No work for me this week, it was glorious! On Monday we talked to our favorite missionary. She received news about their upcoming transfer. She is staying in Mooresville and getting a new companion, Sister Dahl. She was very excited to be able to stay where she's made friends and connections and is having success. She was also excited to report that the weather was warmer too.
I caught this cute photo of two of my guys fast asleep this week. They are actually related after all.
Helen had the Fine Arts Showcase on Tuesday at school. She got to participate in most of the performances. She played trombone for the marching band segment, she sang with her choir, and she performed a Shakespeare monologue. Phil and Arlo had to be at a church activity (they had a lot of fun doing a white elephant gift exchange with the Teachers Quorum) and Jude was not feeling well so I had to stay home with him.
I used the free time to finish up some gifts for Jude's teachers. I made these adorable "mug rugs" and then made custom mugs with each of his teacher's names on them. I included some hot chocolate and marshmallows too. I made some cinnamon rolls for the office staff. I think everything turned out cute. I hope they like them!
Phil worked overtime on Wednesday, he's so close to his end of the year goal, but its going to come down to the wire with only a couple weeks left in the year. Arlo went to Nana's house after school and she and he went to Rocks and Ropes where Arlo spent a good long time climbing and then they went out to dinner to celebrate Arlo's belated birthday. I heard it was a good time.
I worked this week on preparing for the upcoming Christmas break and I was having to do it with some congestion and a cough. I was sick in November from germs that Jude brought home from preschool, now we are sick with germs that Phil brought home from the fire house. Ugh! Jude was probably more sick than the rest of us and he had some pretty chapped hands. I kept him home from school on Thursday and he was NOT happy about that; he missed his field trip to carol at the district office, but I couldn't send him in good conscience. I shouldn't have sent him on Wednesday. In the evening I lotion-ed his hands and had him sleep in plastic gloves to help with the awful chapping!
Friday was very hectic. I did some prep putting together fourteen gingerbread houses in the morning and then left for a hair appointment. The kids had a half day and Phil took the day off for our annual Gingerbread Family Home Evening party. In the evening we had some friends over and enjoyed time together, the kids decorated gingerbread houses, and we did some Christmas caroling. It was a lot of fun, I'm grateful to so many friends and family that came to enjoy the night with us.
Phil worked an overtime shift on Saturday and I worked on some last minute Christmas gift projects that I had half done. I was able to finish a crocheted bag for Helen and a crocheted dinosaur hat for Jude. Just in time to get them wrapped and under the tree.
Helen had a Christmas party to attend on Saturday and she spent time in the afternoon doing her hair into her best who-style.
Phil worked on Sunday and Helen had an extra school activity. The marching band was invited to play at an Arizona Cardinals football game in Phoenix and so she was up early and at school. I heard they did some tailgating, marched in a mini-parade, and then enjoyed the game. She was gone pretty much all day, which was lame.
The boys and I enjoyed a very nice Christmas Sacrament meeting with beautiful music at church. Jude missed out on singing with the primary since he was in the bathroom when it was their turn...typical. We only met for the first hour which meant I didn't have to prepare a Sunday school lesson this week. Merry Christmas to me! We enjoyed the rest of our Sabbath and I did some Christmas wrapping.
What a week! It was my last week of work for the year and it went beautifully. I was able to wrap everything up and signed off of my computer Thursday evening and won't need to log back in until Monday, January 5, 2026. Bring on the holidays!
Our favorite missionary is doing well and is anxiously waiting to hear about upcoming transfers which will be happening right before Christmas. The weather in Indiana has been cold and snowy, but she's doing well and they're having a lot of success. I received this picture from a member in her Stake who hosted the Sister Missionaries for dinner. She enjoyed a mission tour this week, the mission President and a couple of General Authorities met with the missionaries for a conference. It also meant that she got her Christmas gifts from home delivered by her Mission President. You can read about Felicity's adventures at https://sistercomaduran.blogspot.com/ which is a blog I'm updating with her weekly emails and pictures from the mission.
We were divided on Monday. I had purchased tickets to the Gaslight Theater a few months ago, before dates were announced for winter concerts. Helen had her winter choir concert on Monday night and we had to catch it via live steam. She's part of the girls' intermediate choir, they're a little rough, its just the only choir that fits into her schedule. She did have a solo in the second piece that was lovely and we were sad we missed seeing it in person.
