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.  

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.  

We had water polo games and marching band practices.  Work and play and school.  

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!

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.  

David also had a little mini-tournament.  Blake has been setting up scrimmage opportunities with other 12U teams in the area for the kids.  So on Saturday, David got to play and he did so good!  He scored and he got to wear his new speedo that he is SUPER excited about!  

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!

Mountainside's Homecoming Dance was this weekend - Evelyn went with Truman - a boy from her seminary class that she likes.  She and her friends had a great time together.  They met up before to take pictures and make bouquets and have fun getting ready! 

This was also General Conference weekend!  And for once, I didn't have a tournament for the weekend.  Unfortunatly, I did have a Lifeguard recertification class that I had to do....  Sigh, but i really only missed one full session for the class.  John ran it pretty quickly, and I aced the test.  It was fun, it was just me and Aubrie (one of the Barracuda's coaches.)  We had a bit of excitement when her watch accidentally called 911 and they showed up.  

Marching Band and Polo

We had a fun busy week!  David had his Cougar Fun Run this week. The weather was great!  I made a fun little sign to cheer him on and we had fun together - plus I brought some treats and snacks for after school that day. David did a great job and was super tired after! 

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. 

We had a fun scrimmage at the MAC on Saturday.  It was a fun time and I actually played pretty well, so that was awesome!  After, we headed to a local place for drinks and food and chat.  It was a great weekend!!  

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! 

Weeks are busy and crazy with all the kids various activities.  The girls Tigard tournament was this weekend and the girls did an amazing job and took first place in the tournament!  It was a fun way to work into the season!  

Evelyn also had her Encore Retreat this weekend - as always it was an awesome experience, and she is excited for this season of music! 

This silly little goofball!  Evelyn braided his hair for him and it looked so funny!  

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.  

Evelyn is busy with Marching Band stuff. Practices and getting ready for competition season.  

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 was my birthday.  I got spoiled by an amazing husband and kids and some amazing friends and even a couple of my water polo players stopped by with some birthday treats! 

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! 

Back to School

It's been a crazy week! Monday, Grandpa flew in so that he could be here for Anna's endowment and then fly back with Eileen.  Tuesday was the first day of school for David.  He had his clothes all picked out and ready and then he got to get a ride with Daddy on his first day, since I needed to take Anna to the temple by 8:30.  

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.  

Wednesday was back to school for Aaron, Evie and James.  Aaron is excited because the whole of his schedule this semester is Auto Tech.  

James was less than thrilled with having his picture taken and especially mad at a VERY poorly cut bagle....  

Wednesday morning was also Eileen's flight out to Texas with Grandpa to spend time with them for a couple weeks.  We will miss her, but she loves hanging out with them!  She's already been sending me pics of her trip to the zoo with Grandpa and a yummy breakfast of kolaches....  

I also started back to my regular work shifts on Wednesday.  It's always fun to see and chat with the regulars and get back into a routine.  It's also been nice getting to stay after school and chat with friends while the kids play.  

Friday morning, Dan and Anna headed out to Utah to get her back to school and settled back in.  She's planning to do one more semester, then go on a mission.  Then she will have a year when she gets back - since she ended up having to do one more semester because of 2 of the classes she needed were only offered at the same time as the other one....  

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.  

Open Polo this week was on Friday instead of the usual Saturday, so I headed over after my practice, I was late, but it was great to be in the water playing.  

On Saturday, I went to Parkrose with Aaron, we had a great time with a great group!  After, we went to hang out with the group and have some lunch, then headed home.  Then in the evening, I went to hang out with my friend (Paxton's mom Nicole)  We had a blast talking and snacking and drinking sparkling cider and watching Troop Beverly Hills.  We had such a great time that it was 2 in the morning, before I noticed how late it was and headed home.  

Church today was wonderful!  The talks were both great!  I was playing the organ and even managed to do a decent job, primary went well and we had a couple new families move into the ward - no little kids, but still nice to get some new people!  After my late night last night, I took an afternoon nap, then after choir we had dinner and a nice quiet evening.  

Summer Wrap Up

Weather this week has been hot and crazy!  Tuesday, we were hoping to escape it by heading out to the coast.  Evelyn spent the night with Natalie and went out with her.  Anna drove out to hang out with Megan, but the rest of us were stuck here.  Dan and I are still trying to get over the sinus/ear infections.  We both scheduled video appointments for the morning.  Dan's prescribed him more medication.  Mine said - just wait, you can make an appointment with an audiologist.  So I did and the only one they had was that same day (that or wait until October....) So no beach for me...  Though I'm not sure what the point of the audiologist appointment was - they tested my hearing and told me I had moderate hearing loss in my left ear due to fluid behind the ear drum.... which I already knew....  

This week was the beginning of the water polo season.  Aaron had his practices at Raleigh Hills in the late afternoon, and I was with the girls at Aloha at night.  Working with the girls has been so fun - they are an amazing group of girls and this week of practices has been great!  The biggest stress so far has just been trying to get to know everyone (names especially) and trying to decide on a captain.... 

Dan ran the Hood to Coast this weekend.  He left EARLY Friday morning and was gone until Saturday night.  It was a fun group and they had a great time.  Dan did amazing and came home exhausted! 

Friday, I took David and Evelyn with a group of Evelyn's friends out to Hagg Lake.  The day was hot and beautiful.  The lake was rather low and you had to slog through mud to get to the water, but the cool water felt so nice on a hot day and we had fun!  

Saturday, Aaron and I went to Parkrose to play water polo - it was a good group and a lot of fun!  Also I played pretty well.  It was funny, a new guy came - and he looked familiar, but I couldn't figure out why and I was pretty sure it wasn't water polo.  I finally figured out most of the way through the scrimmage that he was one of the regular swimmers at THPRD.  He had also thought I looked familiar, but with out the red lifeguard shirt, he hadn't placed me either.  Then I went to hang out with Paxton's mom while the boys played and swam.  It was a busy, but fun day!  Evelyn had band stuff in the afternoon, then flute lessons and finally the Youth Music Festival and dance in the evening.  

Church today was wonderful and then in the afternoon we had fun playing Settlers of Catan with David and teaching him how to play.  We did back to school blessings tonight before David's bedtime.  It is such a wonderful tradition!