23 March 2025 Anniversary Trip Part 2

We woke up in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico/America on Monday morning and it was really windy.  This meant the cruise ship was rocking pretty well.  It didn't deter us from enjoying our day at sea.  We won some luggage tags in a Disney trivia game and we spent time on deck soaking up the sun.  We saw Moana 2 in the theater and in the afternoon Phil and I threw on some workout clothes and went to check out the gym.  We ran a few miles on the treadmill (its a really weird sensation to run on a treadmill on a rocking ship) and then lifted some free weights.  As we were finishing up, they were starting a spin class, so we joined in on that.  I'd never taken a stationary bike class, so that was new...and challenging!  We had a great time.

The evening show was "Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story" which was fun.  The actress they had on loan from Broadway was amazing.  We dined at Lumiere's for dinner and the five course meal was sublime.  We were a little surprised that we didn't have a table to ourselves, they didn't have any private tables due to space limitations so for evening dining we were seated with two other couples sailing without kids.  The first two nights one of the couples didn't show up to dinner, the third night it was us and the other couple, only on the fourth night were we all at dinner at the same time.  It was neat to get to meet someone new. 

We came into port in Progresso, Yucatán , Mexico on Wednesday morning.  We disembarked and met our group for our organized excursion.  The day started with an hour and a half bus drive into the Yucatán .  Our tour guide was very entertaining and kept it interesting during our long drive.  We arrived at our fist location, a cenote.   The Yucatán Peninsula is a limestone plain, with no rivers or streams. The region is pockmarked with natural sinkholes, called cenotes, which expose the water table to the surface.  This sinkhole was gorgeous.  The sheer cliffs on the side were covered in vegetation.  They said the cenote itself was 150 feet deep and I believe it!  We had to don life jackets and then descended down carved steps to the water level.  They had a platform for "cliff diving" and Phil and I both took advantage and jumped off the platform into the water.  It was lovely. 

After our swim in the cenote we had a traditional lunch and then were back in the bus on our way to Chichén Itzá.

Chichén Itzá was incredible.  Its the site of a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic period, roughly 600AD.   The Temple of Kukulcán was probably the most prominent building and it was immense.  Our tour guides did a great job walking us through the site and giving us lots of neat information even though we didn't have much time.  Aside from the Temple of Kukulcán we also toured the Temple of Warriors and the Great Ball Court.  The sculpted panels on the sides of the ball court were amazing.  They no longer let people go in the temples or climb the outside, but just standing at ground level was super impressive.  I'm grateful we had the opportunity to go and learn about some Mayan culture.

Our drive back to the pier was long and a bit stressful when we got back into Progresso and a car accident in front of the port caused a traffic jam that threatened to make us late getting back to the ship.  Even though the tour guides were in communication with the ship and they wouldn't have left without us, it was still a little bit of a nail-biter.  I'm sure the folks that left on their own (not on a paid excursion through the cruise) were really sweating it out!

We ended up making it back in time with and hour to spare.  It was Pirate night on board which meant a party and fireworks at sea!  

Our forth day was another day at sea.  We enjoyed so much good food and great entertainment.  While on board we got to see Captain America: Brave New World in the Walt Disney Theater.  We did some shopping, and some other activities as well as plenty of pool time and relaxing.  

We saw the third Broadway-quality show of the week: Disney Dreams – An Enchanted Classic. In the evening we went to a country line dancing class that was so much fun and we worked up a good sweat.  We really took advantage of everything that was offered on top of enjoying our private balcony and maybe some Mickey Ice Cream Bars from room service.  We had so much fun!

Thursday was disembarkation day and we had a casual breakfast in Lumiere's while we waited for them to call our group to disembark.  The process was fairly easy and we were lucky enough to catch an Uber right outside the port.  We drove back to Texas City where we picked up another rental car and headed to Houston.  Traffic was much more calm Thursday morning and we arrived at the Houston temple without any problems.

