up up up there's no way but up from here!

Things haven't been too great around here. Actually-things have been pretty lame. The past week or so has truly been the hardest time I have ever experienced. Cameron continues to be wonderful. We're getting through everything together, but from financial to medical to otherwise it's pretty overwhelming. It's frustrating. I think I've finally driven myself (and possibly Cameron) crazy with my negativity. I've decided to change my way of thinking. It's times like these we often don't realize how much we have to be grateful for. Buckle Up! You're about to experience a paradigm shift! (how stephen covey of me... :) )

10 things I'm extremely thankful for today-

1. I am married to the most incredible man I have ever known. He really blows me away on a regular basis. He is so patient and kind. I am grateful we were both worthy to be married in the temple at the start of this month, and the new year. I am grateful to have the comfort of knowing his love for the gospel will never falter. I am grateful that he honors his priesthood. I am grateful that he knows how to comfort me and calm me down. I am grateful that I get to be with him forever. :) I'm grateful for our habit of scripture study. It sure makes for a peaceful ending to the day. Gosh, I love him.

2. I am grateful for friends who are close enough to the spirit to recognize when a strong need needs to be met. Lindsay and Mackay called last night to take us out to dinner. With everything that's been going on we haven't had much time to just relax and enjoy ourselves. We went with Kevin & Blair, Marc & Kathryn, and Mackay & Lindsay. Good food, good company, good conversation. It was amazing. I think it's the first time me and Cam have really laughed since being back here in Provo.

3. Found out yesterday our renter's insurance might cover our personal possessions that were stolen on our honeymoon. (keyword-*might*) Either way, getting together an insurance claim and a police report is a lot easier when you know there's a chance to get some of it back. O that would be such a blessing! Here's hoping. :)

4. Erik and Nicole Rasmussen gave us the nicest set of knives I have ever seen. (I'm really hoping it was an old wedding present they received because heaven knows we're all college kids.) Ours was stolen. We had bought a $4 set from ikea to suffice until we had money for a nicer set. Family is such a blessing! (P.S. they gave us a copy of Get Smart too. :) one of the movies we bought with our wedding money which was also stolen... sweet!)

5. This one's going to be vague, but it's probably the one I'm most grateful for. The thing that I thought was terrifying is no longer terrifying. Still something to be concerned about and keep an eye on, but not terrifying. I'm grateful things went well yesterday morning and that I had an amazing husband to hold my hand through it all.

6. I am grateful to have a cute apartment to come home to every day. It makes me wish I could just stay there and cook and clean and be a wifey all day. I am grateful to have an escape from everything else. I am also grateful we do not have cable. It allows us to spend much needed time together and really think about what we're going to watch. Most of the time it's Lost.

7. Last night I took the most incredible shower I think I've ever had. I wasn't in a hurry. I kept the water as hot as I could stand for as long as I wanted. I put a protein mask on my hair. Shaved my legs. I even plucked my eyebrows after I got out. In other good news, the face care regimen my mother got me for Christmas is working wonders on my face. (Shameless plug for Arbonne)

8. I am grateful for lots of nice people who I am excited to get to know in our new ward. Two sisters came and sat next to me in Relief Society. I found out one of them is a newlywed, and the other lives 4 doors away from us. It's great to have people in similar situations who can relate to you. The whole ward was really welcoming and helpful. The bishop is amazing. He stopped by and asked us to speak in church this week-which we're also grateful for. Preparing for the talk is really helping me remember what's really important.

9. I am grateful that there are star wars figurines on the entertainment center. (There's even an Anakin that fits inside the Darth Vader one...awesome-i know). I'm grateful for these because it means my husband and I are such good friends we're comfortable enough around each other to truly be ourselves. Cameron put them there as a joke to motivate me to unpack and looking at them just makes me laugh. I'm grateful to know that Cam can keep me optimistic through any circumstance. He's really amazing. I'm also grateful for the strong religious family he comes from. We had the chance to fast as a family for his grandma who recently was in the hospital for a stroke, which turned out to be a seizure. During the fast, she finally started responding. I'm grateful for opportunities to strengthen my testimony on a daily basis.

10. I'm grateful to have discovered the beauty of freezing leftovers and to finally have tupperware to put it all in. Bread, soups, cookie dough, you name it-we're freezing it. It's great to just come home and pull something yummy out of the freezer (that didn't come packaged that way) to have it on the table in like 10 minutes. It's my new favorite way to cook.

There you have it. Some are simple, some aren't.

I think all that matters, though, is that I'm feeling much better. :)

Bring on the day-

if you like it put a ring on it!

I've always been annoyed with married people that fall off the face of the planet when as soon as they tie the knot. It's like they never even were. No one knows where they went. They just cease to exist to the rest of the world. And then their friends sit around scratching their heads wondering exactly what happened. So-->here's my attempt at not falling of the earth! We got married about a week and a half ago. (pictures up asap) Me and Cam have had a blast the past 2 weeks getting moved in and adjusting to the whole married and school thing. It's pretty fun. We went on a cruise to Mexico for our honeymoon (pictures will be up soon for that too) and came back to find out our car full of wedding presents has been broken in to. *sweet* We're working on insurance claims and police reports as of late. We've taken multiple trips to ikea setting up our little place (pictures for that will be up soon as well). School's been going well for both of us. We're in a great ward. We are actually speaking this Sunday, and making friends who are in the newlywed situation too really helps. :) Finding time for each other is a little more difficult than it was on that beautiful cruise ship, but we're figuring out the balance.

