29 March 2026

It was a great week.  Not a lot going on, which was nice.  Phil worked on Monday so it was mostly the boys and I as Helen had late night rehearsal for the high school musical.  Arlo decided to play volleyball this quarter, which is new for him.  He's still nursing a little bit of a sore arm from the torn muscle he suffered during the divisional tournament at the end of the wrestling season, but is having fun anyway.  We talked to Sister Comaduran who is enjoying her new area and new companion.

Phil was home to keep me company on Tuesday...you know how boring office work is!  He took Jude to music class in the afternoon which Jude always enjoys.  I'm glad Phil was home because he was able to help coach Helen through picking out her dorm for next year.  She had hoped to room with a couple of friends from school, but when she logged on Tuesday afternoon at her appointed time, not only were all the dorms she had on her preferred list full, there were no triple or double vacancies in any other dorms.  She selected a bed in a room with one other unknown roommate in a dorm towards the center of campus.  I told her sometimes that's the way it plays out, I'm sure she'll meet some girls at Institute and church in her first semester and sophomores will have earlier dorm choice; its only for a year after all.  She's excited either way to be getting ready to leave home for college!  Can you believe that?! Look how cute my senior is.

Phil taught fire academy on Wednesday evening and enjoyed that.  I did some projects at home after work including finishing up my little sparrow quilt.  It was a frustrating endeavor, the last part.  I had accidently flipped a couple of my birds and flipped an entire row and had to take out some seams and rearrange things.  This quilt came from a  pre-cut kit, which I've never used before, and I found that the sashing pieces which were supposed to be 2 1/2 inches wide and the width of the fabric were not cut straight (they were wider in the center) so in order to get them straight I had to cut them down to 1 1/2 inches.  Then I forgot to account for that when I went to put my borders on and couldn't figure out why my borders were so big.  What a mess.  I did some math and I did prevail and here it is before quilting:

On Thursday we took advantage of everyone being home in the evening and Phil and I snuck away for a date night.  We went to Sam's Club, then to the temple, and then out to dinner.  We had a great time!

Friday was a little more busy.  I had to work and squeeze in picking up our groceries and doing the neighbor's shopping along with dropping off the ice cream machine at the church and taking Arlo to a doctor's appointment all before 6:30 when the doors opened for Helen's show.  With Phil's help I was able to get it all done and we were excited to see "Curtains" at Cienega in the evening.

Sigh.  I have feelings and I'm not sure which ones to express.  Firstly the cast was great, the leads were awesome, it was a fun show.  While Helen brushed off not getting a part in the show for her Senior year and last performance fairly quickly, I was still a little salty about it.  Then Phil and I watched the show Friday night and I was sad for Helen all over again. In addition to being passed over for a role, she also spent a majority of the show in the back right corner where no one could see her...literally the shortest person in the cast in the furthest back position.  I was sad for Helen, I'll say that. The show is cute, although not as good as last year's in my opinion, so if you have occasion to see it, you should.  They'll be performing again next week on Wednesday and Thursday.

Phil was back at work on Saturday and the boys and I hung out since Helen had another performance.  I cleaned the house and took care of the laundry, the two things that get done every week but are never done; you know what I mean?  I have been trying my hand at bread making and am starting to get the hang of the white sandwich loaf.  It looked so pretty rising on the counter Saturday afternoon I had to take a picture.  It makes the house smell amazing! 

I'm grateful Phil was home for church on Sunday.  The youth put on a Palm Sunday program for Sacrament Meeting and it was great.  Both Helen and Arlo sang and the messages and testimonies bore were great.  We only had the first hour meeting this week and if I had been thinking ahead I would have planned to have Easter Dinner Sunday since next week we'll have General Conference in addition to Easter, but oh well.  When we got home it just so happened that everyone had their instruments at home and we had a little Comaduran family brass quartet.  It was fabulous!  We played Jesus Christ is Risen Today.  Was it perfect, no.  Was it pretty good, sure!  Although I will say that Phil and I are out of practice, after a little sight reading and running through the piece twice our lips were pretty much shot!  Jude was our conductor, but he was a little sad not to have his own instrument.  I told him he needed to learn the French horn so our brass choir would be complete!  

