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.  

I met up with Sara and Emily for lunch.  We had a wonderful time together.  These ladies are so amazing and I'm so grateful to know them and get to spend time with them!  We get together a couple times a year and catch up and support and love!  

In the evening, I went with Aaron and Evelyn to swim practice and worked with the kids on their breast stroke.  

Tuesday, I had work in the morning, then I ran a couple errands.  Anna flew in and arrived early afternoon.  Dan picked her up, and when I got home, it was to her playing the piano and singing!  In the evening, Aaron and Evie had swim practice again, but I stayed home to work on food and clean up for Wednesday's Friendsgiving.  

On Wednesday, we had some friends over for food and fun.  We had Nicole and her kids and Liza and her kids, the missionaries came and Aaron's friend Luke, and Evie's friend Natalie.  Dan tried something new with one of the chickens he smoked.  He mariniated it and stuck it on top of a pineapple.... It looked funny, but tasted super good!  

Thursday morning, Grandma and Grandpa Cox arrived and we all gathered at our house to eat and and play.  Sandi came with the kids and Lisa came down her Steve and her kids.  It was super fun!  James and Lisa's son Ronin ended up getting along really well and her daughter Winter is so sweet!  

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! 

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!

Dan's been having some fun with baking and made a Pavlova this week - it was pretty impressive and super yummy!!  

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!

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" 

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!!  

Our Ward Halloween Party was on Friday - at the same time as the school's trunk or treat.  We went to the ward party - David's friend Paxton and his family came - then David went with them to hit up the school's trunk or treat too.  Eileen was having a round night, so I took her home after about 20 minutes.  At least I got to eat some chili and soup.  

Cannon was in town for a bit this weekend!  It was so fun to get to see him.  He was checking out George Fox University as an option for his next step in school.  

Saturday was insanely busy.  I got up to swim in the morning, then with to the free coffee social after for a bit.  I headed home to make some waffle batter for Eileen.  Then we had the kids water polo, then I took Eileen to the Reptile and Exotic Pets show.  We enjoyed walking around and talking and looking at stuff.  We even ran into some friends.  Then we headed out for some dinner at Sushi Hana.  After, I got home and Dan and I went to the Blanchard's Halloween party which was a TON of fun!  We played games and ate food and had a blast chatting.  Then I headed down to a late entrance at Open Polo.  

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.  

Eileen turned 21 on Sunday.  She had Angel Food Cake and the Cream Cheese Breakfast Bake for dinner.  She got a puzzle, a t-shirt a card game about axolotols and a jurassic park tamagochi.  We had a fun Sunday together.