Phil has celebrated the completion of his "high three"--three years of insane overtime--by hiring back on at Pima College to teach Paramedic classes and Fire Academy. He taught his first class on Monday. It's too bad he was teaching because he missed such a great wrestling match at Rincon Vista Monday afternoon. The opposing team didn't have anyone in Arlo's weight class (150 pounds), but they offered to let him wrestle A team against their heavy weight (200+ pounds). Arlo accepted and when we (me and pretty much the whole gym) saw the kid he would be wrestling with everyone essentially gave Arlo a pat on the shoulder, said do your best, and expected him to get creamed. NOBODY expected what happened in the next 90 seconds. It was a real David and Goliath moment. It wasn't perfect, but I couldn't believe that Arlo had that kid pinned in the first period. He got up to riotous applause, made his rounds, shaking his opponent's and all the coaches' hands, and then practically his whole team dog-piled him in elation. I wish I had gotten that part on video. I pray every mama gets a chance at least once in life to see their kiddo come off a mat or a field or a court and have their peers jump on them in celebration.
Arlo practically floated back to the truck when the match was over. He even got a shout out in the daily announcements and school communications email the next day. The downside, however, was that he hurt his neck and pretty much walked around not being able to turn his head for most of the week. He had to sit out his match on Wednesday to avoid getting more injured while waiting for his neck to heal.
Phil had a preschool station tour this week at work and the fire district posted some cute pictures of him interacting with the kids.
Jude had music class with Dad on Tuesday and then Dad and the big kids went to youth activities in the evening. Phil took the teachers quorum to a service project where they chopped some wood and removed some debris. I heard it was a good time. Phil woke up on Wednesday and said it felt like Christmas as he anxiously waited to see if Arizona Game and Fish was going to charge our credit card indicating one of us had been drawn for an elk or antelope hunting tag. Arizona’s hunting draw is a hybrid, multi-pass lottery system that awards limited big game tags based on "bonus points" and random numbers. You apply for specific hunts using a valid hunting license, with 20% of tags going to high-point holders and 80% randomly, where more points increase your odds. Here's kind of how that works:
Three-Pass System: The draw runs in phases.
1st Pass (20% Bonus Pass): Top point-holders are drawn first for 20% of tags.
2nd Pass (1st & 2nd Choice): Remaining 80% are drawn randomly, with your points acting as extra entries (weighted).
3rd Pass (3rd-5th Choice): Any leftover tags are assigned here.
Bonus Points: You gain one point for each year you've applied for that species and not drawn a tag. You also get a point via the Loyalty program if you've applied for 5+ years for that species and one extra point if you've taken the Hunter Education Course.
Anyway, Phil hasn't had an elk tag since 2016 so he has quite a few points built up and was hoping this was going to be his year. I think Christmas was the wrong analogy because typically on Christmas you don't end up opening empty boxes! Not only did he not draw, but neither did I or Arlo or his brother nor his brother's kids. It was a bust! He walked around like defeated Charlie Brown for most of the rest of the day.
Phil and I had a hot date night on Thursday. We drove to Sam's Club to pick up our grocery order and then picked up a grocery order from Fry's and stopped for salads at Chipotle for dinner. Ok, it was rather mundane, but we got to spend one on one time together. The big news on Thursday was Helen's college decision! She had received all of her acceptance letters this week from the colleges/universities she applied to (and got into all) and now it was time to consider the financial offers they made in conjunction with a lot of other factors including expense, availability of her major of choice, proximity to home, and a whole bunch of other things. She had fasted about it last Sunday and by Thursday was confident in her choice of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. They have offered her the Lumberjack Scholar award which is $11,000 per year, roughly equivalent to tuition as a pre-nursing major. While I'm a little sad that she decided not to be a Wildcat, we are ecstatic for Helen and agree with her that it's the best choice to help her meet her goals and aspirations. She accepted and paid her admission fee and we will work together to get her housing figured out next week. Big life step for Helen!