 

22 March 2026

We finished up our spring break this week and we are now in the home stretch, last quarter of the school year!  I can't believe how quickly this year, honestly the last twenty, have flown by.  In April my oldest will be turning twenty, in May my second oldest will be graduating from high school and getting ready to start college, in July my third will be starting high school, and my baby will be going off to kindergarten.  Lots of milestones in the Comaduran household.  We talked to Felicity on Monday and she is doing well, she's finishing up the last couple of days before transfers. She's been in the same area since the beginning of her mission, so she's fairly certain she'll be moving areas and changing companions.  They'll find out Wednesday.

All the kids were home on Monday which made working fun...and by fun I mean challenging!  Phil took Helen to get an oil change and run some errands and then in the afternoon Helen went shopping with a friend.  Helen has developed some early-onset senior-itis and it's driving Dad and I a little crazy.  She missed the opportunity for some scholarships because she didn't request letters of recommendation soon enough and she missed out on a rooming opportunity that I think would have been ideal because she drug her feet on contacting the girl.  She now has to wait until March 24th to select a dorm and I don't think that's going to go down the way she wants it to, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Phil took the boys fishing at Rose Canyon Lake on Tuesday.  He had planned an overnight camping/fishing trip to Eagle Creek, but the friend he was hoping to go with backed out and he didn't feel comfortable taking the boys that far back into the desert without another adult.  Rose Canyon was a good compromise.  The weather was much cooler on the mountain and they still caught quite a few trout.  Arlo was excited to bring them home and cook them that evening.  I prayed my house would air out, I hate the smell of fish!

Helen began her Senior Exit Project this week.  Yes, she's had all year to work on it and yes she waited till pretty much the last opportunity to get her hours done.  See, she's driving me nuts!  She shadowed at Healthy Skin Medical & Cosmetic Dermatology.  She had to do twenty hours of shadowing and then write an essay on a topic relevant to the field where she shadowed.  She went on Wednesday, Thursday, and part of Friday.  I'm grateful the clinic was able to work that out for her.  And I'm doubly grateful she got her hours in.

The kids entertained themselves fairly well on Wednesday.  Jude was glad that Helen and Arlo were home since he was by himself all last week. It gave him someone to fight with this week.  Phil and I came out on Wednesday evening to find Jude asleep on the couch, Helen holed up in her bedroom and Arlo asleep in front of the fireplace.  I'm not entirely sure what he was doing sitting in the living room by himself, but he fell asleep there...I did go over and make sure he was still breathing because it looked a little "crime scene, foul play-esque".  He was just asleep.

Phil worked on Thursday and I was happy that my mom called and wanted to take the boys out to dinner and a movie.  They saw "Hoppers" (a second time for Jude) and ate at Mod Pizza.  I was appreciative for some peace and quiet to work in!  I signed up for a series of graduate classes through UCLA this week and will be doing that in the evenings on Tuesdays and Thursdays April - September.  It will result in a Systems Engineering certificate which will hopefully help in next year's round of advancement opportunity. It's only six months, I can do anything for just six months, right?

Santa Rita got a new fire truck.  Always a treat.  Here's Phil posing with his new toy.

I was off on Friday and Phil and Jude dropped me off at the salon for my hair appointment and then they went to Wild Katz, an indoor playground.  Jude had a lot of fun; he's quite fearless and enjoyed some of the high climbing in addition to the little kid stuff.  When they were done we had lunch and then ran to Sam's Club, grocery shopping for our neighbor, and then picked up our groceries.  It was a long, but productive day!

