Dream Realized!

Well sometimes life is freaking hard.  And last year was pretty hard for Monet.  But the good news is that those hard times shape you and give you depth and perspective.

Last year at about this time, Monet ended her XC season unsure of whether or not it was worth it to continue running.

Running long distances is not something she LOVES to do.  But she really always loved racing.  Race day gets me too and I understand how she feels.  Its exciting!  I used to live for Race Days.

Last XC season started out great.  Two pretty decent races at Pre-Region and Utah County Invite.  Then her times dropped off and she could never quite get them to where she was the previous year.   There are so many great runners on their team and she didn't qualify for state.  It was just disappointing.  When your performance drops in running, its hard to pinpoint the issue.  But I think she was a little depressed.  In the past, when her coach would tell her to stay on a girl and not let them pass, Monet's determination carried her.  But in those races last season, she just wasn't as motivated.  She said she just didn't care if she got passed.  She didn't have the same fire.  She was navigating the grief process, and really had some major emotional things going on in her life.

Each race, she'd try to renew her motivation, and each race would end in disappointment.

She didn't feel like her team really "needed" her.  There were lots of people that were super talented.
Running cross country also requires a lot of sacrifice.  These girls wake up early every day in the summer to run.  They have to plan trips and time off around cross country camp, races, etc.

She decided that what she really wanted was a new challenge.  Running a half marathon sounded fun!  But it is hard on your body and in the past their coach discouraged it because it sets them back a few weeks in their training.

She also really wanted to do a humanitarian trip to Africa and the only time available when we signed up was right before cross country races started in August.

So at the end of last school year she decided to pray about it.  She wasn't really sure what was right.  On one hand she has this incredible talent and it feels wrong not to try to maximize that potential.  And on the other hand, maybe there was something else that she could do with this time that would be just as rewarding.

The conclusion she came to was to keep running!  Her coach gave her a little nudge when she called Monet and told her they were picking team captains and needed to know whether or not she was in.  She'd already signed up for HEFY in Africa as well as a half marathon.  She would miss an entire month of training following the half marathon because of Trek, Lake Powell, and then Africa.  But she figured she would just do what she could.  And in a way doing some of these fun things took some of the pressure off that she'd been feeling the previous season.

This season started with her racing JV at the Utah County Invite.  Her first two races she was running with just a couple weeks of training since her one month break.  She knew from experience that it takes a bit to get back into it after a break.  So she wasn't discouraged when her times were slower.

With every race her times improved a little at a time.  Finally she knew she needed to bust out a really good time at region in order to run at State and NXR.

She was so nervous before region!  She was racing varsity, but knew she had to take the 6th spot on varsity, as well as beat all the JV, who have at least 5 runners who are also super close to her times.  JV ran first and she watched their race and they were FAST.  She knew she'd have to have a great race to earn a spot at state.  She was freaking out just a little before the race.  I told her the nerves were good!  It means she's got adrenaline!  And that was going to help her in the race.

I love how this photo shows Monet's coach Courtney encouraging her as she runs in! 

She did it.  She ran an awesome race and finished 6th at Lone Peak and earned her state spot.  It looked like the old Monet was back!

Her coaches put these signs in the yard before the race, and it was fun for her to come home and see it.

State was awesome!  It was so fun to see Taylor and Ali there cheering on their old teammates.  Angela and Diane came too!  Monet had a good race.  Not quite as good as her sophomore year.  But it was good enough.  They won state by a landslide.  Eliza A came in 1rst place in the state!  And Reagan, Eliza M, and Mckenzie all placed in the top 6 in the state.  Crazy!

Taylor overheard one of the other coaches say, "For Lone Peak not to win state this year, their team bus would have to fall off a cliff."  Which we took as a compliment.  Kudos to our amazing coaches who are so dedicated to these girls and who really care about their happiness above all.  The school program has grown to over 120 athletes.  It's incredible.

