White Christmas

Well, I am heading into the final days of my first white Christmas. All my life when I thought of a white Christmas, I was, of course, picture it in California, which makes the entire concept of a white Christmas kind of a giant miracle. The only thing I ever wished for harder than snow on a Christmas ... were an acceptance letter to BYU in 1998 and a positive pregnancy test in 2005. I eventually got both, but not on Christmas. And this year I finally get my white Christmas.

We've had snow on the ground here for a few weeks, and today it dawned on me that THIS is my white Christmas. So I am trying to enjoy every minute of it. I even had good humor about my adventure today when I got caught in a snow storm on the freeway and missed the wedding I was on my way to attend at the Salt Lake Temple. I took refuge in a Target and then headed home.

A few days ago I thought we were not going to get anymore snow until after Christmas, and I was a little worried that we would not have a fresh blanket to stare at or sled on come the big day. Just as I accepted my dirty snow for what it is ... I got a this new down pour today ... traffic and all. I love it.

I am really excited for tonight because it feels like Christmas starts when Tim gets off work today and doesn't have to go back until Saturday. We're going to to watch a lot of movies, go to In and Out, visit the lights at Temple Square, go to the Watkins barn for a nativity, share a candle light dinner with the Gillespies, and put together some huge presents. And then hopefully it will all end with at least one seriously smiling face.

I never understood how my mom could enjoy a Christmas in 70 degrees, but now that I've got my own little ones, I'm starting to understand.

A Christmas Card for You

May this holiday season bring you Peace, Joy ... and Snow! Merry Christmas from Utah!

Love,

The Fellow Clan
(Tim, Jill, Quinn and McKenna)

Be Nice

Everyone in Utah knows that Tim's coworker Susan Powell is still missing.

The whole situation is horrible, and it kills me that people live in situations that lead to this.

Every time I am close to a person affect by domestic abuse, it makes me want to get more involved with the cause. I posted about a year ago that a very dear loved one of mine was finally out of an abusive relationship. I think talking with her and helping her through that is one of the reasons I am planning on going into counseling psychology as my new field of study. I have 5 out of 6 applications turned in. Fingers crossed.

No one should have to be hurt or miserable at home. No one.

Dream about Cheerleading Tryouts

I had a dream that I was trying out for varsity cheer leading. I was all ready to show up to the first day of tryout practice, which was at the high school, but was really my mom's backyard. At the last minute I realized I forgot my insurance card, and I can to drive through a bunch of construction traffic to get to it. When I got back to my parents' house, I was waiting for some other people to show up. Everyone was late. We were all supposed to sign up for tryouts in the garage, but I didn't see anyone wander into the backyard so I didn't go into the garage. I waited a few hours, and I when I went to check to see if anyone had shown up, everyone was there, and they were all already learning their dances for tryouts. When I got over to the Varsity group, there were only a few faces I remembered from JV, but there were a bunch of boys there. Our pep squad did not have boys, so this was weird but kind of exciting. But I started freaking out because the Varsity group was finished for the day. They were all done learning there dance, and no one would show it to me. Finally, I begged or something, and they decided to show it to me one time before there left. But when they started, it was a really bad rock concert. The boys had convinced the girls to switch things up, add instruments and start the routine with some music. But the guy leading the show was not very talented, and he also wanted to start the routine with a really crappy video. In my dream it was clear to me that he had tried to make a video with Napoleon Dynamite humor, and that he tried to play Chris Merritt quality music. However, he was horrible and the this little intro to the real routine was taking forever. I finally yelled, "Stop" and told them this is not what a cheer routine should look like. I explained that I totally understood their desire to get free publicity by performing with the cheerleaders, but this was not the way to do it ... and that they were terrible. The other girls agreed and said they had just felt intimidated when the guys accused them of not being flexible. We all walked across a giant football field and talked about Chris Merritt's music. I still could not get anyone to show me the tryout dance. I was pretty stressed.

When I woke up, I was really mad at my high school cheer coach for not putting me on the squad until Junior year. I wanted so badly. As much as I learned from the experience of failing twice and not giving up, I still think she was a cruel, mean woman. End of story. Purpose of dream.

Update

My head hurts again today. Yikes. On drugs now. We'll see if that helps.

Also, Tim's co-worker went missing. Her name is Susan Powell. Please send good thoughts.

A Poopy headache

I have had a splitting headache for about 2 weeks. It really hurts, and I have had no idea what to do about it.

When Tim got home after being gone for a week, we had family prayer, and I said, "Bless that mommy's headache will go away."

The next morning I had crazy diarrhea ... and no headache.

That is not really what I meant.

The Live Nativity

Tim has been in California this week, so we recruited Aunt Sue and Rachel to come with us to the live nativity. I mentioned this in my post about Quinn and the baby Jesus, but this Nativity was really amazing. In most live nativities, you are just watching other people act out the Christmas story. In this nativity, you experience most of it from the eyes of Mary and Joseph. You walk through a traditional marketplace of the time. You walk across fields and get questioned by solders, and then you walk into a barn as a shepherd to meet the baby Jesus. This blew away my expectations. It was really an amazing and very intimate Christmas experience. Plus, free cocoa!













I mentioned this in my post about Quinn and the baby Jesus, but this Nativity was really amazing. In most nativities, you are just watching other people act out the Christmas story. In this nativity, you experience most of it from the eyes of Mary and Joseph. You walk through a traditional marketplace of the time. You walk across fields and get questioned by solders, and then you walking to a barn as a shepherd to meet the baby Jesus. This blew away my expectations. It was really an amazing and very intimate Christmas experience. Plus, free cocoa!