I had been asked to help with a shooting activity for the young women at church on Sunday so I was at the church building by 8am with several 0.22 caliber rifles.  We drove to a desert shooting site and the girls shot the rifles at ten yards for quite awhile.  Some of the other adult leaders brought other types of guns and the girls enjoyed shooting those too.  We were back at the church by 11AM.  It was hot!  I can't believe hot it is already in March.  I'm praying this means we'll have a really good monsoon season, because if we don't, Arizona is going to be in trouble.

I started running again this week; a great time to pick it back up seeing as we've already broken the 100 degree mark.  Saturday evening Phil went with me for a two-mile run.  Look how far ahead of me he got!  It was slow going this week...but I was going!

We had a nice Sunday and enjoyed our meetings, in the evening we had the missionaries over for dinner which was fun.  Jude really got a kick out of having a captive audience for his dinner-time antics.  Everyone was bummed they needed to go to bed on time Sunday night since everybody is back at work and school tomorrow.  I'm praying these next few weeks go smoothly and Helen can get everything done that she needs to in preparation for graduation without needing any more "mental health ditch days" or "crazy control-freak Mom moments".  Pray for us!   

15 March 2026

Our first week of spring break was a lovely, low-key, and quiet experience.  Helen and Arlo went to visit their dad for the week in Tucson and so I will say that Jude was pretty lonely without them.  Phil taught fire academy on Monday night and is enjoying being back in the classroom.  Speaking of Phil in the classroom, this week he got to go to one of the elementary schools in Sahuarita and read to a first grade class for Love of Reading week.  He took two of our favorite books to read, The Wonky Donkey and The Graffalo.  Look how cute he is in his old man reading glasses.

We heard this week that Felicity had a little bike vs car accident.  I'm grateful to report that she's ok and so is her bike.  Evidently the route they routinely take doesn't have a bike lane (which begs the question if they should be riding that way at all) and I guess traffic has to go around them.  She was in the front with her companion behind her and they were preparing to turn left.  She thought her companion said it was clear and so she started to turn and it was not clear.  The car coming up behind her managed to veer and speed up enough so that she hit the rear of the bumper as opposed to the car hitting her broadside.  She did fall off the bike, but was uninjured.  Ahh!  Girl, be more careful!  

Jude and I were together alone all day on Tuesday and the highlight was attending Let's Play Music in the afternoon.  We had a great time.

On Wednesday Dad was home with us and so Jude and Dad hung out for most of the day while I was working and in the evening we went to the movies and saw "Hoppers".  It was really cute and we enjoyed it.  I was glad too, it feels like the last couple of movies that Disney has put out were real stinkers, but I liked this one, and so did Jude.

Phil was back at work on Thursday and while at work each member of his crew had to complete a reduced profile drill.  It's essentially a confidence course simulating a partially collapsed building in black-out conditions.  They've built a training prop where they have to crawl through it blind-folded and find their way out to a window and then down a ladder.  They have some simulated obstacles (based on situations where firefighters have been killed) such as a drop ceiling falling or becoming tangled in electrical wires.  Phil said a few folks tapped out and didn't complete it as its very claustrophobic feeling.  Phil had the best time on his crew; however he was supposed to exit the window onto the ladder in a head first ladder bailout technique where they come out onto the ladder head first and swing their torso around once their body is out.  He said he was so exhausted he fumbled that bit and in a live situation would have fallen off the ladder!  Here's Phil run through the blind rat maze:

Friday was our 6th wedding anniversary.  Six years!  It feels like it went SO FAST, but I also can't remember life without him.  Six years ago, we promised each other forever. Today, I find myself even more grateful for that promise than I ever imagined I could be.  When I think about our journey, what stands out the most is the happiness we’ve built together. Our marriage is full of love, laughter, and a deep sense of partnership that makes every day better than the last. He is my best friend, my safe place, and the person who understands me in a way no one else ever has.  We naturally we fit together. Our compatibility is a gift—like two lives that were always meant to meet. We support each other, challenge each other, and celebrate life side by side. I’m so thankful for the paths that led us here, even though for both of us they were hard and painful and full of disappointment; somehow, through everything, we found each other at exactly the right moment. With Phil, I’ve learned what it means to feel truly loved, valued, and understood.  I’m grateful for every memory we've made; loving Phil is easy.

