26 October 2025

The very late/very early hours of Sunday/Monday were a little unnerving around the ranch.  Well after the kids went to bed, around 11:30PM Sunday evening, I could hear a helicopter outside.  I poked my head out back to find a spotlight searching my backyard.  I then realized there were police cars at the end of Mann to the south east of our property.  I was more than a little concerned when they made their way down the road and pulled into our drive way shining their spotlights on the front of the house and around our yard.  They were out there for the better part of 45 minutes.  Come to find out, someone robbed the Roadrunner on Houghton and Sahuarita and then fled into our neighborhood to hide.  They did eventually find and apprehend the suspect, although not in my yard, thank goodness.  Just a little unexpected excitement for our quiet neighborhood!  One of the pictures below is the evidence found on the individual, the other is the view out my (dirty) kitchen window.

Monday was Felicity's preparation day and so she called us in the morning to regale us with her adventures of the previous week.  She laments that its starting to get cold in Indiana with the highs in the 50s.  They seem to have a lot of teaching opportunities so that's good and she gets along well with her companion and we're all grateful for that.  I think its hard work, but she has a good attitude about it and we're proud of her!

Phil was at work on Tuesday and as part of his day gave a station tour to a preschool class.  It's always a nice break from the monotony to spray some hoses with five-year-olds.

The kids had a half day on Wednesday and enjoyed being home for part of the day.  Jude helped Dad in the yard and out in the shop, but first...sunscreen!

In the evening Phil and I took an impromptu date night.  We went out to dinner and then went over to the thrift store to peruse for treasure.  We didn't find any, but we still had a good time together.

Helen had her senior pictures on Thursday.  I think its a little weird that they take their pictures at school, but I guess its one less thing I have to worry about that way.  She said she felt like they turned out pretty well.  Jude had a week full of pumpkin-related activities as the preschool is gearing up for Halloween and celebrating fall.  Here he is pounding golf tees into a pumpkin...I'm not sure on the educational value of this exercise, but I guess he's working on his hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills!

Our Friday was PACKED! and of course it wasn't my day off, so I had to work too.  Phil was mercifully home and so he took Jude to school for his picture retakes.  I hope they turn out better than the first set.  They also took their class picture, so I was glad he was there for the morning.  Directly after picture re-takes Phil took Arlo to the orthodontist for an appointment that I think I've already rescheduled three times.  He finally was seen and started on rubber bands to make some adjustments to his bite.

Friday evening we were invited to a party and also had senior night.  I had the time wrong for the party so when we realized it wasn't for another hour we had to kill some time so we stopped at the local taco stand and shared some tacos.  Then we went to our Salem Witch party where we were invited by a newer couple in our ward.  I felt a little sheepish when they served a full dinner...seeing as we stopped at the taco stand before coming!  We had a great time and enjoyed meeting a couple of new people along with rubbing elbows with some current friends.

We were trying to keep a close eye on the clock as we needed to be at the high school to escort Helen on the football field at half time, but we were also playing a game with the other party-goers after dinner. Helen was keeping us posted and when she told us there was 10 minutes left in the first quarter I felt pretty confident we were fine on time, but what she meant was 10 minutes left in the first half!  Luckily our lovely friends the Morgans let us know we were late!  Ahh!  We high-tailed it out of the party, changed clothes in the car on the way to the high school, and came screeching into the full parking lot with a few minutes to spare.  Helen looked pretty upset.  And rightfully so, remember when I didn't attend her first choir concert and because the live stream wasn't working missed her solo?  Or how about last week when I totally forgot her fall show?  Yeah, I've sucked this year as a senior mama, so I was glad that we made it in time for them to honor Helen and the other senior band members.

We stayed for the rest of the game (a disappointing loss) and watched the marching band post-game show.   It was a long day!  

Phil worked a few hours of overtime on Saturday and came home with enough time to go to a wedding reception in the Phoenix area.  We enjoyed the drive to Chandler together and the reception was fun, but we didn't get home until late...and I got only one photo...Phil holding my hand on the drive there.  Ugh, I wish I had remembered to take a couple of photos!  It was a nice way to spend the 6th anniversary of our first date!

