Last Post Before Paradise

Dan and I arrived in Las Vegas early evening yesterday to spend some time with our Kiefer family. We ate a scrumptious meal at Outback and then headed over to stealthily perform our Christmas service. Instead of doing our annual Christmas exchange, we switched it up this year by using that money to buy gifts for a family that Sandra (my mother-in-law) babysits for. There are three sweet kids, ages three, seven, and ten, whose mom ran out on them a year ago for drugs. Their father is doing the best he can to support them. We thought we'd add a little Christmas cheer by anonymously playing Santa's elves. Sandra did a great job of prepping the kids (especially the littlest girl) by talking all week about the elf who she saw watching their house! She wrote an adorable poem to go with the gifts that talks about how they are such good siblings who love and take care of each other that Santa decided to send them extra gifts.

Their house is at the end of the cauldi-sac so we parked just far enough away that we could spy from inside the truck, while Jake, Ryan, Dan, Sandra and Lila dropped off the gifts, door-bell ditched, and sprinted away. They were pulling off the stunt just fine until we saw something fall from Jake's pocket. His phone had fallen and scattered pieces all over the place! But the rescue party would have to wait. He ditched the phone parts and joined us all in hiding. The kids opened the door, and their were squeals from the little girl, such as, "Presents! The elf came!" The seven year old was more skeptical and said, "Who are they for?", which didn't sound too off from the dad's physical reaction. He just stood there like he didn't know what to do, and then hid behind the door! The ten year-old boy immediately began peering into the cauldi-sac, more suspicious than anything. It was hilarious and so sweet at the same time, watching them haul their bundle of gifts inside the house. Sandra babysits for them this morning, so we'll be able to get the inside-scoop from her later. It was such a fun experience. Dan and I do an "Angle-Tree" gift purchase every year but it was extra fun to see the kids' reactions.

In other news, Dan has officially completed his second-to-last semester of law school! Grades don't really matter at this point, with his job secure in Vegas (although Dan says you can never feel too secure about employment these days). But Dan would never be able to slack on finals. It just isn't in him not to do his very best. He really is so ready to be done with school though! One more to go!

I have to write about this mock-trial he participated in a couple weeks ago, which was a final project for one of his classes. He and three of his friends were given a fake case. Two of them teamed up to be the prosecutors and two of them the defense. As the "trial" would take place in the Salt Lake County Courthouse, they needed willing volunteers who didn't mind giving up their evening for the three-hour ordeal. For witnesses, my dad agreed to play a cop, and I played the role of a criminal who was agreed to a plea-deal to shorten my sentence--so essentially, I was ratting out the "master-mind" behind my attempted burglary that indirectly lead to the death of the store clerk's death.

Dan was pretty nervous as we prepared. I was even nervous! I really do not like "performing" in front of anybody, especially anything to do with the law, and I knew how important this mock-trial was to Dan. He really wanted me to play up the part of this criminal, which was fine, but I was worried about the cross-examination from the defense. That part, we could only prepare so much for and then once I was up on the stand, it was up to me to answer as best I could so as not to destroy Dan's arguments! When I was called to the stand, the whole thing flowed really well and--despite butchering my lines and knowledge hours before in rehearsal--managed to say everything right with Dan's prompts and questions. Everyone was taking this trial so seriously that it was intimidating! There was an attorney acting as a judge and even sociology students playing the jury, and the court-room looked just like on TV. I couldn't help but think, "It's like playing house, but with lawyers!"

Anyway, the cross-examining was a little intense, but any damage I did was rectified by Dan's three "redirect" questions, so that was a relief! Dan was so amazing. I loved watching him in action! He was passionate but sensible and kept his cool. His arguments and cross-examining were clear and intentional. And everyone was talking about his closing statement! He wrapped that case up like the perfect package with his composed, yet convincing verbiage. The jury couldn't take their eyes off of him! (Granted, most of them were girls, but as Dan's friend pointed out, even the one guy seemed quite intrigued!) At the end of the case, the jury was allowed to discuss and come up with a verdict. Based on evidence, they ended up declaring in favor of the defense, but they all commented that if it was based on performance and preparation, the win would go to the prosecution. The attorney debriefed the case with all the law students and offered her input. She had only great things to say about Dan and praised his perfectly worded questions and especially his closing statement. A couple of Dan's professors made it into the courtroom in time for the end and also offered flattering praise. Dan really felt confident that night and excited to be able to be a lawyer soon!

By the way, I also received acting praise from the attorney. She said, "And wow, your second witness was hilarious! I was like, 'has this girl served time before'??" To which Dan responded, "No, but she works with juveniles", while Dan's friends commented at the same time, "Well, she's married to the prosecutor!" Haha... Dan prepped me well with my "jail-bird" lingo!.

Well, I believe that is all. We leave for New Zealand this afternoons, so I just wanted to make sure I'm all caught up before I return home--because then it's all going to be about our trip to paradise! I don't think we'll have internet while we're gone so I'll just have to do a mass-upload when we get back in January. By the way... I'll be 20 weeks when we return and find out baby's gender on January 4th! (I had a dream last night that I gave birth naturally again. The baby came so fast! But my dream gave me no clue about gender!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody! Love you!