My mom took Jude to the movies and they saw "GOAT".  They had a great time hanging out and it freed Phil and I up to have a fancy lunch at Seis Kitchen (so yummy) and then we went to the temple and did sealings.

Phil worked on Saturday and Jude and I worked on some things around the house.  Aside from our usual chores we cleaned the house, I worked on my Sunday School lesson, and I finished the 24 blocks of my latest pieced quilt.  I laid them out trying to figure out a configuration I like; I'll hopefully find time to put it together with the sashing next week.

Everyone was home by Sunday morning which was nice and we all went to church together.  I feel like my Sunday school lesson went well; we talked about Joseph in Egypt.  That's what Jude talked about in Primary too, look at him in his coat of many colors:

In the evening we enjoyed dinner al fresco, I think we're going to have a very narrow window where it's the right temperature to eat out on the deck.  After dinner we played three rounds of "Sleeping Queens" which was fun.  Jude was able to play mostly on his own and won rounds two and three.

The kids will be home next week for the second half of spring break which will be nice, if for no other reason than to keep a bored Jude out of my hair while I work.  

08 March 2026

 It was a weird intermission week.  We came back from the long rodeo weekend with one week of school before two weeks of spring break.  That being said, it was a little less busy than normal.  We talked to Felicity on Monday and she's doing well.  The weather in Indiana is a little pendular, swinging from cold/snow, to less cold/rain, and this week they had a few days of warm/sunny sprinkled in.

For the past couple of weeks we have been battling yet another pack rat.  It feels like once we get rid of one a new one comes in and takes its place.  Helen first encountered him in the pantry one morning when she was grabbing breakfast from the pantry on her way to early morning seminary.  She said it was roughly the size of a kitten and stared her down until she backed out of the pantry slowly.  He's been wiley.  He successfully set off the rat trap three times without being caught and one time managed to eat the goldfish and peanut butter (his personal favorite flavor combination) off the trap without setting it off at all.  We were finally successful Monday morning and Jude was very excited to display the evidence.  Yuck! 

Helen began tech rehearsal this week for the school musical and was gone most nights until late.  I took over 10 pounds of taco meat on Tuesday night to help feed the large group of kiddos working hard to bring the show together.  On Tuesday evening we got a call from Arlo's wrestling coach that the A Team member in the 169 pound weight class had the flu and they wanted Arlo to wrestle up for the Wednesday tournament.  He agreed and so we headed over to Corona Foothills for the division tournament.  Unfortunately Arlo's match was against a much more developed 169 pound kid and he (at 150) got thrown and pinned within a matter of seconds.  Ugh!  He tore a muscle in his shoulder so he was out of the tournament at that point and hobbled around with an ace bandage and ice the rest of the week.  Later that night Phil worked at Fire Academy and I went to dinner with my friends to celebrate Allison's birthday.  We had a great time.

Arlo had his wrestling banquet and enjoyed pizza and palling around with his teammates one last time as their season came to an end.  He received his third place ribbon for the tournament and a participation certificate.

I was off on Friday and spent time in the morning with Charlotte and Tricia quilting.  I worked on the hand embroidery on a block for my Prairie Meadow quilt.  Later in the week I finished up the scrappy border; I'm making it twice as large so it will fit on my king size bed, so it was a lot of work.  In the evening I met with my kitchen committee for girls' camp and we discussed logistics and came up with a rough draft for our menu.  We're going to be feeding 200+ people three meals a day plus desserts and snacks for four days.  It's going to be a huge undertaking!  I have a good committee so I think it will go well.

