2008 Year-End Wrap Up

Hello all my dear friends and family.  A friend of mine gave me the terrific idea of not sending a printed Christmas letter this year.  Instead I've decided to post one on my blog to save paper and ink and this way, you all can read in a lot more detail, if you choose, about what happened this year.  Our year started out pretty uneventful.  But in March, Max's mother, Connie, was diagnosed with the most aggressive, least responsive to treatment breast cancer there is.  She immediately had an operation to remove the tumors and started Chemo-Therapy in April.  She's done many different kinds of chemo and just finished up 6 weeks of radiation last Tuesday and is doing great!  She's a trooper.  This summer we traveled up to Cd'a, Idaho for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary.  They had a vow-renewal ceremony that was very sweet.  Then it was off the to cabin for a week of just us and it was wonderful.  This fall we both went back to school for yet another semester.  I officially graduated with a General Education Associates of Science degree. (say that 10 times fast!)  So now, hopefully when I apply for nursing, yet again, in January, this Degree will give the leg-up I need to be accepted to WSU's fall program.  (And that's Weber for all you Washington Cougar fans) So keep your fingers crossed.  Max went back and began taking the classes he needs to become a high school History teacher.  He should be done sometime in 2011.  We both passed all our classes and are relived to have a small break before spring semester.  I also discovered my love for and skill of photography this year.  I accidentally got a job with Lifetouch Portrait Studios in April and I left them in August to pursue my own freelance photography.  I call myself Candids By Callie and there is a link to my website on my blog if you'd like to check out my work.  I have just fallen in love with it and it has kept my very busy even up until last weekend.  I've got some weddings booked for next year and I'm looking forward to them.  Just in October, Max and I moved back into our cute condo in Bountiful and it's wonderful to be home.  We also adopted two kitties.  Icabod and Binx and they are great.  We did have a recent misfortune of having to put to sleep our sweet puppy, Roxy, just this week.  She would have been two on Christmas Eve and we will miss her dearly.  We'll think of her often and know that she's in a better place now and we're so grateful for the time we did have with her.  

So there it is; our 2008 wrap-up.  Please let us know if you've got a blog we can follow to see what's happening with you.  We love you all and We wish you all Peace, Joy and Love this Holiday Season and in the New Year!

A Sad Goodbye...

Roxy snuggling with her dad after we came home from our week-long vacation to the lake cabin.  She didn't leave this spot for hours.  She was always so happy to see us when we came home.

Her First Vacation.  She was about 3 months old.

Her having a girls' night with me and some friends.

Me just being silly with her.  She was such a good girl.

Her with my sis.  She was a few months old and this is when she won over my sister and she said, "Oh ok, you can keep her and never have kids, I'll just be her aunt."

This was he night we brought her home.  I didn't put her down once that whole night.  I just snuggled with her.

Her sleeping with me.  Not just on top of the bed with me but literally WITH me, ON me, on my pillow or she'd sleep under the covers snuggled right next to me.

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I've been busy with finals and work these past few weeks and just this last week have been taking care of my broken puppy. Her name is Roxy and she would have been two years old next week. We took her to the vet on Monday and found out that they suspected she had a slipped disc in her spine. So they put her on an anti-inflammatories and pain killers hoping that if she took it easy for a few weeks that scar tissue would form and she'd be back to her normal self. That unfortunately wasn't the case. Yesterday she was stumbling around on her back legs like she didn't have control of them and when we took her in this morning she could barely stand on them. Also they discovered that she had lost her sight. So they figured this morning that there was something affecting her neurologically because of the blindness and numbness in her legs. The only way we could find out more of what was going on was to do a very expensive MRI and even then the Vet said that neurological disorders are very hard to reverse or fix so even if we did decide to do that and find out more certainly what was wrong that we might still not be able to fix her. So we had to make the devastating decision yet again, (we had to put our cat down just a year ago due to inoperable heart problems) to put her to sleep. I know that it was the right thing to do and the Vet assured us that we did everything right and that we were doing the right thing for her, but I'm struggling. I'm so glad that she's not suffering anymore but It's so sad to know that she won't be waiting at the door for me anymore. I won't have her leap into my arms and cover my face with kisses when I come home or bite and pull on my pants when I don't immediately scoop her up. She was like our first baby. We got her when she was just barely eight weeks old and got up with her at night when she cried. She slept with me all the time, day or night. And it wasn't enough to be on the bed with me, she had to be under the covers snuggled right up to me, always. I will miss that tremendously. I will miss her curly tail and floppy ears. She was the cutest chihuahua I've ever seen and she will be missed. Be at peace my sweet puppy, and know that I will love you and miss you always.

