Editorrial Confessions

One of our many wedding pictures. I've never posted any of my professionals. Why, you might ask? Well, that's what my confession is alllll about. Click on this picture. Enlarge it till it fills your screen. I must confess that while I love my wedding pictures, I don't feel like my photog put any effort or thought, etc, into taking them. I'm missing essential shots - and lets be honest - you can't re-create that day. The pictures are beautiful, no doubt, yet...there's just a little something that's been found wanting...

Many of you know my personality. I'm not one to keep things to myself when I feel that justice needs to be served. But guess what? I've kept quiet about this since November, and since my emotions are almost under control, I figured I'd be ok. I sought some good advice from a photog friend and finally emailed my photog today. I gave this person 2 options...and a week to decide.

Either way, I might be in the market for someone who loves to edit photos, another photog, etc. I'm not trying to be silly - I'm merely interested in greener grass :) I'll post my prof wedding photos for you all to see; let me know if you think I'm going bonkers...at least Ty supports my habits! haha

A Word to the Wise

Last week, Tyler and I took our car to my Uncle's mechanic shop and left to go on Vacay! It was so much fun and we saw so many people-thanks to everyone who made time to see us! We returned safe and sound, just in time for me to get the worst cold of a lifetime. Anyway, last night we went to Bountiful to pick up our car and my Uncle shared something with me that I would like to share with all of you:

Apparently, many mechanics are "inventing" or "fixing" problems on cars that aren't even there, or letting something slip loose so that you'll have to come back and pay more, etc. At this point, many consumers are massaging our older cars and trying to get as much out of them as possible! But are things really being fixed? I would be very careful if you have to go get a tune-up, etc, and if you get something fixed/replaced, ask to see your old part (which is such an old standard; ask your dad-he'll tell you the same thing) which ensures that it actually got fixed. Ask around and really search for a safe place to get your car fixed/oil changed, etc. I have a few great places around the SLC area for anyone in need! I wouldn't have imagined that something like this was really happening, but believe it or not, I'm more naive that I thought I was - so keep your eyes peeled! Just a word to the wise.

Hope your summers are going great!

Stick to the beat

SIMPLE:

Today I discovered how to stick to the beat. It wasn't anything profound, just a little something that I needed to learn.




Tyler and I gave the Sunday School lesson today on Prayer and Faith. This is where most people, once you announce the topic, simply turn off and wait for it to be over. Why, you might ask? Well, probably because its something simple. I've noticed that the simple things are the ones that we struggle with the most. They're usually the ones to drop from our habits, our daily schedule, and eventually, from our conscience. Once its out of your thought pattern, there's no way your actions will convey those simple traits that could make the world better. Funniest thing - the simple things are usually the ones that hold the most important keys to happiness. Isn't that crazy? Think about it for a minute, and I'll come back to that.

Today = day from H.E. double-hockey sticks. Remember the time that I had to play the organ in church? Not a very cool incident. I can do anything in front of lots of people, no problem = sing, talk, entertain; you name it, you got it. When you add an instrument, I panic. My harp recital = almost perfect. Loved it. When you mess up on the harp, not so bad. The organ is louder than the shot heard round the world, because I'm pretty sure the chapel in the hospital is less than 20 square feet. Ok, not that small, but amazingly close. And what happens when the organ is set to transpose the song 3 keys higher? To even reach an A, people are pretending to be eunuchs. Awesome. NOT. After the meeting was over, people said I played great, and they were really impressed that they could sing the base-line. Everyone had a cold, so they attributed not being able to sing the high notes on that. Either way, I walked back to my Aunt, Uncle, and Ty's parents and cursed that organ to hell and oblivion. Whoops. But seriously, its all in the bible-that organ belongs with Cain.

Now back to the rest. Simple things of life. What made my day? Someone's smile, a kind comment, and a laugh with me at how high the organ was set. What could make your day better? Why not being the initiator? Simply extend a hand to help, even if you don't know much. Say something that's simply kind. You'll feel better inevitably - don't you remember that Friend's episode where Joey and Phoebe have a competition to see who can do acts of service without feeling good afterwards? haha Love that one. Why not invite that into your life? It doesn't have to be anything grand; just keep it simple.

