Merry Christmas!

December descends with surprises and fun

 Christmas got off to a quick start with the Ward Christmas Party!
We loved the fun time and great food. The kids were excited to see Santa, and of course, Graham had some special things he wanted delivered.

Christmas has been the month of musical performances for us. Carson had two concerts, the first was his band concert, where he played the trombone. The second concert was percussion, something new he has started this year.

The younger two had a school singing performance as well.

It was an added bonus that we were able to have my dad, Bruce, visiting with us from Texas for a couple of weeks. He joined us at the band concert, here he is sitting with Graham before it started.

My dad and I had a great tour of BYU, including the art museum's Minerva Teichert exhibit, a trip around his old stomping grounds on campus, and a quick stop into the Museum of Natural History to see President Packer's amazing carvings.

 We had a family dinner with my family this last Sunday. It was neat to get everyone together, but a highlight for all of us girls was the chance we had to hear dad sing "Oh, Holy Night", a holiday staple of the ward Christmas program in the ward we grew up in Pocatello. It brought tears to Jen's eyes, which then got us all tear-y. What a neat moment to reflect on Christmas past and share with the younger generation.

Here are Kate and I making some holiday treats. It is fun to wear these holiday aprons made for us with love by mom. We love you, Mom.

Here we are doing our usual Christmas Eve traditions:

Or usual swim at the J. L. Sorensen pool in Herriman.

Acting out the nativity.

 Writing a letter to Santa, leaving him cookies.

All the children tucked into their beds, waiting for Christmas to arrive.

Oh wait, only one child tucked into bed, the rest staying up late making last minute Christmas gifts. Oh well, I guess they are growing up!

November is Magical

Okay - after running two weeks of the Draper Region Young Women's Volleyball Tournament, and having so much fun doing it, ironically, our own ward won the championship!! They went undefeated, what a wonderful accomplishment. Audrey did great, they are a good group of girls.

The next day after the tournament concluded, Chad and I flew to Kauai, Hawaii. What a wonderful world we found there! We hiked and and explored by foot, helicopter, car and boat. We also snorkeled a ton as well. What a wonderful get-away!

This is the Hanakapi'ai Falls area, and magnificent. We swam in the water below the falls and tucked in behind the falls. What a rush. The water falling from hundreds of feet creates a huge wind and so much power below the falls. It was intense. Beautiful hike, wonderful place.

Here is the view from our helicopter. It was gorgeous to see these cliffs and valleys, so densely covered with lush green jungle. This trip put everything into perspective, and It was so great to see it all. By the way, there are waterfalls all over, you can see one in the center of this picture.

 Favorite date night of all time. We hung out at sunset next to this lighthouse (Ninini Point). The view was pretty, the sun set was amazing and the airplanes landing over head was a rush. But, my favorite part was watching the large water roll in from the ocean and smash with great power onto the rocks below our feet, creating huge water spray all around us. Incredible!

 Here we at the end of a hike to the top of the Napali coast. This is the view from the Awa-'awapuhi Trail. Below us is the ocean, and around us are the razer thin cliffs that make the Napali coast unique.

The view from the boat of the Napali coast. One of my favorite experiences on the island, though I must say just hiking around was pretty great as well!

 Love, love, love the dolphins. I also spotted a whale jump off in the distance.

 The day after gettting back from Hawaii, I got to do Biz Town with Kate. She was CEO of Computech, and she did a great job.

I helped in the Chick-Fil-A store. My kids did great, and we almost paid back our loan!!!

 And then it was Thanksgiving. Here we are gathering to start our Turkey dinner. It was Fun to all be together and the food was great.

 It was also Iverson Family Picture Day - and here are some:

Girl cousins: Ivy, Lauren, Maren, Romy, Kate McKell, Breanne and Audrey

 Boy cousins:
Brock, Bridger, Graham, Payne, Tate, Carson, Max, BJ, and Mason

 Here we are!


















 Then, about 4 pm, Audrey, Kate and Graham joined me on a trip to St. George for Audrey's soccer tournament.

The weather was incredible, we relaxed between games by hanging at a park and swimming in a swimming pool. It was a great week.

Audrey's team got 2nd place, Way to go! It was a bloody battle by the end, and they played their hearts out! We had 5 guest players, so it was  a little different team, but they came together.

 Here they are celebrating afterwards.

Finally, I got to go to Kate's NOVA graduation this week. She was quite successful with finishing her work for that, received 2 special awards and was selected to read her NOVA Constitution aloud.

WAY TO GO, KATE!

That's it for now!