Bring the Heat!

Things I've been meaning to blog about but haven't. :)
1. We hiked the Y at dusk the day we both finished finals and watched an episode of Lost at the top. It really doesn't get much better than that.



2. I started my internship at Gardner Village. It's freaking fantastic. My first day I was supposed to get to know the shops a little bit better, so I spent 3 hours shopping in the cutest shops ever. My family came up and my mom and I got some unrushed time up at the Village. It was a BLAST. My mom and I really are the best of friends and we don't get to see each other near often enough. [love you!]

3. My mom [funded by my dad] surprised me with a sewing machine! I've had my mom's serger for the past month to piece together this quilt I've had cut and couldn't thread the stupid thing without bursting into tears. I needed something with ONE spool of thread and ONE needle. Cameron patiently tried to fix the serger mid-meltdown, but I put the cover over it, unplugged it, and set it on the floor. The new machine was very well received. I've started piecing my quilt. Here's block #1. :)

4. Cameron has had an extremely eventful week with job interviews. He applied for a doctor's assistant position at a local chiropractor [yay!] and had his second interview today. [The first interview consisted of surveying 10 random people he found at the mall. He was the first applicant to return with the 10 surveys completed. woot!] We find out tomorrow what the verdict is. He's brilliant. :) I love it.

5. I'm on puzzle set 37 of 100 in my Sudoku book. :)

6. We're officially caught up on lost.

7. We recently brought the keyboard out of storage and into the apartment. Not that there's room for it [it's currently blocking the sliding glass door...] but Cameron plays beautifully, and it makes me wonder why we ever put it in storage in the first place.

8. We finished decorating our apartment last weekend [pictures are coming!] and decided we absolutely cannot put another picture of ourselves on the wall. Heavens. It's overwhelming, and after a while, we're just really not that good looking.

9. Spring term classes started today!

10. Cam's playing the keyboard in his G's. guess it's time for bed. lol. :)

The Final Countdown

Attention: This is Cameron speaking, and it will probably be the only blog post I will ever write.

So. Finals week has taken its toll on the Call family. Our mental and emotional stability is questionable. After a long Friday of finals and studying all through the night, we awoke this morning and were on campus by 8 am. We got home tonight around 7 and were just exhausted. We realized it was April 18, the day we used to think we'd get married on............obviously, that idea didn't work out too well! (We decided to get married January 2 instead) To celebrate our almost-got-married-today anniversary, we made hamburgers with taco bell hot sauce and had a barbecue on a new grill we found on Craig's List. The dinner was fantastic. We made homemade french fries in the oven, fruit salad, and frozen lemonade in our magic bullet. It was a great relaxation meal to calm someone down during finals week at BYU.

We went on a walk to the Provo library thinking it was open till 9 only to arrive and see that it closes on 6 on Saturdays. Then, we realized we are teaching Sunday School tomorrow and needed to prepare a lesson. We got home, sat down, and began to conjure up some ideas to incorporate into our lesson on the gathering of Israel. As I sat there on the couch discussing my ideas to Kristin, I noticed she wasn't contributing as much as she normally does. While I was looking up scriptures and reading them out loud Kristin stops me mid-verse and in all seriousness asks, "Cameron, what would you do if we were being chased by an axe murderer?" I was extremely confused at her question. I looked at her waiting for an explanation, and she added, "If an axe murderer broke through the wall would you run behind me or in front of me?" I calmly ensured her that I would run behind her and fight off the axe murderer who broke through our living room wall. She then wanted to discuss other options of perhaps running side by side holding hands, jumping off the balcony and escaping in car, or running out the front door locking the axe murder inside. So, as you can tell, our Sunday School lesson was coming together very nicely.

