And She's Off....

This week has been full of awesomeness and some tears.  Wednesday morning (at the crack of dawn) Dan and I took Anna to the airport to head out on her mission.  We left the house at 3:45 am and got he there is plenty of time for her flight - she slept most of the flight and arrived safely at the MTC - met her companion and got settled in before starting classes and all the amazing parts of the MTC.  

Evelyn had a track meet on Wednesday as usu and did a great job on her pole vaulting - her friend Megan also had an amazing day pole vaulting!  It was great to watch her and see her cheering on her friends.  

We are super excited for Aaron who was accepted into the CDL program for this summer - he will get to go through the whole training process to get his CDL for free - it will be a lot of work, but such an awesome opportunity for him - we are so excited and so proud of the initative he is taking as he approaches graduation! 

The weather this weekend was great, so Dan took him up to skydive again and he got to do his first solo jump!  He was so excited!!  

This weekend was the THills age group tournament.  David played for the 10U team and Paxton played also - we needed more kids to make sure we had numbers for a team, so Blake asked me to see if Paxton was interested - and he was.  The boys and I had a great time hanging out at the pool all weekend - they played so well - 2 games on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.  They didn't win, their team was mostly new and less experienced - but they did awesome!  David and Paxton and their friend Aiden were all rockstars and they all worked hard and learned.   They both had to "iron man" their second game since they had no subs.  David got out of the pool complaining that his arms felt like noodles.   But he was a super speedy rock star winning 3 of 4 sprints.  Paxton was also an amazing passer - he would get the ball - David would spring down the field and Paxton would pass it to him.  They played hard and we had fun.  

I also had games - they ran some masters/high schoolers exhibition games - we had a good turn out and put together some great teams and had a lot of fun.  David decided to act as coach for one of the teams and the hillarious part was that he was usually right with what he was saying!  LOL  funny how much they absorb!  Between games, the boys played in the warm up area of the pool - so by the end of the weekend, they were exhausted and chlorine soaked and happy.   They did so good, so I took them for ice cream Saturday after their second game - and Sunday, Nicole brought donuts for the team!  

This weekend was also Stake Conference.  Lots of amazing-ness!  Sunday afternoon, The Wilde's invited us over for dinner and games - so I went over as soon as clean up was done for the tournament and met them there - the food was amazing and we had a great time!  

Finally, we went to Evelyn's Encore concert - she did amazing!  

Home MTC

This week has been a busy one. 

Tuesday evening, after I got back from coaching Score, the Stake President came over to set Anna apart as a Sister Missionary.  It was a wonderful experience! 

Anna has been doing Home MTC this week - she's up early and on zoom classes most of the day.  She gets some time off to exercise and eat, but mostly she's had to sit at a computer - which is hard, but still exciting and she's says she's learning lots.  

On Wednesday I was chaperoning David's field trip.  It was fun!  We went to the Tualatin Hills Nature Reserve and they got to do a Bug Safari.  They had fun finding bugs together and the kids were all great!  It was funny - one of the girls in my group while standing near me said "something smells like the pool" and I was just like " yeah, that's me....." At least there are worse things to smell like!  

While we were walking around the nature trails - we got to see Dan who goes for a run there often, and so he timed his run to bump into us on the field trip!  

After, David came home a bit early with me, so we met up with Dan and went to Cold Stone for some ice cream.  David said it was the BEST DAY EVER!

Dan has been taking Aaron skydiving quite a bit on weekends - this is kinda serving as his Senior Trip and he is LOVING it!  

It's gettin' real...

Monday, the kids didn't have school, so I took David to get his hair cut like I promised him I would - He just wanted a trim around the edges - and I got mine trimmed too.  The lady who cut our hair was very sweet, but had a VERY hard time understanding that it was David and I getting our hair cut and not 2 people named Dan Jones....  