They were happy to get that recognition on the state level, but for Monet, running at nationals in Oregon was the ultimate dream.  So Nike Cross Regionals Southwest (NXR) was the race she was really looking forward to.  If they did well at NXR, they could be one of the 20 teams nationally to go to Nike Cross Nationals in Portland.  I can't even emphasize enough how much she wanted to go to nationals.

At Nationals, Nike flies them to the race in Portland and puts all the athletes in a hotel.  They get a locker with their name on it.  In the locker is spikes, running shoes, warm ups, and their racing uniform.  Its pretty cool!  They also have a big dance.  So it is a fun event.  Monet is very motivated by shoes.  I'm not sure why free shoes is so appealing to her.  We do buy her running shoes.  So either way, she's not paying for them.  But Monet is very motivated by recognition.  So I think this was a big part of her wanting to be at Nationals.

Anyway, NXR was this weekend and they won the whole meet.  It was a fantastic race.  They knew if they had a good race they could win.  And they did!  Eliza A was 2nd in the whole race out of thousands of runners.  Reagan was like top 15.  So good!  Lots of PR's.  Monet was just one second away from her sophomore time at the same race and averaged 5:57/mile for an 18:31 5k time.  She had wanted a PR, but was totally happy with getting so close!  She finished 5th from Lone Peak, just a hair faster than Katie.  Monet's goal was to pass as many people as she could that last mile because last year they lost going to NXN by only 1 point.  She knew if she passed other girls it took a point away from their teams and that might make the difference.  The first mile, she finished in 112th place out of about 200 or so runners (in the championship race, total there were probably close to 1000 runners).  Lots of girls start out too fast and burn out.  So she passed 56 runners in those last two miles!  Crazy.

Their top five came in with a 1:07 spread.  Which is really cool.  Helps with the scoring.  The girls won the Championship race, PLUS the Large school race.  The boys won the Large School race, and Alex got first place boy in that race and his little brother was the fastest freshman.

These Lone Peak girls won the Large school race!

In two weeks, they'll be racing again in Portland!  We are so excited.  I'm glad Monet decided to give XC another season!  It's definitely been a dream come true.  Lots of goals realized this season.

I Made a Beautiful Kid

So I sent Miles into Costco to pick up his glasses while I parked the car.  When I got in, the lady at the optical department saw me walk up to him and told me that that I made a beautiful child.

And I looked at him and made a joke about how this was just one of five beautiful children, so no biggie, etc.

But the truth is, I love that kid so freaking much.  And he is beautiful.  I remember when he was a baby, I pretty much thought he was the cutest baby in the whole world.  His light blonde hair, and blue, blue eyes.

Then my little sister told me he looked like Colin Powell and I was like so confused by that.  But its okay.  Moms are still allowed to think their babies are adorable even if they look like Colin Powell (Miles) or "little old men" (Soren).

Maybe the younger version?

We've also been told that he looks like River Phoenix:

And lastly, my favorite "compliment" was that my kids look like they came from Whoville.  Lol.

Funny Simone Story

Okay I have a quick minute and a quiet house.  So I'm going to write this down because I thought about this story today and its pretty funny!

Simone's in Middle School!  She isn't loving it.  It's just different than Elementary.  I didn't love Jr High at first either.  Its okay.

But she's fine and she'll adapt!  She is still a little kid at heart and likes to play games, sports, etc. There isn't as much time for that in Junior High.  She's busy with climbing and making friends just takes time.

Anyway, the first few weeks of school, random boys would come up and hug her in the hall.  She didn't like that.  But apparently it's a thing at their school right now.  So one day in class, a few boys all came up and hugged her in succession.  She was ticked so she said "I'm going to punch the next kid who hugs me!" Well, they should have listened.  The next kid got up and hugged her, and she punched him in the jaw and he started crying.  I kinda feel for him, but I kinda don't.

She also had fun hanging out with a new friend, who is a boy.  Not boyfriend.  But they liked each other and they went climbing and skateboarding.  UNTIL he told everyone that they kissed in our basement (which they did not) (2022 update:  I now know that they DID!  Sneaky Simone).  So he's done.  And I'm relieved.  Not ready for that kind of stuff yet.  Hang onto the fun kid stuff for awhile longer.