The rest of us were celebrating Nana's birthday with her by going out to dinner and to the Gaslight Theater. We had a great time and invited my niece to join us since Helen wasn't able to use her ticket. Jude had fun and Nana even got him a root beer float during the show. We couldn't all sit together because when I bought tickets there weren't any good seats where all six of us could sit, instead we were in the front row, every other table. Nana and Jude sat together, Arlo and Jaidyn sat together, and Phil and I sat together. We had so much fun! At the end of the show they even treated Nana and Arlo to an ice-cream cone for their birthdays!
Tuesday was special, it was Arlo's 14th birthday!
Right after school we went out to dinner as a family, Arlo chose Red Robin.
He and Helen and Dad went to youth activities at the church after we got home from dinner. They had a combined activity, the young men and young women together. They played some Christmas games and I heard it was a fun time. Helen said they were doing trivia and the category was the Christmas Story so she was mentally going over facts from the movie in preparation for her turn...as it happens, they meant the Christmas Story as in the the birth of Jesus! I think she did OK in that category too!
When they came back from church we had cake and Arlo opened his birthday gifts. He got a paddleboard and some other fun things. He opened a package of sweatpants that I had purchased on Amazon. I hadn't opened them to check them, only wrapped them up straight after pulling them in from the front porch. Evidently I ordered a child's size, not an adult size because they were WAY too small. Comically too small. Jude cried almost the whole time because he wanted to open gifts and I wouldn't let him. I promised him that his birthday was coming up after Christmas, but he was unassuaged and cried uncontrollably anyway, what a drama queen!
Phil was back to work on Wednesday. He was a little more than disappointed that he didn't have any opportunity for overtime over this four-day break. He's so close to hitting his three year goal, he only needs a handful of overtime shifts before the end of the year. We're praying they materialize...its hard too when the calendar is so packed with holiday events. Arlo had his winter band concert on Wednesday. He did great, even though some of the bands were a little rough. They got a new band teacher this year and its been a bit of a transition.
Phil had a captain's meeting on Thursday (yay for 9 hours of overtime). I had to work too, so neither of us were able to go to the preschool where Jude was decorating an ice-cream cone Christmas tree. He didn't seem to mind we weren't able to be there to help...and he ate the tree on the way home from school.
Arlo had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon for his annual well patient check-up and sports physical in preparation for wrestling season that will kick off in January. He's doing great and getting so tall! Helen stayed after school most days this week with continued auditions for the musical for those who had gotten a call back. In the evening when we were all home we had another family movie night. This week it was my favorite Christmas movie, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, we enjoyed eggnog out of our Marty Moose glasses!
I worked hard this week on finishing up the labels and binding on my Christmas quilts and was able to wrap up the last one by Friday. They're beautiful! Essentially I made the first one last year and then had left over fabric from the fabric collection so I bought some additional fabric and made a second quilt and had some leftovers and it pretty much continued that way until I had seven quilts all using fabric from two beautiful Moda collections: Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning. Here are five of the seven finished and ready to be gifted quilts:
Phil worked on Friday and it was kind of a stinker. Helen came home really disappointed; they posted the cast list for the musical and despite all her work doing additional auditions this week, she was not offered a role. Instead, she'll be performing in the ensemble and she's understandably upset since its her senior year and the culmination of four years of hard work in theater, but that's the way it goes sometimes. The three lead female roles all went to very talented young women, it was tough competition for sure. It made my mama's heart sad for her, but I'm proud that she'll preserver and put her all into whatever will be needed in performing in the ensemble.
On Saturday we enjoyed a Christmas party hosted by the fire district. Jude enjoyed playing games with the other kids and then was excited to greet Santa who rolled up in the fire engine. He read the kids a story, had them come up and tell him what they wanted for Christmas, and then they each received a gift. Jude got a monster truck with a track. He played with it for the rest of the day, even roping Arlo into playing with him. Phil picked up a few hours of overtime on Saturday after the party, so that was a blessing.
Phil worked on Sunday so it was just the kids and I at church. Arlo and the other young men in the Teachers Quorum, all dressed in the same tie, performed a Christmas piece on the hand bells for the rest hymn. It was great!
The rest of our Sunday was quiet. I'm looking forward to some time off next week, although its going to be busy with end of year school activities and our annual Gingerbread FHE party.
What a week, it is truly the most wonderful time of the year! On Monday we got to talk to Sister Comaduran who is doing amazing! She's having lots of teaching opportunities and is enjoying her time as a missionary. We're very proud of the growth she's already made thus far. She's well into her second assignment with transfers coming up just before Christmas.
Monday we had the first of hopefully many family Christmas movie nights. We had popcorn, theater candy, and root beer and enjoyed a family favorite, "The Muppet Christmas Carol". It was great! Jude was most excited about the candy, but enjoyed the movie as well.
