19 March 2023

We had a great second week of spring break.  Monday was Phil and my 3rd wedding anniversary.  Three years went quickly!  And at the same time, it seems like we've always been together; my soul belongs with his.    In three years we sold a house, refinanced a house, built a shop, took a cruise, bought a truck, had a baby, added more animals to the ranch, bought a tractor, and so much more.  Our life is a beautiful thing even when its not perfect.  We didn't get to celebrate on Monday because he was working, but I did get to attend the wedding of a friend.  I took Felicity with me as my +1 and we had a lovely time.

On Tuesday Phil helped me with Jude while I worked and in the late afternoon we went to the temple to celebrate our anniversary.  We did sealings for an hour and then an endowment session.  In between the two activities we ran into Phil's brother and his wife who were also at the temple and so we enjoyed attending and visiting with them.  After the temple we went out to a nice dinner and enjoyed our evening together.  I sure do love my sweet husband, I could not find a better companion and friend; one doesn't exist .  I could spend the next 1,000 years trying and never be able to earn the blessing he is in my life.  Even though we got a late start on our marriage, I'm glad that we have an eternity to look forward to. 

He was back at work on Wednesday and I had an appointment to have my lashes done.  I had planned to treat myself when I hit 20 pounds of weight loss and there was a gal who had advertised the service from her home salon in a neighboring stake.  The kiddos watched Jude for me while I had my appointment.  It went, well, it was OK.  She was a really sweet girl, but I think my definition of natural and hers are a little different and so my lashes are looking a little dramatic...until they fall off just pretend you don't notice!  Arlo went to spend time with my Mom on Wednesday.  She took him and his cousin out to eat and to play at the arcade.  I heard they had a great time.

Phil worked overtime on Thursday so the kiddos helped me with Jude while I was working.  On Friday I was super busy with errands after putting a couple of hours in virtually at the office.  I took our neighbor grocery shopping and did some shopping myself.  Phil and I also had lunch together which was nice.  The middle kids went to visit their dad and after Jude went to bed Felicity and Phil and I watched a movie together (for the life of me I can't remember what we watched).  Saturday was again filled with chores and projects.  We started the morning with Felicity heading to work with my mom and Phil and Jude and I heading to clean the Los Reales church building in Tucson with other members of my Presidency, the High Councilor over Relief Society, and our families.  We knocked it out pretty quickly and Jude was happy to explore, be disobedient, and play in the landscaping.   When we got home Phil and I worked on caulking and making repairs to the exterior of the house until the wind drove us back inside later in the afternoon.  I am DETERMINED to get everything prepped and the house repainted before it gets too hot.  I bought us a cement mixer as an anniversary gift so I'm also looking forward to a spring of pool fencing, tree wells, and other cement-required projects.

Phil took Jude to church on Sunday while I attended in the Vail ward for our second to last ward conference.  We enjoyed a quiet afternoon before picking up the other kids from visiting in Tucson.  We started to plan our summer vacation which is a fun prospect, we didn't take a vacation last year other than camping so we're excited to put something on the books.  Back to the grind tomorrow, I can't believe we're only a couple months away from summer break!

12 March 2023

 Yay spring break!  I love not having to be up early running kids around.  Phil worked on Monday and so it was just Felicity and Jude and I while the other kids were away.  We worked on projects around the house, enjoyed lunch out and just generally relaxed and relished free time.  

Phil worked more overtime this week, but he was home on Thursday when we had the missionaries over for dinner.  We had a nice evening.  Phil worked a front half of overtime on Friday and in the evening we picked up the kids.  The girls and I went to see Antman and the Wasp Quantumania at the movie theater Friday night and had a great time, we really enjoyed the movie (and the popcorn).  Speaking of popcorn I savored my small movie theater popcorn and celebrated 20 pounds down!  I continue to make slow and steady strides towards a healthy weight.  

Draw results came out this week and it looks like I'm the only one elk hunting this year.  I secured a tag in a limited opportunity area for any elk, which means I'll hopefully be able to get a bull.  That being said, I really need to keep working at getting into hunting shape.  

So while I am still studiously working on my bedroom quilt, I got distracted again with some fun plaids and made some toothy sharks.  I finished the top in a week and am excited to see it quilted.  I love to have a couple quilts on hand for gifts.  Here are the first two blocks of the bedroom quilt.  I've actually made three blocks since I duplicated block one.  I'm going to be duplicating eight of the twelve blocks so I have enough to cover my king size bed.

Did I tell you that last Sunday night a boy from Felicity's choir class came over to meet us?  I can't remember if I added that to last week's post.  Well, one of Felicity's classmates came over because he wanted to introduce himself and ask our permission to take Felicity on a date.  It was quite cute if I do say so myself and we consented with the caveat that we prefer she date in groups and not exclusively with any one person while she's in high school.  Saturday was the date.  They went to dinner and to Golf N' Stuff in Tucson, I heard a good time was had by all.  Parenting teenage girls is a whole new world of challenges.  I'm grateful my girls are responsible and for the most part trustworthy.  

We enjoyed church on Sunday.  In the afternoon I met my mom for lunch and we went to see Grandma Lo.  My heart hurts just thinking about it.  She has declined so quickly its hard to believe.  We were only there for a few minutes, she didn't recognize us and barely acknowledged that we were there.  Ugh!  There are parts of life that are so hard. 

In the evening we had dinner with my parents and enjoyed a nice visit.  I'm looking forward to another week of spring break.

