Ward Christmas Party & Special Papa/Autumn Dance Date

 Autumn & I got up at 7:30 this morning so we could go to WalMart & buy a bunch of milk, chocolate milk, orange juice, and apple juice. We went over to the church, and it was so nice to see it all set up and ready for our ward Christmas party this morning. The YW went and set it up last night (Autumn & I were at the ballet which is why we didn't help). We got a few small things set up and then we left to go pick up SEVENTEEN dozen boxes of breakfast burritos! This isn't even all of them ... we ordered 200 from one place and 200 from another place.

 We had so many people attending the ward Christmas breakfast that there were a few people who didn't have chairs! I felt bad, b/c we have NEVER filled the whole gym in the past but this year we did.

 Here's some of our hardworking breakfast crew. I invited Mom & Dad to come just to eat, but they were hard working bees and helped out A LOT!!!

 This year we did the Santa pictures differently. In the past, Santa would come at the end of the party and then we'd have a huge mass of kids waiting to get pics and it was pure CHAOS! This year we put 3 different colored garlands on the table and called the kids at the "green" tables to come to the Primary room. While they were in there waiting, we had butcher paper for them to write notes to the missionaries that are serving from our ward. We also had a Christmas movie playing and some nativity stickers for the little kids to make a manger scene on their paper w/ the stickers.

 The Young Women were our "elves" and would take small groups of kids down to get pictures w/ Santa. It worked out great!!!

 Brother S was awesome & took all the pics. Cassidy was an angel and whisper the name of each kid to Santa before they came up to get their pic. Santa was AWESOME & made it personal for each child. The only thing I would have changed is that we would have started on time (we started 20 minutes late but I wasn't in charge of that part). Also, a lot of people had left by the time we did the little spiritual program. But all in all, I heard a lot of feedback that it was a huge success. YAY!

 Autumn & I went and dropped off some food that was left over to some people in the ward, and then we went shopping. We went and got some black tights & black boots for her to wear to her special date w/ Papa. Papa even got her a corsage!!!  

 About a month ago, a paper came home from school saying that there was going to be a special Daddy/Daughter Ball. I asked Dad if he would like to go w/ Autumn and he said absolutely. Autumn was so excited! They went in the Corvette, which Autumn thought was so cool.

 They went to dinner at Cheddars and then headed over to the dance. It had a woodland theme and there were a few cute places set up for pics.

 Awwwww! This one made me a little teary eyed. I hope Autumn realizes how incredibly blessed she is to have such a close relationship w/ her Papa. He is so good to her and I'm glad they were able to have this one-on-one date.

She looks so grown up to me! The boots she chose are a women's size 9!!! She probably wears a size 8, but she likes her shoes to be big and roomy. When they got home she couldn't wait to tell me all about it. She said they had such a great time and she loved getting to dance the night away.

After they left, I was going to go to the temple and do a session, but when I went to get on the freeway it was jam packed and I knew there was no way I'd make it in time for the last session. DARN IT! So, I decided to do some retail therapy and went shopping. I tried on A LOT of clothes and ended up with 6 new pieces of clothing, a new purse, and some new perfume. All of them were on sale, which makes it even better!