Pool Life Is Real: Why a Backyard Pool Changes Everything
A lot of people underestimate what it means to have a pool in your backyard.
But pool culture is real.
It transforms the way you live. The space behind your back doors becomes somewhere you actually want to be—not just in summer, but all year long.
Take the birthday party. December. Cold front blows in. It’s 40 degrees outside. But the pool is 84. The hot tub is 103. Kids are playing watermelon ball. Adults are roasting marshmallows by the fire. One party. Five families. Everyone doing their own thing. All of it centered around the water.
That’s pool life.
Or the everyday moments. Three swims a day in the summer. Morning chores done? Go swim. Lunch break? Go swim. Dad comes home from work? “Let me show you this cool thing I learned.”
No packing up. No driving to the HOA pool. No forgotten swim diapers.
Just freedom.
And here’s the thing parents love most: screens aren’t the best for kids. Fresh air and sunlight are. The pool gets them outside. They’ll beg to turn the movie off just to jump in.
Your house becomes the hosting house. The hangout spot. The place where grandparents play with grandkids, where teenagers want to be, where memories just happen.
One mom put it simply after living with a pool for a year: “I don’t know how you’re not selling more of these things. I’d pay double.”
At Denali Pools, we build more than concrete and tile. We build your family’s next memory.
Read the full transcript here
Chapter 1: Intro
0:00
A lot of people underestimate, quite honestly, what it means to have one of these in your backyard. Pool culture is for real.
0:09
9 seconds
I don’t know how you’re not selling more of these things. I’d pay double. Pay double. Yeah.
0:13
13 seconds
I know. Screens aren’t the best for kids. Like fresh air, sunlight. Like, kids are missing that these days.
0:19
19 seconds
When your house is, you know, Yeah. the hosting house. It’s like it’s a ton of fun.
Chapter 2: Start of the Deep Dive
0:36
36 seconds
All right, welcome back, Mitch. Good to be here.
0:39
39 seconds
Denali’s Deep Dive podcast. Got another episode coming at them today. Today’s kind of fun one. I’m I’m excited about this one.
0:48
48 seconds
Let’s just talk about all the fun times we’ve had in our swimming pools.
0:52
52 seconds
Seriously, today we wanted to talk about that. I think a lot of people underestimate quite honestly
0:59
59 seconds
what it means to have one of these in your backyard for sure.
1:04
1 minute, 4 seconds
What is pool life? Like it’s a for it’s a cultural thing, right? Like pool culture is for real.
Chapter 3: The “Pool Life” Culture: What it really is
1:13
1 minute, 13 seconds
Yep. the way that you live, the experiences that you have in the space behind those back doors completely
1:21
1 minute, 21 seconds
transforms when there’s something, you know, like this in the backyard. It’s
1:27
1 minute, 27 seconds
man, what a what a big deal. So, we want to bring you some of our own personal experiences. Yeah. I spend a lot of time in Mitch’s pool, right?
1:36
1 minute, 36 seconds
Amen.
1:37
1 minute, 37 seconds
His family spends a lot of time at our house, too. We’re we’re in the process of, you know, building the next one. We sold our house a couple years ago. Let’s
1:46
1 minute, 46 seconds
start off there. My the the thing that I remember the mo Well, there’s so many things I remember. One of the coolest
Chapter 4: The coolest perks of pool ownership
1:52
1 minute, 52 seconds
things we ever got to do. My wife’s winter baby, right? She’s born in December. December, right? Yeah.
1:59
1 minute, 59 seconds
Yep. And she wanted a pool, wanted a pool, wanted a pool. I designed pools and sold pools and worked in a pool
2:07
2 minutes, 7 seconds
company. And I was like, I grew up in pools, but my head, and so did so did Amanda, too. But my head was like, as a kid, it was always just fun, fun, fun.
2:18
2 minutes, 18 seconds
But I watched my dad be a pool boy for years, right?
2:21
2 minutes, 21 seconds
So, I kind of kind of resisted a little bit. I like, I don’t want to be a pool boy, man. She’s like, no, no, let’s do it. We did it. I want you to be a pool boy, Trav.
2:29
2 minutes, 29 seconds
So, Amanda grew up in a pool without a hot tub. Okay.
2:32
2 minutes, 32 seconds
Just a swimming pool, no heater. And she was like, “Trav, I’ve never had a pool party for my birthday.” And I want to do
Chapter 5: Travis’s Story: Throwing the ultimate pool party
2:40
2 minutes, 40 seconds
that so bad. Like, well, guess what? We can do that. So, it was I don’t know. It’s been 3 4 years ago now.