We've had our usual crazy busy week with school and work and friends and sports.  Evelyn had a meet at Beaverton on Wednesday - she struggled a bit on this meet, but hurdles went better than last time!  She's so brave!! 

Aaron had a Auto Tech competition this weekend as well as a water polo tournament.  He competed in the auto tech thing Friday and Saturday and took 3rd, then today he went and played in the two games his team had today.  

David is still doing water polo on Fridays and Saturdays and he's doing so well - it's obvious that he is now the more experienced water polo players in the begginner group and he's starting to think about wanting to move up to the next level, so I talked to Blake and we are thinking maybe in the Fall would be a good time - then he'll be 9 and ready to join the 12U's.  In the meantime, I will bring him to a few Monday's here and there to get ready before tournaments.  

On Saturday, Dan asked Anna if she had recieved her tags for her mission yet....  she said, no, but she hadn't checked the mail, so she checked the mailbox and sure enough... there they were - English and French name tags :)  She was super excited! 

Saturday evening, she and I went to Open Polo - She had run into water polo friends at the temple earlier that day and they were going, so she went too.  She ended up seeing a LOT of friends there, many of whom she hadn't seen for awhile and all of whom she wouldn't see again for a year and a half or more.  After last week with 8 people, it was nice to have the pool packed!  

Today our ward had fast and testimony meeting and it got way too real for me that her time at home is almost over and she will be leaving on her mission soon - it hit me that this was her last fast and testimony meeting before she left.  And I lost it for a bit....  

Easter

We've had a busy week this week leading up to Easter!!

This week leading up to Easter, I've taken charge of the Scripture time, at least on the days when I was home.  We've had some nice discussions and fun time together! 

Tuesday, I got a call from Sunset about coaching the score program there - I hadn't realized that I was still doing that since I had thought it didn't have enough people.  But I was wrong, so I hurried up there and we had fun learning some water polo stuff!  Then I came home and Dan and I spent some time watching a movie.  He had rented Pride and Prejudice and Zombies from the library....  I tried... I really did, and I might have made it through more if Darcy hadn't been so awful....  

Evelyn had her first track meet of the season on Wednesday.  She did both pole vault and hurtles.  She PR'd on the pole vault - she jumped 8'!  She said hurtles didn't go as well, but it's was an exciting first meet.  There was a bit of rain at first, but it had cleared by the time she had to jump!  

Between Evelyn's meet on Wednesday, my work schedule, my swimming and work out and dropping off and picking up David and then coaching in the evening - I was barely home all day and hardly had time to eat - so by the end of my day, I was TOTALLY exhausted! 

Thursday I mostly took it easy.  David had swim lessons after school (I almost forgot) but we got him there and he did great - he is clearly more comfortable in the water than most of the other kids - water polo is making a big difference.  Then in the evening, I went to masters at Sunset - numbers were a bit low, but Laura brought a friend from work who is a goalie and Warren was there, so we had a lot of goalies, so I had some fun playing field too!  

Friday, David had water polo in the evening - the time has changed and is now a bit earlier, so we were done a bit earlier, so Dan and I went out for dinner after, then came back to watch a movie.  We had thought about going to a theater, but there weren't really any good times that we could make.  We waached the new Anaconda movie - it was fun!  Landon B also stayed the night.  David wanted a sleepover with him and it worked out perfectly for him to come over while his family went down to Eugene for the night (he really didn't want to go anyway, so us asking for a sleepover was well timed!) 

Saturday was the beginning of our General Conference weekend.  And Easter weekend!  And all the stuff!  It was kinda crazy busy!  We started with the morning session, then I went with Eileen to the grocery store to get Easter stuff and conference food stuff and weekend stuff.  By the time we got home, it was time for me to get David ready for water polo.  He had fun and did a great job, and we got home just as the second session was ending.  So I finally got myself some food and watched the second session a bit late and got Easter stuff ready...ish.  In the evening, Evelyn had a concert and we went to the Reamer's for dinner.  The food was super good and we had a fun time playing with the kids and chatting with friends!  Then we got home, did scriptures and got David to bed, then I went to Open Polo - numbers have been pretty low lately, we only had 8 people there total and by 10:30, we had 4.....  