On Tuesday Helen had the first of her auditions for the high school musical. First up, dance auditions. She felt that it went alright, not stellar, but not terrible either. Jude and Dad went to their last music class of the year and had a great time together. When they got home, Dad cleaned the glass in Matthew the bearded lizard's cage and Jude assisted. He was so cute, I asked him to turn around to take a picture and you could tell he was uncomfortable turning his back on the huge lizard, even though it was in the cage. That being said, he was also desperate for Dad to take the lizard out of the cage so Jude could hold him.
In the evening Phil took Arlo to the church for his weekly youth activity. Phil is excited to be serving in the young men's organization and worked with the Teacher's Quorum Presidency (14-15 year-olds) to start some planning for the upcoming year. I'm grateful that his "high three" will be behind him in January and he can enjoy some fun campouts, fishing trips, and other activities with Arlo and his peers next year.
I'm slowly but surely moving my office/craft space/sewing room back into the spare bedroom. I have stuff that I've been keeping in the kitchen where I've been working the last 5 years, but I also had a lot of things that I had stored out in the shop that I'm moving back into the house as well. It's a mess for sure! But it's also a work in progress and I'm enjoying the space more and more as it comes together. I had put off moving back in because I wanted to redo the floors and build custom shelves and work surfaces and it just wasn't going to happen any time soon. I'm making do with what we already have and again, I'm happy with it. I'll get it all organized and put away eventually!
Even though it's hard for me to be creative when there's a mess to clean up (i.e.my office), I've been working on finishing up my Christmas quilts. I completed my snowflake quilt this week. I added a label to the back and binding around the edges and am happy with this cute little lap quilt. I designed this one in my Electric Quilt software using a few quilts that I saw online as inspiration.
On Wednesday, Helen had the acting portion of her audition for the musical. She did a comedic monologue from "Chicago" and felt it went very well, noting that her teacher even chuckled a couple of times during her performance. It was a huge buoy in what is turning out to be a stressful process. Jude was excited for his "Teddy Bear Picnic" this week at school. He insisted on bringing his bear a whole day early so it could go in his cubby so he wouldn't forget it; he wanted his bear to "look his best" so he also put it in a necktie. Here he is using some binoculars that they made to play "eye-spy" with their Teddy Bears.
Helen had the last component of her audition on Thursday, the vocal audition. We met her after auditions in the evening for the National Honor Society Induction Ceremony where Helen was (finally) being inducted into the National Honor Society. I knew immediately that auditions didn't go well because I could tell she had been crying. She made a mistake introducing her piece and so her teacher had her start over and I guess that threw her off and she felt like she struggled through the rest of the audition. I tried to reassure her that it probably wasn't as bad as she thought, but it didn't help much and I fear she didn't get to enjoy her NHS induction because of feeling defeated after musical auditions.
Phil took the day off on Friday and we spent it by going to the dentist together! When we were done we treated Jude to Chick-fil-A since he was so good at the dentist office. We got a happy phone call mid-day, Helen's audition must not have been a complete disaster because she did get a call back to dance and sing again, this time being asked to sing specific pieces from the musical "Curtains" which was the work selected for this year's musical. I was grateful for that tender mercy. It's one thing to not get chosen for a role because you performed your best and someone else was better or a better fit and its another thing to not be chosen following an audition that wasn't representative of your talent. So I'm grateful she had another opportunity to sing and she felt the call back auditions went well. She doesn't think they'll be posting the cast list until late next week so we'll just have to be patient!
After Arlo got home from school on Friday we packed up the truck and headed to Show Low, Arizona stopping for dinner at In N Out in Globe. Helen had plans on Saturday afternoon, so lamentably didn't get to join us. Jude slept most of the way up the mountain and was excited to get snuggly in bed at the hotel when we arrived at about 10PM. It also meant that he was up at 4AM on Saturday morning demanding breakfast and cartoons from two sleepy parents! After breakfast at the hotel (at a reasonable hour) we drove into the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest and started hunting for the perfect Christmas tree.
We weren't sure if we should expect snow. It had snowed a few weeks ago, but some friends elk hunting told us it had all melted, but that wasn't true for where we ended up, there was a foot or more of snow in some places! Gratefully I was prepared and had brought Jude's snow suit, galoshes, and gloves. He couldn't seem to get the gloves on so we did have to hear about how cold his hands were, but otherwise he stayed pretty warm and dry.
The boys enjoyed playing in the snow; although there was a fair amount of whining and crying too (almost entirely Jude). We found two beautiful trees and Phil had them cut pretty quickly. He and Arlo took the first one down the hill to the truck and he and I carried the second one out after that.
