March Madness

Well, March was a ton of basketball, a little soccer, and lots of fun. We were loving watching the BYU Cougars battling in the NCAA tournament. I also had a church team I was playing on in our own regional tournament, and the kids all started soccer this month.

There were a few days, in between the snow storms that we finally raked all of our leaves. Carson worked really heard to make this HUGE leaf pile so he could jump in it. It is also finally warm enough to be back on the trampoline. Audrey is out there almost daily - even when it is cold!

Here is my Regions 2nd place team - we lost the championship in overtime! We had a fun season, and I have really grown to love these ladies!

Now, cute Kate. She has been so excited to start soccer. She has wanted to wear her cleats everyday for a week prior to her first game. She finally had a chance to play in her first game. She looks so cute in the Sandy City soccer uniform. I can't believe my little Kate is playing soccer.

Now for the cutest little bug, Graham. He is crazy - into everything. He climbs up and down the stairs all day long, and he has learned how to walk with his "walker" toy. He is getting more and more interested in trying to walk without holding on. It is fun to see him learn and grow.

Look Who's A One Year Old!

Happy Birthday to our cute baby!

Graham is One! We all LOVE our little Graham. The older kids found it hard to wait until his birthday! They were looking forward to him opening his birthday presents and watching him eat his cake. Audrey even planned party games for him to play. Good times!

He now cruises around and is totally crazy. He leaves a path of destruction behind by emptying all the drawers and cupboards he can, as quickly as he can. Torture for him is being held still. He is such a little sweetheart though. Love you, Graham!

In February we discovered two new places: Airborne Trampoline Area (awesome!), and the Topaz Mountain area. Airborne is only a few miles away - and the kids wore themselves out there. We had a blast.

Brad's family took us to Topaz Mountain - and we enjoyed looking for the topaz, obsidian, and exploring an abandoned mine. It was nice to be outside and let the kids run and look for rocks. THEY LOVED IT! Anyway, two new spots on our fun list.

Otherwise, we have been skiing, watched a lot of basketball - and ridden the emotional roller coaster that is BYU basketball. Chad and I are both playing church ball - so that has been fun. Also, the most recent snowy Saturday - we took the kids to the church gym and had a family sports day. VERY FUN. Winter sports are fun, but we are all getting anxious for spring.

January Flies By - Welcome 2011

Well - January has been great and thankfully quick. We have done more around home than usual - and it has been good to be low key. We have gone skiing a couple of times, and Cute Graham got the croup (he sounded so bad, poor little guy!). But, all in all, it has just been a uneventful, easy January. Chad and I are both playing basketball for the ward. The kids seem to have days off from school constantly! And, the weather glimmers warm enough now and then that Kate takes a little bike ride (she LOVES riding her bike). Everyone is good. Our biggest news is that Graham is now 11 months old! I can't believe he is almost a year old. He won't crawl, but gets around without it. Mostly in a modified sitting position. It is pretty funny to watch. What a cutie. Our family will start getting a little more exciting as the weather warms, I am sure. Right now we are just in "training". Happy 2011!

December is a blast!

Well, we are winding up the Holiday season, and we have been having a ton of fun! Carson's teacher gave her class a "recipe" book with lots of fun things to try. The biggest hit at our house was snow paint - food color and water in a spray bottle. We had a couple of days of fun with that - and it seemed all ages liked it. Here are Carson and his friends in their snow spiral - enhanced with snow paint. What a fun idea!


It was our cute Graham's first Christmas. Since he was almost 10 months old on Christmas day, we were mostly expecting him to enjoy ripping the paper off of the presents. The other kids were so excited for him to open his presents from them. It was hard to give him enough space to do the work without all of his sibling helpers getting in the way. It was cute to watch him, but he tired out early and had to have a nap. The rest of us enjoyed the feeling of giving for a long time on Christmas morning.

Well, the fun didn't stop with Christmas day - Brett and Marianne's family introduced us to Trafalga Lehi - and we loved the enormous laser tag arena and the fun climbing wall. What a fun day!

We also finally made it to Incredible Pizza - even though it is only a short distance from our house. The kids had a blast!!!! What a fun place. We rode everything until the parents were too tired. Well, it has been a fun holiday season!

Dreamy Fall Days

Fall is so much fun. Here are the kids Halloween Party pics. Kate loved being a princess and sang fun songs for the moms at her party. Audrey and her teacher had were doing an impromptu ho-down together during her party. And Carson was a spooky vampire this year.