Sunday morning, Dan and Anna went to watch the morning session at the church, I stayed home with the other kids, then we all met at the church for a potluck lunch.  We had a great time and Anna even met another person who had served in the Montreal, Canada mission.  Then we went home and started the cooking for the afternoon session snacks.  James came over to watch the afternoon session with us and play games.  We enjoyed the 7-layer dip and monkey bread!  

After, we had an Easter Egg hunt with the kids.  They had fun finding and Dan and James had fun hiding and watching and laughing.  Then we played a game of Dominion before heading to the church for a baptism.  It was wonderful and she's an amazing lady!!  Then after, Mhanita Kunzler had some food for everyone - she had made her amazing spring rolls and curry and rice along with fruit and cookies - it was all amazing.  (Yes, we've eaten way too much today!!!)  

We came home, did scriptures, played more games, and now we are all exhausted from a busy, but incredible weekend.  Conference weekends are the BEST!

Aaron's actually Sky Diving

Aaron had an amazing weekend - he got to actually skydive this weekend.  He got his first real tandem jump in and he LOVED it.  He was grinning ear to ear and bouncing all day Saturday - both with anticipation before and excitment after!  

Aaron was also at the CDL classes this week - he had a great time learning and using simulators and checking out different companies in the area.  

This week was Spring Break for the kids, so they kept busy at home - we didn't really have any plans - too much else going on!  David spent at lot of time with Paxton and some other friends including a sleepover.  Evelyn had track practices all week and Anna and I had our usual work schedules.  

David asked if he could dye his hair, so on Thursday after I got home from work, we used the box dye I got on Monday and turned him into an "orange-head" (he gets annoyed when people call him a redhead...)  I think it turned out pretty good though, and he's had fun showing it off!  

This weekend was exciting - the Messiah Choir had their final rehearsals and then our performance tonight!  It went well and we had a great time.  Dan's friends Ed and Ben came to the concert and it was fun having friends there!  

It was also our Easter program this week at church - Anna was accompanying two numbers - I was directing the choir for two numbers and Evelyn had put together a group for a number.  Everyone was amazing - Evelyn's number was especially beautiful - especially after all the trouble she had getting it together -  she had 3 of the 4 friends she had asked to help with it back out on her - one last minute.  But with Anna taking over piano and some help from friends she made it work and it was beautiful!!!  

Aaron's Skydiving...almost

Aaron decided that for his 'senior trip' he was going to do a week long school to get certified to skydive.  Before that happens this summer, there are some pre-requisites.  He took care of the first this weekend - he went to a safety course.  Dan just hung out and got a couple jumps in, Aaron had a blast doing this class - every time he came out, he was grinning from ear to ear.  While he was doing that, mom was running errands and playing water polo.  Evelyn was with a bunch of friends out at the coast.  Anna had work and the temple and David was at Paxton's house.  So it was really only James and Eileen home to greet Grandpa when he arrived.  He flew in to be here for Anna's farewell talk on Sunday.  Anna spoke, and she and I performed O Divine Redeemer again.  David invited Paxton's family to church and it was a great day to have them there.  The lessons and talks were wonderful!  

The rest of the week was pretty normal craziness - school, sports and friends.  Evelyn is doing track and Aaron has started Club water polo.  Anna is keeping busy with work and the temple - though she is getting very tired of the early morning shift!  

Weather has been nice, so we've stayed after school to play most days and the kids love getting to hang out with friends and play on the playground

We hosted a youth activity at our house and the kids ate cookies and played games - everyone had fun! 

Swim banquet

The kids had their end of year swim banquet this week.  It's been a ton of fun and the kids were amazing.  The head coach worked this year on getting a Mountainside records board - and it's was fun seeing how many of the names I recognized on there!  The kids all did amazing and Evelyn was super excited to be chosen as one of the captains for next year!  