I was excited on my off-Friday to spend time with my lovely friends Tricia and Charlotte quilting. I had to bring Jude with me, but he was very good. He watched a couple of movies and colored and built with blocks and had a relatively good time too. I worked on hand appliqueing my latest flower block...I still have a long way to go! Phil taught at Pima on Saturday and so Jude and I hung out together since the big kids were visiting family in Tucson. I managed to catch some virus that Jude lovingly shared with me from school and while I felt run-down I didn't really have any other symptoms other than having completely lost my voice! Phil worked on Sunday so it again was Jude and I at church. I had been asked earlier in the week to speak in Sacrament meeting, which by Saturday was a little ironic because I couldn't actually speak. I prepared a talk Saturday afternoon and then did a dry run, 20 minutes! Too long. I trimmed it a bit, but it didn't help much because I ended up being the last speaker on Sunday and when it came time for me to speak, I only had 5-8 minutes left. Ugh! I did my best to fit my talk into that window, but it felt rushed and chaotic and disjointed, not to mention my hoarse voice on top of everything! The rest of our day was uneventful and we're looking forward to a long weekend next week with rodeo break...and maybe a little family trip!
What a lovely week. I worked on wrapping up another quilt started in 2025. While I was working on it I kept thinking to myself, "why did I pick this pattern and fabric?" It just wasn't bringing me joy. Then I got it all put together and it made sense. It was a real "forest for the trees" moment, it was just so pretty all put together. I'm actually really happy with it.
We were happy that this week the wrestling match was on Wednesday so that there was no conflict with Jude's music class. Here he is doing his music homework with dad. He really loves it.
Arlo wrestled on Wednesday. He did have a match, although I'm pretty sure he wrestled a 27 year old parolee with a mustache and two step kids...seriously, that was a middle schooler? He manhandled Arlo pretty handily and he got pinned in the second period. Oh, well!
Jude had his preschool Valentine's Day party on Thursday afternoon. He was VERY excited for his party. We made wrappers for microwave popcorn packets for him to hand out to his classmates. He brought home all sorts of goodies and reported that it was a lot of fun.
The kids had a half day on Friday so everyone was home in the afternoon which was nice. Helen took the boys to the park and Arlo rode his bike and Jude played and they had a great time. What an awesome big sister!
On Saturday morning I met Phil at the end of the dirt road as he was on his way home from work. We drove to Benson and enjoyed breakfast with some family as Phil's nephew and his wife and baby had stayed over in Benson on their way home to Oklahoma from California. It was a nice visit!
When we got home from breakfast we took the boys to Vail Pride Day, a community-wide event at the fairgrounds, where Arlo was performing with the band. We listened to the band perform and then told Arlo he could go off with his friends for 90 minutes and Phil and I took Jude around to find his art exhibit and to visit the booths and displays.
We jumped in the bouncy houses and also grabbed a waffle dog. Jude's favorite was probably the preschool booth that included some activities for little kids. He did an agility course and built a tall bucket tower. Fun was had by all.
This year for Valentine's Day Phil and I agreed to not spend any money on one another. He instead wrote me a song! I'm a lucky girl, I don't know how lucky he is, the only thing he got for Valentine's Day was the pleasure of my company!
Saturday evening Helen asked me about helping her create a stencil or outlines for some pants she wants to paint for her upcoming choir trip to Disneyland. She wanted to do a Robinhood theme and I decided that infusible ink outlines would work well, so here's what we came up with. She'll still have to paint them, but she's got a good head start.
Phil had to work on Sunday so it was just the kiddos and I at church. We enjoyed our Sacrament meeting and then I taught Sunday school, a lesson I called "Building Zion and Finding Shelter in the Ark". I think it went fairly well, while preparing for my Sunday school class is always a little rough, I enjoy teaching and being inspired by all the great comments and additions that come from the members in our class.
