Miles is 14!

Well, this kid is outgrowing our expectations.  He's seriously tall!  6'2" now.  And he's not really slowing down yet.  So maybe he'll be taller than Jared.  We basically thought that was impossible with my genes.  But I guess even within Jared's family there is so much variation in height between all the brothers with the same parents.

He hasn't wanted a birthday party for the past few years.  I have been trying to convince him to let me throw one.  Mainly because its such a great way to make new friends at this age.  And it is fun.  But he said no.  So we went axe throwing as a family and out to Smashburger then to his basketball game.    It was a fun day!

I learned why he didn't want me to do a party.  I was talking about it in the car and his friend was there and he said there was some show on TV where no one came to the kids party and it made him not ever want to have one.  LOL.  Junior High kids and their social anxieties.

At lunch, Jared and I went to the school with a couple huge Nothing but Bundt Cakes (so yummy) and we surprised Miles and brought cake to anyone who wanted it.  And those big cakes feed a ton of kids.  It was fun and Miles would have hated the idea of it but since we surprised him he didn't have time to overthink it.

We love Miles!  I think he had a really fun birthday!

Just a funny quote from Elise's compilation of funny family quotes to go along with the suit photo on the bottom.  Miles is highly influenced by his Shaeffer cousins taste in clothing.  He loves how they have original suits and clothes that are really colorful.  Although Nick has a MAROON suit, not a red one:

hey dad wouldn’t this suit look sick on me-miles

*shows dad a red suit*

no-dad

why?-miles

because you’re not a pimp-dad

Are you sure about that? Miles

He really likes these original suits!

Monet's Junior Preference

I got to take group pictures!  Normally I love taking photos for dances.  But Preference is a hard one because it is dark outside.  So the lighting isn't something I'm good at.  But I think these were cute.  Monet had so much fun with Isaac.  She asked him way back in October.  Man kids these days have to ask so early!  We thought November was early.  The day after preference in January, she got asked to Prom for April.  Crazy.

Isaac is super funny and a great date.  I think they ate at La Jolla Groves.  But I really don't know all the details for this date.  But here is how chill and easy Monet is about these things.  She wore shoes and dress she already had and had her friend do her hair.  She likes doing her own makeup.  And ordered the boutonniere and everything.  Their friends all planned the date, and I know they had fun but I don't even know what they did.  They didn't need my help.  

She is awesome like that!  She registers herself for her sports, tests, etc. and just takes care of things.   I appreciate that a lot and I know that she is responsible and I don't have to worry about doing it for her.

Simone's 12th Birthday Party

Simone is 12!  She is the cutest little girl ever in my opinion.  She is full of personality.  I love her humor.  She's a little feisty sometimes (like today) but I think that makes me love her even more.

In the past year, Simone has grown several inches.  All her clothes from summer didn't fit by the time Thanksgiving came around.  She is going to get a few inches taller this year I bet.

She's in the beehive presidency at church.  Its so fun to see her doing baptisms with her friends!  What great friends she has.  She loves Young Women's.  They are going climbing next week for their activity and she's super excited about that.

She has always been really social and playful.  She smiles a ton.  She's happy nearly all the time.  So if you know Simone, you already know all these things.  She was the baby of the family for 5.5 years.  I think that the youngest develop certain personality traits.  Like being cute and easy going.

Simone is also a super healthy eater.  She's been my baby that would drink powdered greens if I put it in her sippy when she was little!  It was so funny.  I never thought she would really drink it.  But hey, so good for her so why not try it?

She's got these long skinny legs that are actually really strong.  I think she's going to enjoy track next year!  She's really excited for Junior High.

Simone has ALWAYS been obsessed with animals.  Like forever.  I always wonder how many animals she is going to have someday.  I really want to know!

Cause I love throwback photos!  Here are some of my favs:

Simone's Divisionals Climbing at the Front

Well I love these photos we just got back from Simone's Divisionals Climbing Comp at the Front.   She looked awesome and did great this last season.  In just over a year of climbing, she's progressed to finishing her first V9 this past month.  She didn't make it to Nationals this year, but she did great!  We noticed that the girls were on average very tall!  So I think next year when she is still in the same age division but taller and stronger, she will have good odds of going to Nationals.  She was very disappointed and a little teary about how hard the climbs were.  So we focused on what she's achieved in such a short time.  I know she wants Nationals so badly!  But sometimes you just have to be proud of where you are at!  She's achieved a lot.

In bouldering there are different climbing grades that look like this:

A V9 is the top of the advanced, so its pretty neat that Simone was able to reach that in just over a year.  Her coaches don't like to put too much stock in the ratings of climbs, but it is still fun to reach a new number.  They progress more slowly as they get to those higher grades so it is fun to check a new number off your mental list.

What I love most about watching her climb is how she's found in it a passion.  She is not burdened by the time commitment.  In fact she hasn't once complained about going to climbing practice.  *I* may have vocalized that it is in fact a big sacrifice for me to take her there and back four nights a week.  But I love watching her so much.  I get to see her excel in a sport that I always wanted to do.

My ulterior motive is that my goal is to get fit and start climbing with her!  I'm hoping to get a lifelong climbing partner out of the deal.  She's going to be teaching me someday in exchange for all this driving.  Right now I am focusing on my workout classes in the mornings.  They are hard and I'm not used to this kind of exercise.  But in a few months I'd really like to get a double workout in by climbing in the evenings as well.

Monet and Elise have started climbing and are doing V3's and working on V4s so they are loving it too.  Miles is focusing on basketball right now but he did some hard ones last year and really enjoyed climbing also.  So someday we are going to take off to the mountains (or deserts) and enjoy camping and bouldering as a family!  Sounds dreamy!

My Favorite!  Look at those Muscles!

Merry Christmas 2019!

Thanks to Jen Anderson for our family photos this year!  We love how they turned out.  

We did them at a tree farm in Alpine.   We've done all the other seasons: Fall, Spring and Summer.  So we thought we needed a snowy picture this year!