On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...   A $1500 car repair

Our week started with getting my car repaired.  After calling a few places, the first place we took it to called us and told us they were able to find the part cheaper and they could do the repair for less. It was the best deal we had found so we went and got the car fixed. It passed emissions and we are good to go again.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me...  Ruth getting laid off - again

If you will remember, Ruth was laid off during the summer and then re-hired.  Well, this week she was laid off again. They just called her and said "don't go into work."   So that's that.  She'll look for a new job when the debate season is over.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me...  A mouse named Dilbert

One night before bed, Chuck saw a little grey mouse in our bathroom.  We set up some traps and went to bed.  A few hours later I heard the little guy eating one of my rice bags right under where I was sleeping.   Two days later Dilbert met a violent death.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...   A loopy Becky

After a trip to the doctor this week, I received a referral to a physical therapist, to see what they can do for my shoulder, and a prescription for a drug that is supposed to lessen nerve pain.   One sideeffect of this medication is that I've woken up every morning loopy and dizzy.  I've been glad that I started after my last day of work, because I haven't been able to drive.  I've been told that these sideeffects will go away after the first few days.  I'll give it a few more days.  Meanwhile, my family has enjoyed making fun of me, especially the morning I started crying while reading the "Terms and Conditions" of a new app.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...  A visit from Kate and Ben

It's been so fun to have Kate and Ben here for a visit!  They came in on Friday and will be with us until Tuesday.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...  Some individualized ornaments

On Christmas eve we made our yearly family ornament.  I love this tradition because every year each individual personality shines through their creations.   We finished Christmas Eve by eating homemade chow mein and spring rolls, and playing handbells, and games.

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me... A wacky Christmas tale

We've always reenacted the Christmas Story on Christmas Eve.  For the last few years, we've had everyone find their own costumes from whatever they could find from around the house.   Figuring I probably have over 50 costumes in my workroom and under the stairs, this leaves many possibilities. That is why this year we had a steampunk Mary and Joseph, a pioneer angel, harry potter monks, and a pirate peasant.  Ruth also entertained us by playing all three wise men, each wise man had a different hat and distinctive voice and mannerisms.  (unfortunately, Ruth was the one who was taking video so we don't have any video of Ruth or of Jared.  You'll have to trust me on how hillarious they both were.)

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...  a blessed Christmas day

As I type, the rolls and salad are done and we are waiting for the lasagna to come out of the oven for Christmas dinner.  We woke up to many presents under the tree and I was impressed at how thoughtful each gift was.   We have spent the day playing new games that we received and listening to Christmas music. We will end the day by playing in our family band and watching one of our favorite Christmas movies, Harry Potter.

Jared as King Harod

Ruth as all of the wise men

We had two Christmas concerts this week.  I've been singing with the city community choir and orchestra this fall and we had our concert on Monday.  The orchestra was good, the choir was a little frustrating for me, but still, it's fun to sing with a lot of other people, and everyone was nice.   In the end, I thought the concert was good.    Jared played in his band concert on Tuesday.  As Chuck and I sat there I realized that this will be our last middle school Christmas concert - at least until we have grandchildren that are this age.

Over the weekend, Ruth's high school team hosted a debate tournament. As debate president, much of the responsibility for running the tournament fell on Ruth's shoulders and she was determined to have it be a success.  I helped on Friday night by being in charge of dinner for the judges.  I was able to sit and watch Ruth for a few hours while dinner was going on and she did a really good job answering questions and delegating responsibilities.  Here is a picture I snapped of her with her stressed-but-still-smiling face on. 

We got some sad news this weekend. My car failed emissions because of a leak in the exhaust system.  We took it into a shop and they said that the entire exhaust line would need replacing and it would cost $1000 to repair.  We gave them the go-ahead and then four hours later they called and said that it wouldn't cost $1000 after all, but it would cost $2000.  We are taking it to another shop next week to get another opinion but after a lot of research online Chuck thinks that we'll probably end up having to pay that much.  Merry Christmas. 

As part of our Christmas celebrations, we did our annual pretzel dipping.   I think our unique pretzel styles show our personalities.

Jared is the 2nd kid in the back to the left of the conductor.

