Sunday, December 28, 2025
Christmas
Sunday, December 21, 2025
School's Out!
David was glad to be back at school after nearly a week out. I had coaching water polo and swimming. THills is offering to start paying me for my time coaching now. Aaron and Evelyn had a swim meet against Beaverton - so we got to see Chris and Luke. They both swam well - Aaron even managed to get a 24.7 split on his leg of the 200 free relay. They also swam the exact same events. It was also fun to see my water polo players who are on Beaverton's swim team!
The kids had school, mostly, the week was surviving until Dan got back home, but we made it and he got back on Friday with Anna! We are so glad to have them back!
On Saturday, Anna and I went to Evelyn's Encore concert with PCO in downtown Portland. It was awesome! She did an amazing job - she was playing the flute on one of the numbers in front of a huge audience alongside a professional violinist. She was amazing!
Sunday, December 14, 2025
Icky-Sickies and Travel
This week has been crazy. Monday morning, Evelyn's throat was still really hurting, so I took her into the doctor's to get her checked out. She tested positive for Strep. We got her medication and took her home to get her rested and feeling better. Thankfully, she was feeling better quickly with the medicine! (Especially since she was already stressing out about missing school and rehearsals and such.
Then, I went to the high school to put the water polo stuff back in the sports locker there, then grocery shopping and finally picking up David from school. That evening, he went to water polo - it was a older kids practice, but the younger kids were allowed to join them since their weeked practices had been cancelled for a swim meet. Blake and Cameron were out of town, so Mark was glad to have an extra coach there helping out. David was doing great and having some fun diving in to the pool from the side. Then he saw one of the divers practicing and doing something where they jumped high, went spread eagle, then pulled into a pike position as they entered the water. He thought it looked awesome and later decided to try it. He face-planted/belly-flopped/really ouchie hurt. At first he was just a bit freaked out, then he started crying and I held him while the pain slowly subsided. Poor kiddo!! I had thought he was just going to dive in like he had been all evening, but he landed flat out on the water!
Tuesday morning, David was complaining of a sore throat, so I took the day off work and took him in to the doctor's office to get him tested for Strep too. The rapid test came back negative, but they said he should stay home from school until the longer test came back. So David spent most of the week home from school - and rather bored and missing friends too. Thursday the test came back positive and so I picked up his medicine after work. Now at least he's feeling better and ready to go back to school next week!
Tuesday evening, I went with Aaron and Evelyn for swim practice - they were getting ready for their first meet. I had a great time helping out with some of the kids strokes and helping the new kids on their dives off the blocks.
Wednesday was busy with work and workouts and kids stuff. In the evening was the swim team dinner. The team provided the main dishes - they got tons of pasta from Olive Garden and of course, the kids brought side dishes and desserts and while a TON of food was eaten, there was (of course) a ton of leftover stuff too. We sent home a lot of it with Conner and the rest was left here. To add to our stock of leftover food. It was kinda nice not having to worry about cooking all of it though!
Thursday was busy again - we had work and school and such, then after, Aaron and Evelyn had their swim meet. The meet went well - smoothly for a first meet and the kids did well! Also, some of my polo players were there on the other team too since we were playing Southridge. It was fun to see them and cheer them all on! After, Dan and I went out for dinner at Shake Shack and then to Mountainside for the Winter Fest celebration concert. It was fun and some of the acts were very good! Evelyn did an amazing job of course!! Thankfully she was fully back to feeling better after being sick!
Friday Dan packed up and headed for the airport to fly to Texas, where as far as I can tell, he and my parents have just been cooking for eachother the whole time.... I think they are all going to put on 10 pounds this weekend, but they are having a blast together!
Friday night, I took David to water polo - which was good since I was the only coach there. :) He had fun and did a great job! Evelyn had her second Winter Fest concert and it also went well!
Saturday was NUTS. I went to swim in the morning, then to the Christmas team party after. It was a lot of fun and we had a fun little white elephant exchange and great food and fun chatting! Then I went home and got the kids up to go to the Ward Christmas Breakfast. We ate (more) and chatted and sang and the kids got to do a Christmas Pinata. They couldn't get the blindfold to stay on David though!!
Sunday, December 7, 2025
Holiday Craziness Begins
Kids are back to school and the Christmas Season has officially begun! Monday was nuts, Swimming in the morning, then getting David to school and working out, then I had to sneak in the grocery shopping before meeting up for a Ladies Lunch at Pastini. Then time to get David and in the evening, Dan had his game night, and I went to swim practice with Aaron and Evelyn.