Temple #31!  The Houston temple was very pretty on the outside, but kind of plain, at least in comparison to San Antonio, on the inside.  We did an endowment session and then drove to our last hotel of the trip.  Thursday evening we met up with Phil's Aunt Kathy and cousin Katie and their family for dinner.  We had a lovely time catching up and spending time together and we were grateful they took time out of their week to have dinner with us!

Friday morning we started the LONG drive home.  People aren't kidding when they say the drive across Texas is long and boring.  We split the driving time between the two of us and just stopped for gas and bathroom breaks.  We gained two hours back with time zone changes which put us home around 8PM on Friday night.  It was good to be home!

Jude was excited to see us and was also excited to tell us all about going to the zoo earlier in the day with Grandma Sue and some of his cousins.  Phil took Saturday off from work instead of going in which had been his original plan.  We were still pretty tired and our equilibrium was still askew...let me tell you, "land sickness" is a real thing!  We experienced it last time we took a cruise...the ground feels like its moving and you feel fuzzy-headed and tired.  We spent Saturday resting and doing laundry...although we had to make a trip to the grocery store for our neighbor.  We enjoyed church on Sunday and then in the afternoon went to a baptism for a friend's daughter which was lovely and spent time visiting with our friends the Bernal's in Benson.  Felicity picked up Helen and Arlo who had gone to their dad's for the weekend and it was nice in the evening to all be home again, even if it was short-lived as Felicity had to drive home Sunday evening.  Farewell spring break, it was epic, but its back to real life on Monday with work and school.  

16 March 2025 Anniversary Trip Part 1

 This week was a breeze.  You know how everything seems easier when you have a nice long vacation on the horizon?  Helen and Arlo were visiting their dad in Tucson for the first part of spring break so it was mostly Jude and I while Phil worked this week.  On Monday Phil was home long enough to pull out the suitcases and start putting some things aside for our anniversary trip.  He worked on Tuesday and then worked a front half on Wednesday.  I buttoned everything up at work Wednesday morning making it easier to walk away for a week.  My mom very graciously watched Jude for me Wednesday afternoon as I made a trip to the spa to get my lashes and nails done as a bonus anniversary treat.  Helen and Arlo came home Wednesday evening and Phil and I stayed up too late packing so we'd be ready to leave in the morning on our fun week-long anniversary trip.

Thursday was officially our 5th wedding anniversary.  I don’t know that two people could be more compatible than he and I.  Five years went by really quickly and at the same time I can’t remember life without my sweetheart by my side. He is kind and patient and devoted and always makes me feel loved and safe. I’m forever grateful for him. Five years down, forever to go. We rented a car and hit the road at about 7AM on Thursday morning to celebrate.  Our goal was to make it to San Antonio by evening where we had a hotel reservation.  Our drive was uneventful.  We made it to El Paso seemingly quickly and then the drive across Texas was a little more arduous, but not too bad.  We arrived in San Antonio a little after dark.  

On Friday morning we drove to the San Antonio temple where we had an appointment to participate in an endowment session followed by sealings.  The temple was beautiful!  It had such lovely stained glass throughout and we really loved a water feature in the lobby.  San Antonio is the 30th temple I've done an endowment session in as I have worked toward my goal of serving in each temple in the US.

After the temple we changed clothes and headed to downtown San Antonio for some site-seeing and lunch.  Our first stop was the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum.  This was such a blast!  This place is a little hard to describe, its a restaurant/saloon, its a taxidermy-admirer's dream, its a Texas Ranger Museum, but also a natural history(ish) museum, and also a sideshow/curiosity/oddity museum.  It was fabulous.  We had lunch (which was delicious) and then spent 2+ hours in the "museum" part.  There are hundreds (maybe thousands?) of atypical whitetail deer mounts, including Texas' number one non-typical whitetail and the Boone and Crockett Club's number four whitetail in the world scoring 284 3/8 with 47 measurable points.  There were all sorts of cool things to look at.

Stop in at the Buckhorn next time you're in San Antonio, it was so much fun.  

