Russian Party

I served my mission in Ukraine and whenever I meet someone who served in or is from Ukraine or Russia or somewhere with any ties to Russian, I get really excited about it! I like making those type of connections.

In my old YSA ward, there were quite a few Russian speakers and occasionally we would all get together and have a Russian gathering, but as I'd thought about it recently I realized we hadn't gotten together in quite a while. I decided it was time for another Russian party. :)

I got one of my friends and fellow Russian speaker, Diana, in on the party and we started planning.

My sister, Kristina, sent me a picture of some examples of the cute large paper matryoshka dolls (seen in the picture above) to use for picture taking. When I saw the pictures of the dolls, I immediately knew I had to have them at my party. ;) It took me a couple of days to gather the materials and work on them, but I finished the dolls and above are the results.

My friends at the party appeased me and let me take pictures with them and the matryoshka dolls. Above are Armine (from the country of Georgia and Armenia), Nastya (from Russia), and Matt (served in Bulgaria).

Savannah (Hunter's wife), Hunter (served in St. Petersburg, Russia), and Matt.

Armine, Savannah, Hunter, Matt, Nastya and Diana (my friend who hosted the party at her place. served in Novosobirsk, Russia). Everyone at the party except me.

 I'm in the picture now.

Me, Trevor (he came after everyone else had left. served in Rostov na Donu, Russia), and Diana.

I think the party was a success and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We ate lots of delicious Russian food (including borscht, pelmini, pirozhki, plov, oreshki, olivier), talked about Russian culture and news and posed for the cheesy pictures above. :) Thanks Diana for hosting and thanks to those who came!