Helen competed in the AZ MBA Regional Championships Saturday, where the Copper Thunder Marching Band took first place in their division!  Yay, what an accomplishment!  They have U of A Band Day next weekend and then state championships the following weekend and that will wrap up  Helen's senior marching season.

Phil worked on Sunday so it was just the kids and I at church.  In the afternoon we worked on Helen's college applications.  She applied to the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University, and Brigham Young University along with Eastern Arizona College.  She's not sure where she wants to attend yet, so we're going to apply to a variety of schools and see what offers come back.  I'm proud of Helen and her accomplishments, I'm sure she'll make a good choice.

19 October 2025

I was off this week.  Unfortunately, not in the fun vacation sort of "off".  Which is sort of odd because I ate great and ran four days this week and didn't really have a reason to feel "off".  Alas.  Monday was a slow day at work as many of my collogues were off for the holiday.  I was able to get a lot done and wasn't bothered by meetings.  The kids were at school and Phil was out hunting with his brother-in-law and nephew.  Quiet solitude!  Phil had a great time and called me mid-morning to say that they had gotten a buck, but were hunkered down under tarps waiting for the rain to stop so they could clean it and get packed out.  It took all day!  I'm grateful it rained most of the day, in Arizona its a sacrilege to pray the rain away, even if it means you have to wait half a day to get your deer.  Phil was very proud of the video he was able to get with his spotting scope and phone attachment (a Christmas gift from me, one of the only ones that isn't still in the original packaging with bits of Christmas wrapping still stuck to it out in the shop, but that's a complaint for another day).  

He got home around 8PM completely and utterly soaked but happy.  I'm not at all jealous that our nephew got a buck that we saw last year, but that was too far for me to shoot...ok, maybe a little!  I think Kirby took a shot at him last year too...at least one of us got to bring him home.  He's a great buck and I'm grateful Phil had the time to go help.

I talked to Sister Comaduran on Monday afternoon and heard all about her week.  She's doing well and is learning a lot.  She had her first encounter with an angry person and while it was unpleasant her trainer told her to shake it off.  She's not loving all the bike riding that she's doing, but her trainer says she'll get used to that too.  She passed her one month mark already and her sweet companion took her for ice-cream to celebrate.  One down, seventeen more to go!

Jude enjoyed being back at school.  They learned about apples this week (I think that's a little weird, but whatever).  Jude was excited to tell me all about making applesauce from scratch.

Look what finally came back, Arlo's 8th grade pictures.  So handsome!

As I mentioned, I ran Monday through Thursday this week, three miles per day.  I have a 10K in November and I really need to get some miles in so that I'm prepared.  It was slow going, especially the first couple of days, but it felt good to get out.  Jude had music class on Tuesday and went with Dad.  They had a fun time.  On Thursday I dropped Jude off at my mom's after school and Arlo walked over there when he was done with school and she took them out to dinner and to the Marana Pumpkin Patch.  They had so much fun and didn't get home until late.  It's all Jude talked about for the rest of the week.  I guess they had several carnival rides and Jude tried everything but the zip line.  My mom said he should be good for Disneyland next year!

Phil worked a trade on Thursday, his regular shift on Friday and then overtime during the day on Saturday.  He came home to sleep Saturday night to then go back to work for his regular shift on Sunday morning.  He was able to color 24 hours off of his goal thermometer this week.

My Friday was so busy.  I had a lot of running around to do during the day including shopping for our neighbor.  In between errands Jude and I stopped at the fire station and visited Dad.  

Helen's marching band had a competition in Tucson on Saturday where Cienega took first place in their division and won the Visual Effect caption, the Music caption, the Percussion caption, and the General Effect caption.  A huge night for them!  

She then turned around and headed back to school for the evening performance of the advanced drama show "A Brief Unit of Inter-Dimensional Heroism".  I was supposed to be there to see it and it wasn't until 11PM Saturday night that I realized I was supposed to be there...I missed it.  I missed my child's last fall show.  I don't even have an excuse.  Phil picked up overtime and so my plans kind of flew out the door and I cleaned house and worked on my Sunday School lesson and just lost track that there was anywhere else I was supposed to be on Saturday night.  I think it was recorded, so I hope that I'll get to see it soon...yeah, I feel terrible.  See what I mean, just "off" this week. 

