Good Times!!

So, I just wrote a huge entry and completely lost it when the internet just shut down. Aghh!! Maybe one day I will get the hang of this computer stuff! So, for anyone that still cares, here is a quick run-down of our summer:
At the beginning of June, we went with the "BEAR" fam up to Bear River Lodge and stayed in an awesome cabin that comfortably fit all 16 of us. We had a blast 4-wheeling, swimming and playing! At the beginning of July, Gav had his second set of tubes put in and an adnoidectomy because he was only hearing at 20% in one ear and 40% in the other. He is doing so much better since the surgery:-) We had a blast playing with my friend Karen and her family at the BYU gymnastics workout gym and then watching the 4th of July parade. Then we went to my big sis's house for a 4th of July BBQ and watched P.G.'s awesome fireworks! Cambria Marie Dobson was finally born on July 14th (3 and 1/2 weeks early), to my baby sis and her hubby, who have been waiting patiently for 6 years for her!! I went to girl's camp and had a blast with my girl's(I haven't been since I was a YW 13 years ago)! We went camping in A.F. canyon for our ward camp out and had alot of fun. Our little Maser Beam had his second birthday! Then we went on our family trip with my little bro Tito, in tow. We started in CA and drove up the coast through the Redwoods, then through the Oregon coast. Then by way of Astoria, we drove up the Washington coast to our ultimate destination, Copalis Beach!! We came home driving next to the beautiful columbia river. We had a little rough start with our van braking down the first day of our trip in Nowhere, NV, but, thanks to my awesome parents and big sis and her hubby, we were bailed out and ended up taking mom and dad's suburban the rest of the way, leaving our pour old van in Wells, NV for the next 10 days!! After that, the rest of the trip was amazing and so much fun!! We got home, went and picked up our van and towed it home and now we are looking for a new vehicle since John is riding his bike to work until we can find one:-) We have swam lot's, played lot's, and ate lot's:-) and now school starts today. Crazy!! (now that wasn't too bad)

Riding ATV's at the cabin



Gav having his surgeries / 4th of July festivities


BYU gymnastics practice room / Parade / Min's house

Beautiful Cambria / Mason and cousin Cam / Mason and cousin Ryker

Mas b-day / Stranded with 3 vehicles in Wells / T, Matt and John transferring luggage

The fam with Paul Bunion at the Trees of mystery / The kids in Westport, WA / Astoria, OR


In our fort on Copalis beach / Daddy and Mas w/ copalis rock / swimming in the freezing ocean



the boys becoming mermen / Our puzzle at the cabin / tide pools

(me and my OCD's, I stayed up until 3 in the morning to finish it)



Copalis rock / Copalis rock at low tide / we saw a bald eagle on top of Copalis rock

the view from our cabin on the beach / the cute shark store "Sharkey's" in Ocean Shores, WA / my cute little shark heads

Yes...I am a SLACKER!!

grandma bear and the kids at Halloween. Kam at her friend and then fam b-day parties.

Me holding brand new Ryker Holtey. My cute kids in their Christmas Sunday outfits and our fam on Christmas morning

John and Mason working on the fire in the fireplace. Mas snuggling with his bear. Xander (my nephew) and Diesel the bull dog (my cousins baby)