Shortly after these pictures were taken, we hopped on a plane and flew to Texas to spend the weekend. We haven't been back to visit my family there for about 3 1/2 years, so it was quite an adventure for all of us!

We spent some time with my sister's family at Sea World San Antonio. It was a beautiful fall day - and hardly any other visitors, so it was perfect. We got everyone that could on the Steel Eel - one of the best regular rollercoasters I've been on. Here are Josh and Julie up front, Chad in the back, and shorter kids on the other seats. We rode the rides and saw shows until the park closed late that night. The main feature for Audrey was being able to feed the dolphins. What a dream come true and they were eating out of her hands.

Another highlight of Texas was the beach. We played there for a few hours on Saturday and then again on Monday. What fun to be enjoying the beach when the Utah world was receiving cold wind and rain. The rest of our time there was spent with family and yummy meals and we are so grateful the Weatherstons for hosting us!

Here are Audrey and Carson at a BYU game. They had fun getting their face painted and getting handouts at the pre-game tailgate party. What a fun day. In November, my ward volleyball team had fun competing in the regional tournament. We made it to the second phase before losing in a single elimination tourney. Fun.
My mom came to visit for a week at the end of the month - and it was wonderful. She taught Audrey how to sew on my machine and Audrey made a quilt. What a neat project for them to do together. The other kids loved having Nanna around as well.

Thanksgiving. Yum, yum! We filled the gym with Iversons - and enjoyed a yummy meal. Then afterwards, we played a little basketball. We had a blast trying to remember how to shoot. It was fun to work off a little of the calories of the day. The next day - Black Friday - my first experience. I have always stayed away - but I gave it a try. It was definitely an education. Looking back, it makes me laugh, but getting 2 hours of sleep, standing in line by myself for 1 1/2 hours and not getting my top item stand out as deterrents from going next year.

So, who is the cutest baby in the universe? Our entire house is sure that it is Graham. He is so adorable. He got sick a couple of times this month, and seems to be teething yet again. (he already has seven!) But despite all that, he still wants to smile and play. He has just turned 9 months old and is Mr. Personality. Anyway - we love that cute little guy!

Beautiful Fall Fun

This has been a gorgeous October - and we have LOVED it. Fall brings football, and this has been our first experience watching our boy Carson play a little flag football under the lights. Here we are during his last game of the season. Go Cowboys! It has been nice to enjoy a slower pace in the day time, and be out and doing something every night with the oldest two kid's sports.

We had a fun weekend with Nicole and her girls in town from California! We celebrated the UEA break at Grandma's house with her and many of the cousins and sisters/sisters-in-law. It was really fun to see Lauren again. She and Graham are only a couple months apart. While we were together, we played at a park and enjoyed the Davis High School Soccer Playoffs. Here are Kate and Romy at the park.

We went on a perfect fall hike up to Red Pine Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was fun to be out in the gorgeous fall weather and be in the middle of the beautiful fall colors. I feel so enriched when I look back on these pictures.

Okay - a little fun. We took a couple friends and headed out to a pumpkin patch last week. What fun to do the corn maze, "ride" the tractors and pick the perfect pumpkin. Here are Audrey and her friend Rylee. Fall is great!

The First Grade Heaven for Moms

Whew! School is back in session and we are all having a breather. With a new first grader, I now have two kids in school full time. Not only are we getting more individual space during school time, we moved into our newly completed basement this month as well! Audrey and Carson are both downstairs, our whole house is reorganized and the garage is finally cleaned out so Chad's car can go back in. We also re-painted the master bedroom, master bath and new "spare" room. It is like we have a whole new house. And, Kate isn't sleep deprived anymore from trying to keep up with Audrey's schedule. We are all a little more calm now. We don't have the cool flat screen TV and cozy couch set - but look at all the space in our new family room!

I have been "patiently" waiting to redo the kitchen - and I am so excited to finally have it done! With a little bit of money, tools borrowed from friends, tons of painting and lots of questions at Home Depot - we have a great before and after story for our kitchen. I am so pleased with how it turned out.

Okay - here is what the kids were up to:

Audrey's been playing soccer.

Carson is learning flag football.

Kate has started ballet (and learned to ride a bike without training wheels!)

It has been quite an athletic month.

Graham turned 7 months old at the end of September, and he has really taken to eating solids. He wants what we are having, and so I have started giving him waffles for breakfast every morning. He is a cute kid - lots of teeth and more on the way. He still loves attention and is starting to sit up for longer amounts of times.

Chad is training for a marathon - it is this weekend - so more details later.