26 April 2026

Compared to last week, this week was pretty tame.  On Monday Phil took the boys to a dentist appointment for me since I had to work.  Arlo got a clear bill of oral health...Jude had two cavities.  Ugh!  Heaven help me, I can't seem to get everyone through a dentist appointment without a cavity.  Does anything make you feel like a bad mom quite like "your five year old has [more] cavities"?! They want to be as aggressive as possible, so he has a follow up appointment for two fillings and two new crowns to protect the fillings.  And I thought we were doing a good job.  Alas!

In the afternoon Arlo had a volleyball game.  They lost the first two sets, which meant that the game was over; however, the opposing team agreed to a third match in which Corona Foothills won, the boys were super excited about that!

We also got to talk to Felicity on Monday which is always a nice treat.  She's doing well and can't believe that she's at the end of her most recent transfer and will find out next week if she'll be staying in Eagle Creek or if she will be moving to a new area or getting a new companion.  She and Sister Smith have been working really well together and I think if Felicity had her way she and Sister Smith would both stay in Eagle Creek for another transfer.  You can read her latest updates here.

Phil worked teaching fire academy on Monday evening.  On Tuesday I took some time off in the morning and Phil and I met Kirby and Brook at the Tucson Temple and we went on a very nice double date.  We attended the temple and then enjoyed lunch afterward...and took zero pictures to prove it.  Helen also got to go to the temple Tuesday evening with the Young Women.

Wednesday we had a second volleyball game. Arlo's team is almost only 6th graders, with the exception of Arlo and three others.  The opposing team was the opposite composition, almost all 8th graders and a couple of smaller kids.  Let's just say they got beat handily.  Arlo did have a couple of good returns, before he took a ball to the face and sat out with an ice pack!  Arlo wasn't the only one stung with a ball out of left field if you will, on Wednesday I knew it wasn't good news when our program managers called us into an impromptu meeting.  Due to the recent government budget cuts the Office of Water Prediction was not going to be extending our program's contract through 2027 as had been previously assumed.  Our program will be ending in October instead.  So what does that mean for me?  Well, that's a little tricky.  I'll still be employed by Raytheon, but I'll need to find another program to work on before October and I don't know what that will look like, most likely it will include going back into the office in Tucson full time.  I of course always have the option to look outside of Raytheon too, if I'd like.  It's a little stressful.  I've been enjoying what I do and I've already started some continuing education classes that were hopefully going to result in a promotion, but now the promotion cycle will land right in the middle of this changeover and nobody is going to promote someone they just brought onto their program.  I'm frustrated.  We'll just have to see how it all plays out.  If only they paid high school biology teachers what they pay systems engineers... 

What could be crappier than hearing you need to find new work when you like what you currently do?  How about a sequential stomach flu that runs through your family for funsies?  Jude stayed home from school with diarrhea on Thursday and to top it off threw up, but not getting to the toilet of course.  Ugh!  This set off a chain reaction where Phil had it Friday (with fever), Helen had it Saturday (also with fever), and it was my turn on Sunday (fever too).  It was pretty miserable.  Arlo is due to get it Monday, so we'll just have to see if he somehow manages to dodge it or ends up in bed all day like the rest of us.  A highlight, however, of the week (before all the big people got sick) was Senior Honors night on Wednesday.  Each of the honor students had a spotlight and they announced the schools they had been accepted to, the school they had committed to, and any awards and/or scholarships they'd been given.  We're super proud of Helen and her accomplishments this year!  

When we got home from Honor's Night, Helen, true to recent form, wanted to work on a project due the next day.  The school afforded the seniors the opportunity to decorate their caps within certain guidelines for graduation.  Helen came up with this design based on a song she's liked since she was very little and Dad cut a little wooden birdhouse in half for her and I cut out some vinyl lettering, she made paper flowers and attached everything together.  It's surely a reflection of her bright, cheery, optimistic, and whimsical disposition.

I had to work on Friday, but I also worked on Helen's graduation announcements.  Only three weeks until graduation!  These beauties will be going out in the mail early next week.  Phil spent Friday in  bed sick, but on Saturday he was feeling well enough to take me out on a date night.  We went to dinner and then went to see "Michael" at the movie theater.  It was so good.  When it ended, I was surprised, I would have been happy to sit there for another two hours.  It was nostalgic and touching (I may have teared up once or twice) and entertaining and illustrated perspective I didn't have before.  I'd suggest it, we both really enjoyed it.