2:49
2 minutes, 49 seconds
It was right. It was around, you know, Christmas time. We went to actually a Christmas activity that was just up the road and burn it for the evening with
2:56
2 minutes, 56 seconds
all of our friends and this cold front blew in, but the heater was on in the pool, right? And the plan was everybody was going to go to this little Bethlehem
3:04
3 minutes, 4 seconds
village and we’re going back to our house for Amanda’s birthday party. Yep.
3:07
3 minutes, 7 seconds
And the pool heater had been on for probably 15 or 18 hours at that time. So we get home, it got even colder. It’s
3:15
3 minutes, 15 seconds
probably in the 40s outside. The the pool is 84°.
3:21
3 minutes, 21 seconds
The hot tub’s cooking at 103. Right. So you got one part of the party is sitting around the fire in jackets like roasting marshmallows.
3:31
3 minutes, 31 seconds
Uh we had another part of the party that was in the hot tub at 103. You got people swimming in the pool, playing watermelon ball. Like that was probably
3:40
3 minutes, 40 seconds
one of the most memorable times. We had probably five families there, all adults and all kids. There had to have been 40 people there.
3:48
3 minutes, 48 seconds
A ton of kids it felt like.
3:50
3 minutes, 50 seconds
And everybody’s doing their own thing, but it included the pool, right? the hot tub, the pool, uh the the fire pit, and
3:57
3 minutes, 57 seconds
the it was just a it was a standout experience, especially for Amanda, who’s like at the end of the night, she’s like, “That’s been my dream since I was
4:06
4 minutes, 6 seconds
a little kid.” Right? I’ve never had a pool party for my birthday. Just neat, right? Those are the kind of things that you don’t you don’t really even realize
4:14
4 minutes, 14 seconds
that that’s a real thing until you get to do it.
4:17
4 minutes, 17 seconds
For sure. And I think if I remember right, at one point we’re like, “All right, kids, adult swim time.” And even
4:24
4 minutes, 24 seconds
the kids who went to watch the movie, watch it on the back porch instead of going inside.
4:30
4 minutes, 30 seconds
They It was That to me is one of the most surprising things is how much the pool brings you out of the home. Right here
Chapter 6: The post-yard work plunge: Why it beats everything
4:38
4 minutes, 38 seconds
in central Texas, it’s a gazillion degrees. So, I mean, right now it’s beautiful.
4:43
4 minutes, 43 seconds
70° today. It’s It’s gorgeous, but that don’t last all summer, right? Whereas you get you get that pool that now is
4:52
4 minutes, 52 seconds
cooling in the summertime so you can get out and get in the pool and cool off. Um there’s nothing like doing some yard work and then jumping in the pool. That’s the best.
5:00
5 minutes
Don’t tell your maintenance guy I encourage that with all the grass clippings on your feet. But like that’s awesome. But then on the flip side, you got a spa or a heater. You in that
5:10
5 minutes, 10 seconds
winter time it’s also drawing you out or you have a fire pit. Even if you’re like I don’t have a heater on my pool, but we have the fire pit and it it’s just it’s
5:18
5 minutes, 18 seconds
all part of the backyard that draws you outside and so you’ve got that experience. It it extends the home in a way. Yeah.
5:26
5 minutes, 26 seconds
Um it’s it’s something I find I have to tell my kids like it’s lightning outside. You can’t right now. It’s not safe.
5:34
5 minutes, 34 seconds
Drag them out.
5:35
5 minutes, 35 seconds
It’s fine, Dad. We’ll just get wet. I’m like and get electrocuted. You can’t do it. Can’t get struck by lightning. But
5:42
5 minutes, 42 seconds
yeah, it I mean thinking of those those events we’ve done together hosting, I think that would probably be Amber’s
Chapter 7: Top reasons to build: Family, hosting, and memories
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5 minutes, 50 seconds
maybe her number two. Let me let me not tell a lie here. I think number one would be for the family. Um but then
5:58
5 minutes, 58 seconds
hosting is a close second, man. That’s the best.
6:01
6 minutes, 1 second
We do we do a lot of that. But but for the family, um before like early days of Denali, um
6:10
6 minutes, 10 seconds
my wife was like, “We’ll never have a pool cuz they’re so expensive.” And I was like, “Well, may maybe we’ll have a pool.” And she’s like, “That’s just not worth it.” She actually had a pool as a kid growing up.
6:20
6 minutes, 20 seconds
Yeah.