Kristin had started to make a batch of bread while we were waiting for the hamburgers to cook. By the time the bread was finished rising and the oven was preheated we were finished with our discussion on what to do if an axe murderer breaks through our wall in the middle of the night. After placing the bread in the oven, Kristin sits down, appearing to be her normal self. We continue our lesson planning, and suddenly Kristin says, "How would you feel if we named one of our sons Bredder? Like bread, but Bredder." I was a bit shocked, and refused to even consider it (apologies if some who read this have children with that name). We laughed and I tried to keep us focused on the task of making a lesson. And then out of nowhere, Kristin asks me if I know what her favorite scene in Harry Potter is. I didn't. (Good thing they don't ask that on the newlywed game) She responded, "It's the Christmas scene. The snow is just magical!" Seriously?? I was getting so annoyed. But it was so hilarious! We had been on the couch for nearly an hour, and from my poing of view, all that was accomplished was a plan to fight off an axe murderer, crossing off a name NOT to give to a future child, and I learned something new about my wife. While I was laughing uncontrollably, Kristin began to get offended and said sarcastically she would "thunk" me on the head if I didn't stop. I couldn't respond because we were both laughing so hard and I typed on the laptop we were using that if she thunked me I wouldn't run beside her if we were being chased by an axe murderer. It was pretty funny. We both lost it. Then the beep on the oven went off to tell us bread would be done in one minute. We gained composure and listened to "The Final Countdown" by Europe. The buzzer went off, and we enjoyed a few slices of warm bread, when we finally decided there is only so much you can do during finals week. We gave up and will finish our lesson in the morning. The end. `

The Final Countdown

Something I absolutely love about scrapbooking is that pictures aren't necessary all the time. If there's a story to tell, tell it!

Text Reads-
Attention: This is Cameron speaking, and it will probably be the only blog post I will ever write.

So. Finals week has taken its toll on the Call family. Our mental and emotional stability is questionable. After a long Friday of finals and studying all through the night, we awoke this morning and were on campus by 8 am. We got home tonight around 7 and were just exhausted. We realized it was April 18, the day we used to think we'd get married on............obviously, that idea didn't work out too well! (We decided to get married January 2 instead) To celebrate our almost-got-married-today anniversary, we made hamburgers with taco bell hot sauce and had a barbecue on a new grill we found on Craig's List. The dinner was fantastic. We made homemade french fries in the oven, fruit salad, and frozen lemonade in our magic bullet. It was a great relaxation meal to calm someone down during finals week at BYU.

We went on a walk to the Provo library thinking it was open till 9 only to arrive and see that it closes on 6 on Saturdays. Then, we realized we are teaching Sunday School tomorrow and needed to prepare a lesson. We got home, sat down, and began to conjure up some ideas to incorporate into our lesson on the gathering of Israel. As I sat there on the couch discussing my ideas to Kristin, I noticed she wasn't contributing as much as she normally does. While I was looking up scriptures and reading them out loud Kristin stops me mid-verse and in all seriousness asks, "Cameron, what would you do if we were being chased by an axe murderer?" I was extremely confused at her question. I looked at her waiting for an explanation, and she added, "If an axe murderer broke through the wall would you run behind me or in front of me?" I calmly ensured her that I would run behind her and fight off the axe murderer who broke through our living room wall. She then wanted to discuss other options of perhaps running side by side holding hands, jumping off the balcony and escaping in car, or running out the front door locking the axe murder inside. So, as you can tell, our Sunday School lesson was coming together very nicely.

Kristin had started to make a batch of bread while we were waiting for the hamburgers to cook. By the time the bread was finished rising and the oven was preheated we were finished with our discussion on what to do if an axe murderer breaks through our wall in the middle of the night. After placing the bread in the oven, Kristin sits down, appearing to be her normal self. We continue our lesson planning, and suddenly Kristin says, "How would you feel if we named one of our sons Bredder? Like bread, but Bredder." I was a bit shocked, and refused to even consider it (apologies if some who read this have children with that name). We laughed and I tried to keep us focused on the task of making a lesson. And then out of nowhere, Kristin asks me if I know what her favorite scene in Harry Potter is. I didn't. (Good thing they don't ask that on the newlywed game) She responded, "It's the Christmas scene. The snow is just magical!" Seriously?? I was getting so annoyed. But it was so hilarious! We had been on the couch for nearly an hour, and from my poing of view, all that was accomplished was a plan to fight off an axe murderer, crossing off a name NOT to give to a future child, and I learned something new about my wife. While I was laughing uncontrollably, Kristin began to get offended and said sarcastically she would "thunk" me on the head if I didn't stop. I couldn't respond because we were both laughing so hard and I typed on the laptop we were using that if she thunked me I wouldn't run beside her if we were being chased by an axe murderer. It was pretty funny. We both lost it. Then the beep on the oven went off to tell us bread would be done in one minute. We gained composure and listened to "The Final Countdown" by Europe. The buzzer went off, and we enjoyed a few slices of warm bread, when we finally decided there is only so much you can do during finals week. We gave up and will finish our lesson in the morning. The end. `

