April, celebrating spring

Can you believe how pretty this spring has been?  I have really enjoyed the nice weather and beautiful flowers.  I took this picture of my front yard flowers because it made me happy one morning when I was saw it.  (Of course, it was the day before the big snow storm that dumped 4 very wet inches on us).  Spring is a great time of year.

 A highlight of my April was doing the Southern California Ragnar Relay!  It was so awesome to get away and do something for myself, and hang out with awesome sisters-in-law!  What a blast!  We ran so hard, slept very little, and talked and talked and talked.  How cool.  Our team did well, I think finishing at about 27th of the over 500 teams in our division.  Who couldn't love running along beaches, perfect weather, lots of smiles :)

 Here are Audrey and Kate in their Easter dresses I sewed for them.  This is a fun tradition which always makes me wonder how I will fit it in, but I just love creating them.  I actually got them done weeks in advance, so the stress was minimal as well.  Audrey told me that she will actually wear the blouse to school, a large compliment from her!

 Carson had his 11th birthday this April.  It is so fun to see him growing up and becoming a young man.  I am so proud of him, and appreciate his strengths. He will do amazing things, and I love him so much.  His party took a space mission at Discovery Space Center.  It was very fun to experience, and I am sure that we will be back . . .

Here is my cute Graham on his preschool class field trip.  I love going on these, they are a highlight of my year with Graham.  I am just realizing, however, this is my last trip with my adorable preschooler.  He is graduating to Kindergarten in 3 weeks, and he is ready!  His mom is not, :(.

It has been a great month, I couldn't ask for more.

February Travels and Fun

I guess I forgot to post our February adventures.  These two pics sum up most of it!  We had a fabulous 9 day stay in California, including 4 days in Disneyland, 2 beach days, and a day at Six Flags.  What memories and fun!

Then 4 days later, we were off to St. George for a soccer tournament and more family fun and adventure.  We are so lucky to have such a beautiful and fun world to live in.  I have tremendous memories of our time together in February.

March - enjoying being back home

 For me, March has been about catching up!  We had so much fun in February, but there has been so much to do getting back.  But, several things have been a highlight.  Here are some of my favorites:

Carson finished his Webelos, got the arrow of light, and crossed over to boy scouts.  What an amazing opportunity for him.  He has worked so hard.

Audrey has been playing Futsol, and has really improved her ball handling skills.  It has been so fun to be part of that with her.  We are now looking forward to their regular spring season.

On another beautiful spring evening, we had hamburgers outside, and following, had a campfire and roasted marshmallows.  It was a fun magical night.  Perfect weather and opportunity to hang out.  Summer seems just around the corner.

Carson, spelling bee school winner, took on Salt Lake County spellers in the regional spelling bee.  Here he is after tying for 23 place out of around 100 spellers.

He did REALLY well, and we are so proud of him!

Well, back to the usual things - including starting rec soccer for Kate and Graham.  Our Saturdays are going to be soccer focused for the next 2 months.  Good thing we enjoy watching games!

Finishing our 2014 with good memories

 You got to love Christmas mornings!  It is so fun to make dreams come true.  We had a really sweet Christmas this year.  There was a lot of thoughtful giving from the kids to us and their siblings.  What a memorable morning and season.

A pretty great part of our Christmas was being with Grandpa and Grandma King.  They came and stayed a week with us after Christmas.  We had so much fun!  We had a fun New Year's Eve party to celebrate, the New Year, and we had all the Utah siblings and cousins over.  It is so nice to have family close by!  I love you guys.

 Well, the rest of our time can be described as ski bums!  I have gone skiing 4 times and the fifth is this week!  That has been so much fun!  Not everyone has gone all the times (only me), but the greatest news is that Graham is learning to ski.  It has been fun to see him really GET it.  The other really good news is that everyone is loving it and can't get enough.  It is nice to be unified in this sport - it seems to have something for everyone.

We are really looking forward to February next.  We have a few adventures on their way!

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.