Nicole gave David an extra Elf on the Shelf that they had, so David brought it home and would wake up in the morning looking to see if it moved during the night. So the first night, I moved it, but that was all. The next night, before I could do anything, I found the elf like this.
James has been moving him the last few nights and has been so clever and sweet with it!!!!
Tuesday, David had a primary activity - they had a great time making cute Christmas Tree decorations and then Eileen and I went to a Relief Society Activity. We had fun and it was a yummy dinner!
Wednesday was the usual, swim, workout, work, school youth activities, swim practice.
Thursday after school, we went to the Bingo Night at David's school. We had fun, didn't really win much, but had a good time together!
Thursday the swim team did a mock meet - it was a lot of fun and gave the kids the chance to see what it was going to be like and get a feel for how they are run!
Friday was a massive swim meet at work, guarding swimmeets is always a bit more stressful. There were some really obnoxious coaches that kept whistling for their swimmers at REALLY LOUD volume and REALLY HIGH pitched and REALLY OFTEN. But it was also exciting and fun! In the evening, Dan and I watched A Knight's Tale with Evelyn.
Saturday was the usual NUTS. I took Evelyn to the Winter Market at Mountainside in the morning, then Aaron and I went to Parkrose, then in the evening Eileen and I went to a Craft night and made a cute little nativity scene with a bunch of friends, then I went to Open Polo.
Today was a great Sabbath. We had Fast and Testimony Meeting and then Primary. After, I took a nap until choir. Choir went well - we've had people coming from Aloha 1st ward for the Christmas program! It was wonderful!
Evelyn had her first Encore show tonight - but she has been sick all day, so she didn't sing tonight, she just played the flute. Hopefully she will start feeling better soon!
Sunday, November 30, 2025
Thanksgiving
We've had a busy week. The kids were off school this week, so we've had a busy week of fun with friends and family. On Monday, I swam and worked out. David had one of Sister Shum's music camps and had a fun time with friends making crafts and singing songs.
Friday morning, we met up with Sandi and the kids at a Christmas tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. We picked a fatty! It's super round around the bottom with lots of room for ornaments! The kids had fun meeting Santa and roasting marshmallows.
Then we headed home to begin the decorating! We started by getting out the decorations for the house (inside, not outside yet) and getting those set up, then we waited for Grandma and Grandpa to get back from Sandi's house to decorate the tree.
Saturday, David had water polo. Aaron and I went to Parkrose - and dropped Anna off at the airport on our way. We had a great time playing. Anna had a safe flight back to Utah. In the evening, we went to Olive Garden for dinner with Sandi and the kids. We had a fun time together chatting and eating. Then we headed home. I went to open polo in the evening, but just me - Evelyn has spent most of her evenings this week watching Stranger Things with Truman.
Sunday, we went to church. Sacrament meeting was our musical testimony meeting - as always, it was WONDERFUL! I was on the organ today though, so it was a bit of an adventure! After church, we had lunch and naps and fun. Then ward choir! We finally have some people from the other ward showing up to join us for the Christmas program. Then a quiet evening with dinner and games and family time!
Sunday, November 23, 2025
Swim Starts!
We've had a busy week! Swim team started this week and Aaron and Evelyn are swimming hard and having fun. There is a new head coach this year, she seems really nice and the team is looking great so far!
Tuesday was a usual Tuesday, plus David had activity days - he had fun making friendship bracelets and eating snacks with friends.
Wednesday after school, David's friend Landon came over to play. They boys had fun together and it was great! In the evening, there was swim practice for Evie and Aaron, Water Polo for me, and youth activities for Dan and James.
Thursday after school I went home to get some things ready for the banquet that night. Then in the evening, we had the end of season Water Polo team banquet. It was a lot of fun and great to have one last chance to hang out with the kids and their parents!
Friday night, Dan and I went to dinner with the Blanchards and Ballageers, then we went to see Bryce Bristow in his play Harvey. It was so good and a lot of fun!
Saturday morning, I had a fun time at Barracudas practice doing our 2 Mile Relay! I had a great group of women to swim with! My times were not the fastest, but I was consistent - all of my times were within a second of eachother. Then we had a mostly chill day. In the evening, Dan had his leadership meeting and then we had the adult session of Stake Conference. It was a great meeting. I drove Evelyn out to a dance before the meeting and met Eileen and Dan there, then after, I went to Open Polo. It was fun, but numbers were low.
Stake Conference today was great - the talks were great and the music was great! Evie even managed to secure us soft seats. :)
After, we went home and played and chatted with Anna on the phone, then we had the Christensen's and Bagoyo's over for dinner and games. James stopped by too, and we all had a fun night!