When we were done we were going to drive to the Alamo, but before taking our car out of the parking lot decided to look up its location and were shocked that it was a four minute walk from the Buckhorn, so off we went.  I'm not going to lie...the Alamo was a little underwhelming.  It is smack in the middle of downtown, I had no idea.  We did however get our picture taken in front of the Alamo and toured the inside of the mission.  Almost none of the original plaster is present anymore and its not very big inside, but we enjoyed hearing the history and standing in this iconic building.  We watched a video on Texas independence and wandered the giftshop too.  It does engender a love for Texans and their unique spirit and zeal for independence.

When we were done we made our way to the San Antonio Riverwalk which is beautiful.  The river runs right through downtown and its beautifully paved with shops and restaurants lining the river.  We walked along the river for quite a while and then took a boat tour and heard the history and some interesting Texas-related facts.  Did you know no building in the downtown area can be built such that it will cast a shadow on the Alamo?  Or that as part of its agreement to join the United States, Texas is the only state that can fly it's state flag at the same height as the US flag and can fly their flag independently of the US flag?  We had such a great time.

We asked our boat guide for a dinner suggestion and he recommended Bourdro’s Texas Bistro down river. It was divine.  We enjoyed table-side guacamole and ordered the shrimp and crab enchiladas which were delicious.  We enjoyed our dinner river-side and it was magical.  San Antonio, five stars!

Felicity came home on Friday night and Nana came and took the kiddos out to dinner.  I'm grateful the big kids held down the ranch while we were gone.

Saturday morning we decided to venture to Six Flags Fiesta Texas!  So much stinkin' fun!  We love a good rollercoaster, and Six Flags had them!  Our favorites included Superman Krypton Coaster, Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster, Goliath, and I think the best one was the Iron Rattler;  the 171 foot drop at an angle of 81 degrees felt like we were falling FOREVER. We had so much fun.  

We left San Antonio around 6PM to make the long drive to Galveston where we were staying the night.  We wanted to make sure we were near the port the night before our cruise to minimize any last minute delays.  The traffic in Houston was crazy, but we made it safe and sound.  We dropped our rental car off in the morning and then caught an Uber (a first for me) to the port.  We had such an amazing time with the family in 2021 that we were more than happy to book another Disney cruise for our anniversary.  This time we are doing a four night cruise of the Western Caribbean on the Disney Magic with one stop in Progresso Mexico.   I can't say enough good things about a Disney cruise.  We don't drink or gamble and the Disney hospitality is second to none so its a great fit for us...even with no kids this trip.  

We arrived at our appointed time and had no problems getting through security and in less than 15 minutes were onboard enjoying lunch at Rapunzel’s Royal Table.  We carried on our swim suits so we changed and laid out on deck and enjoyed the AquaDunk and some soft serve, although we didn't have to wait long before our stateroom was ready and our luggage was delivered.

Our first night on board we enjoyed Tangled: The Musical and ate at Animator's Palate and popped in for a couple of adult trivia games and activities.  I was worried that it would seem crowded and not be as good of an experience as our "post-COVID" cruise had been because when we cruised in 2021 the boat was only at 1/4 capacity, but we were pleasantly surprised.  The Magic is a smaller ship and they were sold out, but they do such a great job with crowd control and spreading out activities it did not seem crowded at all!   Our first night at sea was magical!

Here's the view from our stateroom!

09 March 2025

Spring is coming!  I have beautiful irises coming up in my whisky barrels next to the front porch and the trees are budding out; it is one of my favorite times of year.

I feel like I took a lot of pictures this week, so my post might just be snippets of the week and a lot of photos.  Phil worked half a day of over time on Monday (8AM-8PM) so we were grateful to have him home in the evening.  I went to the gym several times this week, including on Monday as I knew I was SO CLOSE to getting to goal...I really wanted to do everything I could to see that magic number on the scale come Friday.

Helen had tech rehearsal for the musical all week, which meant she didn't get home until 10PM each night...which also meant I had to go get her at 10PM every evening; luckily she was able to catch a ride to the corner market in Corona so we didn't have to go all the way to Cienega.  There she is enjoying dinner with her fellow theater/show choir friends during a break.  