The rest of our Sabbath was peaceful. Jude did quiet acts of service for us when we got home; leaving little hearts for us when he did something kind (he learned about how to build Zion in our home in his Sunday school class). I had to talk the big kids off the ledge when they caught him in their room and he wouldn't tell them what he was doing. It was a little funny. He was trying to make Helen's bed, but wouldn't tell her that's what he was doing (because his acts of service were supposed to be in secret) and she was just mad he was sneaking around her room and refusing to tell her why. I worked on my next "already started" quilt in the evening. The plan for this applique quilt is to go on my bed in my bedroom...eventually. It's a very time-consuming quilt as I have to cut and stitch the pieces, then tack them to the background, and then hand applique around them. I have eight of the 20 blocks finished and there's a lot of piecing for the borders. It's going to be a long haul.
It's been warm for February, anyone else sleeping with their doors open yet? Just us? We did take some time this week to work on some outside projects while it's not too hot, but not cold either. We got to talk to Felicity on Monday and all is well, she's anxiously waiting for transfers on Wednesday. She is hoping that she'll get to stay in Mooresville with her current companion. They've been successful and have an upcoming baptism they'd like to be there for. A member in her ward sent me this photo of Felicity, her companion and this ward member's family; they had fed the sister missionaries and thoughtfully passed along a photo.
Jude's preschool class is learning about the post office and mail system next week and they asked that we write a letter to our child and put it in the classroom mailbox. I wrote Jude a letter and decorated the envelope. I included a dinosaur joke in my letter and then decided to make some water-proof water bottle stickers to match that he could hand out to his class. They turned out pretty cute.
Jude continues to love school and his teachers and classmates love him. He even enjoys working in his preschool workbook at home practicing his writing and letter recognition. I think he'll be ready for kindergarten in July. I can't believe he's ready to start full time school in just a few short months!
On Tuesday we again had both Jude's music class and Arlo's wrestling match. Phil took Jude to music class and I went to the wrestling match. As it turned out, Arlo was almost the very last match of the game so Phil was able to make it to both. Arlo won his match, so that was great too! In the evening Phil and the big kids went to youth activities at the church. When they got home Phil and Arlo were talking wrestling and some improvements Arlo could make after we watched his video. He doesn't want to wrestle with Dad, but he consented to wrestling with me (we're the same weight and almost the same height, crazy as that sounds). So I got man-handled (literally) as a wrestling demonstration tool. I would be lying if I said I didn't wake up Wednesday morning with a soar shoulder from the half Nelsons I was subjected to the night before!
I worked on Wednesday as normal and in the evening got to go to dinner with my friends Allison, Millissa, and Delora. We had a great time catching up and it seems the restaurant always closes before we're actually ready to be done. I sure do love these women.
Everybody had a half day on Thursday and in the evening Helen attended a girl's camp meeting for the YCL (Youth Camp Leaders) and the graduating seniors. I am still working to nail down my kitchen staff for cooking at girls camp, but I did send along a list of possible menu items for the girls to give me their opinions about. On Friday we went over to my mom and dad's with pizza and cupcakes to celebrate Papa's 70th birthday. We had a great time.
Jude and Dad went on a joint bike ride/run down the dirt road. Jude is doing really well and loves to ride his bike...he's not too crazy about the sand on the road, but he manages. In addition to running and riding bikes with Jude on Saturday, Phil also attended a funeral in Benson and visited with his mom.
While Phil was gone I worked on some chores including laundry and cleaning house. I also pulled some time aside to finish up this beautiful advent calendar that I started last year. I'm trying to not start any new projects until I've finished up my already started projects from last year. I'm really happy with how this one turned out. It was a lot more work than I anticipated, but worth it I think!
Our Sunday was nice and restful. Arlo and Helen came home from spending the weekend with their dad in the evening and we are ready to start another week!
It was a quick week! Or at least that's the way it felt. We talked to our missionary on Monday and she survived the winter storm that came through Indiana. She and her companion were stuck inside for their preparation day because of the ongoing snow. She's in good spirits and learning to navigate the foreign landscape. She is discovering that her height, or lack thereof, has some challenges!