My favorite story about how simple being a friend can be:
A little girl was supposed to arrive at home after school, and was a little tardy. Her mom was upset, and questioned the little girl about why she was late. The little girl related the story; her friend had fallen off of her bike and it looked broken. The mother informed the little girl, "You don't know anything about broken bikes!" The daughter replied in all earnesty, "I know. I just stopped to help her cry."

SIMPLE.

Monday, Monday

In honor of tomorrow being Monday, I decided to post a quick re-cap of what our last week has been! I don't remember most of it, minus the fact that we played in the sunshine for 3 hours one day and then the week of weather took a turn for the worse. It started to rain, which isn't all that horrid, but that quickly turned into snow. So sad.

In other news, Saturday was a busy, busy day! I got to meet my best-friend-in-law's parents, and since Ty was at work that morning, Eric and his family took me out for breakfast! haha Loved it! Thanks Eric!

Saturday night Salt Lake hosted the SuperCross (dirt-bike thingy) at the U of U stadium. Tyler and I were on our way to a breakin competition when I looked in the sky and saw this!!!!!!I totally felt as though I had stepped out of real life and into a Harry Potter novel!!! It was soooo dark at first, this haunting black ring in the sky-just like the Dark Mark. It was sooooo creepy.

In honor of the break dancing 2-on-2 competition, we decided to just have fun and go wild. Well, since Ty had to cut his hair for Sunday services, we did this instead!

hahahaha I loved every minute of it. I wanted both sides to go symmetrically, but Ty said he didn't care since he would be wearing a hat most of the night. love it. especially since he came home and cut his hair, which is lucky he did because today at church we got a big surprise!

So, right now, this is where we have church. Not in some gargantuian building, but in the University of Utah hospital. We're still on assignment here in the Medical Branch, and every week another amazing experience lies in front of us.
Last week we had the opportunity to visit the rehab ward and talk with some of the patients there. The elderly people there are so funny-they'll beat us to Sacrament meeting most of the time, then tell you when you come back around to visit their neighbour that someone needs the elders, or so and so needs to take the sacrament, and it didn't ever really matter if you were already going there :) So fun. One person in particular was just the sweetest person in the world. This person wasn't elderly; this person in particular was of a similar age to me, and blind. This sweet, sweet, dear person would smile every time I put my hand on them, so excited to receive the sacrament. The family was there today and the love was so palpable. The patient would laugh and you would have thought angels were singing as the parents would love and tease. It was so touching.
In that same room is another patient, who faithfully watches the Conference talks each Sunday. As we prepared to offer the sacrament to her today, we realized that we didn't have our prayer card, which is a printed card that holds the sacrament prayers (since you're carring tons of stuff with you, they laminated this little card-so helpful!). Scriptures were lent (since we don't carry ours haha, go figure-we are Mormon), and offered to us so that we could finish our work. Oh the blessings of one patient to another.
The funniest part of today was early this morning...Tyler and I walked into the Hope Chapel, only to find our Stake Presidency's 1st counselor waiting to talk to us. Dread filled my heart-we thought we were going to be called back to our family ward and, don't get us wrong, but the Medical Branch is home now. So, out we marched into a hallway in the hospital, and pulled a few chairs together, and President Smith extended calls to each of us. Tyler was called to be in the Bishopbric/Branch Presidency-seriously, I feel like its the same. Anyway, the Branch Presidency consists of two senior gentlemen, and a young elder. Tyler will now serve with the Branch President and his other counselor, and they are such fun men! As his counterpart, I was called into the Relief Society Presidency, as the 2nd counselor, which is funny, because here's what happened:

President Smith: "Krista, we would like to extend to you a call as the 2nd counselor in the Branch Relief Society Presidency."
Me (blank look on face): "We have a Relief Society?"
President Smith (laughing): "Its not a regular RS, and you'll be working directly with Sis. Smith and Sis. Stotich."
Me (contemplating....): "We have a RS? Are you sure I can accept a call I never knew existed?"

Either way, they extended our call for 8 months, which is AWESOME and I now get two callings. 2nd counselor in the RS Presidency (which is hilarious because I loathe RS sometimes-but this is different = no fluff), and then guess what else?! After our services and wrap up meetings had concluded, the Branch President approached me, and because they had released a specific couple today from the branch...guess what my next calling is:

You have got to be kidding me. Tyler can already hear my dad laughing in his head. How ironic - my mom got the same call a few weeks ago, and since neither one of us knows how, I decided to tease her just a little. Welp, here goes nothing!