Phil and I were both home on Saturday without any other obligations so we were able to work out in the yard for several hours in the morning.  We trimmed all the trees in the front yard and fertilized everything and then cleaned up all the trimmed branches and weeds.  It was in desperate need so it felt good to get it done before spring really sets in and the trees start leafing out in earnest.  When we were done we took ourselves and Jude out to dinner as a treat.

Our Sunday was nice.  The big kids are spending time with family for the first week of spring break in Tucson so it was just Jude and Phil and I.  We enjoyed our meetings and in the afternoon Phil attended a planning meeting for the youth.  We had a nice dinner and a quiet evening in and are ready for spring break.  

01 March 2026- Disneyland

 What a fabulous week!  Everything seemed a little easier this week with a long weekend (and vacation) lingering at the end.  We had a quiet Monday and got to talk to Felicity in the morning.  She was going to the temple later in the week and so she was splitting her preparation day between Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon.  You can catch up with her on her blog: Sister Comaduran Blogspot, she has a pretty good teaching pool, is getting folks to come to church, and survived a tornado.  Phil was working on Tuesday and so I went to Arlo's last regular season wrestling match by myself.  He had a tough loss, but it was a good season overall.  He's really going to have to work hard between now and next year if he decides he wants to wrestle in high school (can you believe he's going to be in high school next year?!), hopefully he'll get a little help from puberty as well!

Helen finished painting her jeans for Disneyland on Tuesday.  They turned out so cute, she did a great job!

Phil was home on Wednesday and while I had to work, he and I got everything ready for us to leave on our Rodeo Break trip.  We packed, procured some snacks, took care of our neighbor's shopping, and got our rental vehicle from the airport.  Phil picked up the boys from school along with my mom and then we were on the road to Anaheim!  Disneyland, here we come!

Since Helen was going to Disneyland with the high school choir, we decided instead of volunteering to chaperone, which Phil and I have done twice in the past, we would instead make it a family trip and take the boys and my mom.  Jude had never been and we felt like he was just about the right age.  Can you tell he was excited?

Our trip out to California was uneventful.  We made it to our hotel around 10:45 PM, got checked in and pretty much went straight to bed for the night.  

We enjoyed the continental breakfast at the hotel and then took the complimentary shuttle to the parks.  Day one was Disneyland!  I don't like to pay the extra money for the park hopper, I feel like its not worth the expense because there's plenty to do in one of the parks; enough to occupy the whole day and you waste a lot of time walking between the parks otherwise.  We picked up our first two Lightning Lanes for Mickey's Runaway Railroad and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and while waiting for our times to come up for those we waited five minutes in line for Jude to ride Dumbo and then another five for Dad and Jude and Nana to ride the Teacups (I like to sit that one out).

All four of the kids have ridden Dumbo as their first Disneyland ride.  Once we left Fantasyland we didn't really go back.  Jude loved Mickey's Runaway Railroad and while in Toontown we rode Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin and Gadget's Go Coaster.  All a big hit.  We then went to Galaxy's Edge for our Lightning Lane, when we got off of Rise of the Resistance Jude promptly said "That was awesome, I want to do it again".

We rode almost everything.  We were hopeful that Jude was tall enough for Indiana Jones, but he was just shy of the mark.  He loved the roller coasters and we did Big Thunder Mountain at least twice.  We were so excited/relieved that the last of the kiddos is a roller coaster junky like the rest of us!

We rode Tiana's Bayou Adventure (formerly Splash Mountain) after it had gotten dark and Jude rode in the front.  He loved it.  He didn't even seem to be bothered at all that he was SOAKED when we got off! It was quite warm in Southern California this weekend, so no need for sweaters in the evening.  Jude petered out shortly thereafter and so he and Nana decided to go back to the hotel.  Dad and Arlo and I stayed and rode Indiana Jones and a coupe of other things before we headed back ourselves.  

When we got back Jude was freshly showered and fast asleep.