The Real Mrs. Incredible

We're in the home stretch for planning this wedding! (3 Weeks Away! AH!) My mom is jumping through hoops, moving the earth, and scheduling so many different things i can't believe she hasn't driven herself completely insane. She's incredible. :) This post is a shout out to her I suppose. She probably won't have time to read this, though, because she's sewing 5 bridesmaids dresses, planning the menus, scheduling temple sessions, photographers, cakes, flowers, reception halls, etc. She's stuffing announcements and tracking down addresses and on top of it all making me feel like such a beautiful bride. I couldn't ask for a better mom. :) I love you!


(PS- The announcement up there ^^ is supposed to be brown...I don't know what made it change to blue, but it's still pretty :) )

Oh Lola!

I've got a lot to catch up on!
1. Cameron surprised me with tickets to the vocal point concert a couple weeks ago. (Vocal Point is BYU's national champion a cappella group. They're fantastic and I've been a big fan ever since my EFY counselor was part of it back when I was 16.) The concert was funny and really impressive. I highly recommend their next concert in March. :)


They sang songs like Grace Kelly, No Not Much, and an awesome Christmas Medley based around the 12 days of Christmas. Way WAY fun. i LOVE going to shows with Cam. :)

2. We headed home for Thanksgiving and a much needed break. We spent the day before cleaning and vacuuming the cars, buying water and snacks for the road, and getting ready for a stress free weekend.


By the way-Christmas Popcorn Tins are the #1 roadtrip food ever found. You get the sweet, salty, crunchy, and satisfying all in one festive container. :) mmm.


On the way down, we decided to change the wedding to a day earlier. This caused all sorts of emotional trauma and various freak outs mainly from yours truly. (I think my New Year's Resolution is to achieve emotional stability). FYI-The Wedding is Friday, January 2nd 2009 at 9:45 am in Mesa.

We made it to Flagstaff Tuesday night and slept in the next day. We got our wedding announcements printed and ready to send out (it was much more stressful than I make that sound, but if you look at the big picture, now it doesn't seem so bad...) We spent Thanksgiving with my family. My mom's birthday is on Thanksgiving so we stayed up late making a sign for her and getting the kitchen ready for a great day. It was really fun to see Cameron around my siblings helping them color and write notes to my mom. He's such a crack up!


Thanksgiving had some awesome food. :) a turkey from Jessica complete with maple butter and some awesome stuffing. Homemade gravy, pistachio salad-my favorite! and new birthday dishes that made a beautiful dinner. :)


I made an apple pie for my mom's birthday. Count your blessings Call family. :) No pie has ever turned out like the one I made for you a couple months ago! (remember...the one that caught on fire??)
Sidenote: At one of my bridal showers Sister Kitterman gave me this apple corer/slicer/peeler. It seriously cuts the time it takes to make a pie in half! Maybe I'll be able to perfect the whole pie thing now... :)

Dad & Alyssa
JT and Rick

My gorgeous Mom :)

The Chef herself-Jessica

Me and Cam

3. We discovered JT inherited my dad's hair.

4. Here's where things get interesting. I think I've been subconsciously avoiding blogging for a while because I didn't know if my emotional state could take remembering this...here goes! Me and Cameron left for Phoenix to go see his family Thursday night. We got a flat tire after about an hour of driving. I didn't have a wrench to get the lug nuts off so we spent an hour and a half flagging cars down to try and get some help. After one intense phone call with 911-a nice man and his daughter stopped to help us. And the cops showed up right on time-when everything had settled down and we were almost on our way. :)
(Cameron does know how to change a tire and was all ready to do so. I just didn't have the right tools to accomplish the job. I'm sure there's a Seminary object lesson in that sentence somewhere!)

5. We drove for about 40 more minutes when Lola (the car) decided she didn't want to drive anymore. Seriously. She just stopped. We made it to the side of the highway in Scottsdale, Cameron pushed us to the closest gas station and a variety of interesting people helped us. One guy helped us push the car the last 100 yards. I think the conversation went about like this.
Guy-(breathing hard) I'm out of shape!
Cam-Yeah?
Guy-Yeah! Pot does crazy things to you man...
Cam-I can only imagine...

6. The tow truck (graciously paid for by Wayne-Cam's dad) showed up and we had a great conversation with the driver about tattoos and prison (no, seriously-we did). We got to the mechanics at about 1am. It took us 7 hours to get from Flagstaff to Phoenix!

