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.