Anna had a concert tonight and Grandma and Grandpa Jones were able to be there to watch it!
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Championships and Friends and Movies
The kids had Monday and Tuesday off school. Monday morning, after my swim, I came home and started getting everything ready for the Team Pancake Breakfast. We had a good turn out and a lot of fun making and eating pancakes. The kids were awesome and we had a great time!
After, I took David to get his hair cut - he's been getting tired of it in his eyes during water polo. Then he grabbed his stuff before heading over to Paxton's house to play for the afternoon.
We had water polo practice on Monday and Wednesday and Thursday, but not Tuesday because of the holiday. We spent Monday and Wednesay working hard and practicing. Thursday, after working on a few specific skills, we spent the last bit playing games. It's been a crazy season and these kids are awesome!
Dan and Evie and James had youth activities on Wednesday - they had a fun "Friendsgiving" activity with lots of yummy food.
Friday was the beginning of the State Championships. Both the boys and girls had thier quarter final games. I went to swim in the morning, then just stayed to help with set up and to watch the games. The boys game was rough and the refs calling was pretty bad. Joey was so frustrated that he got yellow carded, but it was awful for the boys game and not great for ours either. The boys lost their game to Lakeridge, but it was a super frustrating loss for them.
I was lifeguarding between the boys game and the girls game, and watching water polo is always fun. Then before the girls game - the girls called me over, saying they had a surprise for me. They had gotten matching custom made temporary tattoos to wear during the game. The tattoos were of my face. It was simultaneously the funniest and sweetest thing ever. They called themselves Team Deanna and had me getting teary. They played so well during their game - even the JV girls were out there kicking butt!! Unfortunatly since it was a game with the top seeded team in the state, we didn't win, but I'm super proud of them and their hard work and how they played!!
I got home later than usual, Dan picked up David from school so I could run home and grab some "lunch" Then around 4:30, Dan and I went to Costco so he could get a calzone and then we wandered around the store for a bit tasting samples and chatting.
Then we headed to the Silito's house for a movie night. Joe and his girlfriend Katie came and Luke came and we all watched "So I Married and Axe Murderer." We had a fun time watching a great movie! It was fun to meet Katie and hang out with friends!
Saturday was fun and busy. There was no swim practice because of water polo, so I got to sleep in. We went to go see the High School Musical - Evie's friend Natalie was in it and they were doing "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" It was so much fun and we had a great time. The kids did a great job!
In the evening, Aaron and I went to Parkrose for polo - we ended up with enough for 5x5 - but best of all, there were lots of other women there! Then I took him home and went to Open Polo. :) Now my shoulders are tired... :)
Today was the primary program. I was also playing the organ. The primary program was awesome! then after, they had a little primary party for the kids. They did such an amazing job! David and I are having fun reading through Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. I haven't read it before and had no idea what it was about going into it, but it's been fun so far! Plus I love that he loves having me read to him and that he's enjoying the Roald Dahl books!
Sunday, November 9, 2025
Play-Offs and such
It's been a busy week. We had water polo practices, school, work and friends. James had Thursday and Friday off school and mostly just chilled at home.
Evelyn has been busy - mostly spending time with Truman. But she also wanted to spend some time swimming this week, so I let her come to water polo. She did great and had fun and her friends on the team were happy to see her too!
Thursday were our big play off games. The girls played at 5 at David Douglas. We knew it would be a tough game. They play mean and we had lost to them already 3 times this season. The girls really pulled it together though - they worked hard and were ahead the whole game, finally winning 16-12, even though one of our best players got rolled in the last quarter. They did an amazing job and they were SO HAPPY to win this game and beat this team! Now we get to prepare for playoffs this next weekend! After leaving the girls game, I managed to hit a curb and get a flat tire on the grey car.... It happened right in front of a mechanic's house right as he was getting home - he helped me change my tire and got me moving agian. Then I had a LONG, SLOW ride across town to get to the boys game. The boys won easily and we are all excited about going to the quarter finals next weekend!
Friday night, Dan and I went to the temple. It was ward temple night and we got to see a bunch of friends there!
Saturday was a relativly quiet day. In the morning, David and Dan and I went to a primary service project. We drove out to Jackson Bottom Wetlands in Hillsboro area to help plant trees with a group called "Friends of Trees" It was a lot of fun and we had a great time. The kids had a youth temple trip in the afternoon - then after, we all met up at the Olsen's for Paige's open house. Then I went to open polo. :) Evelyn went to watch her friend Natalie in the school musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat"
Sunday, November 2, 2025
Animals! Seniors!