My Husband is Brilliant!

Here's a shameless brag blog about Cam. :)
He got an A in Biology.
Woot!
That's all. :)

u.p. to the d.a.t.e.

Finals are kicking my rear.
Cam seems to be doing fine.

I start my internship on Tuesday. Let's hear it for change!
If I had it my way, I would quit everything and just be home.

Cam is trying to console me via text message. It's not going very well, but the thought is sweet.
I haven't been able to work out, scrapbook, or quilt in who knows how long.

Finals are still kicking my rear.
Cam is at the library again.
If I can make it through the next 3 days life will be pretty darn stellar.

People in my finals groups are completely flaking out on me and/or driving me INSANE.
Finals are over in 3 days.
Cam is as handsome as ever. (he's not a loser. he works out. sometime i won't be a loser too!)

I can't seem to make up my mind as to whether to really "go for it" in the career arena. It changes on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. Today is a career day.

ha.

-----------------------------------

But it is amazing how a nice long hot shower, a good country mix, a sea salt mask, shaving your legs, plucking your eyebrows, using that [really] decadent body wash, new makeup from mom [thanks!], and taking a ridiculously long time to do your hair can fix everything.

Bring on the day!

Eastertime!

This Easter ended up being much MUCH better than I had anticipated. Lindsay and Mackay surprised us by coming back to Provo for the weekend. We miss them a whole bunch and it was great to have family for the holiday. We went up to Salt Lake for Mackay's family Easter party. Even the adults had an "Easter Egg Hunt" Well, sort of.

What happened was we blindfolded all the husbands and the wives lined up on the porch. Bags of candy with each couples' names on them were all over the front yard. The way it worked was the wife had to yell directions (lovingly) to their husbands who would retrieve a bag and bring it back so they could see if it was their bag. It was hilarious, and I couldn't hear myself above all those Moore women! (which is a feat...I'm pretty loud)

Here's Mackay and Cam preparing for battle. Go Team!


And we found our bag of candy. :)



Sunday we went to an amazing sacrament meeting and headed up to Salt Lake again to spend Easter dinner with Emilee, Adam and Kiara. I was SO excited to see Elisha and Baylee! (They've recently decided to like me. It's wonderful.) I also managed to finally figure out how to make my apple pie again! Adam was most pleased. :)

the game plan

At this point in my life I have a lot of “options.” There are lots of pros and cons to the different potential routes and I’m proud to say I have made a decision!

My plan a few days ago was to take my time, enjoy being in school with Cam, work at the job I currently have for as long as I could because of its “cushy” nature (location, pay, people, etc.) I was content to do this because doing an internship, a full load of classes, and another 2 jobs on top of that for the summer just doesn’t sound very fun. It also isn’t humanly possible. Believe me. I checked.

My plan before that was to do the humanly impossible, and finish in December. That plan lasted until I mapped out my schedule for the summer and realized that working 40 hours a week and taking the equivalent of 18 credit hours in a single term just wasn’t going to happen. I got tired and depressed just thinking about it. So we reverted back to the “April” plan. And I took the countdown off my blog in a huff of disgust.

Here’s the exciting part. . .

The Countdown is Back!

See that cute little frog gaily leaping across the purple flowers? He’s counting down to me being done with school in December! Woo!