Jude and I enjoyed church on Sunday and I taught the adult Sunday school class.  We mostly focused on sections 109 and 110 of the Doctrine and Covenants and the topic was primarily about the blessings of temples and temple attendance. I loved all the insightful comments that were made.  

When we got home I finished up some homemade gifts that will be going to some of Phil's coworkers who have recently had babies and Jude did some water color painting.   I'm hoping next week I feel less foggy.

If you've ever wondered how much Jude is like his dad, this should clear it up.  When we got home from church he grabbed my phone and took several selfies and then asked me to send them to Nana and Grandma Sue because he just wanted to say hi.  He loves to connect with people.

13 October 2025

It was a bit of a split week.  Helen went back to school on Monday while Jude and Arlo continued fall break.  Helen jumped right back into the groove with evening band practice in preparation for the Arizona Marching Band Association competition this weekend and tech rehearsals for the Advanced Drama fall show.  We pretty much didn't see her all week!  Jude and Phil accompanied me to get some yarn in town, and Jude insisted we stop at the Halloween store.  His new favorite.

We talked to Felicity on Monday and she's doing well.  She's learning very quickly to deal with disappointment and rejection, but is also learning to love the people in Indiana.  Her trainer has been a great companion and even though the work is hard, she's enjoying her mission and growing.  You can read more about what's happening on her mission here: https://sistercomaduran.blogspot.com/

Phil put in for spring hunts this week and put Arlo in for archery javalina.  In the afternoon the two of them went out target shooting and to adjust Arlo's bow.  They had a good time and Jude enjoyed watching.

Phil was home on Monday which was a big help since I was busy at work this week with Performance Increment Planning.  He took the boys to the dentist for a cleaning and unfortunately Arlo had to go back on Tuesday for a filling.  

When they were done at the dentist Jude was asking to go swimming and so Phil filled up one of the horse troughs and Jude spent practically all day swimming in that.  He had such a great time and even got a little sunburned.  

We were blessed with some rain this weekend.  Not as much as some other folks in the state, but I'm grateful for what we did get at the ranch.  It didn't flood too badly in our area, so that was a bonus.  

Helen had her band competition on Saturday afternoon and they were lucky that the rain stopped just enough for them to perform.  They did well and got some good feedback for their upcoming competitions, UA Band day, and State.

I continued to work some projects this week. I made these adorable reading pillows.  One for Jude and one for each of our grand-nieces.  They're 18" square and have a quilted pocket in the front for a Christmas book and have a handle on top.  I'm in love with them.  I'm going to have to make more and find people to give them to!  I made a custom tumbler for my niece and got my Christmas envelopes addressed.  I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed, but I am pretty much done with all of my Christmas shopping and almost done with my Christmas crafting

Phil worked 12 hours of overtime on Saturday in pursuit of his retirement goal.  We are down to the last three months of his "high three".  I can't believe how quickly three years has gone by and at the same time I'm so looking forward to the crazy overtime coming to an end.  To reach the goal he set for himself three years ago, he has to get 200 more hours of overtime this year.  I made him a goal thermometer and put in on the fridge with a marker so we can mark off every 12 hours on our way to 200.  Wish him luck!

We helped our neighbor out this week by feeding their animals while they were out of town.  Jude especially loved helping (they have a really fun play set in their back yard).  Here he is hanging out with their tortoise.

Phil did a trade with someone at work so he could be home on Sunday and he and I divided and conquered.  He and Jude went to Benson for a mission farewell and Arlo and Helen and I went to church in our ward.  We had a special Sacrament meeting as our Bishop was released and a new Bishop called.  We are so grateful for the dedicated service that Bishop Jacobs and his counselors gave our ward and family for the last five years and are excited to sustain Bishop Cox in his new calling.  In the afternoon Helen had an appointment with our Stake Patriarch to receive her Patriarchal Blessing.  Dad and I went with her and the Patriarch spent quite a bit of time visiting with us and getting to know Helen and after that gave her a beautiful blessing which included so many lovely promises, direction for her life, some admonitions, and an assurance of her Heavenly Father's love for her.  The Spirit was strong and it was a great afternoon.  