My Monday was pretty standard. Phil was working and so I handled the drop off/pick up and had to field a panicked call from Helen Monday evening. While she was driving home her car stalled, threw out every warning icon and rang every buzzer and forced her to pull over to the side of the road. Luckily while we were on the phone a friend pulled up behind her to make sure she was OK and was able to drive her to the Roadrunner to meet me so I could pick her up. Unfortunately, the Prius is down for the count...at least for now. It looks like perhaps the hybrid battery has finally given up the ghost. Luckily we have a spare vehicle so we don't have to fix it right away. Phil was able to take the flatbed trailer over to Colossal Cave Road first thing on Tuesday to bring it home where it will sit in an auto-coma until we decide what we want to do with it. She's been a good and reliable car. After arriving home safely, Helen and the other kids and I watched our niece/cousin open her mission call, we're so proud to have another missionary in our extended family, this time in Brazil!
I filed our taxes on Tuesday in between work and meetings. It took a couple of hours, but I'm happy to report that they're done. We really were able to take advantage of the "no tax on overtime" aspect of the Big Beautiful Bill and will be getting a portion of what we paid in taxes on all of Phil's overtime back. What a blessing! Our afternoon was full. Phil registered Jude for Kindergarten after he picked him up from school. We will have a new Copper Ridge Ringtail come July! Jude was very excited for all the cool swag he got from registration, including his own Copper Ridge tee. After registration we were split since Jude had music class, but Arlo also had his first wrestling match of the season. We opted for the wrestling match this time and headed over to Desert Sky Middle School. Unfortunately, Arlo didn't end up wrestling as there wasn't someone in his weight class from the other team, but we stayed for an hour or so and watched the "A Team" wrestle. After a quick dinner Phil and the kids went to their youth activities at the church.
I worked on finishing up two of last year's quilts. I added labels and binding and they're done. I am so in love with how they turned out and am glad that I made them with the intention to keep them.
The kids had a half day on Wednesday and I let the boys stay home. I don't know that the middle school gets very much done on a half day and since Jude would have to be picked up by 11:30 it's hardly worth driving him there and back! I had to work, so Arlo and Jude entertained each other. In the late morning I took a break and drove Arlo into town for a much needed haircut.
Phil was home on Thursday, starting his four-day break. He found some projects to keep him busy while I worked and after we got the kids home from school he and I went to the temple. I enjoyed being there so much last week I made another appointment for this week. We had a nice time and stopped at Chick Fil A for dinner on our way home.
I had to work on Friday and was grateful that Phil was home since Jude had a doctor's appointment. At 5 years old he is 44.5 inches tall (78%) and 48 pounds (86%). He also had to get four shots, Dad said he was very brave and handled them like a champ. They stopped for lunch on the way home as a treat for being such a great patient.
Phil picked up an overtime shift on Saturday so it was just the kiddos and I at home. I had laundry, house cleaning, and coming up with a Sunday School lesson on my agenda. I also wanted to squeeze in some sewing and project time too. Helen spent the afternoon primping for the Winter Formal. Jude may have also gotten some facial care as well! Helen looked beautiful and she and her date had a fun time.
It was nice to have everyone at church on Sunday and my Sunday School lesson went alright. When we got home we had a late lunch/early dinner and then played Disney Trivial Pursuit together. I love this version because it's meant for families, they have adult cards/questions and kid cards/questions and if the movie category was right, Jude was able to answer questions right along with us. It was fun.
Last Sunday I was extended an assignment to serve at Girl's Camp this summer in charge of the kitchen. I gladly accepted and then immediately wanted to panic and recant! Its a huge undertaking. Essentially I will be in charge of planning and cooking three meals a day plus a dessert and snacks for four days for 220+ girls and adult leaders. I talked to the camp director on Tuesday and she asked me to suggest some women (4) who they could ask to help me in the kitchen for camp and have the list to her by Thursday. This felt like such an overwhelming task. I did a lot of debating and praying and asking for advice; it was this huge mental block that made everything feel hard whenever I thought about camp. On Wednesday evening a dear sweet friend said she would be willing to help me and it was such a huge relief, I literally had tears well up in my eyes because I knew that if I had her help, I could do this. After that, I was able to come up with a list of potential women to help me along with some backup suggestions and I was able to start ideas rolling about what we could make and how we would pull it off. It's going to be a fun adventure for sure...pray for me!
.jpg)
