Debate

After weeks and weeks of preparation Ruth competed in her first Debate tournament.  When Ruth signed up for Debate I thought it would just be two teams arguing points across a table, and there is that, but there is so much more to it.   There are several different kinds of debate, as well as speech writing, impromptu speaking, congress, and dramatic and humorous interpretation. For Ruth's first competition she chose humorous interpretation which basically means that she memorized a 10 minute play in which she plays all the parts. There are no props or costumes, she communicates it all with body language and voice changes. Ruth is really good at it.   Hopefully I'll be able to record her presentation someday (she will do the same one for the entire year) and post it.  But if you're curious look up "humorous interpretation" on YouTube and you can see what I'm talking about.

This weekend was Ruth's first competition and it was "open" meaning that they weren't separated by experience level, so she was competing against all the varsities as well as the novices.  Her presentation went short, which penalized her, so she was super excited when she placed 3rd overall.   Once she gets this event under her belt, she will add one or two other events to her competition schedule.   She has another tournament in a couple of weeks.

Pinewood Derby

While Ruth was off at Debate tournament; Jared, Chuck, and I competed in our church Pinewood Derby. Pinewood derby is usually a cub scout activity, but this year our ward hosted an event where adults could compete.   We entered our Nauvoo truck, basically a block of wood with a Nauvoo brick in the back, but had a little problem with the new axles, and so didn't win anything.  We couldn't compete with the car with the airplane propeller on it it anyway.

Sick of being Sick

We've had a bout of sicknesses go through our family (again) this week.  Chuck got the worst of it and ended up missing almost a week of work.  He didn't have that much sick time accumulated, but his boss let him do some work at home, so that helped.  I was down for a few days as well, and Ruth felt crummy but didn't miss school.  Jared was the healthy one.