Friday was Disney's California Adventure. We grabbed our first Lightning Lanes, Radiator Springs Racers and Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout for later in the morning and then rope-dropped Monsters Inc. (Roz wasn't heckling in Monsters which was a bummer).  

We were heading over to Soarin' Over California because it had a short wait time when Mickey Mouse came out for pictures.  Jude was determined to get a photo with Mickey because his teacher told him to hug Mickey for her.  He and Nana waited to get a picture with Mickey Mouse and Phil and Arlo and I went on to Soarin' only to get on the ride almost immediately and then have them take us off since it wasn't working correctly.  They did give us a Lightning Lane for any other ride in the park as a consolation prize.

We went over to Cars Land next and rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree while we waited for our Radiator Springs  Racers return time.  Arlo went off on his own to see if he could get in the single-rider line for the Incredicoaster.

Jude LOVED Radiator Springs Racers.  He was beaming when we got off.  In between rides we stopped for snacks and pictures.

Our next ride was Mission Breakout (what used to be the Tower of Terror).  We didn't tell Jude what kind of a ride it was, and I could tell he was a little apprehensive.  The first time the ride shot up, I grabbed his hand to help him find the hand hold, but he grabbed my hand pretty firmly instead!  Honestly, its the most terrifying ride in my opinion.  I love it and will ride it, but usually only once per trip!  When we got off Jude still looked a little scared, but when asked, he said he loved it.  Look at him half committing to having his hands in the air...something I won't do on that one!

We went over to Pixar Pier and Phil and Arlo and I used our Lightning Lane to ride the Incredicoaster (so much fun!) while Nana and Jude rode the carousel and then Mickey's Wheel of Death (aka Pixar Pal-A-Round aka the ferris wheel).

We had a great day.  We enjoyed fun foods and treats.  It was hot when you had to stand in the direct sun, but otherwise the weather was lovely.  Jude rode almost everything he was big enough to ride, preferring the big-kid rides.  Dad beat us at Webslingers and Toy Story Midway Mania, but I ruled Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. 

Nana watched the boys in the late afternoon since Phil and I had reservations to eat at Carthay Circle which was divine.  We shared the porkchop and mashed potatoes, it was delicious!

We used the virtual cue to get early access to preferred viewing for World of Color, but Jude fell asleep while waiting, literally laying asleep on the concrete at our feet.  He mostly woke up long enough to watch the show, although I don't know that he really enjoyed it since he was still half asleep.

We slept in a bit on Saturday, everyone was exhausted!  Nana left for the airport in the morning, she was moving on to the second part of her vacation, a cruise with her friend and cousins.  The rest of us were back at Disneyland and our first couple of rides were things we didn't get to on Thursday: The Matterhorn Bobsleds and Space Mountain.  

We didn't find a single ride that Jude didn't like.  We tried so many fun treats and new eating spots.  We had brought our umbrella stroller, but found that the wheel was broken when we arrived so Jude walked the whole time.  He was SO GOOD.  He didn't whine, he stood in lines patiently, he and Arlo got along so well.  It was such a good trip.  As is our tradition, we got ice cream/caramel apples on the last night and enjoyed those sitting on the curb on Main Street.  We were lucky enough to catch the "Paint the Night" parade which was fun while we were enjoying our last-night treats before catching the shuttle back to the hotel.

We slept in a bit on Sunday and then after breakfast packed up and hit the road.  The boys were a little more grouchy on the drive home, especially after Jude started to get carsick from watching the iPad while we were driving.  Luckily no one threw up this time, but we did stop to get some Dramamine just in case.  It made for a more pleasant drive with Jude sleeping peacefully in the backseat!  We arrived home safely a little later than expected, but with no major problems.

It was a great trip.  Jude was the perfect age.  I think he'll remember the experiences and time he had, he loved to ride the rides and wasn't scared and still found the characters and shows and parades magical.  I'm so grateful even though we're working toward some big financial goals we put money aside for this three-day vacation.  I hope the kids will always remember how they felt and how much fun we had together as a family.