Things Max & Callie are thankful for:

• Great jobs that help us pay the bills
• Our Cute Home!
• Binx and Icabod, our kitties, and Roxy, our dog
• The love of each other
• Our wonderful families
• Our fantastic friends
• The smell of Fall (our favorite season)
• Great Football Games (Go Utes!)
• Good Gym Workouts!

Thanksgiving

In this week of Thanksgiving I just wanted to send out a special thank you to all my dear friends! I love you all and I wouldn't be able to get through the tough days without you! I'm so grateful to have people that I know will be there for me anytime, people that will laugh and cry with me and be there to pick me up when I'm down. Make sure to take time this week to thank your friends.

"If all my friends were to jump off a bridge, I wouldn't jump with them, I would be at the bottom to catch them." - Anonymous

Twilight!

OMG! Let's just say I've never been so blown away by a movie! I will definitely be seeing this one over and over again! And when It's in the dollar theatre, let's just say you'll know where to find me. :) Anyway, really great movie and I had a great time with all my co-workers. What a fun night! We're planning on doing it again for the next movie!

Quickly!

Hey All! I thought before I head off to church this morning that I should post some pics of the condo and the kitties. So here they are! Hope you all enjoy!
~Peace~

Lost but Found

So lately I've been disappointed in a certain area of my life. And the saddest part about it all is that I never thought I could feel this way with this. So I guess you could say I've felt lost. However, there is a silver lining to this cloud. I've been found. I'm at a point in my life that even though there are disappointments right now, there are also some great things happening. My sister is happier than she's ever been in the last year and part of that is due to her new boyfriend, Scott, who seems very nice. She seems very grounded and sure of herself and just ready to take on the world. Also, she and I have never been closer and I love that. I cannot wait for Christmas to get here so I can see and meet the man who is adding to her newfound happiness! My mom is amazing right now too. She divorced my step-dad the year I got married and it was very sad and we all miss him dearly. However, she found love in an old friend she's known for more than 20 years! He's wonderful to her and Laura and I and I'm so glad they are together. And she is the happiest I've seen her in years! She's graduating a class this month that will make her a Certified Project Manager at her work and she's worked so hard for this achievement and I'm so proud of her! She's also making all kinds of little improvments to her house. It's all turning out so cute and she's just delighted with it all. She seems to be almost shedding a skin and turning a new leaf and I couldn't be more proud of her or happier for her. And finally, my dad has finally found his soulmate! Really and truly this time! She is a wonderful that makes him laugh, but mostly she makes him happy and that's all I really care about. They got engaged a few weeks ago and I'm so happy for him! So as you can see, even though I've felt quite lost, I've actually found so much goodness that it makes life better.

"True friendship is like sound health, the value of it is seldom known until it is lost."- Charles Caleb Colton

FINALLY SETTLED!

I know to some, taking a week to get completely moved in doesn't seem like a lot of time, but to my hubby and I, it is! We moved in on the 26th of October and as of Sunday we are officially out of boxes, everything's on the walls, etc. We're in! And boy it feels sooooo good to be home!!! We brought home our new kitties, Binx and Icabod, and so now we're all setttled in and loving life! I'll post some pictures soon! (when I have a second without homework or work to worry about...) ;)

We're Home!