6:21
6 minutes, 21 seconds
Um and she’s just like, “They’re just so expensive.” Um which they are. Don’t get me wrong. Pools are expensive. That’s
6:28
6 minutes, 28 seconds
every week when we sign checks to our our partners, our our vendor partners and our trade partners. I’m like, man, there’s just a lot of cost
6:37
6 minutes, 37 seconds
but she didn’t really know until she lived in it as an adult, as a mom.
Chapter 8: HOA Pools vs. Personal Backyard Pools
6:44
6 minutes, 44 seconds
We lived in a HOA neighborhood with a HOA pool, which was awesome. We got to pack up the kids and head down there and and it was great. It was a huge blessing
6:52
6 minutes, 52 seconds
to have that. And then we moved to a place with no pool. No HOA. no HOA pool, but pool in the backyard. And we started
7:01
7 minutes, 1 second
swimming in it. We eventually did a remodel on it, updated some stuff, brought things back to life, and it was
7:09
7 minutes, 9 seconds
so funny to hear her a year later be like, “I don’t know how you’re not selling more of these things.” I’d pay double.
7:15
7 minutes, 15 seconds
Double. Yeah. Say, “I would pay double what it cost to build a pool to have.” I’m like, “Well, that’s excessive.
7:22
7 minutes, 22 seconds
That’s way too much.” But she’s like, “It is so awesome.” At the time we had we had well Scotty was born in that h
7:30
7 minutes, 30 seconds
not in that house. That’s a whole another story. Scotty was born in a Denali truck. Denali truck, right?
7:35
7 minutes, 35 seconds
U we didn’t quite make it to the hospital. Uh but but like Scotty was born there. Lou was barely running
7:42
7 minutes, 42 seconds
around at that point. My you know, my littlest girls, we’ve got five kiddos.
7:46
7 minutes, 46 seconds
Um, my oldest is actually going to be uh going to be 13 here in a week, week and
7:53
7 minutes, 53 seconds
a half. Um, and and so like we had little kids at the time. Well, going down to the HOA pool meant we can’t go
8:00
8 minutes
till so and so’s up from a nap or I forgot a swim diaper, we got to go back.
Chapter 9: The hidden “cons” of the neighborhood community pool
8:05
8 minutes, 5 seconds
Or so and so ate all their snacks, but but Avery’s having so much fun with her new friend that she met. And and so it just kind of it wasn’t as ideal as we’d
8:14
8 minutes, 14 seconds
liked, but then having it in our own backyard, Amber’s like, “The three big kids finish their chores. Mom, can we go swim?” Sure thing.
8:22
8 minutes, 22 seconds
Yep.
8:23
8 minutes, 23 seconds
I can’t go swim right now cuz I’m still fold laundry, but I can fold laundry right here and look out the back window and see you guys. Whereas I I can’t send
8:31
8 minutes, 31 seconds
you guys down to the HOA pool because I got to do this stuff. or Lou’s down for a nap and so
8:39
8 minutes, 39 seconds
we got to stay here until she gets up and then by the time she gets up I got to start on dinner cuz we got to eat dinner before so and so’s practice. It just
8:47
8 minutes, 47 seconds
it just opens up so many more opportunities to be in the pool. We even so much more time, right? Like it’s available almost all the time.
8:55
8 minutes, 55 seconds
All the time. Yep.
8:56
8 minutes, 56 seconds
And and at the Huntsman house, we’ve got my oldest Mitch Jr., He loves gaming, which is great for him, but it drives my wife berserk.
9:04
9 minutes, 4 seconds
Yeah.
9:05
9 minutes, 5 seconds
And she’s like, “I don’t want you in front of screens. You’re They even go to school and we’ll come home and like we watch this cool YouTube video at school and and it’s like, man, you’re on
9:12
9 minutes, 12 seconds
screens all the time.” And and Amber being in the the psychology field, that’s where her studies, she’s like, “I know screens aren’t the best for kids.
9:20
9 minutes, 20 seconds
Like fresh air, sunlight, like kids are missing that these days.” And so the pool actually provides something that the kids want like like they’re begging
Chapter 10: Getting kids back outside: The fresh air factor
9:29
9 minutes, 29 seconds
her, can we turn the movie off and go outside. Um, and so that’s she really loves that part of it too. Uh, so I think the family is is the big thing.