Jared came home from school on Monday and said, "I think I have a concert tonight."  After some prodding and texting, we discovered that the Youth Symphony was indeed performing their final winter concert that night at a school across town. Lucky for us it was our family night and we didn't have anything else planned so we were able to make it to Jared's concert with no further difficulty - after we found out where and when it was.  Jared does a great job in the youth symphony but was a little frustrated because the school where they played lacked some of the percussion instruments that he needed so he had to sit out for a few songs.  But overall the concert was really good. I always enjoy hearing him play.

I had a couple rehearsals this week for the community concert I'm singing in tomorrow.   Ruth and I also sang a duet in church today, a lovely arrangement of The First Noel. 

Ruth had a debate tournament this weekend.  I went and judged on Friday but was not able to see Ruth compete.  She competed in Storytelling, an event she doesn't usually do.  The topic was crime and punishment and she said that all the other storytellers told serious grim tales about crime or unsolved murders.  She had prepared a light-hearted comedy retelling of a Batman children's book, that included all the voices and actions and a singing of the Batman theme song.   She said when she saw what the others presented she was pretty nervous and started to second-guess herself, but in the end, decided to go ahead with what she had prepared.  She won every single round, which in debate is called a "picket fence". She has only done that a few times in her debate career. So her risk and bravery paid off.  She also got second place in Humorous Interpretation, her usual event.

       

It's been one of those in-between weeks.  Chuck got the rabbits' cage ready for cold weather, and he and Jared took the trampoleen down. We got some Christmas decorations up and some Christmas light put out in the yard. At work I've been taking down Thanksgiving bulitin boards and putting up new ones. Chuck had to do all of his end of the month reconciliation at work.  Goodbye fall, hello winter. 

Jared played two concerts this week, one with his school band, and one with Jordan Youth Symphony, both at the Festival of Trees, a large fundraising event for a children's hospital. 

On Saturday I spent the day volunteering at a state wide  summit for LGBTQ+ youth. I spent most of my time in the art room, a drop in room where kids could come and do several different art project and just hang out and talk.   In the evening I manned the Mama Dragon's booth.  Mama Dragon's was one of the sponcers of the event.  I love working with this demographic of youth because they are so alive, unique, talented and in need of so much love.

In the art room.  

With the Mama Dragons

One of three bulitin boards I'm working on. This is the only one I've finished.

It may not look like much, but since we ususally do no lights, this is a big step up.  We've even added 400 more lights since this picture.

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed Thanksgiving at my mom's house this year.  My sister Donna (hey there!) was kind enough to mastermind the whole event and take on a lion's share of the cooking and expense.  The day turned out very nice as we talked, ate, cut out snowflakes, and played games.  Ruth's friend, Quaid, who was homeless for Thanksgiving, came along and he got along well with the family and seemed to enjoy himself.  I forgot to take any pictures but I did get this one from my mom.

We've enjoyed an unseasonably warm week this week which meant I was able to get out and run, ride my motorcycle, and put up Christmas lights in the yard.  Chuck redid the brakes on Ruth's car and got the bunnies' hutch ready for winter. 

Kate and Ben came down for a day this weekend. Our local mall has a Harry Potter village and we waited in a long line to see it. It was super well done and cute but there wasn't much to do there and it wasn't worth the wait, however, we had a good time being together and visiting so it was worth it.  We wrapped up the outing with lunch at Wendy's so that made it pretty special. 

Ruth had another tournament this weekend.  She spent several weeks prepping to do her first ever Lincon-Douglas debate (this is the generic kind of debate that you think of when you think of debates).   She said she didn't do that great but it was a learning experience.  She did do well in her normal categories taking first in DI and second in HI.

Jared's Honor Band concert was this week.  I know I've talked about this before but having a kid that's a percussionist is the best!  That snare drum? That cymbal crash? That marimba? yeah, that's my kid!  It's like he's playing a solo on every song.

We had a pretty quiet week at our house. I was sick most of the week but still managed to make it out to lunch with friends and with my sister.  Jared has been practicing for Honor Band which performs next week.  Ruth got her first college application submitted.  Chuck did the final mow of lawn and worked on his car.   Life just keeps marching forward. 

 I don't have pictures from this week but here are two from Ruth's debate competition last week.

This is Ruth doing her humorous interpretation.  It really is funny. 