This week was Senior Night. The girls played Lincoln and since Lincoln's boys backed out, the boys scrimmaged with eachother and their coaches played with them. It was fun for all. With a big team like this, there were a lot of seniors, and it was wonderful to celebrate them!!
Halloween and Birthday Girl
They wanted us to dress up at work this week, but we could only wear things we could still perform a rescue in, so I got a few little headbands and accessories to wear. It was fun to see everyone get excited about the costumes! :)
Friday, we went trick or treating with Paxton and his family. James had his friend Will over and they canvassed the neighborhood having fun together and Evelyn got to sit with the band in the rain at the football game.... Aaron went to a friends house for a halloween party.
Sunday, October 19, 2025
Pumpkin Patch!
After school on Wednesday, we went to the pumpkin patch with David and Eileen and some of David's friend's and their families. The weather was perfect and we had a fun time walking around and playing for a bit before heading home.
Dan was in the mood to make a pie, so first Pumpkin Chiffon pie of the season goes to him. It was super yummy - especially buried in whipped cream!
Sunday, October 12, 2025
Tournament and Stuff
We had the ALS tournament this weekend. Carl decided to cram the whole tournament into one day - so we were there early Saturday morning and were there until evening on Saturday. It was a fun tournament. The boys took first and the girls took second. They all did a great job!
We also had games during the week - we are now fully into the season and crazy busy! There are team dinners every week and 1-3 games every week. The kids are amazing and lots of fun.
Sunday, October 5, 2025
October Already?
Tuesday we had an early enough water polo game that I got home at a reasonable hour, so Nicole came over and we did a fun puzzle together and watched movies! We've found that the 3 of us can manage a 1000 piece puzzle in a night without staying up too late!
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Marching Band and Polo
Evelyn is in the middle of marching band competition season. So her weeknights are full of practices and her Saturdays are competition days where she is gone from morning until late at night.
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Golden Birthday
This beautiful amazing girl turned Sweet 16. She went and did her driver's test and passed and got her license the next day! We had a fun quick little celebration between band and water polo and everything else going on! She wanted Chicken and Sundried Tomato pasta for her dinner and an ice cream cake for her cake!
Sunday, September 14, 2025
Birthday.....
We had a busy week this week! We had a team dinner and a game against Hillsboro. The girls lost, but the boys won. The girls game was pretty close though.
This Friday and Saturday, the boys went to the Tigard Tournament. Joey wasn't able to make it and Lawson could only make some of the games, so they were stuck with me for a lot of the tournament, but they did an amazing job! We set up the tent in the back of the pool area with chairs and tables and food and soccer balls and volleyballs and hung out there most of the day. A bunch of the girls came to watch and cheer for the boys and we all had a fun time hanging out together between games. The boys played well and won all their games taking first place in the tournament!!
Sunday, September 7, 2025
September Starts
For Labor day, we went down to Sandi's house for a fun little party. By "we" I mean me and David.... Evelyn had other stuff going on and the older boys decided not to come. David and I had a blast. There was a bouncy house with water and sliding and lots of fun and lots of yummy food and snow cones! I asked Sandi if I could invite Nicole and Paxon and Payton. She said yes, so we all had a great time together hanging out and eating and chatting and playing around!
Dan was still gone dropping Anna off. He had driven her out to Utah and stayed a couple days with Paul and Candace and did some skydiving. He got back Thursday.
Wednesday, I hosted a team dinner at our house. I did the typical pasta night with all sorts of pasta and food. The turnout was good. It was kind of funny how little the boys and girls mingled. The boys mostly hung out together outside and the girls mostly hung out together inside. There was a little mingling between the Aaron and some of the Mountainside girls, but mostly they stayed separate.
We had our first game against Tigard on Thursday. We beat both teams, but mostly we had a fun time and - our girls and the Tigard girls all got along really well. :)
The rest of the week was pretty typical. School, water polo, marching band, friends.
Saturday was fun - Parkrose water polo and Open Polo in the evening.
Sunday was wonderful and quiet - family and games and food and fun!
Sunday, August 31, 2025
Back to School
Anna took out her endowment Tuesday morning. Grandpa, Melissa, Sydney, Emmalee and the Shum's were there along with a friend from her single adult ward. It was a wonderful morning!! Then after, we headed over to Thai Basil for lunch. It was yummy and Sandi met us there! Then Anna and I stopped back by Deseret Book to grab a few more garments.
This week has been another busy one with water polo - we are still struggling to work out all the kinks with the changes this year, but these kids are amazing! I've also been very grateful this week for the support of my assistant coaches and the head of BSD Water Polo.


