Ward Christmas Party (getting closer to Christmas)

Sophie was SO into Santa this year, just talked about him nonstop throughout December (it’s still hard for her to realize Christmas is OVER and he’s not coming again for a LONG time.)  Hopefully you can see the sincere excitement in her face through her fake smile for the camera, because she was certainly excited!  Tessa was excited about Santa (probably because her sister was) but when it came down to getting near him, she was terrified.  We didn’t make her sit on his lap, she wouldn’t even take a candy cane from him!  She was crying because we were too close.  So Dan consoled her.

These next 2 pictures are the girls up front singing for Santa’s arrival.

This is Sophie and her 13 year old boyfriend, Kelton.  She loves him.  And Sophie with her friend Vincent, he looks jealous in this picture maybe because Sophie’s next to Kelton? j/k

 

By way of explanation, this is what we call our “Ward Christmas Party” but if you’re not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the “Mormon’s”) the word ward probably sounds more like a part of the hospital or something.  But in our church we call our congregations, wards and they are organized in geographical areas.  Even if you’re not a member your area is part of a ward too!  Anywhere in the world you can look up which ward and church building (as well as meeting times) you are closest too and go check it out!  (which I totally recommend)  If you are interested or just curious what we’re all about I recommend you follow the link I put above to mormon.org, where you can find a meeting house as well as get any questions you may have answered.  It’s a really cool site… I’m just sayin’…

Anyway, Here’s Tessa getting cheered up by Daddy.  He’s so much fun.

Since I’m on the subject, I want to take the opportunity to say how much we love our ward here.  Now, I grew up a member of the church living in Utah.  Been a member all my life.  Until we moved to Denver I’ve never been so invested in our ward though.  I think that primarily has to do with my age and “growing up.”  But I also feel like our ward is truly exceptional!  I love all the members of it so much, we’ve been here for just over 3 years now but I feel like they’re my family.  We’re definitely a heterogeneous group of people but our common beliefs are what bring us together.  All of the friends I’ve made and different people I’ve met make me a better, more complete, person.  It’s just so empowering to meet together often with others (from all walks of life) who share my same beliefs and values.  I’m really grateful to be here.  I get teary eyed whenever I realize that we probably won’t stay in this ward forever.  Someday we hope to buy a home a little further away from the city where there is more room for our kids to grow up (and the houses are much cheaper!).  I look forward to and dread that day at the same time, because I love it here so much! Love the ward, but apartment life… could be better. :)

Oh, and randomly… here’s a picture of Tessa’s goose egg she got that weekend running to the bathroom.  She tripped and fell, hitting her head on the corner of the door frame.  It was shocking and very scary how quickly hit swelled up like this!  I was almost the size of an egg.  Poor baby.