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!

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!