Jude was simultaneously mad that we didn't let him help, but also wanting to stay in the truck with his shoes off. We were drying out and on our way home before noon.
Our ride home was thankfully uneventful and we made it back in time to enjoy our second Christmas movie night of the season. We had Little Nero's Cheese Pizza and made ice cream sundaes and watched "Home Alone". Jude was a big fan of the sundaes!
It was a great week. By in large, no longer being sick certainly added to my enjoyment of the week. The other major factor was that I took the week off from work. They give us Thursday and Friday off, but since it was an "off Friday" they gave us Wednesday and Thursday; with three free days off, why not use PTO for Monday and Tuesday and make it a week?! It was great. I was able to work on some projects, a big one being getting my office/sewing/craft room set up (still not done). One of the other projects I completed this week was an image to use for Helen's senior dedication in this year's year book. I love how it turned out, I can't believe she's a senior!
We got to talk to Felicity on her preparation day Monday and on Thursday. She's doing well and was excited to report that she's learning to drive in the snow, because she's going to have to for the next several months as winter has arrived in the Midwest.
Jude had music class on Tuesday and he and Dad enjoyed doing that together. On Wednesday I did all the prep work for our Thanksgiving dinner. All the turkey prep with some help from my two handsome assistants. I made my pies, did all the veggie cutting and staging things so that I'd have less to do on Thursday. In the evening we went to see Zootopia 2 as a family in the theater. We finally did it! We have arrived at that stage in parenthood where Jude can quietly sit in a movie theater and watch an entire movie without being distracting. It was glorious...and the movie was pretty cute too.
On Thursday morning Jude got up super early and announced at the foot of our bed, "Its here, Thanksgiving is finally here!" He enjoyed having some hot chocolate with his breakfast and we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so much fun.
As far as dinner was concerned, there wasn't a ton to do as I had prepped so much on Wednesday. I also tried to pare it down a bit from years past since we were only hosting our family, my mom and dad, and Phil's Aunt Dorothy. We had a lovely meal and everything turned out well. The turkey was the crown jewel this year. Phil helped me spatchcock and brine it and it was moist and flavorful and a real delight...especially after last year's old bird that was tough and awful! We enjoyed having family over and visiting and the kids always love it when Nana comes to visit...and brings games with her.
Phil left hunting very early on Friday morning. He was going out with his brother, niece, and a friend with a white tail tag. I spent my Friday cleaning up and putting away Thanksgiving, finishing up some last minute Christmas gifts for Felicity, and packing up all the stuff we were going to send her and dropping it off at the post office. The mission secretary asked that we send our gifts to the mission home before December 5th so President and Sister Matheson could hand deliver the packages to the missionaries. Jude was happy to add some drawings to the package and I finished up a second sister missionary stocking for Felicity's companion just in time.
Phil and crew camped out on Friday night and he didn't call me until Saturday evening to tell me that they were coming home. He had helped our friend harvest a nice little 2x3 and they were coming in for Sunday. His brother still has a tag to fill, but he's going to have to help in between work next week if he can. It was a pretty successful hunting season I would say; certainly not perfect, but Phil got in a lot of hours of outdoor time doing what he loves and we (and a few others) have meat for the next year.
Phil happily regaled me with tales from the hunt while eating some left over Thanksgiving chow (there was a lot of it). He was pretty tired and after dinner and a shower fell asleep on top of the bed...he and Jude both.
We enjoyed church on Sunday and a relaxing afternoon. Helen and Arlo came home late from visiting their dad in Tucson and missed the first Christmas movie of the season, we watched "The Star". Helen did, however, come home with a new pet bearded dragon named Matthew. It's kind of a long story, but one of her teacher's, brother's was looking to offload the creepy little dude and Helen volunteered. So welcome to Two Jack Ranch Matthew, I guess, sort of.
I'm excited to only have another couple weeks of work left in the year and for all the special activities that are coming up this month. It's going to be busy, but also a lot of fun, I hope. Next week will include the high school musical auditions (fingers crossed for Helen), and going to cut down our Christmas tree. I'm also probably going to convince my sweet husband to bring in the obscene number of Christmas decoration and light totes from the shop and hang some Christmas lights for me.