Did I really say "more to come soon?" What I really meant was, "I'm a big fat slacker and even though this is almost 4 and 1/2 months later, I will try to make it good:-)" Thank you to those of you who have been faithfully checking on us. So here goes a day in the life of the Ivies. So much has happened since November when I wrote last. I don't know where to begin. My kids were really cute at halloween:-) Kam had a birthday! My sweet sweet princess is 7 going on 8 and has made the choice to be baptized into the LDS church this year! So exciting but crazy that I have a child old enough. I don't know where all the time went. I love Kam! She is such a smart, beautiful, thoughtful and kind little girl. Sometimes I am a little too hard on her and treat her like she is supposed to be 20 years old already. Christmas was fun! I love being with family and friends through the holidays and I didn't put on the average American holiday weight gain of 15 pounds this year! Always happy news! I tore some ligaments in my knee playing soccer on the 3rd of January. I thought I was okay enough to play again three weeks later, and tore my ACL and both miniscus(sp?) (knee cartilage) in my right knee and both muniscus(sp?) in my left knee. Kind of a huge bummer because on March 11th, I will become a member of "the elite bi-ACL reconstruction club," as the doctor likes to refer to it. My left ACL was reconstructed when I was 19 and now I will have a matching scar for my right knee. Meanwhile, I have been working on the NAEP study for the last couple of months, limping around with a brace on, going in to schools and testing 4th, 8th and 12th graders. Mason, as a result has become extremely clingy because it is so unusual for his mommy to be gone all the time. He will be much happier when this job is over and he can count on his mom to be around on a regular basis:-) Gavin is going to have tubes put in his ears again and an adnoidectomy in a couple of months when I have recooped from my surgery. Poor kid can't hear much these days and I feel like I am always yelling at him, or rather to him. He only hears at about 20%. Thankfully, it hasn't affected his speech or development yet and hopefully, we can get it fixed soon. By the way, Gav is starting Kindergarten this year too!! He is very excited! Hmmm...what else? John has been awesome through these past couple of months, helping take and pick up the kids from places and coming home for his lunches so he can be there with the boys until I get home. He has been working hard at his job, even earning promotions. All this while recooping from Strep and whatever other ailments it seems like he tends to attract. He is training for the SLC half marathon in April. I am so proud of him. I just don't like long distance running. I have to be doing something while I am running, like playing soccer:-) Anyway, he is working hard to be able to run with his buddies from work in April. "What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man.":-) He probably gets to go to Thailand in May for work too. That is very exciting for him. I got to go to Wicked in LA this past December! It was so good and I can't wait to go again. My sis had another baby boy in December also. It is so exciting to see our family growing! I can't think of much else to write at the moment, but I am sure there is more. I will blog as it comes to me, when I find the time. Hopefully, sometime before the next 4 months, and maybe then it won't be a huge novel.:-) Above are some pictures of my cute fam to hold you over until next time!

We Are Still Here!!

I am writing to let any of our fans out there know, that we are still here. It has been a little busy around here but we are back and I have lot's of really cute Halloween pictures and Kam's birthday pics and stories to share. So. . . more to come soon! Until then, we hope all of you, our friends and fam, are doing well. We love you and thanks for being interested in what is going on in our lives!

Vacation in Florida!!

We just got back from Florida a couple of days ago!! It was our family trip for the year. We had so much fun!! Here are a few of the pics from the trip. They got a little messed up when I downloaded them so they are kind of out of order. The picture above is Mason hanging out by Aunt Joan and Uncle Richard's pool.
John, Gavin, Mason and John's cousin Rick when we went to feed the turtles by the dock and look for manatees.

Kam and Gav at MGM (now called Hollywood Studios)
John, Kam and Gav in front of the Rockin' Roller Coaster (this was the only ride Gav couldn't go on because of height restrictions)
Kam and Gav locked in a cage with Zorg(?) from Toy Story.
Us in front of the Disney castle at Magic Kingdom
The kids in A Bug's Life 3-D at Animal Kingdom

Playing in Aunt Joan's pool. Kam is doing a flip into the pool and Gav is snorkling. They really got to be really good swimmers while we were there.

John looking pretty studly and way excited to get into the pool:-)

Kam, Aunt Joan, Grandma Ivie and Gav in the house.

When we landing in Florida, it got a little bumpy and Beamer didn't like it very much.
Kam was way excited to almost be there though!
Kamryn and Gavin at the beach.
Mason at the beach. He didn't like it at first but after we took him in the waves, we couldn't get him out.
Us at the beach! (I can't believe I am posting me in a bathing suit on this blog...aghhh)

What a good time!!