We enjoyed the rest of our evening together.  The kids helped me with a huge Lego sorting chore.  I've taken on the monumental task of trying to sort a large Lego collection so that we can put some of the sets back together and get them on the shelves I built in the boys' room and out of storage.  Its a big undertaking though.  We went to bed early as the boys have to go back to school on Monday and Phil is headed  out bright and early Monday morning to hunt with his nephew and brother-in-law Ed.

05 October 2025

 Happy October!  Wow, we are already in the homestretch of the year.  I feel like at this point its all downhill to Christmas!  I missed Helen and Arlo as they were gone this week.  Jude and I were together by ourselves on Monday as Phil was working.  In the afternoon I took time at lunch to run an errand in Tucson and Jude and I stopped to have lunch at Rubio's.  I love the chopped salad with shrimp!  We had a fun time.

Felicity called us on Tuesday from the MTC.  She had another good week and was excited to leave for the mission field early on Wednesday morning.  She has really enjoyed her district and all the opportunities she had while in the missionary training center.  Here is a video of her singing in a district meeting:

We were fortunate to be able to go out on Tuesday evening.  Phil had been given a pair of tickets to the Gaslight Theater  so we invited our friends Brian and Olivia to join us for dinner and then to the theater.  We had a great time!  I have been wanting to try The Ranch Bar and Grill on Tanque Verde, so that's where we went for dinner.  It was excellent.  They had live music and outdoor seating and the food was good.  The show at the Gaslight was "Phantom of the Opera *Or a Pain in the Mask*"  it was really cute, and again, we just had so much fun.

Jude stayed the night over at Nana's house on Tuesday night while Phil and I went out.  He and Nana went to Chick Fil A for dinner and ice cream and in the morning went to the splash pad, played with cousin Jaidyn, and went to the Halloween Store.  He had so much fun and was sad to come home on Wednesday evening.

My Wednesday started out to be quiet and productive.  Helen and Arlo were gone, Jude was at Nana's, Phil was a work, and Felicity was flying out to Indiana from Provo in the morning.  I had the house all to myself to work.  In the afternoon I took a break to go into Sahuarita for a soda and a salad and got a strange call from a number I didn't recognize.  I let it go to voice mail.  Then I saw that I had a voicemail.  The woman on the other end was panicked and frustrated, she said "I think you took my luggage, please call me back".  Oh no!  I called her back and she explained that she was flying from LA through the Indiana airport and when she went to get her bag off the carousel at the baggage claim her suitcase wasn't there, but an identical bag with our name on it was.  Felicity had grabbed the wrong bag off the carousel at the Indiana airport!  Then I had to explain to this woman that not only was I not there to return her luggage, that it had in fact been my daughter who had grabbed the bag, but that I didn't have a way to get ahold of her.  Felicity left her phone at home and was issued a phone a the MTC, but I didn't have the number to that phone.  I promised her I would get ahold of Felicity and help get her bag back.  I started by using Facebook messenger to try and call Felicity (the way she had called me on Tuesday), no luck.  I messaged her there too...no reply.  I called the mission secretary on both her cell and land line, no answer.  The airport lady called me back concerned I wasn't taking her plight seriously.  I finally got in touch with the mission secretary.  Evidently they had picked up the missionaries (25 of them) from the airport and taken their luggage to a hotel (45 minutes away from the airport) and the missionaries to the Indianapolis temple.  Ahh!  She promised she would get it sorted out.  After a lot of back and forth as the go-between, I connected the mission secretary with the airport woman so they could talk directly.  The mission secretary arranged for some Elders to pick up Felicity's bag from the hotel and drive it back to the airport before this poor woman had to leave Indianapolis.  I was stressed!!  The Elders later sent me a video of the missionaries being picked up and plain as day as they pan across the group, there's Felicity with two bright orange suitcases and as they continue to pan you see a lone bright orange suitcase doing laps alone around the luggage carousel.  They got a chuckle out of it anyway.  I did send one more apology and for lack of a better idea of how to make it right, I sent the stranger a $20 Starbuck's gift card...we don't drink coffee, but I know the rest of the world, particularly those stressed out at airports, do!  What a day!