She was a little sad last week because she doesn't have a group and lots of kids are in a big group and they were all hanging out at the football game and going skating after.  I told her to figure out who she wants to be friends with and ask them to come over or plan an activity. She was sulking a little.  And I just looked at her and said, "Simone, you are the friendliest kid I know.  I am not worried about you making friends at all.  You just have to take the initiative and invite people to come over.  Even if they don't come at first (lots of people have sports and music, etc going on), they will know that you want to be their friend, and maybe not all of the kids you invite, but at least a couple will think of you next time they are doing something."

Anyway, it was a good speech if I do say so myself and she followed through and invited about five kids to go to the trampoline place.  I was proud of her.

On the first day of school, we bought cookies from a cookie shop and she and her bff delivered them to some girls they wanted to get to know better (one was Simone's friend from pre-school and is a blackbelt in karate!).  She quickly became good friends with this cute girl.  And even though she doesn't have a "group" she is lucky to have such good girlfriends to hang around with!

One thing that I learned when I was a YW leader is that all the girls are waiting for friends to come to them.  Some people are more naturally reserved and it is hard to reach out.  Simone's gift is that she is not reserved at all so that makes the process a little easier.  She is so naturally outgoing, playful, friendly, that she is the perfect one make things happen!  I'm glad she is working on that.

Monet's Senior Year

Well, determination, persistence, hard work pays off in a very tangible way!

Monet took the ACT a few times and got the same score each time.  She got a good score, but she wanted a better score.  She was struggling with pacing herself and finishing the sections in the given time.  So she took 4 full practice tests, put in the study time and she raised her score 5 points (33!).  It probably also helps that she wasn't exhausted from Trek the day before like last time.  The better score qualifies her for an academic scholarship if she ends up at BYU and 4 years full tuition at Utah State or UVU.

We told Elise about Monet's score and she was so cute.  She was so excited for her and just said she was glad that she came first so she didn't have the pressure of trying to live up to Monet.  But the reality is Elise set an amazing example for her siblings and Monet's persistence was probably partly due to her trying to be like Elise.

Monet is taking enough AP classes to graduate with 25 college credits.  Her reasoning is that she is happier when she is busy and challenged.  The idea of an easy senior year did not appeal to her at all.  But saving a couple college semesters sounded great!

She's super great at managing her time and getting her homework done before she does stuff with friends.  She's maintained a 4.0 with hard classes.  She plans fun things with friends and has a good balance of fun stuff mixed in with the homework.  She likes having a bucket list and loves hanging out with her friends.  Last week they rented scooters and did a scavenger hunt up by the capitol.

She's participated in varsity sports every day of high school, often juggling two sports at a time.  track, cross country, lacrosse, and basketball.  the last couple years she just did rec basketball because it wasn't possible to do XC, basketball, and lacrosse.  But she still quite a little force out there on the court!  This year her rec basketball team is basically her TMS team.  And she's super excited to play.  She'll finally get a varsity letter for lacrosse this year since it is sanctioned now!  But she's got three state rings and will have I think 9 varsity letters when she graduates.  As well as being team captain in lacrosse, XC and track and having first team All-State in Lacrosse and XC.

I'm pretty inspired by her diligence!  I'm also excited to watch what she does with that determination and organization.  I don't think she knows exactly what direction she's headed in, but she's considering being a PA.

In addition to her academic endeavors, what I love most about her is how sensitive and nurturing she is.  She's always been so good with kids.  Remember when she had to hold Miles's hand whenever we got in the car?  She'd play with him in his crib when he was crying.  She was the only one who could get Soren to take a bottle and was so great with him.  She couldn't stand to hear him cry.  So she'd be holding him for hours.  Soren has a well-documented childhood thanks to Monet.  So many little funny video clips!  She helps Miles and Simone with their math, which saves us because Jared and I have no idea how to do this new weird math.  Anyway, I love this girl so much!  She inspires me to keep going when I'm on a run.  I'm excited to watch her race this weekend at NXR!

