The other place we have spent the majority of our time lately (aside from the volleyball courts with Max) is at every high school tennis court in the valley. This girl has played a LOT of tennis this season.
Elle played on the Varsity team most of the season and had some wing-dinger matches. I think every one of them went into a third set (they play two out of three) and I swear that girl ran a hundred miles chasing after that little yellow ball. My favorite match was the one below where she and her opponent split sets and went to the tie breaker. Elle was down 2-8 and came back to win. Everyone else was done with their matches so people started to gather round to watch that third set.
That picture doesn’t do it justice cause there were a lot of people gathered cheering which could have made Elle nervous as could be but she kept her head in it and came back to win. Man it was exciting. Her Senior teammates were sure proud of her.
Not only has Elle played a lot, she has learned even more. 
She got jousted out of her Varsity position for the last few weeks because she was too nervous to challenge anyone ahead of her in fear of hurting their feelings (and nerves). I could write a whole blog post about that because of all the lessons learned but I’ll just say she grew a lot from that. 
Here cheering section:
Loved having these guys all there for her last tournament. 
I was sad to say goodbye and wanted to take some tennis pictures with some of the other girls to close out the season and help cement what a great one it’s been in our memories. Luckily Elle and her friends took care of that:
I think those are the coolest shots. Good job girls! In other photography news, here’s Elle’s latest client:
Is she adorable or what? On Easter she set up my backdrop and took some cute ones too.
I made the teenagers get in.
Love them. Click here to see her Easter video. She’s getting pretty darn good at all that technology stuff. Here she is trying to teach her sisters a thing or two.
One of our family’s best family friends came to town a while back. They have a cute daughter Elle’s age…
…and they used to live here so it became a big, BIG party.
I wish I had a picture of all the mountains of bikes in the front yard and a big “sorry” for our neighbors since those crazy boys figured out how to let of some sort of firecracker late at night. They sure had a fun weekend which included a photoshoot with a really awesome photographer girl. I wish I had those pictures to post…if I find them I’ll post them later. For now, here’s one I caught…
Oh man we are sure grateful for this girl around here.
…and all the fun and creativity that comes along with her.
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How fun. What a cute girl. I love all the tennis shots! (And how cute to see my cousin Macy on her tennis team!! 🙂
She is beautiful! I think she looks a lot like your dad. 🙂
Sooooo didn't know if you noticed, but Elle is GORGEOUS. 🙂 Not only does she have physical beauty, but she has an inner beauty that shines with all she does. I love her fun outlook on life!
The tennis shots are very creative!
Elle really teaches us the tricks of the trade.
Elle is such a beautiful girl. Her countenance is glowing in every picture.
She really is such a beautiful girl!! You have awesome teenagers! I'm so excited for this stage in my family…it's finally here!! Although the groceries…my goodness. I have four boys and they sure like to eat!
Love the tennis shots!
Question about your backdrop…what one do you have? Do you just use it with natural light, or do you get into light set up as well. I am debating getting one, but don't want to invest if I won't end up using it.
what a great gal you have there!!! Well Done Elle, your beauty shines through you. if I was your age, I would want to be your friend 😉
what a great gal you have there!!! Well Done Elle, your beauty shines through you. if I was your age, I would want to be your friend 😉
Oh man, that made me miss my own tennis playing days. So much fun! But I too had to learn hard lessons from the challenging thing in tennis. They were hard but they were good.
There is a million reasons why I wished we lived closer but one of them for sure is that Elle would be hired for some portraits…she is SO good!
I think Elle is beautiful and she aappears to have a sparkly personality!
Question: Her real name is Wellesley, right? (I LOVE that name, by the way…!)
Did you go to Wellesley? I thought I read somewhere that you went to Boston College…
Did you just like the name, or is it a hint that maybe you want Elle to go there? Just curious.
Also, that makes me wonder, how would you feel if Elle, or any of your girls told you they did not plan to go to college? They have such a huge, wonderful family, maybe they just want to get married right after high school and have lots and lots of babies. Would that bother you? Would you and Dave make them go to college anyway?
If you go on a mission for a certain period of time, does the LDS church pay for 4 years of college?
Would you be ok with your daughters going to college then getting married and being a SAHM without even using their degree at all for career purposes? Is knowledge (even really expensive knowledge) just for knowledge's sake ok, just to enrich the mind? Even if their main goal is to be a wife and mother?
Lots of questions, I know, and I'm not asking in a mean way. Just really curious about your thoughts on this.
To TazLady,
I can only answer one of your questions, because I'm not Shawnie! But about the LDS church mission. A mission for the church is completely voluntary and paid for by the missionary and/or their family. We have two sons serving right now and it's a sacrifice, but totally worth it. The church does not pay for college if you serve. The missionaries are not paid in any way, neither are any of our lay people. We volunteer our time and talents. Serving a mission is wonderful, but there is no monetary compensation.
I know your super busy but I would love to know what all the teenagers do when they come over or hang at friends houses?? Teens around here just don't hang out together much. They say there's nothing to do. Would love to know what yours do!!
Elle, you are full of sparkle and pizzaz! Congrats on a great year of tennis. Grandfather and I are SO proud of your hard work and wonderful accomplishments! Your photography is an inspiration! Love the little chubby hand on the wall!
See you soon!
Dang, wish I'd have known about her tournament so I could have been there!