7. We woke up at 6:30 to be at the mechanics when they opened so we could get our car worked on as soon as possible. They said they'd take a look at it and give us a call with the details. About an hour and a half later they called with the damages...to the tune of $1200. My clutch had completely gone out. I'll spare you the details, but it was followed up with a phone call telling us the car wouldn't be ready for us to take back to UT by Sunday and Cameron's anatomy lab final was Monday morning at 9. YIKES! A few prayers and frantic plans later and the mechanics pulled a miracle for us. :) Meanwhile, me and Cameron developed an intense love affair with Lost. :)

8. All was well and Lola returned healthy and happy. :)

I'm just grateful we were able to keep laughing through all of it! (We also needed 2 new tires and a new headlight) it got to the point where I said, "Put it on my tab..." and Cameron just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Of course it does. Why wouldn't that need to be replaced too?" Keeping things positive, Cameron's still really REALLY cute and we got to make out while waiting for the tow truck :) we also got to eat some pretty awesome mexican food from El Rico's because our car wasn't quite ready yet. The ride back to UT was really quick compared to the Flag to Phoenix trip though. Lola drives great now!

We've decided we're buying a beta fish. Her name is going to be Lola.

In Idaho...

Anyone who knows me even a little bit knows that me and nature don’t get along too well. I went to a family reunion in Idaho this summer, where there was no cell phone service for an hour’s radius and I about died. The highlight of the trip was while we were on a hike on top of this mountain my cell phone went off. For me it was heaven. Looking back on that, I realize how pathetic it was. I was in possibly the most beautiful place I had ever been in, with tons of people that I love, and all I could think about was how lame it was that I didn’t have access to the outside world. I regret now the time I wasted there. I recently read a blog post on my boss’s blog, actually, entitled “Solitude, Silence, and Darkness.” It completely changed the way I see things! (If you’d like to read it, check it out here. àhttp://rsc.byu.edu/blog/?p=52) 

My mom calls it being “plugged in” with ipods and cell phones and laptops, technology has become a staple in our everyday lives. It’s good when used, like everything else, in moderation. But when you can no longer take time to appreciate the gorgeous world we live in, it becomes a problem. I think I’ve become slightly addicted to technology and it’s going to stop today. There’s no reason to get online as often as we do.  My addiction to technology kept me from enjoying what could have been an awesome opportunity to build better relationships with my family and, more importantly, my Heavenly Father. I don’t ever want to let a chance like that pass me by again.

And to Cameron's delight, I think I want to go camping. :) 

i love this face

Top 10 Reasons I Love Cameron Call Today
(I had to tack the "today" on there cause more reasons keep coming out of the woodwork. :) He's pretty incredible.)

1. Cam loves to surprise me. Last week was super tough with midterms, meetings, work, and class projects. Cameron Call was pretty darn stressed out too-but he woke me up with breakfast burritos, orange juice, and orange rolls. :) mmm

2. Cameron Call is 6'5". Since we started dating, I have bought 4 new pairs of heels. :) I've never been able to do that before! I wear 4" heels and I still only come up to his nose. :) Shoe shopping is a whole new world for me.

3. Cameron always wants to go do something. He's definitely not one to just sit around. After school and work he always asks me to go with him to play duets on the piano or go on a walk. We rarely watch TV.

4. Cameron Call plans dates. He actually plans them! He's already put a ring on my finger. He doesn't have to impress me any more. I'm already sold. But he loves planning dates and going out. This week, we're going to a piano quartet, the vocal point concert, and gardner village with 4 other couples. :) A couple weekends ago, we bought the polar express in 3-D and watched it with Lindsay and Mackay, complete with 3-D glasses.

5. Cam has the best facial expressions I have ever seen. It's hilarious to watch him eat "good" food. a sound of "oof" generally accompanies the good food. :) His silent laugh is hilarious. He gets a huge grin on his face, he can't breath, but no sound comes out at all. :)

6. Every now and again Cameron throws me into a dip while we're kissing. :)

7. Cameron constantly thinks about what will make me happy. He knows what makes me tick. And because he is so aware of what I need, I trust him to take care of me, and I can completely focus on what will make him happy. It's the most selfless relationship I've ever known and I love it.

8. Cameron Call is smart. He knows how to balance his time and money. He is self-motivated. He works really really hard. He knows what he wants, and he understands what it takes to get there. He is focused. and he knows how to motivate me and help me be successful in everything I do.

9. Cameron encourages me to do everything I've ever wanted to do. When I asked him about taking an extra semester to graduate so I could take some elective courses I was interested in, he just said, "absolutely. Do it." When I asked him about applying for an internship back in Virginia, he said, "o you should absolutely do it. Go for it! We'll figure out the details later." He isn't controlling. He never tries to hold me back. He supports me and I love him for it.

10. Cameron is good at planning. He has been planning his entire life. He is family-oriented (you should see him around my family), kind, and gospel-centered (he's studying the pearl of great price manual with me every night so I can better understand the temple before I go). It shows in everything he says and does. He stands by his word and treats those around him with love and respect. He's had his priorities straight for so long they have become second nature. I love him like crazy. :)

I don't know what I did to deserve such an awesome blessing, but I'm so grateful for him! :)

For the non-believers!

I realize that my original post: The top 5 true stories of Kristin's awkward dating life might have come across as too awkward to believe. I would like to display proof that the stories are, in fact, true. (These pictures were posted about an hour ago on facebook, the dress exists!)