06 March 2023

I officially made an adjustment to my flexible work arrangement at work to include thirty hours instead of twenty, it does mean that I'm going to have to do a few hours on Monday and Friday, which I've been enjoying off for almost a year.  Oh, well!  That being said, on Monday I logged in for my daily stand up meeting and got that out of the way.  After a couple of hours I was free to work on projects and house cleaning.  I delivered eggs and was able to pick up my quilt.  I love how it turned out!  My lovely friend Tricia does such a wonderful job quilting my tops.  I spent the afternoon finishing the binding and now its all ready to be gifted.

I am still working on my applique quilt, the one that's going to go on my bed, but I get easily distracted.  This week I made a shower curtain for our bathroom from the fabric collection that the quilt is being made with.  I wasn't sure at first, but its really grown on me.  I will eventually make matching curtains for our bedroom and bathroom.  I always have big-big plans and lists of projects.  I was able to get together with friends on Wednesday night to have dinner and celebrate a birthday.  We went out for Chinese/Thai.  I have been doing really well with my healthy eating goals, I'm three weeks in now, so I scoured the menu and made my choices before we got there.  It was a good night and yummy food.

It was very windy and rainy on Wednesday night, I was grateful that Phil was home.  Around 11 or so the wind and rain stopped and when we woke up on Thursday morning there was six inches of snow all over the ranch.  It was beautiful!  The girls had to scrape off the car before they could leave for school.  Phil took Jude outside to play in the snow for awhile while I worked.  He stayed out until he was wet and shivering.  It didn't take long for the snow to start melting.  

Never underestimate Arizona, 75 degrees on Monday and six inches of snow on Thursday.  Unfortunately we discovered that our other skylight was broken in the wind...at least we know how to fix it.  

Thursday evening our Stake Relief Society Presidency participated in a spring training at the church.  I am grateful for the opportunity to serve in our stake and to work with such incredible women.  Friday was the kids' last day of school for a couple of weeks as we head into spring break.  We heard that Arlo's science fair project didn't place at school, which we were both disappointed about, but they did let us know they were sending it to the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair (SARSEF) so fingers crossed we'll place there.  Phil was sick this week which meant he had to take a couple of sick days and we were supposed to volunteer to clean the temple on Friday evening and we couldn't since he was sick.  Arlo and Helen went to spend the first week of spring break with their dad in Tucson.  Saturday morning we attended a memorial service for a friend's husband who recently passed away and when it was over we worked on projects.  We're trying to get repairs done to the exterior of the house so that we can FINALLY finish painting it.  Heaven help me I have hated having the house half painted for the last two years...I'm sure by now my neighbors think that its half painted by choice!

I enjoyed church with my family.  Jude did a little better, we made it through the Sacrament portion of the meeting and he only needed 10-15 minutes of time out before he was ready to return to the chapel after his post-Sacrament melt down.  I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually eight year olds don't roll under the benches or cry prostrate in the aisle, right?

26 February 2023

 We have been busy.  Phil is working overtime like crazy and while I miss him, I know there is a plan and we'll be happy we made the sacrifice down the road.  On Monday I had to work in the morning and then after Phil and Jude came home from music class we went to deliver eggs together and then out to lunch.  I love spending time with my boys!

All of the kids were home in the morning since everyone had dentist appointments.  The big kids did great, no cavities!  Jude went last and while he was hesitant at first he was mostly cooperative and let the hygienist clean his teeth and the dentist to take a look and count his teeth.  He was pretty excited to get a sugar-free lollipop when we were done.  All the rest of the kids went back to school and Jude and I went home and I went back to work.

Our Wednesday after school Helen and Arlo went to visit their dad (lets be honest they visit their dad's ex-wife and sometimes their dad pops over to see them, its absurd and frustrating, but I don't have a lot of control over how that goes down).  We took Jude over to my mom's house to spend the night and Phil and I went out to dinner and then to Dear Evan Hansen at Centennial Hall.  Felicity left later in the evening to leave for her weekend choir trip to Disneyland...I was a little bit disappointed we didn't get picked to chaperone this year, it was SO much fun last year.  We enjoyed our dinner and the show was good, I hadn't seen the movie or heard the music so it was all new to me and I enjoyed it.

My mom kept Jude all day on Thursday and Phil and I worked on projects around the house.  We were hoping to get started on paining the house and finishing up organizing the shop, but instead we had to do clean up projects from last week's wind damage. We had to get new covers for our chicken coops and replace a broken skylight.   

We picked Jude up Thursday evening, he had a fun time at Nana's.  He helped Daddy replace the leaky sink faucet before bed.

Phil worked overtime on Friday, and Jude and I hung out at home.  Felicity was having a great time on her trip, although I heard it was cold and rainy.  

On Saturday when Phil got home he and Jude and I went to Tucson to visit Grandma Lo.  Her health has started to decline and she was put on hospice at the beginning of the week.  When we got there she was napping in a chair in the living room, I woke her up, but she didn't recognize me.  I pulled down my mask, but it didn't seem to help.  She waved hi to Jude, but otherwise pretty much ignored that we were there.  It was heartbreaking.  I sat on the floor next to her chair for 20 minutes or so and then couldn't do it any more.  I started to tear up and I couldn't stop, so we left.  Its so hard!

We had church on Sunday and Jude wasn't any better than he has been the last few weeks.  We'll survive, right?  After church Felicity attended a memorial service for a classmate, she's had two classmates die since the beginning of the year; its been a bit of a rough start to the new year.