Other than that, it's been a normal busy sort of week with school and work and kids stuff.  Dan is still on the hunt for a new job and Anna is still getting ready for her mission.  Eileen is finishing up her Associates degree at PCC - but the teachers went on strike, so she may not even have to take a final.  

David and I found a newt on the way home from school one day which was fun!

Ummm... Where did February Go????

This has been a crazy busy month!  The kids finished up swim season.  Aaron had his senior night at our last meet against Jesuit.  It has been a great season for him and for the team as a whole.  It's been a lot of fun helping out with them and a lot of fun seeing the kids grow and improve!  

Districts went well for both of them - Both Aaron and Evelyn made it to the finals in their events as well as Aaron being in one of the relays.  The kids all did an amazing job!  We had a few kids go to state - Evelyn and Aaron were alternates again, but they didn't swim at State.  Evelyn loved going and supporting her friends who were swimming though!  

The weekend of State was crazy busy.  It was also the weekend of the Portland Regional Music Workshop and Performers Concert.  Anna and I performed "O Divine Redeemer" together.  She did an amazing job on the piano and my solo went pretty well too.  Everyone was so kind and all the performers did an amazing job!   

David's 3rd Grade class had their big music concert.  David was SO excited about it.  He has been talking about it for over a month and invited everyone he knew to it.  He did an amazing job and had a part in a small group part.  We got him some balloons and candy and a card as a "congrats" type of gift.  He was super excited about it.  :)  

I got to scrimmage with the masters group at the MAC this month - it was such a fun day, and we had a great time.  Our team did well and I played alright.  It was fun to see friends and then after, we went out to a nearby bar and grill to hang out for a bit.  

The beginning of March signals Grandpa's birthday.  He turned 99 this year!  Sandi and I flew out and we met our parents out in Colorado.  My parents got an airbnb for us to all share.  It was great.  I found a place to swim and went to do laps most mornings.  And I even got to go play water polo one night with the masters group in Denver.  It was a lot of fun and I met some great people!  During the day, we spent our time hanging out with Grandpa and trying to help him out and get some things done for him.  Sandi is so amazing - she was SO MUCH help with Grandpa and helping figure out some financial things and finding some tax deductible stuff for him.  Wednesday evening, we had a little party for Grandpa with the family - We brought in Olive Garden and held it in the activity room at his place.  Grandpa asked us to all share a favorite memory of the cabin and we had a great night spent reminicing together and laughing and talking!  

Thursday night, my mom decided to make steaks for Grandpa, so we had another smaller dinner with Grandpa of steak and mashed potatoes and peas.  The food was all super yummy!  The steak was amazing - my mom is a great cook!  

In addition to the big get together meals, we had lots of little one on one and 2 or 3 on one meals with Grandpa.  Sandi or I had breakfast with him every morning.  I got In-N-Out burger for us for dinner one night.  I had lunch with him one day and Stuart brought Freddy's for lunch one day.  It was so nice to have these more personal interactions and also to get to meet some of the people he usually eats with and talks to.  

The weather most of the time we were there was sunny and warm and beautiful - but Friday, it started snowing and snowed all day.  It was fun, but also a little worrisome since Sandi, Dan and I were all flying out that evening.  Sandi got out just a little late - Dad and I were over an hour later each, but we all got home safely.  And we enjoyed getting to see the snow! 

Saturday morning was back to the usual.  David and I had a tournament this weekend.  He had a couple games on Saturday and one on Sunday (there were actually 2 on Saturday, but we went to church during the first one) They won 2 and lost 2.  But they all played SUPER well.  It was a lot of fun to be there with them and working with them.  David was super excited and talking about doing more tournaments!  

Sunday also included a wonderful church service and choir practice and the Messiah Choir practice.  It's been so much fun having these practices and getting this amazing music ready to perform!   

