Family Beach Pictures 2016

We had Jylare come out to California to take our family pictures, and we are so glad she did!  We love her and are happy to have these shots.

Kids Spring Pictures

Jylare had a Mother's Day sale and I just had to do it!  It was such a good deal.  We love how they turned out.  Although I am always so crazy in the spring that we were running around trying to do outfits, etc.

Elise, Monet and I went out to eat after at a pizza place in Provo and one of the boys that worked there wrote his number on a napkin and gave it to Elise.  Pretty gutsy move with the mom right there.  Can't blame him. :)
 

Soren at 4.5

He called this his cucumber "Mouthguard."  

Update on Soren:

Loves to pick tomatoes from the garden "for you mom."

Gives hugs and kisses away ALL DAY LONG.

He loves our chickens, especially our new ones because they gave us Chicks.

LOVES the mall.  Likes shopping at Costco too.  I think I do most of my errands while he is at school so he just likes getting out and about.

Recently started having some playdates.  And he loves it!

Loves his Montessori Preschool and is very well behaved there.  Always gives me a big hug when I come to pick him up.

Loves the beach so much!  And the ocean.

Favorite books are usually his Big Animal Kingdom book.  He likes to name all the animals in it.

Doesn't sing at all.  And also refuses to say prayers.  But he is more outgoing than my first two girls were.

He's a little picky about food.  He doesn't like his foods to touch.  So he loves tomatoes and will eat pasta, but he doesn't want them mixed.  He is starting to be a little more flexible though.

Pretty sweet, easy going kid!  

Runner Girls!

Simone had her annual Westfield Run during convention again.  I so wish it wasn't the same week as convention every year!  She woke up that morning and said, "Dad, today is the Westfield Run, and I'm going to win."  And she did.  It is 1.6 miles and her pace was 7:25 per mile.  I love her confidence!  She has won for four straight years.  This year she not only won her grade, but she was the top girl in the school.  A few boys beat her.  But she did so great.  We are proud of her determination to hold onto her title.  ;)

Monet has been loving cross country.  I had to talk her into it.  I think after running the mile she thought cross country sounded miserable because it was so much longer.  But I convinced her it would help with lacrosse, and she found out she could run with the high school and go to Lone Peak for her first period and I think that sounded cool too!  Anyway, she has loved it.  Most of the girls have run cross country for a few years.  They have also run all summer.  Without training at all, and with being a Freshman, she progressed to the top 6-7 of the whole school.  She clearly has some good natural ability, but she has that awesome determination too.  A few weeks ago she was in the Freshman/Sophomore race and she really wanted to come in first.  One of the sophomores from her school was with her the whole race and passed her just at the end.  Monet said before the other girl passed her she thought she was giving it everything she had.  But when the other girl passed just toward the end, Monet did NOT want to come in second so she kicked it up a notch and sprinted past her in the last ten yards of the race.  She was very excited to get first place.  Her best time so far is an average of 6:30/mile for a 5K.  The races are all different lengths and some have hills, some are pretty flat.  So it is hard to compare races from week to week.  But we are excited for her.  Her coach is impressed that she is doing so well with such little training.  Watching her race literally makes me choke up.  I love track!

We found a quote board that I loved:  Good things come to those who believe, Better things come to those who are patient, and the best things come to those who don't give up!

Such a great little nugget of wisdom.  It all starts with mindset.

Elise's Junior Homecoming

Elise went to homecoming this year with Nacho.  Nacho is a super cute Spanish Exchange student.  He came last summer 2015 and stayed with one of her friends.  This year she was so excited when Nacho was coming back and going to her school.  I thought it was hilarious that he was 17 because we both thought he was a lot older than that!  Anyway, he is really funny and they had a great time at homecoming.  Also, I thought the kids called him Nacho because Ignacio (his real name) was hard to say or something.  But no, apparently "Nacho" is a common nickname in Spain.  They don't even eat Nachos there.  Nacho was a thing before Nachos the food was a thing.  Which is also very funny to us.  Nacho loved the dance and said it was "just like the movies."  I thought it was cool that with all the places he went in the United States, it was Utah he chose to finish his senior year of high school.

I loved her red dress!  We had to find a dress at the last minute because the other 10 we ordered didn't work out.  I just love the color on her.  This one arrived the day before and we were so happy to finally get one that worked.