Phil was back at work on Sunday and it was my turn to be sick.  I'm grateful that we had Stake Conference this weekend because I would not have been able to drag myself out of bed if I had needed to teach Sunday School.  We stayed home and I stayed in bed.  I did however get in some old-lady bird watching from my office late in the morning.  You may recall that last year a quail couple laid their eggs in a plant on my porch and we got to enjoy the babies hatching and mama and dad moving them into the desert when they were big enough.  The couple returned to the yard this spring and I've been watching them and looking  for evidence of where they were going to put their nest.  I spied her in another planter on the porch outside my office window Sunday, and sure enough she's deposited five little speckled eggs in an indent among the flowers.  I'm excited to see her babies in a few weeks.

  

19 April 2026

I could probably sleep for twelve hours or more to try and get caught up from a very long, very full, and very hectic week.  If you read last week's blog post you'll know that Phil and I flew into Washington DC on Friday in preparation for a week of working in the office with my program management, product owners (project leads), and a few of the developers.  My program management team works out of the Dulles, Virginia office.  Phil wanted to come with me; we flew in early so we had some time to enjoy being tourists for the weekend.  I was up early on Monday and Phil dropped me off at the Raytheon building where I met with several of the folks I've been working with for the past two years but have never actually met in person.  The day went by quickly and was relatively successful as we engaged in program increment planning across the project.  I worked between the three workstreams that I support.  Here we are in a conference call towards the end of the day with the remainder of our program.

While I was at work on Monday, Phil drove to Great Falls Park in McLean, VA.  There are beautiful views of the Potomac including waterfalls over a series of steep, jagged rocks where the river flows through the narrow Mather Gorge.  He took a three-mile hike and enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery.  He picked me up from work when my day was finished and we met with some of my co-workers for dinner.

I was back in the office again on Tuesday morning and in the evening Phil and I drove to Kensington, Maryland (which took FOREVER with traffic) to attend the Washington DC temple.  The temple and grounds were gorgeous, honestly the grounds may be the most beautiful I've ever seen.  There were so many tulips.  It was just ethereal.  The temple is very large and uniquely laid out.  We had a great experience and stopped for dinner on our way back to the hotel when we were done.  Temple number 32 marked off my list!

Tuesday was also special because it was Felicity's 20th birthday.  Twenty, can you believe that?  She was able to call home to talk with us on her birthday.  Her companion and the senior Sisters took her out to dinner and made sure she had a birthday cake.  I thought it was funny, she made me a "Felicity Loves" picture.  I make a photo of each of the kids on their birthday that includes a list of the things they love that year...she made hers for me this year.  Happy birthday kiddo, we're so proud of you!

I was tickled to get Helen's senior photos back this week as well.  They're beautiful and I can't believe she only has four weeks until graduation.

I'm so grateful to my mother-in-law Sue and my mom who watched Jude and Arlo respectively.  Arlo had a volleyball game on Wednesday and even though he was recovering from a sinus infection he wanted to be able to play.  He is really enjoying it.

Jude also had a fun week at school.  Here he is holding one of the baby chicks that hatched in his classroom.  

Back to work on Wednesday.  We had a very successful three days of planning and wrapped up most of our work by the end of the day.  Our Program Manager arranged a social hour after work on Wednesday that we attended along with everyone else who was in-person in Dulles.  We enjoyed drinks (Diet Cokes for Phil and I) and dinner.  I love my dear sweet husband, he just loves people and really enjoyed meeting everyone and visiting; they all liked him immediately.  In a room full of people, most of them engineers and software developers, he can find common ground and make friends.  Here he is playing pool with my boss.

I worked from the hotel room in the morning on Thursday as most of the planning work was done and several people were traveling back home.  Phil went to lunch with the Lunts, the parents of his friend and college roommate Will who are currently serving as missionaries in the DC area.

When he got back from lunch he and I rode the subway back to the National Mall and enjoyed visiting the other Smithsonian Air and Space museum.  We were a little disappointed that they had a whole wing closed as they were swapping out exhibits, but we did enjoy seeing some great items on display including The Spirit of Saint Louis (the custom-built, single-engine, monoplane that Charles Lindbergh flew on the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight), the space suit worn by Neil Armstrong when he walked on the moon, The Apollo 11 Command Module, "Columbia," (the living quarters for the three-person crew during the first lunar landing mission), and the original 1903 Wright Flyer.  