Richard's Funeral

Richard's Funeral was on Saturday.  All of his kids and their partners were there. His one son was back on leave from his mission.  All the siblings and partners were there.  It was nice to all be together.  Richard's funeral was long (2 hours) but very nice. There were a lot of funny stories shared and it was a good mix of happy and sad.  Each of Richard's children spoke briefly and they sang a beautiful song.  They sang in four parts and were better than most ward choirs.  I was really impressed by what amazing people my nephews and nieces are.  They were all too young to lose a father.

The church there put on a very nice lunch for us after the burial. It was an extra kind service as Richard and Lorinda had just recently moved and the local people did not know them well but they put on an above average meal for about hundred people.

If You Need to Buy a Bed...

In anticipation of Kate and Ben staying with us for the funeral, we decided we needed to move up our plans of updating the guest bedroom, including upgrading the twin bed to a full.   Chuck decided, since we were planning on buying a trailer anyway, he would just buy one this week so that we could use it to bring home a bed.  So finally, Thursday night Chuck bought a trailer and we are planing on going the next morning to buy the bed,  but when he was towing it home he realized it bounced wildly at high speeds. So he spends the day Friday working on it and also bought new tires for it and it worked much better. So it's late on Friday night and we are at the bed place saying that we need to walk out the door with a full bed that night. The first one we want to buy is out of stock. The second one we want is supposed to be in stock but the workers can't find it.  Finally, we found one in stock and by 8 pm we were driving away.   We stopped at Walmart and I bought some sheets and a bed cover. We had to take down the old bed and find a place to put it, which meant shuffling stuff all around the storage room.  When we got the new bed set up I went to put on the new sheets and realized they were the wrong size, so it's like 10 pm and we are back at the Walmart buying new sheets, then home again running them through a quick wash before making the bed.  In the end, we got it all setup and it looked nice.  Now couples will have a place to sleep when visiting at our house.


Happy Halloween

We had a normal type Halloween. I wore a costume to worked and walked with the kids in the elementary school costume parade. Chuck and Ruth both wore costumes all day as well.  In the evening we had fewer children than usual (less than 100).  I put on the Cyberman and Chuck and I went out in the neighborhood to interact with people.  Ruth went to a party.

Debate

Ruth competed in three different categories this past weekend at a debate tournament.  She didn't place with her new Original Oratory, but she did place first place in Humorous Interpretation and first place in Dramatic Interpretation.  We also got word this week and Ruth didn't get the Stirling Scholar award, so she was pretty bummed about that.

Comings and Goings

Richard's Passing

I got a call from my mother at work telling me that my brother Richard was in the hospital.  The news was not encouraging so on Thursday night Chuck and I went for a visit.  Richard looked very ill but was in good spirits and lucid for much of our visit.  He joked around with us and we reminisced about some old times.  We had a good visit with his wife Lorinda and enjoyed catching up with all their family. At the end of the visit, I hugged my brother and told him I loved him.  He hugged me with surprising strength, figuring how sick he was, and told me he loved me too.   I got a call from my sister Kathy on Saturday morning that Richard had passed.   I made it to the hospital in time to see him before they called the funeral home.  Everyone was in as good of spirits as could be expected.  There was a strong feeling of peace in the room.  Richard had a quick wit and was always telling funny stories and jokes.  He loved easily and fully. He was a family man through and through and was well loved by his grandchildren.   He was only 54. He will be sorely missed.

Band Concert

Jared played in his first band concert of the year this week.  He played a solo on the temple blocks (tuned wood blocks) in one of his songs.   He also had another song where he was playing multiple instruments and performed a very impressive mallets-in-mouth-while-playing-symbols move. 

Jared got news a few weeks ago that he was the only percussionist in his school to make it into the District Honors Band and has already started practicing for that.  This is in addition to the Jordan Youth Symphony.


HEROIC

On the day of my brother's passing, I had a commitment with HEROIC to appear at a community event to hand out candy and take pictures with the kids.  I struggled with the decision to attend but in the end decided to still make the appearance. I figured that Richard would like that fact that I was going out to make the world a little bit happier place.  I was on the way to this engagement when I stopped at the hospital to see him after he passed.  I pulled on a long sleeve shirt and some track pants to cover the bat suit o be respectful.  I don't think anyone knew but I think Richard would have gotten a kick out of it.

