fun continue.  Chad and I ran the Bair Gutsman, Graham went with grandma and grandpa to McKell's baptism, and later, several of us went to Taylor's baptism.  Then we slowly collected kids returning from their outings.  What a fun day and week.

The next Saturday, I did a Triathlon, the girls both had soccer scrimmages, and then we partied all day at Lagoon. We had fun with Graham suddenly being tall enough to do most of the rides with us!  Here we are all on the spider together.  We also rode the cannibal twice.  What a fun day, but we are amusement park-ed out.  Good thing for a break.

Kate had her comp soccer debut this month.  Both girls played in the Adidas cup.  They played hard and it was fun to watch all 7 games in 4 days.  Audrey's team rallied from a first day loss to come in first place in their division heading into the semifinals.  They lost that game, and that was really sad, they were winning 1-0 at half.  Kate's team is brand new, and they lost all three.  However, the girls learned so much in the few games.  We felt like they will continue to grow this year.  Kate was smiling after the games.

Finally - the biggest changes of all.  School started!  Audrey is a big 8th Grader, Carson started middle school as a 6th grader, and that included an early morning math class for him!  He is doing fine, despite his parents worried for him.  Kate, she is in 4th grade, and loves her new teacher!  We love Mrs. Stockman, and feel very grateful that she loves our sweet girl back.  And then there is Graham.  His first day of Kindergarten.  He was SOOOO nervous for school.  Last week helped.  He met the teacher and principal at the back to school night, and at his kindergarten orientation.  We talked about how she is so nice and will just be another grandma for him.  He was quite calm the first day of school.  He got a little nervous when he saw the red carpet and teachers high 5 -ing, but I told him to be strong, and he was, the strongest high 5's ever!  He is happy and smiling after school, and things are going very smooth.  I wasn't too sad.  It was pretty cool to see him growing up.  But for some reason yesterday, his third day of school, I started crying after I dropped him off and realized I was all alone and without my little buddy in the car.  I guess we are/were both nervous.

Well, carpools seem to be my game now.  I have 4 carpools for school - kindergarten, elementary, the early middle school carpool for the gifted Carson, and the regular middle school carpool.  Yes, I did choose this, I keep reminding myself.

Then there are the soccer carpools, and they are complicated also.  I feel like small things overwhelm me right now.  I am sure that it will get better!

I am grateful our kids love school and seem to learn easily.  Their enthusiasm means it will be a great year of school!  Everything will work out. . .

Let the Good Summer-times Roll'

July has been so fun!

The Iverson family vacation was the second week in July.  However, we traveled to California a little early so we could celebrate the holiday weekend in California.  Our first stop as we rolled into California was Disneyland - California Adventures.  We played hard all day there, Then up early the next morning to run a 5K in Huntington Beach with Nicole's Family, McKell and Grandma.  We enjoyed the rest of the day hanging out with Nicole's family and watching firework together that night.

On Sunday, we went to church, then visited the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center in San Diego. It was so fun to share that with the kids.

Monday we joined more family - enjoying body boarding at Newport Beach, then a relaxing family wide water fight in the swimming pool, then dinner and a grand Family Home Evening with the whole Iverson clan.
Tuesday we returned to Newport Beach, and more fun in the waves.

Tuesday night, we all went to the Dodgers game. That was very fun, and so interesting. Graham was ready to catch a fly ball, too bad none came our way.

Wednesday was Knotts Berry Farm. The kids roller coaster-ed all day and stayed until late. Graham and I left at dinner time.  The awesome swimming pool at the rental house sounded good to him.
Thursday we drove all day back home, with lots of good memories.
Saturday, Carson had his last track meet. He had a good experience with that.
Also in July, we went to Snowbird ski resort and did all of their summer activities. We have always wanted to do it, but this was our first time doing it all. It was a fun afternoon.  Here we are at the top of the Tram ride, looking down on the opposite side of the mountain.  We ended up camping down in that valley the next week . . .

