Graduation, Santa, and a Car Accident...

My sister, Julie, graduated from BYU-Idaho last Friday with her degree in Nursing. At the last minute, we decided to drive up there. Unfortunately, Todd had to work both Thursday and Friday night, so Lily, Owen, and I had to go without him. The drive up there went great thanks to an early Christmas present (a DVD player for the car). We left on Thursday afternoon and made it up there just in time for Julie's pinning ceremony. It was this really cool thing that they do for the nursing students. They had a program and then they each got a pin. The program sounded really neat, but I was in the hall the whole time with Lily so I didn't get to hear any of it. Lily was a little wound up after being in the car all afternoon. While we were out there a man came walking into the doors at the end of the hallway. He was a large man, dressed in a scout uniform and a red jacket, and he had a white beard. I was holding Lily and she caught a glimpse of him before I did and said rather loudly,"Mommy, look there's Santa!". I was slightly embarrassed, but she didn't say it very loudly so I was hoping that the man didn't hear her. I tried to distract her, but she blurted out, "Mommy, Santa's coming!". This time there was no doubt that the man heard her and so I made eye contact and gave him an apologetic smile. The man walked right up to us and for a second I was a little worried about what would happen next. Lily looks at him and says "Hello Santa!". Then, the sweet old man reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a candy cane for Lily!! She took it from him and said, "Thank you Santa!". And he walked off smiling. It was so totally unexpected and it left me smiling all night. The next day, Friday, we woke up and headed up to campus to wander around while Julie and Dan were at class. On the way there I was following my dad's car. We came up over some raised train tracks and I looked down to see my dad's tires spinning. I started to pump my brakes, but there was nothing that I could do. I slowly slid down the hill right into the back of my dad's Corolla. We were super lucky because there was no damage done to either car. It was really fun to wander around campus. Being there brought back so many great memories of when I was there. I loved living in Rexburg! It is the coldest place on earth, but there is just something about the place! Friday night, we went to Julie's graduation ceremony. We watched her walk and then we had to leave to come home. We didn't get home until 2 am! It was a quick trip, but I was very glad that we went.

CONGRATULATIONS JUJ!! WE LOVE YOU!