9:39
9 minutes, 39 seconds
And and I’ll I’ll stop talking here for a second and give you a chance, but I think number two is is uh is hosting. We
9:47
9 minutes, 47 seconds
had the basketball team basketball team and parents come out to the house. Um, I think we bought 10 Costco pizzas, which
Chapter 11: Why your house becomes the “Hosting House”
9:56
9 minutes, 56 seconds
is way too many for any basketball team just to let everyone know. But, but then it w everyone was in the backyard. Like,
10:04
10 minutes, 4 seconds
we have we have a door to a a bathroom in our house and so even to go to the bathroom, there’s no dripping through the house. Um, and and we could just
10:14
10 minutes, 14 seconds
with very little notice, we could host a big event. The house didn’t have to be perfectly clean. And it’s great for everyone. And like I said, my oldest is
10:22
10 minutes, 22 seconds
about to be 13 and my youngest just turned five. And everyone in between Yeah.
10:28
10 minutes, 28 seconds
loves the pool cuz you find your spot, right? It might be sitting around in the fire pit. It might be in the hot tub. It might be jumping in. It uh just the other night me and Amber sat in the hot
10:37
10 minutes, 37 seconds
tub cuz it’s freezing outside and my kids are tough as nails and and so they were watch these tricks off the diving board and and me and my wife sat in the hot
10:45
10 minutes, 45 seconds
tub and and rated their their dives off the diving board. That was a three. Oh, so much better. 2009 and it like it was such a cool family time that we’re all
10:54
10 minutes, 54 seconds
together even though we’ve got boys and girls and we’ve got huge age ranges like it it still can just bring everyone together where whether it’s hosting a
11:02
11 minutes, 2 seconds
big event or whether it’s very intimate just family or or even just me and my wife we’ll it’s it’s pretty fun to just
11:09
11 minutes, 9 seconds
be able to say kids are finally in bed like high five we made it another day let’s go get in the hot tub sometimes it’s playing horse on the basketball hoop sometimes it’s just floating and
11:18
11 minutes, 18 seconds
talking but it It’s just an opportunity to decompress and and connect. I think that’s that’s right up there.
11:25
11 minutes, 25 seconds
Yeah. You may So, it’s an easy party. Yeah.
11:28
11 minutes, 28 seconds
Right, man. And we’ve had some fun ones, right, with We’ve had adult only like, hey, it’s it’s adult watermelon ball night, right?
11:37
11 minutes, 37 seconds
Like, and we get like competitive and sometimes kind of mean and then we got to apologize, all the things, right?
11:45
11 minutes, 45 seconds
And then it’s easy kid party.
11:47
11 minutes, 47 seconds
Summertime is a huge example for me. My wife gets to be home with the kids, you know, and they’re home from school. They
Chapter 12: Freedom: Letting the kids swim whenever they want
11:54
11 minutes, 54 seconds
they swim three times a day. They wake up in the morning, like you said, done with the chores. Mom, can we go? Yep. And they swim until it’s they’re hungry.
12:02
12 minutes, 2 seconds
It’s time to come in from lunch. And they come in from lunch and do their thing. Like, mom, can we go swim? Yeah.
12:08
12 minutes, 8 seconds
Knock yourself out. And they swim for a little while and they get done, do whatever else. But then inevitably I come home from work and like, “Dad,
12:18
12 minutes, 18 seconds
let’s go get in the pool.” You know, we we swam today, but you weren’t here, right? Yeah. Let me show you this. Let me this cool thing. This
12:26
12 minutes, 26 seconds
Monroe’s thing for a long time was like he would do these ninja poses, right?
12:31
12 minutes, 31 seconds
Like jumping off the jump in the watch this ninja pose. Like I look like the last one, Monroe. But it’s just like it’s either that easy party or it’s three times a day during the summertime.
12:42
12 minutes, 42 seconds
Um, you know, then you got I’ I’ve got a teenager too, but she’s well progressed in the teenager. Like she’s almost an adult. We’re fixing to
12:51
12 minutes, 51 seconds
say goodbye to her. She’s senior in high school getting ready to go do her own thing. But when that’s the other thing is like man, you can keep them home.
Chapter 13: Why a pool keeps your kids (and their friends) at home
13:01
13 minutes, 1 second
Yeah.
13:01
13 minutes, 1 second
When your house is, you know, Yeah. the hosting house. It’s like it’s a ton of fun. Yeah.
13:08
13 minutes, 8 seconds
I think too when you talk about hosting, so last year it didn’t even happen at our pool. It actually happened a friend of mine
13:16
13 minutes, 16 seconds
who we built for Mhm.