In the evening we took a night-time trolly tour of the DC monuments.  This was neat as it was a narrated tour and we made it around to many cool DC area points of interest.  We were able to get out at three locations including the Franklin D. Roosevelt / Martin Luther King Jr. Memorials that also had access to the Potomac and views of the Jefferson Memorial, George Washington Memorial, and the Capitol building.  I had to take some photos that mirrored ones I had taken in 1998 when I came to DC on a school tour as a high school junior.  We also stopped at the US Marine Corp War Memorial which features a beautiful sculpture depicting the scene of several Marines at Iwo Jima during WWII raising the American flag.  We ended the evening with a stop at the Lincoln Memorial where the Korean War Memorial and Vietnam Memorial also reside.  Very powerful.

Friday morning, we packed up after a long week away from home, checked out of our hotel and enjoyed lunch.  We stopped back at Great Falls Park so that I could see the falls since we had a few hours to kill before we needed to be at the airport.  

We arrived at the airport after turning in our rental car a couple of hours early and were surprised to find that there was no waiting at security, we got right in.  We meandered around the Dulles International Airport until it was time to board our flight headed for Dallas.  We had a bit of a delay in Texas but eventually got airborne on our way home to Arizona.  We were exhausted when we finally landed at midnight, although having lost three hours it was 3AM in relation to when we had gotten up in Virginia earlier that morning!  I was happy to sleep in my own bed Friday night!

Phil and I drove to Benson in the morning to pick up Jude who seemed happy to see us.  Our Saturday was spent doing laundry and getting caught up on everything we missed all week.  I had a nice surprise on Saturday when I noticed that one of my ocotillos had bloomed.  I've owned this particular ocotillo for probably ten years.  A friend had mentioned to me that while out hiking he saw an ocotillo with yellow blooms.  I didn't believe him having never seen a yellow ocotillo...and yellow is my favorite color.  The next time he went out in the desert he brought me back a 9" clipping of this supposed yellow ocotillo.  I planted the 9" stick at the Sahuarita house and then dug it up and moved it to the ranch when I moved in 2017.  It's been steadily growing since then, bifurcating after putting on 12 inches or so.  It is now over six feet tall and had its first blossoms this year and low and behold, the flowers are indeed yellow.  It was worth the wait.

Phil had to work on Sunday, so Jude and I enjoyed church without him.  I taught Sunday School after Sacrament meeting and then we enjoyed a quiet Sabbath at home.  Helen and Arlo came home in the late afternoon and I was happy to see them and catch up on their week.  It was a LONG week.  I have a lot on my plate in the coming week and am glad to be back at home.

12 April 2026

What a week! Everyone kept asking if I was excited for my upcoming trip to the DC area, and my response was, “Not yet.” It was actually a pretty stressful week as I made preparations to be gone. On Monday, however, I was excited to attend Arlo’s very first volleyball game. He decided to try out for volleyball after the wrestling season was over and has really enjoyed it. He played in the second set, all his serves went in, and he had a great spike early in the game. Their team lost, but he was very happy with how it went, and I’m proud of him for trying something new.

Phil had a very busy shift on Monday including a few medical call and a car fire.  I love when someone snaps pictures of him in action.  He's in the red captain's helmet.

Tuesday was utterly frantic. Luckily for me, Phil was home, so we did a little “divide and conquer” in the afternoon. He took Jude to his weekly music class, which he loves. They’ll take a break over the summer, and when it starts again in the fall, he’ll be moving on to piano! I grabbed Arlo off the activity bus and drove him over to Cienega for freshman class selection. I was a little annoyed that we had to sit through an entire presentation just to pick his electives—I feel like there should be a bypass method if this isn’t your first rodeo. Oh well! He picked early-morning marching band and choir.

Arlo and I rushed home from the high school with just enough time to grab my sewing machines and all the supplies I’d been collecting earlier in the day to take to the youth activities at church. I’d been asked to lead a sewing activity with the young women—they wanted to make pajama shorts for girls’ camp. Phil helped me set up eight sewing stations with machines, pins, irons, ironing pads, scissors, and patterns. I had spent time earlier in the week tracing the three pattern pieces onto butcher paper so that everyone would have their own set. The young women’s leaders provided the fabric and elastic. I had hoped we could do the activity as a sew-along, but there were more girls than we had fabric for, and of course, depending on their familiarity with sewing, it took some longer than others. We did, however, all get to a stopping point, with each girl having a pair of shorts that only needed the waistband finished and the legs hemmed. Overall, I felt like it was a success. I was grateful to have that behind me, as it was a big undertaking in the middle of a hectic week.  Helen finished her pajama pants at home later in the week and then made a pair for a friend.  I do love sharing my knowledge with my kiddos and watching what they do with it!

