ward christmas party

december 17th was our ward christmas party. sandee and the kids joined us. the kids were each given a paper and nativity stickers with which to decorate until dinner was served.
i love this idea and rivers was very cute and jumbled.

dinner was ok. i really enjoyed the salad. i was bummed there weren't any mashed or baked potatoes.

here is audi and her girls.

then the kids ran around and played.

jack and tessa

river with a mouth full of bread that she stole off someone's plate.

laughing with her nursery leader, krys

there is an amazing story behind this beautiful family. in short, the dad is the man on the left. the four children were reunited with him and his wife(their mom) just the night before after 13 YEARS(the kids just getting here from africa)! his wife was totally wore out so she didn't make it to the party. but all of them are refugees and their dad was recently baptized in our ward. the whole story is very sad with a very cool ending. i can't imagine what it would feel like to be them. they are inspiring.
flower was part of the program, doing a round of ring around the rosy with jovie and oakly while audi read a story. river was supposed to be up there but that didn't work out so well. :)
the program was cute but it was hard to hear.
this is river's reaction when santa walked through the door.
she was a little nervous at first and backed up as soon as it was her turn. but eventually she got on his lap, touch his beard and got down.

our family. i didn't realize my hair was sitting on santa's hat. darn. but otherwise a cute photo.
flower had no trouble talking to santa this year.
oakley and jovie giving their wishes.
didn't realize jovie's eyes were closed. darn.
a couple of parents asked me to take photos of their children.
it was so cute. he just kept glancing back.
this was my favorite. she was having none of it!


simplot #1
simplot #2
simplot #3
cute little cannon
and finally mrs. clause!

this poor kid asked for a social life. he's new in town.
river was such a big helper to daddy. she helped push in the tables.
and this might be my favorite photo of the night. she is always moving too fast to get her genuine smile these days but here it is! denny was pulling her around and she loved it. she was having so much fun and just being so sweet that night.
we had a good time. it will be interesting to see how things play out without a committee from here on out. i don't always understand some of the changes that are made in the church. i don't really have an opinion one way or the other on this matter. it's just interesting to me.