Hope your week was spectacular! Tyler and I laughed and played the whole weekend and we hope that yours was filled with just as much joy!!!

pee-on-a-stick

lately i have been craving. craving, craving, craving. lame. it makes me feel like i should pee on a stick just to make sure that i am just crazy about NACHO CHEESE, and not prego.

i know nacho cheese is NOT good for you, but my arteries LOVE the coating they receive when i indulge :0 soooo good! especially the later you eat it..like 2 am. haha gross. i know.

and i'm not prego. just crazy about nacho cheese. DELISH!

what can you afford?

-tonight after a long day of frustration and studying, i decided that listening to a conference talk would help, among other things. tyler and i decided to listen to Elder Hales' talk on provident living. personally, this was such a highlight for me. i loved this message, loved the principles of the gospel that are dispersed throughout, so i just have a few thoughts.

-first, listening to the talk brings the spirit once more through the power of his testimony. even though he stumbles through some tricky phrases, i find it all the more encouraging. in the scriptures, a prophet is worried about the message that he is leaving because the Lord has made the people mighty in words when speaking, but their hands are weak. definitely in ether. the Lord instructs him that fools will mock, but they shall mourn. what a great way to get back on the path of "the right attitude" instead of looking for faults.

-secondly, i felt so strongly about those 4 caring words that we can say to one another. i was raised in a family like that, and its funny to me to see different life-styles. ultimately, facing the consequences of our personal actions says something about our character. turning to the Lord when we've gone astray isn't a sign of weakness...to me its a sign of common sense, or to put it more politely, its a sign of humility.

-third, wow. what passion Elder Hales incorporates into his message when he talks about the redeeming love of our Savior. I had a thought about being a provident provider. Elder Hales paints a scenario of how going into debt to meet the demands of our passions makes us slaves to the natural man, and in return, we are no longer able to hold strong relationships with friends, family, neighbors, and even the Lord. Our self-esteem diminishes, and we find ourselves barely meeting our most basic needs. President Eyring once spoke on this topic in one of the most impactful talks i've ever read. read this-it fits in so many aspects of our lives.

-ultimately, i know that most people want to read blogs that have lots of fun pictures, filled with descriptive and creative passages to depict the "picture-perfect-life." i don't always write those. instead, i find something i'm passionate about and all of a sudden, it ends up on my blog. i hope you don't find this preachy, as that's not my intent; it was just a message i'm sharing, in the quickest way i know how.

enjoy the week :) fun stuff coming up this weekend...and maybe even a few pictures that may find themselves amidst decorative wording....

....

so, i'm sorry we haven't posted in a while. tons has happened, but i can't seem to remember much of it besides craziness and school.

we'll get back on it soon :)

hope you loved easter!

I totally stole this from my photog friend, Jalene-right off of her blog. Its hilarious! Here you go Kyle! Something else to make you laugh!!!

cravings

spring was almost here...it was so close, just a breath away....
now its snowing. the only word i have to describe my emotions on the subject: lame.

sweet tooth that could not be tamed...
i made Cinnabon cinnamon rolls with the thickest and fluffiest and richest icing there is.
they're oozing with butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. click here for my new fav recipe.
my heart and mouth: beyond happy

truthfully, my cinnamon rolls actually look like the pictures. word.

panic week at school-week long exam plus comprehensive immunohematology exam friday.
made me weak in the noggen.
i learned how only studying makes krista a very dull friend and roommate the hard way.
that = not so good
now, i'm balancing, yet still have stress tendencies.
now x2 = husband that talks things out with me and help me to see the bigger picture.
my emotions here = celestial :)

moral of the story?
3 things to make your life better:
1. Spring sunshine
2. Cinnabon (trust me on this one. forget the gym and the diet. just be happy haha)
3. A good support system that keeps you from being a lemur
...and if you need a 4th: Extreme Makeover, Home Edition.

what are you craving?

going under the knife...well, really the scissors!

So here you have it! I chopped off my hair today and I don't even look like a boy! It looks so much better in person, but I suppose you'll have to settle for the mac-photobooth photos! And don't worry-my hair isn't crooked; my head is just tilted haha Enjoy! Let me know what you think!!! And, don't you love how Ty jumped in this picture? haha
Summer is coming!!!