With the Tuesday night sew-along out of the way, I was able to focus Wednesday and Thursday on preparing for my work trip to Dulles, VA. I had been told last month that I would need to be present in person for our program’s planning activities at the Raytheon office in Virginia. When I told Phil about it, he decided he would come with me. I was excited he wanted to go, but it also meant there was going to be some real maneuvering, since the kids all had to be in school. Grandma Sue graciously said she would watch Jude but wanted to be able to take him to school during the day. Since she was going to be staying at the house, I made sure Jude had everything he needed for lunches, cleaned the house, and planned meals. Helen was going to stay home, look after the animals, and take herself to and from school, and Arlo was going to stay at Nana and Papa’s since he could walk to and from school from there.

Phil dropped the boys off at the appropriate grandparents’ houses on Thursday night, and we were up early for a 7 a.m. flight out of Tucson. Our trip to the Dallas–Fort Worth airport was uneventful, but when we landed, we went to the gate printed on Phil’s boarding pass only to find it empty. The updated flight board told us the gate had been moved, so we rode the tram there—only to find that wasn’t correct either. We checked online and the board again, which gave us a third gate to try, so back on the tram we went. It isn’t a small airport, and the gates were all in completely different areas. Luckily, we had a 90-minute layover, so we still had plenty of time, but it was a little anxiety-inducing!  We did eventually find our gate and only had to wait fifteen minutes or so before they started boarding.  We arrived at Dulles Airport in the late afternoon, picked up our rental car, checked into our hotel, and then found a nice little restaurant for dinner. It was a long day of traveling, and we “lost” three hours with the time zone change. Since I didn’t have to be at work until Monday morning, we played tourist for the weekend.

On Saturday, we went to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an extension of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. It was incredible. The hangars that house the collection were huge, and we enjoyed seeing so many cool aircraft and spacecraft. Notable highlights included a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay—which dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan—and the space shuttle Discovery… the whole freaking space shuttle. It was a neat museum for sure.

After the Air and Space Museum, we had tickets to George Washington’s Mount Vernon, which was also really cool. We toured the grounds, visited Washington’s tomb, took photos along the Potomac, and toured the mansion. Again, pretty cool.

Saturday evening, we met Phil’s college friend Fawn and her daughter for dinner. We visited and caught up over Korean barbecue (it was delicious!).

On Sunday, we rode the subway—a first for me—into DC and walked around the Mall a bit. We spent a couple of hours in the National Museum of Natural History, which was awesome. I especially enjoyed the Egyptian exhibits and the large mammal displays.

Then we strolled over to the National Museum of American History, which was also great. I especially enjoyed seeing the Star-Spangled Banner—the original American flag that inspired the national anthem. We also liked the American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith exhibit, The Price of Freedom: Americans at War, the presidential displays, and of course the popular culture exhibit. Who doesn’t want to see Fozzie Bear, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton costume, Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves, and Walter White’s hazmat suit all in the same place? We only had two and a half hours, so we didn’t see everything, but we really enjoyed it.

Last on Sunday’s agenda was the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. You have to have a timed-entry ticket so they can stagger visitors, although I didn’t feel like this worked particularly well. The museum is designed as a one-way path, where you start at the top floor and work your way down chronologically. Having groups of twenty enter the same area every five minutes made it difficult to find a natural flow. There is a lot of reading, and it was hard at first to tell whether we were supposed to wait in line or move freely. Eventually, people dispersed, but it took more than halfway through the museum before it felt like you could really stop and take things in. That said, the museum is much like it was in 1997 when I last visited—very sobering. We did enjoy a newer exhibit, Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story. It’s designed for young people and families and was incredibly well done. It’s a walk-through experience with interactive elements that tell Daniel’s story of the Holocaust in a way children can understand. Even though it’s geared toward kids, we learned a lot too.

We enjoyed our 45-minute train ride back to the hotel because we were tired and our feet were sore! It was a great day of sightseeing and spending time in our nation’s capital. We kept things simple and went to Red Robin (a family favorite) for dinner, then headed to bed to get ready to actually go into the office the next day. It’ll be the first time in probably six years that I’ve worked in the office. I’m looking forward to meeting my coworkers—people I’ve worked with daily for the past two years but have never actually met. Phil has some plans to keep busy while I’m working, and we’ve got a few things lined up for the evenings too. It should be fun!

05 April 2026

It was a busy, good Easter week. Phil worked on Monday, and Jude and I took the opportunity for some one-on-one time while the big kids were working on after-school projects and homework. We played a rousing game of "Go Fish"; Jude won.

On Tuesday, everyone was going in different directions. Phil had errands to run in the morning, and Jude and I worked on his music homework in the afternoon. One of his assignments was to play his bells along with a soundtrack. Here we are working on that.