We are really looking forward to seeing Helen in Hades Town after spring break.  I'm really proud of her for putting herself out there.  I think sometimes Helen thinks she lives in Felicity's shadow, but Helen is so very talented in her own right.  She gets to be mic'd for half of the show and she has a little mini-solo.  It's going to be great.

Phil worked during the day on Wednesday and Thursday teaching fire academy on the air force base.  I handled all the pick up/drop off this week.  Here's Arlo and Jude messing around waiting for the middle school bus at the butt-crack of dawn.

Helen got asked to prom this week with a cute(?) Hades Town-ish themed "promposal".  Phil worked overtime on Friday, so if you're trying to put that together he was gone 12 hours Monday, 24 hours Tuesday, 8 hours Wednesday, 8 hours Thursday, 24 hours on Friday...and spoiler alert, he also worked 24 hours on Saturday, but we did get to have him home all and mostly all to ourselves on Sunday.

In fact here's a picture of Jude pouting after getting off the phone with Dad who said he wasn't coming home.  Don't worry, he got over it pretty quickly.  

Friday was the big day.  I ran three miles on Thursday night and then another two Friday morning and stripped everything off and hopped on the scale.  150.0 not an ounce over or under, right at goal.  I was elated.  I have never gotten all the way to goal before.  I went from 303 pounds to 150 pounds in 78 weeks.  A size 24 and 2XL to a size 10 and Medium.  Its a great feeling.  I'm going to do a separate blog post dedicated to the details of my "weight loss journey" (the popular phrase for describing loosing a bunch of weight over time). 

Jude got to hang out with Nana on Friday because I had a very packed day.  First stop, hair appointment in Tucson.  

I brought Arlo with me to my hair appointment as right after I had to run him across town to an appointment with the pediatrician.  We're switching over his ADHD medication care back to the pediatrician instead of spending a lot of money on copays to see a specialist now that he's really nice and stable on his dosage.  

I dropped him off at his dad's on my way back to Sahuarita to do the neighbor's grocery shopping and pick our groceries before finally heading home.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that Felicity had come home for the weekend.  We hung out in the evening and watched a couple of movies together while cross stitching. 

I spent time on Saturday cleaning and working on laundry.  I got this fun picture from Phil, I guess they were drilling outside and someone lost control of a hose and managed to spray the dirt in front of him (and someone else) and covered them in mud.  Sometimes I wonder if its really "work" or just fun at the fire house.  

I got to pick up my memory quilts from being quilted on Saturday afternoon.  They turned out beautifully.  I set right to work adding their labels, and making a seemingly mile of binding so I could get the binding on them.  I finally finished Sunday night and was so pleased with how they turned out.  If you don't recall, I was asked to make four quilts from about 60 pearl-snap shirts for a friend who lost her dad last year.  It was a huge project!  

I'm really proud of the pieced quilt (stars in stars), I designed that one using my Electric Quilt software.  I'm so grateful to have them done and ready to finally be delivered next week.

We were so glad to have Daddy home on Sunday.  We went to church and then when we got home we enjoyed watching "Escape from Germany" together, it was really good.  Phil talked Felicity into practicing her cosmology skills on him and do some "manscaping".  She waxed between his eyebrows, his ears, and nose.  It was entertaining for sure!  Then Jude wanted to try and immediately regretted it when Felicity tugged on the wax she put on his leg.  

We were sad when it was time for her to head home.  She took Helen back to school with her as she has her cosmetology showcase (think mid-term) on Monday and Helen is going to be her model.

While I was out feeding animals on Sunday afternoon I stopped to love on my Maggie girl and I snapped a picture of us.  Maggie has been living with valley fever for several years now and even with medication which has trashed her liver, its pretty much taken over and made her lame and in chronic pain.  She doesn't really have the use of her back legs anymore, she scoots herself around and I know the end is near.  I hate it.  It's not fair.  Sometimes ranch life is hard.