General Conference spoke volumes to me this year. We are taught to be balanced. That means you can’t be 100% at a job and 100% at school at the same time. It doesn’t work like that. You only have 100% (or sometimes 110%) of yourself to give. So I maturely and securely decided to stay within my limits and devised a plan where I could still graduate in December without absolutely killing myself. I asked Cameron what he thought of my plan at about 11:45 right before we fell asleep. His response was “I really wish you wouldn’t bring things like that up right before we go to bed.” Hahahaha. But in all seriousness, he is so encouraging of everything I want to do. I’m a lucky lady.

*Drumroll*

Here’s the plan!
During spring term I will be:
Working 20 hours at my internship (which is a class)
Working 10 hours at my paying job (so we don’t starve)
Taking 2 classes
-Family History (last religion class!)
-Writing about art and the humanities (let’s hear it for procrastinated generals)
for a total of 5 credit hours.

Summer term my class load is reduced to 3 credit hours. And by starting my internship this early, I should be finished with it in July-giving me all of August to have a REAL summer. It’s not much but I’m stoked to be realistically finishing in December.

After that, I just have one full 15 credit hour semester to take-and I’m DONE!

Just thought I’d letchya know. :)

Making Progress. . .

I think I've let my blog suffer a little bit, but I really have been [making progress]! Here's an overview of the scrapbooking I've managed to get done in the past couple weeks.

"lanky, claw-toed, gorilla babies" -Jessica McGuire

Cameron jammed his left [big] toe while playing basketball on Christmas day. It has been appropriately rotting for the past 3 and a half months. He played in our ward's intramural basketball game last week and squished that purple toenail up against his shoe. Apparently his toenail had had enough because it stood straight up and started causing lots of pain. ouch!

Cam asked me what I thought he should do. I told him to shower so it was clean and wouldn't get infected. Ask me if we even have band-aids. nope. He got out of the shower and put some pjs on, [so I could take pictures]. :) but really, I snapped a couple with my phone and spent the rest of the time gagging in the corner. [I got my mom's gag reflex...really, it's genetic] He finally pulled it off which made his face look like this. :)

Poor guy!

I think this only goes to prove Jessica's point when she labled me and Cameron's future children as "lanky, claw-toed, gorilla babies." Thanks Jess.

There once was a girl at BYU...

...who had so many hobbies she didn't know which to do!

I believe I have taken things a bit to the extreme this time. A few weeks ago it occurred to me that science classes are hard. And a husband who takes 3 of those science classes in a single semester (soon to be 4 or 5. yikes!) has lots of studying that has to get done every night.

So.

I got a hobby.

or 4.

1. You have all experienced my new found appreciation and LOVE for digital scrapbooking. I do adore it. And when else in your life do you have an excuse to have hundreds of pictures of you and your gorgeous husband looking fabulous?!

2. I had a sudoku obsession last year. I had this one book The Sudoku Code that came out during the Da Vinci Code fad and it absolutely blew my mind. Each spread inside has a sudoku puzzle with numbers and a "wordoku" puzzle, with 9 letters that spell a phrase. There's one square in the sudoku puzzle that's circled. When you finish that puzzle, you circle the rest of the numbers that are the same as the one in the circled square and then solve the wordoku. When you solve that puzzle, you circle the same squares that are circled in the sudoku puzzle. Then! the whole thing spells out a message through the entire book, which then tells you to do something completely different. Well-last year I finished half the book and then lost it. So-when I decided I needed a hobby I looked on Amazon and found it for $3. fantastic. I'm now on puzzle set 12 of 100.

3. Last thanksgiving (before me and Cam decided we don't really "do" thanksgiving anymore) we had a bit of car trouble and ended up staying in AZ longer than we had originally planned. We decided to spend the extra time watching the first season of lost. This has now become a common activity before bed. We're smack in the middle of season 3 and go to bed so anxious because they never give you any answers but the stupid hopeful part of me half expects it to make sense in the end. Does Lost addict count as a hobby? I think so.