Hooray! Our renter moved out early so we are back home for good!!! We are so excited! We moved in on Sunday with the help of Max's wonderful sister her family and my mama and her fantastic boyfriend. We're still trying to get everything out of boxes and in it's rightful place and I think we'll be done with that just in time to relax and enjoy our favorite holiday, Halloween!!!! We're going to be bringing home our new kitties, Icabod and Binx, this Saturday and we're very much looking forward to that!!! =) I'll post some new pictures of our home and our kitties soon! All our thanks and love to everyone who's supported us these last 14 months to help us get back home.

Maybe This Weekend...

I haven't blogged for awhile, but I haven't really had much to report on. I have been very busy with photography this month. I'm doing lots of family shoots and I did my first Latino wedding last week and let me say this: They know how to PARTY!!! It was very fun! Salsa dancing, cherring, loud music, tons of people; very good time.
I talked with our renter yesterday and it looks like, if all goes well, that he may be out of the condo this weekend instead of next week!!! So keep your fingers crossed for us! We're praying that it works out so we can move in on Sunday. That's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have really great news in a couple days...

Can't sleep - I guess I'll just babble...

Well, ever since my hubby moved to night shifts, for some reason, I can't sleep at night anymore.  Like ever.  I think it's because he works two more nights a week than I do and so I stay up late so I can sleep late with him but this has turned into me being a COMPLETE night person instead of someone who works nights but switches back to days the other 4 days a week I don't work...  Hopefully this won't be the case these next couple weeks because I have 8 photography sessions coming up!  I think part of my lack of complete sleep - I've been up for over 24 hours now and I'm not sleepy at all - is that I've got too much on my mind and I can't turn my brain off even if I want to!  We're moving back into our condo in 3 weeks and 5 days and I am so excited, obviously.  It's all I can think about.  I go through everything I can do in the condo every minute that I'm not thinking about something else...  And today my renter completely threw me for a loop when he brought over his barely on-time rent check and mail that he's had for 3 weeks!!!  One of the pieces of mail was informing me that because I hadn't made a payment on my home-owners insurance policy (that I didn't know was due because it went to the wrong address and we didn't get a call >=[ )  that my policy is cancelled.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I, as of right now, do NOT have home-owners insurance and won't until at least Tuesday because my stupid renter didn't simply call me to tell me I had two pieces of mail that had been sitting there for 3 weeks!!!  Can ya tell I'm a little bent about it?  Anyway, that's stressin me, but it'll all be fine as long as my renter doesn't decide to do something crazy like burn down my condo in the next few days, right?  I went and had my gallbladder scan this week and I'm waiting for the results to see if I'm going to have to have surgery and I can't stop thinking about that either.  Ugh...  Really, I don't have too much to complain about.  Things could be worse.  I think, no, I know that what I need is some good sleep.  Thanks for reading my babble, I feel better.  :)

"Crappy Genetics" make for unhappy guts...

Well I had my follow up appointment with Dr. Doxey, my GI Doc, and I'm still having right upper quadrant pain that he's not happy about. The ultrasound showed a very normal looking gallbladder but my doctor says that a dysfunctional gallbladder can look normal on an ultrasound. So I'm going in for a Hydascan (gallbladder scan) on Thursday to see how my gallbladder is functioning. So we'll know more then. My scope came up with mild chronic gastritis, mild esophogitis, and a mild hiatal hernia (my stomach herniates up into my diaphram; it's a genetic thing). My doctor says that some people just have crappy genetics which make for sensitive guts... I will definitely post more when I know more.

Almost October...

For anyone who knows even just a small amount about me, you know that I LOVE Halloween and all things scary! ;) Well, tomorrow is officially October which is my FAVE month of the year but it's also the last time I have to collect a rent check from our renter!!! He's moving out on Halloween (now it's going to be and even better day than it already was!) and we are moving back in!!! Can ya tell I'm just a little excited? 1 month and counting and if we want to get really specific - which I do because I really just can't wait - 4 weeks and 3 days til were back! I'm hoping these next 4 weeks fly by and I think they will because I've got about 6 photography sessions already scheduled this month and a couple more that want the classic "fall colors family picture". So hopefully I'll just be so caught up in photography and school that I won't even have time to be counting down the hours til we get the keys back...