THE IVERSON FAMILY: Our Year

This year has been so good to us. I thought I would write a little about what the year brought for each of us to go along with the last of our family pictures.

We have now been an Arizona resident for one whole year now. We absolutely love it and I want to make this HOME after our JAG time (whenever that may be). Sure the summer is insanely hot, but I will take it as one of the only cons about this place. There are so many things I love about living here. :) Great first Air Force assignment.

I'll start with Wade:

This year Wade became a practicing Attorney. He wears a military uniform 5 out of 7 days. He has prosecuted 6 trials so far. Not many lawyers do that many in 5 years. He is totally loving that part of his job. He has been home most nights before 6pm. DEFINITE perk of this job. He has had amazing success in the court room and outstanding feedback from others :) He got to take a ride in an F-16 simulator and said it was AWESOME! He got to dog fight and everything. He is loving his job and definitely stays crazy busy!

One of Wade's other hats in ward mission leader. He stays very busy with his calling. I think he wishes he had more time to get out with the missionaries, but he does his best. He has golfed a few times!He got a whole new set of custom clubs that make his performance much better, now that they actually are long enough. He has also stayed in pretty good shape because he has PT every single week and PT tests twice a year.

His BFF came to town for a few days and that made Wade happy. They went to a Pearl Jam concert together (I didn't even know they were still around ;) A few other things to note about Wade's year: He successfully planted and grew a whole back yard of grass for us to enjoy, he ironed and glittered every dollar the tooth fairy brought, and got to take his boy to many baseball games. It's been a good year for my 31 year old lover.

Ryan has had a great year! What a absolute joy that kid is. He crawled too early, wakes up a tad too early, and is always always smiling. He learned how to throw some good fits this last week. He also learned to crawl up the stairs, so now we all have to use a lovely, pain in the butt gate. He is into everything he shouldn't be and smiles the whole time.

As you can see through this darling picture, we totally adore Ryan and he is the center of our family right now. I think he may be gearing up for some tough times ahead but regardless, he has been a breeze of a kid this year.

Brooklyn! Big year for her. She started first grade and is killing it in class. Her reading has gone through the roof. She is reading chapter books and moved up to the accelerated first grade class for some subjects. She has a rougher time in math. I soooo hope she doesn't get my crappy math gene. She has made some great, sweet friends and I am so happy for her. She chooses good friends. 2013 brought another year of being CRAZY boy crazy for this sweet, reserved girl.

She now uses words like: crushin', bff, give me a break, besties, and "I mean like...."

She has seriously, seriously grown up so much in the last six months. She has always been mature beyond her years but she is now such a big girl and doing and saying things that blow me away. She has become a dear friend of mine. Our conversations are so mature and the way she thinks is wonderful.

She has had two great soccer seasons, learned tap and jazz, done a round of swim lessons and is now wanting to cheer lead (we will see, not a huge fan of that idea). A giant part of her life is being a big sister. She wins best big sister award. She is incredibly helpful, skilled in almost everything like changing diapers, making bottles, helping in the bath, ect. I wish every family could have a Brooklyn. She is such a huge help and just the sweetest girl ever.

Lastly, she has learned to be so self sufficient. She can make break fast, take her own shower, pack her lunch, and she is usually up, dressed and has her hair done before I even wake up in the morning. What a dream kid!

Oh and on Saturdays she lets Wade and I sleep in a little(usually I am half sleeping so I can hear them). We usually wake up to the three of them in the family room under blankets watching cartoons. She even gets Ryan out of the crib and occupies him.

Onto one of my favorite humans ever. But really I have three favs. :)

Weston has had a good year. He has grown up a lot too. He started pre-school and is such a great student. I am excited to see what kind of student he will be-where he will excel and struggle. He is very well behaved in school and learns really fast. He learned how to write his name-which is darling. You should see how he writes an S. He loves when he has homework. His teacher tells me kids fight over who gets to sit by him or be his partner. One little girl has a little crush on him and brought him a cutie (the little orange). He took a lolly pop for her the next class.

Cute picture of Ryan huh? But more about Weston.

He started his first season of soccer and annihilated any competition. He scored at least 4 goals every game. He totally gets the game. He deserves it though because he practices nearly every day. Weston does play with toys sometimes but mostly you will find Weston with a ball of some sort and is ALWAYS running. He is a great athlete in the making.

He entered Primary this year and loves it. He finally was able to be in the primary program and did great!

He has had some rough patches that included: melt downs, time outs, whining, toys taken away, ect. He is currently in a melt down phase :(

Hands down he is my best helper. That kid jumps at the chance to help me. He is such a fantastic kid. I enjoy my days spending it with him. I tear up just thinking about him going to Kindergarten next year. I will be devastated.

Now to the mama of this family. This has by far been my busiest, craziest year of my life. I am happy to say I survived it. It's also been a very emotional year with my sweet Grandmama's ALS diagnosis, and Macy leaving on her mission. It's also been hard starting a new life here. I hate starting over. I have missed my Lubbock life this year as I haven't found any close, close friends like I was blessed with in Lubbock.

Enough about the hard times this year, this year has also been very very good to me. I had a great pregnancy and a great labor. Ryan came to our family and my heart totally exploded with love all over again.

After Ryan's birth and being a mom to three, I had a few months of craziness. It took me awhile to get a handle on life and figure out how to manage life with three kids.

A few DAYS before giving birth, I was called into the RS presidency. I have been busy with that this whole year. It feels so good to serve the Lord in this capacity and I am learning and growing, and that feels good. This calling keeps me insanely busy however. It's been great though.

I spent my birthday on the beaches of Coronado Island and at Sea World. We have had a few fun trips this year. Wade and I both love traveling!

Oh and I have completely re-decorated my house- that's been such a fun hobby.

I usually spend my days serving my kids and husband and that's the way I like my life. It's such an honor being a mom. I hope I am doing a good enough job. I think I am though. It's the toughest job in the world but Wade and I are such a great team and I think we are raising three great kids.