Jude took full advantage of Dad being home.  Here he is reading probably this fifth book of the night.  Helen and Arlo will be at their dad's until mid week as they start spring break on Monday.  I only have to work half a week as Phil and I are taking a trip for our 5 year anniversary.  It will be well deserved!

02 March 2025

 Spring is here!  It has been beautiful lately.  I got out and ran several days this week and enjoyed being outside.  Phil was gone most of the week, its almost easier to list when he was home verses mentioning when he was at work!  He helped with fire academy on Monday and Tuesday as a safety supervisor over their exercises using the fire props at the public safety complex.  It was nice to have him home in the evening after working at the academy. 

Jude and I enjoyed our week together with our normal schedule.  I promised him on Monday night if he slept the whole night in his own bed I would take him to McDonald's.  He did indeed spend the whole night in his bed and so mid-day after my initial flurry of morning meetings we went to McDonalds for lunch.  That is to say I had lunch and he played with the other kids which is what he really wants to do.  He actually ate his lunch on the ride home an hour later.

In the afternoon Jude came into my office area with something in his hand.  He told me "its broke, I need you to fix it".  I didn't have my glasses on and so when I looked back at him he had what I thought was his toy from McDonalds in his hand.  He had gotten a little action figure which was standing on a long thin pedestal as part of his Happy Meal.  I told him to hand me the glue and then I reached out my hand for the toy.  When what he put in my hand was much heavier than I was expecting I looked down at my palm to find I was holding a 4" long tongue.  Yes, you read that correctly, I held in my hand a heavy, pink, severed tongue.  Now several thoughts simultaneously went through my mind as I abruptly in shock turned my palm over to drop said tongue.  "Wait, is that a tongue" "Who's tongue is that?"  "Where did Jude get a tongue?" "It's too big to be his tongue".  I then looked down at the floor to realize, and it took several seconds longer than it should have, that it was the rubber tongue from the taxidermy bear head on the wall in the family room.  This was probably the first of several "moments" I had this week.  Evidently he had been laying on the couch with a long dowel (obviously something he shouldn't have had either) poking up at the bear when he dislodged its tongue.  I had a good chuckle and then was irritated I had to figure out how to glue a rubber tongue back in the mouth of a black bear that's been dead for 20+ years.  

Phil worked overtime on Wednesday which made for a bit of a chaotic afternoon.  After work Jude and I went to Arlo's wrestling match.  We were late getting there because my stupid GPS routed me to Cienega High School instead of Rincon Vista Middle School and I wasn't bright enough to realize it until the voice on the phone instructed me to turn into the high school parking lot...wait, this isn't right.  This also meant that I had to drive on Mary Ann Cleveland between Cienega and Empire high schools just as school was letting out (the worst!) in order to get to Houghton and Bilby where the middle school actually is.  Let's call that "moment" number two.  The wrestling match was long as Arlo didn't go until the end, and then he lost so it was kind of a bummer.  After wrestling I drove back to Cienega to pick up Helen who was wrapping up musical practice and then I drove all the kids home before turning around and heading back down Houghton again to meet some of my girlfriends for dinner at El Coronado.  We had a great dinner and evening together, I'm blessed to have such sweet friends.

Phil came home on Thursday morning and was excited to spend the day with Jude while I was working.  They went to Wild Katz in Tucson which is an indoor play ground.  I heard Jude had so much fun.  He was sad when their time was up and it was time to leave.  Daddy took him to lunch before they headed home.  

Phil was back at work on Friday and after I got all the kids to school I had to sit down at my desk and go to work too.  Luckily it was a pretty quiet day (working Fridays usually are) and I got a lot done.  In the morning Jude helped me water my plants.  I have all sorts of pretty things coming up in the pots on and around my front porch.  One day I'll build a proper flower garden in the front and vegetable garden in the back...there's a time and season for everything I suppose!  