For the 24th of July, we all ran the Brandon Evans Memorial 5k. Everyone got PR's and top finisher medals. How fun.








Later we went backpack camping to Pittsburgh Lake. It was a really hard hike, but so pretty at the lake. We had it to ourselves for most of the time. Graham fished, I read, kids explored, we made s'mores. It was a good trip.



Right now, Audrey is on Trek, Carson is about to leave for scout camp, and Kate is going on a soccer retreat. Chad and I and Graham will be left behind, though Chad is going for a night to scout camp.
We are all a little sad to see July ending, but it is so filled with memories.

June Brings Summer Heat and Fun

As June begins, we are madly finishing the last of the school year.  There are presentations, awards and water days to go to.  Here Carson is with all the awards he earned on his last day of elementary school.  I got a little tear-y eyed as they all sang their class song together while watching a slide show of their past year.  What a cool thing to have a chance to say good bye to elementary together.  Carson, the little brain he is, won so many awards.  We are proud of this guy!

We have found a new sport, approved by the whole family - Foot Golf!  The game is played with a soccer ball a piece, and long kicking drives to holes on every green just for soccer balls.  It was a blast to play, and the golf carts were a hit!

Our cute Graham boy is playing T-ball this summer.  He loves it, and they are learning.

Carson is doing track.  Learning about how track meets work is an adventure for us, and it is a pleasure to watch Carson do his best in several different track events.

June is Kate's birthday.  We celebrated with 10 friends at the Draper Outdoor Swimming Pool.  It was a ton of fun, one of my favorite birthday parties.  The girls were so fun and the night was perfect.

Another year, and another Ragnar race.  Here is our Wasatch Back team this year.  We were tough competitors once again, finishing 130th out of 860 teams.  Quite a nice showing, and we were Van 1, which actually allowed me a ton of sleep, and I felt great after the race!

We have done a couple of hikes with my sisters.  Here are Carson and Caleb at Stewart Falls.  We have enjoyed spending time with them, and the hikes have been great.  Thanks so much, Julie, for organizing them!

Audrey's Chaos team got second place in a tourney this June.  She has been very busy with girl's camp, Alta Soccer Camp and Oakcrest, so we haven't seen her much.  But as soon as the Oakcrest bus rolled in, we shipped her off to Ogden to play in the 100 degree weather on a Friday late afternoon.  Surprisingly, she had a terrific game, and it was fun to see her and her team in action.  Good work, Audrey!

May winds down with lots of memories

 Beautiful Kate had her dance recital.  What a pleasure to share dance with Kate.  This is her only recital in the whole year of taking dance, and it is wonderful to see how much she has grown in a year.  What a beautiful girl!  So glad to be part of her accomplishments.

The kids and I went to the Payson temple open house.  It was so wonderful.  We missed the Brigham City open house, and I vowed to not miss another chance to take our kids to the temple.  What a beautiful place, what a sweet spirit, It is so nice to share it with the kids.  We are so blessed with these wonderful houses of the Lord!

Carson is starting track!  His first day of track, there was a lightning storm and they had to run in the halls of Alta High School!  If only my middle school principal could have seen this!  Anyway, we are hopeful that he will love running as much as his parents . . .

Graham graduated from preschool!   What a little smart guy!  He worked really hard this year, going from learning letters and sounds to reading quite solidly on a kindergarten level.  He is so smart, and is my little buddy at home.  I am already worried about missing him around the house when he switches to kindergarten every day.


 Slot canyons is about all you need to know about our Memorial Day expedition into Goblin Valley State Park area.  We loved it, and they were entertaining for all the kids.  The hikes stretched a little long - 8 - 10 miles, but we all survived and have fun memories.

The last couple weeks of May began the drama of competitive soccer tryouts.  When the dust settled, both Audrey and Kate found themselves in the Chaos Soccer Club.  We are so proud of them, we are looking forward to a fun year and watching them learn and grow in soccer.  Congrats, girls!