Florida: More Pictures then You're Interested in Seeing

Day 1: Walt Disney World

Obligatory castle picture. They play show tunes on Main Street USA. We had to sing along to Hello Dolly and Oklahoma while we were there. 

The one place where the Magic Kingdom kicks Disneyland's butt is in the waiting lines. This amazing line is for the Little Mermaid ride.  There were interactive games to play all along the line and amazing set design. 

Another amazing line wait is for the Haunted Mansion. There are interactive activities and even a fountain. 

It ended up raining while we were on the Riverboat Ride and then stopped before we had to get off. 

Splash Mountain was shut down so the gift shop was nearly empty. Chuck and I were able to rock in some rocking chairs for a long while and Ruth and Jared played checkers.  The joys of having older children! 

Jared did have a good time.  I'm pretty sure he did, at least.   He just hates pictures.

 Day 2: Islands of Adventure (Universal Studios)

The way they build Hogwarts Castle was an amazing feat of optical illusion.  The thing looks huge.  There is a ride in the castle and even walking right up to it the illusion stands. 

The detail in Hogsmead was amazing. You could spend an hour just looking at the shop windows.   I just wish there were more actual shops to walk into.  

Waiting in line to go into Olivander's Wand Shop.  

The Flight of the Pheonix roller coaster wasn't that fun, but in the waiting line is a life-sized replica of Hagrid's hut. 

To actually ride the Hogwarts Express would have required us to buy an additional ticket to Universal's other park.  At least they had this one to take photos with. 

The waiting line for the Harry Potter ride winds through Hogwart's castle. There is so much to look at that this line was actually my favorite part. 

There was also a Jurassic Park section.  We spent some time in the Jurassic Park museum. Here Ruth has combined her DNA with dino DNA to see what a Ruthosaur would look like. 

We ate lunch in this pavilion that was copied from the one in the Jurassic Park movie.  In the museum, there were life-sized dinos you could puppet. 

Note:  We didn't get a picture in Super Hero land, but this was also a big favorite.  Ruth's favorite ride was the Spiderman ride, and Jared's favorite was the Hulk roller coaster.  Overall we enjoyed Islands of Adventure more than Disney World.  The technology on the Spiderman, Kingkong, and Harry Potter rides was truly mind-blowing. I've never seen anything like it.

Day 3: Kennedy Space Center

The Saturn 5 Rocket was huge!

Looking at a replica of the Hubble telescope with the Atlantis in the background.  We learned that they are shooting up a fancy new telescope next year that is supposed to see 100x better than the Hubble.  

The Space Shuttle was amazing!

They had a rocket launch ride that was quite intense. 

Rocket Garden

We went on a bus tour of several of the launch pads. This is Space X 's launching site.  Space X and Tesla are sister companies.

We'd say "somebody, get in the picture." and Ruth would sigh and say - "I'll do it." 

 

Ruth tried out the replica of Friendship 7. It was a tight fit. 

Jared tried out the interactive spacewalk.

The original logo that hung on the NASA building during the Saturn era.

Day 4: Palm Harbor/Tarpon Springs

I spent a lot of time on the stage of this theater in high school.  My old high school is now half high school half middle school. 

We ate at a great restaurant on the waterfront called Rusty Bellies. 

Jen Runy was my bff all through high school. We've kept in touch over all these years and she's still been there for me across the miles. 

We were so sad that the Spongarama museum was shut down by the hurricane. 

This is the house I was raised in. that window on the left was my bedroom.

I spent many happy hours  as a kid playing on Crystal Beach

Boardwalk through the swamp. 

Walking through Tarpon Springs

Tones of crappy little gift shops at the sponge docks.  We passed on these gator heads, but the real gator claw back scratcher was tempting. 

We saw an alligator and some huge spider webs on our nature walk. 

Flying Home

Exhausted, we stumbled into the Orlando airport at 4:30 am (2:30 am our time). Here is the picture of the glass roof over security.  I thought it was a great representation of how we are just one in the mass of humanity.   Huston was in a thunderstorm and our plane was stuck on the tarmac for 45 minutes.  The flight was the roughest I've ever had. I was so glad when we finally broke through to the light and out of the storm.