September is Full, Amazing New Experiences!

Okay - it has been amazing to see Audrey part of the high school scene! She has had a ton of success on the Alta Cross Country team. Here she is with the Varsity girls, and she has consistently been the 2nd Alta runner in every race so far. We are so proud of her! One fun benefit of running cross country has been seeing her cousins at meets. Here she is with her cousin Mason.

We got to host a dinner for Audrey's soccer team this month. It was fun having 14 soccer girls hanging out and having fun together. They are a cute group of girls and it was nice for me to get to know all their names so I could cheer for them at the games. They were playing Alta rival, Corner Canyon, the next day, and they WON! Well done!

Carson is running cross country for Indian Hills as well. Here is his race, he is in blue in the middle of the pic. He ran hard and we are so proud of him keeping his lead on some boys and passing others. He was so strong.



We had the chance to visit the state capital building this month, trying to help Carson complete his Citizenship in the Nation. It was very cool to learn about Utah. We took a couple extra kids, and they were all engaged during our tour. We were impressed with the gold room, it was cool to see the congress chambers and Governor's office, but we loved hearing about history as well, including seeing the statue of Philo Farnsworth, inventor of television and hearing about him. The closed circuit TV showing movies filmed in Utah was a little surprising as well.

Here is Carson in the beautiful middle hall, and Kate holding a press conference.

We celebrated Audrey's 15th birthday in September. We rented bubble balls and her friends had a blast playing around with them. The next day, we were the most popular people on the block! We had tons of kids out playing in our balls. It was so fun!!! What a fun day.

Audrey, running at the Nebo Invitational, got a PR - 3 miles in 20:24!!!


Audrey got invited to play with the Soccer JV team, which is an honor. She did great! We are so proud of how hard she is working this year.

Carson received his 1st class scout this month, and 7 merit badges. He has worked so hard on scouts this summer, and it is fun to see him get recognized for all the work he has done!

Wow - and Kate and Graham have been playing a ton of soccer, both kids are growing and learning. Chad and I coach Graham, and I am team manager for Kate. So, our afternoons and evenings are INSANE! We are almost done with the crazies, though. all the seasons are wrapping up right now. Kate is done, Carson and Audrey only have one more week. It has been intense, but so rewarding.

That is it!

Whirlwind August - Back to School Relief . . .

 We had a very exciting August! Audrey tried out for high school soccer at Alta. And, we are so proud of our new high school athlete. After every tryout session, the coaches would post the number of the girls that were still in. Luckily for us, there is a freshman/sophomore team that needed to be filled as well. Here is the list after the first cut. It was so stressful! There 55 girls left after the first cut, out of 72 who showed up. Then every session afterwards, more were cut in the same way. When the dust settled, Audrey was on the freshman/sophomore team, and we are super happy for her.

Ironically, she ran all summer with the cross country team to train for soccer, and discovered that she loved that as well. Somehow, the schedules have worked out to allow her to do both teams, and she is having a great season running Varsity Cross Country at Alta as well. Here she is in her first Varsity event, finishing 19th, 2nd Alta Woman finisher, and Alta Varsity Women finished 3 place, so she made a difference. :) Now, coach told her she needs to finish closer to the 1st place Alta girl to help the team move up in standings.

 The Annual Bair Gutsman Race. Look how much of the Iverson's joined in this year! It was fun to have Audrey join us. We women stuck together, and it was great. What good memories "Conquoring Yourself".

Every August we enjoy watching the balloon festival at Storm Mountain Park. This year, the boys went with me we had our usual donuts and chocolate milk. Kate and her friends were busy doing run club on Friday mornings, so they took a detour to the park and watched the balloons as well. The funny thing was that we didn't even see them at the park, even though those are the same balloons in the background!

In August, we did several trips to seven peaks, and other such things. I finally got a little rhythm going with the kids getting out and doing stuff. Thanks, Julie for always meeting us there so that we have friends to hang with! Carson also took a couple of computer camp classes. Here are the kids plus a ton of friends at the Planetarium. We had a great time watching the dome movie, however, the exhibits are all taken down right now for renovation. The website let me down, not a mention of that fact ahead of time . . .

 I took Kate's soccer team to Boondocks for their team building event in August. Here is Kate racing against most of her soccer team. They had a blast, and I realized how old they are getting. I am glad everyone had fun, but they didn't need much help from the parents :)

One huge adventure we took in August was renting a water skiing boat at Deer Creek reservoir. We waited until after the soccer games in the morning, then drove up for an afternoon of fun. Chad did great being our captain, and we all had fun trying out the equipment.

Here is Kate riding the knee board. The day was beautiful, but a little windy, which brought some challenges, but in all, a good experience.

 And then, suddenly, it happened. The first day of school. I don't know how it happened so soon. I was not prepared to leave Graham all day! I am so grateful he is in good hands with his new teacher. It took a little trust to let it happen. But, now, I am a little more free all day long. Mostly I don't miss the little kid phase of life. I am sure when I discover more about this phase, I will love it as well.

Here is Kate and her friends on the first day. She is so pretty! She seems to be confident and enjoying her 5th grade year. My, she is growing up . . .

 Other fun things:

We rode the rollercoaster at Lehi Trafalga! I have never even seen it running, and we were lucky to be there one day when it was working! Here are Emily and Kate about to take a ride.

 Kate's team played in the Forza "Mayor's Cup" this last weekend. They played so hard and are making progress. They had their hair spray painted, hard to see in this picture, but tons of fun.

We did frisbee golf at Solitude Ski Resort. That involved a chair lift ride up to the top where the first hole was. Since we skied Solitude
so much this last winter, it was especially cool to see it in the summer. We had fun, and it was a good Labor Day.