Anna's leave date on her mission was pushed back a couple weeks because of some mix-ups about her MTC time and beacause the mission she was called to was getting split into two missions.  She is spending most of her time working or at the temple.  And because of the change in start time, she is now able to do the Messiah with us!  

Wow... I've been really bad at keeping up with this....

I hadn't realized it had been a whole month.  It's been busy and yet pretty normal stuff.  Aaron and Evelyn are doing well in swim - it's been fun helping with their practices and going to their meets.  I'm glad that I get to be a part of it!  

I'm also coaching the 12 and under and the 10 and under teams with THills water polo.  David has been loving it and they are great kids!  David and I went up to Tacoma this weeked for a tournament with the team.  The kids did great - they struggled with a cold pool (especially David) but they played hard and did a great job!  

James has been getting more social - hanging out with friends and going to movies with them.  He's got a couple good friends that he really likes to hang out with.  

Evelyn is doing well with school and friends and her boyfriend.  David loves him and he's a great kid, so we like having him around.  :)  

Anna has been keeping busy with work and temple and church and music.  She and I auditioned for the Portland Music Workshop performers concert and got in.  

Eileen is doing well with her schooling at PCC and enjoying drawing and writing. 

Dan is looking for a new job and and hunt continues.  

I can't believe January is over and we are already into the second month of the year - time just seems to go so fast..... Aaron is 18 and an adult now.  James is 14 and getting taller every day.  

Birthday Boy -1

This week was mostly getting back to regular schedules.  Monday was a kind of soft start, where some things had started back up, but not school.  

Tuesday we were back to the full thing.  Unfortunatly, I was sleeping terribly - having lots of back pain, neck pain and hip pain and just tossing and turning all night, so I set up a virtual appointment for Thursday and talked to a doctor about some muscle relaxers and maybe seeing a PT.  

Swim team this week was mostly focused on getting back to work after the better part of 2 weeks off.  I had a great time working with the kids and helping out.  At one point - I gave them a set and as they complained, I told them "If I can do it, you can!  I'm old and slow - you are young and healthy!"  Those sweet kids told me - "you aren't old" and "but you have big muscles and can pull more water"  I laughed, told them they were awesome and made them do it anyway.  :)  

Water polo with the young kids has been fun - they are a fun group to work with and I feel like I'm learning how to be a better coach too.  Wednesday, I got to get in the with High School kids - it's great getting to do the work outs with them!  

Thursday was the swim meet against Sunset - it was fun to see some of the water polo kids there and the kids did a great job - they both pushed themselves outside their comfort zone!  Aaron swam a 200 IM and Evelyn did the 100 back.  

Saturday was Aaron's 18th birthday.  We went to Parkrose for water polo - had a HUGE turn out and a TON of fun!  Then came home for a Sushi dinner and Angel Food Cake.  I can't believe I have 3 adult children...  He's super excited to be an adult.

Anna and I went to Open polo in the evening - there was a decent turn out and it was fun.  

Sunday was busy and great!  We had church, choir, family time with games and dinner, then a fireside to get people ready for Trek.  I kinda went into feeling a bit underwhelmed by it, but left feeling like it was exactly what the Lord wants these kids doing!  

New Years!

We had a quiet week.  There was no high school swim practice, no water polo practices to coach.  Mostly just enjoying time together, playing games, making food and SLOWLY taking down Christmas Decorations.  Mom and Dad headed home Monday morning and got back to Texas safely.  David had fun playing with his friend Paxton.  

