Ward Party Crashers

We've showed up on your doorstep unannounced, stayed late at your birthday party until all the cake is gone, camped out on your lawn just because the grass was so nice, and now we will also crash your ward party if we get the chance. Saturday I was tackling the sprinkler system from hell when somebody started setting up a party in the church parking lot. It didn't take very many people to start enjoying themselves before my son became interested.

Ben LOVES a carnival. It doesn't matter what or where or even if there are fun things, I think he really just loves the atmosphere. So with a popcorn machine, cotton candy maker, snow cone stand, and dunk tank staring down his backyard it was really an act of valour and service for him to say, "I'm going to go check it out."

He returned a half an hour later dripping wet with a sno-cone in hand and cotton candy wisps billowing from his air and exclaimed, "it's all FREE!" It must have seemed like a magical portal had opened up in an answer to prayer. Right there at the child's own place of worship a miracle had occured that rivaled raising of the dead: a free carnival. His mother was an instant convert, "HONEY! It's a neighborhood party!"

I assured her that it was probably somebody else's ward party. There were in fact several clues leading to this rather dissapointing conclusion. The fact that only about 1/6 of the neighborhood was present, the fact that we did not recognize ANYBODY who was an immediate neighbor to us, the fact that we had not received an announcement or invite of anykind, and the fact that my son does not have enough faith yet to create a free carnival next door. Nonplussed she pointed to the fact that a sign said it was a neighborhood party. I looked up and sure enough it read "Southwest Grandview Neighborhood Party," which is not the quadrant of the neighborhood that we live in. Luckily, I'm a scientist so I possess absolutely no analytical skills that would allow me to correctly assess the situation and submit a viewpoint to my wife that she would take seriously.

She was excited though, so we went. Luckily we were slow enough to miss their ward picture which Katie was hurredly trying to gather our children for. But while the whole ward was off taking a picture we enjoyed popcorn, cotton candy, sno-cones, homemade rootbeer on tap, grilled corn on the cob from someone's garden, and homemade pies.

As people started wandering back after the picture a man came up to me and asked my name. "Are you new here?" he asked excitedly. "No," I said. "Are you a member of our ward?" he asked with a more confused look on his face. "No. We just live in that house over there. We can't stand to miss a good party." He didn't really know what to say, so I asked him what his name was and he graciously thanked me for squatting at his barbeque. People in Utah are funny like that.

Katie finally got the news broken to her while she was chatting it up with people waiting to get the kids on a pony ride. In the ten minutes I'd been away from her she'd turned bright red. I didn't know anyone could get a sunburn that fast. Anyways, it was a LOT of fun. The other wards sure throw great parties. I think we'll have to get on their email list from now on so we can plan on it.