Basketball & Gingerbread Houses

The Christmas festivities have begun! We had our Ward party on Friday night with a dinner, family traditions and funny stories. My friend Jill was asked to tell a funny Christmas experience but since she couldn't think of any of her own, she decided to tell one of MY experiences from a few years ago: Several years ago we started a new tradition. Each year when we go downtown to see the lights on Temple Square, we take a couple of gift bags filled with various items that we feel will brighten a stranger's day. Two years ago as we were leaving the Temple grounds, we saw an elderly man without legs, sitting in a wheel chair with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Nicole and Sarah walked over to him, handed him the bag and wished him a Merry Christmas. We were feeling warm and fuzzy as we walked away UNTIL I stopped in panic, realizing that the majority of the bags contents were SOCKS! I hope he either shared them with someone who had feet or found another creative way to use them! Poor guy!

Saturday was Sarah's very first basketball game ever. She is loving basketball and I was very impressed with how well these girls played! They didn't win, but considering only one girl on her team has ever played before they did great! Marty is happy to be an assistant coach, even with his very busy schedule! Michael has been helping out too!

















Nicole has been spending almost every night working with the student body officers and other Riverton High students, going door to door doing odd jobs to collect money for The Center for Women and Children in Crisis. Last year when Michael was an SBO, they dedicated almost three entire weeks to raising money for another charity and raised over $67,000.! It was such a wonderful experience to watch all those teenagers hugging and crying as they realized the result of their HARD work! This year they are trying to match or beat that number. These kids are so amazing!













For Family Night tonight we had so much fun making gingerbread houses! The boys decorated one and the girls another. Very impressive!















And here is a picture of our first neighbor Christmas gift. Our wonderful neighbor, Tina, brought this plate full of homemade cookies, candy and a homemade cheese ball. A perfect Family Home Evening treat!!