Wednesday night for New Years Eve, we went to the Thornton's new house for a New Year's party, then around 9, we headed out to go back home and hang out.  Dan decided to get us a new puzzle for New Year's (even though he doesn't usually do them) and so he ordered one on Amazon.  I usually do 1000 piece puzzles because we can finish it in one night.  He got a 1500 piece puzzle of Hogwarts.  It's beautiful, and its all dark blues and browns....  I enjoyed it, but Eileen has decreed that he can NO LONGER CHOOSE THE PUZZLES.  She was very frustrated by it.  Though since it took us the better part of 4 days, my back wasn't very happy with it either.... :)  

Thrusday we took it easy and slept late and hardly did anything all day.  Then Friday, it was time to start thinking about getting back to routines....  Kinda - the kids were gonna have Monday off too, so really we have until Tuesday to get back to normal.  

Saturday I got to go to Parkrose for water polo with Anna, which was a lot of fun and then Open Polo in the evening which was pretty quiet.  It's nice to have her back and get to play with her again!  

Christmas

Monday was crazy busy - I spent the whole day getting everything ready for our Bagna Cauda Party.  It went well - lots of friends and fun and music and of course, yummy food.  I'd invited friends with dietary restrictions - so when we had vegan and gluten free options for food, people were so grateful, it's nice to be able to make people feel welcome and comfortable!  

Tuesday, we passed out cookie plates as a family and sang carols.  It was so much fun as always!  

Tuesday evening, Dan went to hang out with friends, and I had Nicole and Kristin over to do a puzzle with Eileen and I.  I picked this neon one which proved a difficult one, but we had a great time! 

Wednesday, I spent the whole day trying to finish off Christmas stuff for everyone.  I was SO exhausted by the end....  So I went home and was just totally ready to crash.  After getting David to bed, We finished getting Christmas stuff set up and ready for Christmas morning!  

Thursday morning, we woke up to Dan and David running around the house yelling "He's been here!  He's been here! Santa Clause been here!"  in the style of Your's Mine and Ours!  It was so fun!  Then we wore our matching pj's for a picture on the stairs.  Then we finally got down to the business of stockings and breakfast and presents.
 

Grandma and Grandpa got in the afternoon and came over, but they spent a lot of the time wrapping presents.  Then we spent a nice evening dinner with Sandi and my parents and our family!  

Friday we got up and mostly had a lazy morning, then we got together with Sandi and Dad and Mom to open presents.  It was a fun time!  Then we hung out and played games until the evening.  Sandi had something else going on that evening, and Dan and I went with Mom and Dad to Fogo de Chao for dinner.  It was super yummy and fun! 

Saturday, my mom took Eileen and Evelyn out for their Christmas shopping trips, then we met up with all the girls for Pedicures.  Finally we had a nice quiet evening with dinner and chatting, before my everyone headed home, and I headed for open polo with Aaron.  It was a great turn out and we had a blast!  It was much more capable players and actually playing, so it was a lot of fun! 

Sunday was fun and busy.  We had church in the morning, then had fun as a family trying out some of our new games.  Then we went to Sandi's house in the evening for dinner and a final round of opening presents with Taz and Kai.  By that point, a lot of us were pretty exhausted, so we headed home and to bed!  

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!  

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!!  

It was fun and yummy!  Then back home for a bit before I headed to Parkrose for water polo.  It was a ton of fun with full court 6x6!  Then after that, I got home in time to do scriptures with the kids and then headed to the church to play the piano for a baptism.  It was beautiful!  Then I headed home, grabbed my stuff and headed to the annual Ugly Sweater party and White Elephant Gift Exhange.  It was a lot of fun - I got to chat with Truman's parents for a bit and hang out with lots of friends!  After the party, I hit Open Polo for the last hour - numbers were SUPER low though, so it was more messing around than real play.  It was fun though.  

Today was wonderful!  Church was great - lots of getting ready for the Christmas Program!  Primary kids are doing great!  Choir sounds amazing and I'm so looking forward to next week!  Then dinner and finally after scriptures, I went with Eileen and David to Evelyns' Encore concert.  It was amazing!!!!  I kept crying at the beautiful music and beautiful message - and apparently David is a sympathetic crier..... I've been a bit emotional today.  

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!