Arlo and Helen both had youth activities in the evening. The young women did a "Bob Ross Paint-a-Long," and here are Helen's "Happy Little Trees"...

The young men made bread for their activity; Arlo took the loaf he brought home to his band teacher.

Speaking of Arlo, I was a little bit perturbed with him because he brought me a "Principal's 200" award that he had received at school—it was from February! I wish I had seen it earlier.  The Principal 200 is an award in recognition of character that is given to a couple of students a week. Arlo received one from his science teacher following an incident where one of his classmates suffered an unexpected seizure. Arlo cleared the area around the student and put his sweatshirt under his classmate's head. They were ushered out of the room while they waited for EMS. I really appreciate his teacher acknowledging Arlo and the kind words she wrote on the back of his award; Arlo really is a gentle, kind-hearted kid.

Helen had her final performances of Curtains, this year's musical, on Wednesday and Thursday night. I think we're both glad to have it behind us. I'm proud of Helen and her work ethic and integrity. I hope she has opportunities in college to participate on stage and in musical theater.

On Thursday, Phil went with me to work. That's right—I actually went to the plant site this week. To be fair, we went to the security office where I picked up a new badge in preparation for some work travel I have coming up next week. We took advantage of the opportunity and went to lunch when we were done at the security office. 

We then went by the preschool to pick up our "Easter bunny" from school.

Arlo had testing this week, and Helen had senior activities since they aren't testing. Here are the choir seniors:

I started my first graduate class through UCLA on Thursday. It's a little inconvenient as it happens right at prime time for our household, 4–7 p.m. I did get to listen to the lecture and make dinner at the same time—let's hear it for online learning!

Everyone was home on Friday, and I'm so grateful for a great day together. Phil attended a memorial service in Tucson in the morning, and then in the afternoon, we did a little dividing and conquering. We did our neighbor's grocery shopping, and then Phil and Arlo went to visit their ministering families and dropped off carrot cakes (I made four from-scratch carrot cakes this week and they looked pretty good!). While they were doing that, Jude, Helen, and I went to Gates Pass to get Helen's senior pictures taken. We had a great time, and I'm excited to see how they turn out!

We included Jude in one of the pictures; I made two signs: one for Helen that said "I'm Done" and one for Jude that said "Just Getting Started." A cute way to honor my graduating senior and my preschooler getting ready to start kindergarten in the fall!

Phil was instructing Fire Academy on Saturday, so it was just the kids and I for General Conference. General Conference is a semiannual worldwide gathering of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held every April and October to receive inspiration and guidance from church leaders, including the prophet and apostles. This year it featured four sessions focused on Jesus Christ. It's broadcast globally and is open to all faiths. In the same way I did last year, I filled a brown bag with a small toy, activity, or treat for Jude for each of the General Authorities who would be speaking at conference and stapled a picture of the Apostle on the outside. He got to find the speaker on the bag when it was their turn to speak and open his bag.  He was VERY excited about this. We had blueberry French toast casserole and some extra treats, and the kids and I watched the conference from the living room. It was great.  

I try to go into each conference with a question or concern on my mind and look for inspiration or answers to those concerns in the content of the talks. I was comforted that the concern that's been weighing most heavily on my mind lately was addressed in the first talk by Elder Patrick Kearon. When talking about serving in the church, he said, "Whatever our offering, in the Lord's economy, we always come out ahead." I know my Heavenly Father is mindful of me and the things that are on my heart and mind.

In between the morning and the afternoon session I sewed sleeves onto Helen's prom dress so she would be more comfortable in it and to make it more modest.  It turned out really cute I think!  It's always a little nerve-wracking to altar a formal dress, especially with so little time and margin for error.

Helen left for her Senior Prom in the afternoon to get ready at a friend's house.  I was assured that they would be taking pictures with their dates before the event, but I guess that didn't happen.  They also didn't get pictures at the dance, or so I'm told.  So this is the best that I have (I'm a little more than annoyed).  Her date was the same as last year's prom, Bodie, and they went with a larger group.  I heard it was fun, even if there was no photographic evidence of such.

We were all together on Sunday and spent the morning with warm cinnamon rolls and the last two sessions of conference. The kids got their Easter baskets as well. They had some more treats to be enjoyed during General Conference, and Jude and Arlo got kites in their baskets. It was the perfect day for kite flying, and Dad didn't have any trouble at all getting Jude's kite airborne. It was pretty high up there, too! He must have flown that kite for more than an hour—at least long enough to get a little bit of a sunburn. If only the kid would wear clothes! We had a really nice Easter dinner and were grateful to have time to spend all together in celebration of Christ's resurrection.