4. Finally! I decided a few months ago that I wanted to learn how to quilt. I went to the quilting shop that's 4 blocks from our apartment and got super inspired and drastically overwhelmed at the same time. I decided to make a quilt as my summer project. Lo and behold, out of the sky comes the lovely Danielle Sanders who just happens to quilt all the time! So now I have a good friend who knows what she's doing and can help me figure out what I'm doing! I also went running today and on my way home saw that the quilting store was having an insane sale for the next hour! I went in and took tabs on how much everything cost. I went home and found the pattern I wanted (which happens to be on this super cute blog) took off for the store again and found 9 coordinating fabrics and thread for my mom's serger. All for under $25. (Money I had from selling my clothes to Plato's closet.)

*sigh*

it's going to be an awesome summer.

Digital Scrapbooking.

A lot of you lovely ladies have been asking how to get into digital scrapbooking. I’ve tried to respond to as many of you as I could, but I figured it would just be best to post it here so you can always come back to refer to it.

*deep breath*

Here goes!

I personally use Photoshop to put my pages together. Any photo manipulation software will work, but photoshop seriously lets you do ANYTHING you want. Worth every little pretty penny it costs. (if you’re a student you can get a CRAZY discount by ordering through the bookstore)

I have a few favorite sites I use. www.shabbyprincess.com (click on downloads) has tons of free papers/embellishments/alphabets etc. it's fantastic. :) They are also good to use when you're first starting out because they give them to you in "Collections" that help you see what goes together well. When you get more comfortable with it all, pull stuff from different collections and go crazy! :)

Another site I use for inspiration is www.scrapbook.com click on gallery>digital layouts>favorites These are pages other people have filtered through and marked as their favorite. There's some AWESOME stuff there, and if you want to figure out how to do something, just ask. They're pretty good about getting back to you with what they did. Scrapbook.com also has a newsletter you can sign up for that gives you something free every week. (papers/embellishments/etc.) I have NEVER paid for anything for digital scrapbooking.

The site I use for fonts is www.1001freefonts.com. It's fantastic. It might take you a bit to figure out how to install this on your computer, but it's worth it. :)

One other site I would mention is www.brusheezy.com It has photoshop brushes with everything you can imagine and can really make some cute touches on your page.


(ex. The brown swirl on this page is a brush.)

Last site I promise! www.scrapbooksetc.com>free collage templates.
How to make super cute multi picture layouts in pretty much no time at all. :) worth a look for sure!

Because of the response I got from posting just that one page, I’ve been considering starting a digital scrapbooking blog where I can let everyone know the cool new things I find and post pages of my current projects. I would love for it to be like a community effort where others (you!) can post pages too and we can all inspire each other. Answer the poll up at the top and let me know what you think!

A little bit of the "how to's"

A lot of you lovely ladies have been asking how to get into digital scrapbooking. I’ve tried to respond to as many of you as I could, but I figured it would just be best to post it here so you can always come back to refer to it.

*deep breath*

Here goes!

I personally use Photoshop to put my pages together. Any photo manipulation software will work, but photoshop seriously lets you do ANYTHING you want. Worth every little pretty penny it costs. (if you’re a student you can get a CRAZY discount by ordering through the bookstore)

I have a few favorite sites I use. www.shabbyprincess.com (click on downloads) has tons of free papers/embellishments/alphabets etc. it's fantastic. :) They are also good to use when you're first starting out because they give them to you in "Collections" that help you see what goes together well. When you get more comfortable with it all, pull stuff from different collections and go crazy! :)

Another site I use for inspiration is www.scrapbook.com click on gallery>digital layouts>favorites These are pages other people have filtered through and marked as their favorite. There's some AWESOME stuff there, and if you want to figure out how to do something, just ask. They're pretty good about getting back to you with what they did. Scrapbook.com also has a newsletter you can sign up for that gives you something free every week. (papers/embellishments/etc.) I have NEVER paid for anything for digital scrapbooking.

The site I use for fonts is www.1001freefonts.com. It's fantastic. It might take you a bit to figure out how to install this on your computer, but it's worth it. :)

One other site I would mention is www.brusheezy.com It has photoshop brushes with everything you can imagine and can really make some cute touches on your page.


(ex. The brown swirl on this page is a brush.)

Last site I promise! www.scrapbooksetc.com>free collage templates.
How to make super cute multi-picture layouts in pretty much no time at all. :) worth a look for sure!