I am happy, however, to report that Sister Comaduran arrived in Indianapolis safely.  Her Mission President and his wife  took all the new missionaries to the temple, they had dinner together, and then they stayed in a hotel until Thursday.  On Thursday Felicity met her new trainer and was assigned to the Mooresville, Indiana area.  

I've continued to work on my Christmas projects and have completed a few more.  We're going to be going to Disneyland as a family when Helen goes with the choir in February, so I have also made some custom tee shirts too.  Lots of fun projects.

I was off on Friday and ended up spending the whole day running errands, shopping, and cleaning in preparation for General Conference weekend.  I picked up some extra little treats and toys to make it a special occasion for Jude.

I was excited to receive a package from LDSBookstore.com Friday which contained a duplicate of Felicity's missionary plaque; I figure she'll get to keep the one in the glass case outside of the Bishop's office and this will give me one to keep. I put it on the shelf under Phil's.

We really enjoyed General Conference together on Saturday.  I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast which is a fun tradition and I also had put together fun treat bags for Jude.  Each bag had a small toy, activity, or treat and had the picture of one of the twelve apostles on it.  Each time one came up to speak Jude got to find the bag with that speaker's picture on it and open his treat.  

In between sessions on Saturday Dad and Jude and I went out to lunch and then enjoyed the remaining two Saturday sessions.  We also enjoyed a rousing game of "Go Fish" when conference had concluded for the evening.  We picked up Helen and Arlo later Saturday night.  

Phil got called to work on Sunday and so the kids and I had to enjoy the Blueberry French toast Casserole without him.  Jude continued to enjoy opening a treat bag with each General Authority speaker.  Helen and Arlo wanted in on the treats, so they got to get a treat too.  They also asked me to print them out our usual "General Conference BINGO" sheets that we use to help keep kiddos listening and engaged.  Some of my favorite  talks were given by Sister Brown, Elder Kearon, Elder Christopherson, and Elder Oaks.  It was a great weekend.

28 September 2025

We were excited to start fall break this week...that is the kids were excited to start fall break.  I was just getting used to everyone being gone during the day!  Before, everyone was in school except Jude, then in July Jude started preschool, but Felicity came home for college.  Felicity left for her mission and I had an empty home...for literally a week.  Now we're on fall break and everyone is back in the house again!  We don't have any specific plans for the break as the bigger kids will go visit their dad for a week and we have time off planned for hunting season in November and then our family vacation over Rodeo Break next February.  As much as I didn't like having to work with a house full of noisy teens and toddlers I did like not having to run people to activities and manage crazy schedules.  

Felicity had her preparation day on Tuesday and called home in the morning.  Everyone was here to talk to her and enjoyed hearing about all the neat things she's doing at the MTC.  She's been to the temple a couple of times and is practicing her teaching skills.  She really enjoys her companion and likes her mission district.  It's been a great experience so far.  I started a mission blog for Felicity so that I can post milestones, pictures, and her weekly emails.  If you'd like to check it out its called Sister Comaduran: Indianapolis Indiana Mission and its at https://sistercomaduran.blogspot.com/.  

Helen spent the day out with Nana on Wednesday since the two of them hadn't found time to hang out for Helen's birthday last month.  I hear they had a great time.  She got some new clothes and other fun things...and a pillow with Danny DeVito's face on it (don't ask, I don't know).

The big kids went to visit their dad for a week starting Friday evening so after working to run all our errands, do our shopping, and finishing our cleaning on Friday night, we were free to have fun on Saturday.

Phil and I took Jude to the Arizona-Senora Desert Museum.  We had a great time.  It was overcast and cool most of the day and only sprinkled on us a little bit.  Jude enjoyed the reptiles and the cave, but also the big cats and watching the otter swim.  He was so well behaved. 

When we were done we stopped for dinner and even treated Jude to dessert since he had been so good all day.

Phil ended up working on Sunday so it was just Jude and I.  He was pretty good at church and enjoyed primary.  When we came home we had a quiet afternoon and I worked on some Christmas crafts.  I put aside the quilt I have been working on and made a list of all the things I want to make before Christmas and started in on the list.  I can share a few thigs, but since my kids (and husband) get into the blog now I can't share everything I worked on this week, but I'm pretty happy with what I have so far.