Ugh! What a week. I spent almost the entirety of the week sick. Between this week and last it took me forever to finally shake whatever yuck Jude brought home from school. Luckily for the rest of the family no one else was as affected as badly. On Monday Phil went back out hunting with his brother-in-law and niece. Arlo and I did not end up going back out, so only one deer for our family this year. I did get to talk to Felicity and catch up with her which is always nice. She called back in the afternoon so she could talk to Arlo; she's missed talking to him because she usually calls while he's in school. They had a little chat and then somehow Jude got a hold of the phone. By the time I got the phone back he had turned on some sort of filter and every time I talked my eyes glowed and fire shot out of my ears and mouth; to which Felicity laughed hysterically. I never did figure out how to turn the filter off. Jude, always keeping us on our toes.
Speaking of keeping us on our toes...Jude has been obsessed with taking oranges off the tree by the front gate. No matter how many times we tell him that they're not ripe yet or how much we scold him, he still tries to nab one or two a day. I looked up from washing dishes this week to see a naked streak run across the front of our property. It turns out it was just Jude, Sasquatch-ing around the front yard stealing un-ripe oranges from the tree, trying not to get caught. Yes, he's butt-naked AND barefoot running across the desert.
I picked up three of my Christmas quilts on Tuesday after they had been edge-to-edge quilted for me. I think I made a total of eight Christmas quilts this year, with these being the last of the bunch. They're beautiful. I'll give you a preview only as its going to take me a minute to get the labels and binding on all of them; hopefully before Christmas!
On Tuesday Phil called to let me know he was coming in that night. His niece had gotten her deer and since it was supposed to rain they were going to come in and see how the weather was going to play out. They got into a new area and saw quite a few bucks, so hopefully that will be useful information at the end of next week when he goes back out with a friend.
I was so miserable sick I took the day off on Wednesday. Phil went back out hunting and the kids had a half day so I felt like it was OK if everyone slept in. I slept until at least noon before crawling out of bed to check on the boys. They were fine, in fact they were really enjoying their impromptu day off. Phil got home in the evening and I was feeling a little better by Thursday morning. He spent the day processing his deer. It was a little guy so we got several pounds of steaks, two large roasts, and probably 30 pounds of ground meat. Certainly enough to refill the freezer.
I was feeling more myself by Friday which was good because my mom wanted help getting and setting up a new computer. I had bought one on Amazon a few weeks ago for myself and had not gotten around to setting it up, so I gave them that computer and it took the better part of the morning setting it up and transferring their data over to the new computer. In the afternoon we went out to lunch which was nice. The rest of my Friday was chores and errands and work and all the rest of the stuff nobody really wants to do, but still has to get done. My house is a mess since I've been out of commission since last week. It'll be fun trying to get that back in shape, especially since we're hosting Thanksgiving next week.
We got our pictures back from our Christmas Card shoot and they're so cute! I spent quite a bit of time on Friday adding a winter backdrop to the photo and designing the actual card. I struggled with the background and when I did get it just the way I wanted I found that all the editing had degraded the quality of the photo...so I sent a proof off to be printed and we'll see how it comes back. Either way, I think they're pretty cute! What I can't believe is how expensive it is to send Christmas cards, no wonder people don't send them anymore! For our cards there was the photography fee, the fee to print the cards, and the stamps ($0.78 each! outrageous!). I haven't printed them yet (waiting on the proof to come back), but even with a sale on printing I'm estimating $4.28 per card. Crazy!
Helen had the The Arizona Thespian Regional Acting Festival on Saturday at the University of Arizona. She prepared in two categories: "Acting Performance" and "Musical Theater Performance". She acted in a scene from the show A Funny Way of Showing It with another girland she sang a duet "Therapy" from the musical Tick, Tick, Boom.
She received a first place "Superior" for both, a real honor as her troupe only earned 11 Superiors total (so her performances garnered 4 of the 11 Superiors). I'm very proud of Helen and her hard work. The next focus is Musical auditions!
Phil was home from work on Sunday morning and I was feeling well enough for us to attend Stake Conference. We enjoyed the speakers and the music, it was a great meeting. When we got home I made a delicious pot roast, I wish I had left it in the oven for maybe 30 more minutes to tenderize a bit more, but otherwise it was great. We watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles as our evening activity and enjoyed some down time. I'm excited that I have all of next week off from work; I have plenty to keep me busy. Paramount will be finishing up Christmas gifts for our missionary as that package needs to get out the door and to the Mission Home soon and wrapping up Helen's senior ad as well as prepping for Thanksgiving dinner.
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Friday was very hectic. I did some prep putting together fourteen gingerbread houses in the morning and then left for a hair appointment. The kids had a half day and Phil took the day off for our annual Gingerbread Family Home Evening party. In the evening we had some friends over and enjoyed time together, the kids decorated gingerbread houses, and we did some Christmas caroling. It was a lot of fun, I'm grateful to so many friends and family that came to enjoy the night with us.
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