Soren Is SEVEN

Okay so I've been terrible at blogging since I'm writing letters to Elise instead.  I think it is giving me my writing fix.

But I just have to document was a little cutie he is.

First of all, he's still so cuddly.  He gives me big hugs all the time.  And the most sincere, "Love you mom!" when I drop him off at school.  He's still pretty chill.

I noticed he is sneaky about not cleaning his room or doing his homework if he thinks I'll get distracted and not notice.  So I'm trying to be firm about it all.

He sets his alarm everyday and gets up very easily and gets himself dressed and gets a bowl of cereal for breakfast most days.  He LOVES cereal.  Unlike my other kids who didn't have it very much.

I started feeling a little guilty that I don't have a cute church outfit for him, so I just got him the most darling little suit for Christmas (he'll be 8 this year so it can double for his baptism) and he's going to love it.  He likes clothes and is pretty good at matching things.

He loves math and is really good at it.  His reading is coming along, but he's definitely not where Monet was at this age!  Probably we worked with her more.

He reminds me so much of Elise in his expressions and Monet in some of his personality traits.  He was in the primary program last week and he looked just like Elise up there.  He definitely has her coloring.  While Miles is an entertainer and doesn't mind being the center of attention, Soren definitely avoids it most of the time.

He has his moments.  At school a few weeks ago he got really sad.  And I'm sure everyone was trying to figure out why he was sad.  Which gives him lots of attention for that.  And his teacher sent him to the vice principal to talk with her.  He told her he "just misses his sister that is on a mission."  While I'm sure we all really do miss Elise, I'm suspicious of his timing!  Haha.  We told him to talk to us at home next time.

Soren's Favorite Song

We were in the car last month and a song came on and Soren said, "don't change it!  I love this song!" and I thought that was so cute and he sounded so much older than 7 at that moment!  He's never expressed any interest in music before then.

But this song lyrics say "Spiderman" and "Batman" so maybe that captured his attention?

Its "Something Just Like This" by the Chainsmokers.   I have to admit it IS a pretty great song.

Loving the Winter/ PS I'm a model now

Everyone is posting this article all over Facebook.  The summary is that people are happier when they embrace the seasons and stay active and positive about the cold like the Norwegians do.  I agree with it for the most part AND I was even in a news story about that exact same thing.  A group of us hiking ladies went snowshoeing at snowbird with mostly fake snow.  And a really good photographer took these photos and put them on the Snowbird website, so I kinda feel like I'm a model now. ;) No actually I was so awkward and my snowshoes kept falling off.

I haven't always loved winter, but it is really growing on me.  What made the difference for me was trail sledding!  It makes me feel like a giddy little kid.  I'm having fun, and in a beautiful place, it is also FREE.  Yay.  I would love to be a skier, but it is way more physical and you need so much gear and it takes all day to do.  Plus it gets crowded and I'm not a fan of crowds.  But trail sledding is pretty cheap and easy, and not technical.

It is not without risks, broke my tailbone last year when I wore my micro spikes while on the sled.  But it was worth it.  Just take OFF the micro spikes before you start sledding.  They are to help you with traction when you are hiking up ice and snow. You don't need them anymore and they are kinda dangerous once you start sledding.  Watch out for hikers when you are going around the bends.

Last year was a long snowy winter, and I honestly loved it.  I didn't get anxious for sun like I usually do.  I attribute it to getting outside more and enjoying the mountains.  I love when the storms roll in and the clouds are hanging around the mountains.  When everything gets coated in frost and the whole city looks like a Christmas village.

There isn't much gear you really need to enjoy trail sledding:

Sled
Microspikes
Cocoa Mojo--to warm you up after.  Its pretty healthy and helps with immunity too, bonus.

I also bought some waterproof hiking pants from REI so my butt would stay dry (ski pants are hot for sledding imo) and you'll want gloves too, probably a helmet.