Jude helped me run errands in the afternoon which included picking up the mail and grocery shopping for the neighbor, running to Walmart, picking up our groceries and getting a pop at Circle K.  Before heading home I asked Jude if he would like to go through the car wash, the truck was in desperate need of a wash, to which he excitedly said he would like to.  I pulled up to the automatic car wash and used the little kiosk to pay and then I was distractedly trying to put my debit card away, organize something in the front seat all while pulling into the car wash neglecting to roll my window back up, a mistake I didn't realize until cold, high pressure water started hitting me directly in the face.  Ahhh!!  I tried to roll it up as quickly as possible, but it wasn't quickly enough, I was soaked and embarrassed.  "Moment" #3 this week!  

I weighed in on Friday as well and only lost a tenth of a pound.  But its a loss and puts me at my lowest to date, only 2.6 to go!

Helen has been trying to keep up on all her school work while practicing for the musical after school each day.  Its an important semester as these will be her last grades before we put in college applications.  Can you believe that?  Helen will be starting college and scholarship application in six short months.  Time flies!  Here is a (silly) video of her and some classmates signing for an ASL assignment.  I've been very impressed with how much she's learned in the last two years!

I was up VERY early on Saturday to get Arlo to the Roadrunner by 5:30AM where my lovely friend Rachael was driving him and two other boys to Ironwood Ridge High School for a wrestling tournament where weigh in started at 6:30!  After dropping him off I most definitely climbed back into bed for an hour or so before getting up and getting ready myself.  When Phil got home from work we drove to the tournament to watch Arlo and the other boys wrestle.  It was very well organized, they had five mats going at once and electronic scoreboards so you could see what was going on.  We got there just in time as Arlo was up for his first match.  He faced off with a boy who had at least 6" on him and had already hit puberty (Arlo most definitely has not, he is still very much a kid).  He fought hard, got an escape, but ended up getting pinned at the very end of the first period.  I will say, however, he jumped up from the mat with a huge smile on his face and gave us a wave before heading back to the waiting area.  We enjoyed watching the matches and cheered on some friends.  It was double elimination, so Arlo had another match in the consolation bracket, unfortunately it was the same story, a big kid with muscle definition and underarm hair!  Again, Arlo gave it his best.  He got a take down and headed into the second period ahead, but then found himself stuck on his back in the first 30 seconds.  He came and sat in the stands with us for another hour or so until the rest of his friends had wrestled.  He said he had so much fun a couple of times and thanked us for bringing him.

 We stopped for lunch on the way home at Seis Kitchen as a reward.  Arlo said he wants to continue to find opportunities to wrestle in the off season and continue to improve, so I'm happy about that.

Jude missed us during the day and made quite the mess in the family room while we were gone.  He brought out ALL of his individual toy bins and dumped the toys out and then organized them by type and lined them up.  The big kids helped me pick it up after he went to bed.  Phil worked a "back half" on Saturday night, meaning he worked the second half of a 24 hour shift from 8PM to 8AM  which then bled into his regular 24 hour shift which started at 8AM Sunday.  He'll be working a "front half", 8AM to 8PM on Monday, of overtime, so we'll see him again Monday night I guess.

I spent a couple hours at my sewing machine after Phil left for work and finished up a Christmas quilt I've been working on this week while I wait for some fabric to come in for another baby quilt I have planned.  Don't be too impressed, I did not piece this whole thing this week.  I have been working on this one in-between other projects for months and only had 12 blocks remaining.  The individual blocks were a PAIN, nothing seemed to want to come together straight or even, but then miraculously when I sewed all the blocks together everything fit together perfectly...huh, go figure.

The kids and I made it to church on time Sunday morning and enjoyed our fast and testimony meeting.  We fasted as a family this week for both Helen's second semester grades/workload and for Arlo to make a new friend since he's not hanging out with the kid who played the mean prank on him a couple of weeks ago.  Jude loved primary, as usual.  He was chatting up some kids all the way down the hall to the primary room, and then again cornered a young woman to talk to on our way out of church.  Arlo impatiently shouted to him to "come on Jude" from the parking lot to which Jude responded by saying "in a minute, I'm talking to my friend".  He is his father's son.