13:18
13 minutes, 18 seconds
Right. We serve at church together and he’s like, “You know what? The for for the youth activity, let’s do a back to
13:25
13 minutes, 25 seconds
school party.” Well, he’s got a really cool project with a outdoor kitchen and a pizza oven and he we have a place to
13:33
13 minutes, 33 seconds
play ball, right? And a fire pit to sit around. And so we had this huge group, you know, adult leaders and then all
13:41
13 minutes, 41 seconds
these kids, right? And it’s back to school. And of course, the 12 and 14 year old boys are acting the fool in the pool and the girls are like, I think we’re gonna sit over here.
13:50
13 minutes, 50 seconds
Yeah. sitting around the fire but cooking pizzas and and it’s it’s such a good place to have good quality
13:58
13 minutes, 58 seconds
entertainment where people can gather and be safe and feel comfortable and just just entertain. It’s a t and Todd,
14:05
14 minutes, 5 seconds
he doesn’t like he and Melanie, they’re they don’t have kids at home anymore, right? But they have this opportunity to have this youth activity at their house.
14:14
14 minutes, 14 seconds
Yeah. It’s just just a neat thing to be able to do.
14:17
14 minutes, 17 seconds
Yeah, for sure. You don’t have to you don’t have to have a a house or a a pool to be the house
14:25
14 minutes, 25 seconds
for for the teens to hang out at, but man, it helps.
14:28
14 minutes, 28 seconds
Yeah, it it helps. And and it helps the variety, right? Some people love to swim, but like I love there’s just
14:35
14 minutes, 35 seconds
something so romantic to me about the games on the football games on in the fall on the TV and which I just talked
14:43
14 minutes, 43 seconds
about getting away from screens and now we brought a screen out there.
14:46
14 minutes, 46 seconds
Well, the kids don’t want to watch football. That’s for me. I I have the game on. I have the smoker going. Even if it’s just smoking hamburgers. Yeah.
14:53
14 minutes, 53 seconds
And just the smell of the smoker, the splash of the pool, man, it’s it’s such a good way to to
15:00
15 minutes
bring groups together to to manage a lot of people. Um or just to to enjoy
15:07
15 minutes, 7 seconds
yourself. I I you said earlier um the hot tub’s not your jam, man. I putting it out there for everyone
Chapter 14: The luxury of a personal hot tub
15:16
15 minutes, 16 seconds
to know. Like I’m a bath guy. Like I love the hot water and I’m a big dude that still tries to play sports and so
15:23
15 minutes, 23 seconds
I’m sore all the time and my back’s messed up and getting in that hot tub and in that warm water and getting that jet on that one spot like I love that stuff. Um and just just being outside.
15:37
15 minutes, 37 seconds
It’s just a a great experience to have. It makes me think of my family reunions like we’ve got
15:45
15 minutes, 45 seconds
my folks live in the area. I’ve got a brother that lives in the area. I’ve got a sister that’s just just down the road.
15:51
15 minutes, 51 seconds
I’ve couple hours away. And when we get together, it’s always at our place. Yep.
15:57
15 minutes, 57 seconds
Because the kids can get out and get in the pool. Sometimes the adults are in the pool. There’s nothing like grandpa playing with the grandkids and and the
16:05
16 minutes, 5 seconds
competitive nature and boys versus girls and grandpa’s on the girls team and they’re winning and the boys, ah, come on. But like like those little things,
16:14
16 minutes, 14 seconds
it’s just so hard to to create in other ways. We’ve uh we’ve even it makes me think you talk about like hosting a deal
16:23
16 minutes, 23 seconds
for the youth. Uh my wife Amber is very connected to to several families. She’s much more of a social butterfly than I am, but but more than once has got a
16:31
16 minutes, 31 seconds
text message, can I have my graduation party at your house or can I can I host this? I I did her uh 30th birthday
16:39
16 minutes, 39 seconds
party. The birthday party is stuck in my head, right? Like, yeah. So, when Amber I married Amber when she was 18 and I was 22. We’re just
16:48
16 minutes, 48 seconds
a couple of babies. We’re we’re weeks away from our 15 year anniversary.
16:53
16 minutes, 53 seconds
Love each other more today than than ever, but we got married super young. And so, Amber’s always felt super young.
16:59
16 minutes, 59 seconds
All our friends have been a year or two or three or seven or 10 years older or way older in my case. Like, but she’s always felt like, man, I’m
17:09
17 minutes, 9 seconds
just a little kid. Um, and and so when she turned 30, she was like,
Chapter 15: Outro (Part 2 coming next week!)
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17 minutes, 20 seconds
“Well, it’s been great. Thanks for joining us today. You guys hear it all the time. Like and subscribe. It really does make a difference for us and it helps us to know that you like the
17:28
17 minutes, 28 seconds
content so we can continue to produce more like this for you guys.
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