WARNING! Not for the squeemish

Alright, this is a pretty morbid post, but i haven't posted anything for a while, and even though it is my slow season, i have been really busy, (more on that in forth coming posts).

last week i injured my little pinky toe (i am not sure how) but ended up with a hangnail. it was moderately sore (i have had these before) only this time it never healed. a couple of days ago my toe felt like it was going to explode, it was huge and very sore. i could feel my heart beat in it! finally after realizing that my neglect was not getting me anywhere i went to the doctor. The doctor made me see a foot specialist, the foot specialist said it looked bad. he said " i can promise you that you will sleep better tonight than you have in a couple of days, i can also promise you that you are going to hate me for the next 30 minutes). That was comforting. He produced some litocane to numb my little piggy, and he said it was going to be the most painful part of the ordeal. HE WAS RIGHT! Man that hurt! he spent 20 seconds with the needle in my poor little toe injecting all around the litocane. it stung like a mother! when that was done he said he was going to dig out my hangnail. he took turniquite rubber thing and clamped it on the base of my toe then started wrapping gauze around my toe very tightly, then all of the sudden my toe burst open, it was totally discusting! he unwrapped the gauze and took a scalple and punctured the skin beneath my toe nail, then he took some hemostats and inserted them in to my toe via the hole he had just made and started 'probing' for lack of a better word around then he clamps down on something and tears it out. it was a huge piece of Toenail that was causing the infection! it was totally unbelievable how large it was. then he could poke a stick from my toenail through the back end of my toe, all the way through?! that was trippy and i am certainly glad that it was numb or i might have puched his lights out. that was it! after some clean up, he wrapped my toe up and gave me some instructions regarding care of it, and i left.... but check out the pics. if you dare!

Spit n Fire

When you think of Rachel, or maybe I should say, when I think of Rachel, i always remember the 'spit n fire' of her personality, and I don't mean that in a bad way! My Samantha reminds me of Rachel when younger. Sammy is hard, but i tell her all the time, you are just like your aunt Rachel, and that 'spit n fire' will serve you like it has her. what do i mean by that. Rachel is super kind and always helping people, especially special needs people. she gives them the time of day, that isn't easy, and you get taken advantage of alot, but she seems to not mind, she is strong in her beliefs and will not succumb to vain temptations. she is artistic and what makes her art great ( and i am always floored by her creativity) is the fact she creates what 'she' likes. there is a sense of 'who cares' what anybody else thinks, and that makes her stuff whether singing, painting, or craftiness uniquely Rachel, and Rachel is unique! She wasn't fooled by the great looking guys that wanted to date her but were nothing more than great looks. She can tell if you are worth anything pretty easily and is not afraid to kick to the curb the ones that needed kicking to the curb. Rachel is strong, with a great sence of humor, she is a great mother, and you can tell she just adores her kids!

we love you rach, and hope this year is another great and happy one for you!! 29 pretty soon our parents will have 4 kids in their 30's!

Coolest Game i have ever seen!

alright, that title sounds dramatic, but I truly cannot think of a better sporting game i have ever seen in my life. (and it was Soccer for crying out loud). Real Salt Lake was in the MLS Championship game against the LA Galaxy, and from kickoff till the end, i was soo entertained. this was high action soccer! We (Real Salt Lake) were huge underdogs, and barely made the playoffs, but put it together when it counted and made our way to the Championship! LA Galaxy have David Beckham who is world famous (top 5 player) in the entire world. I wish i would have had the forsight to record this game. we were down 1 -0 at halftime, we made a fantastic score in the second half and out played LA the entire second half, we had numerous opportunities to score a winning goal, including the very last play of regulation and came up just short. these guys were gassed, you could tell they had given it their all, it was so neat to see a team put it all on the line. the game came down to penalty kicks. it was soooo dramatic. i was on the edge of my seat and sweating. you have to watch it for yourselves http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/t121/ then click the link for MLS cup 2009 penalty kicks to see for your selves how it turned out. this is the first major sports champiionship in utah since the 1971 Utah Stars... it was just soo entertaining.

finally deck is finished...sort of

Finally, after a ga-gillion moments spent thinking about the daunting task at hand, we finally finished re-doing our deck. (well mostly Deena and her grandpa) but i did help as i could with all my work schedule. it looks sooooooooo much better now without the trellis and having slats. the biggest task was painting it all... there is still some structural things to take care of, but it is ready for the winter at least!

Utah Jazz

Grandpa gave Caleb and I his tickets to the Utah Jazz game last night! We had a lot of fun, it was the first game of the season at home for the Jazz, so there was lots of promotional things going on. We both got Jazz hats, which are actually really nice. We went early to enjoy the atmosphere, and hung out around the tv studio, and even got on TV! (nobody saw it but us, but we were excited!) then i was telling Caleb all about the last time i was there with dad, and the Jazz bear showed up at our seats and played around with us... low and behold, Caleb turns around and there was the bear sitting right next to him! he gave him a high five! (and we held onto our hats for sure!! (inside joke with dad and i)The Jazz won and we had a really fun night.. thanks dad for the tickets and allowing Caleb and i to have a memorable night!

Sarami

October makes for easy blog ideas, since there are so many birthdays!! but i am especially excited to talk about my little sister! I don't know how she does the things she does, i just know she has been doing it for as long as i can remember. I know that Annie has commented on the "spaz" or energy bursts that the callister boys have, where they freak out momentarily to 'release' the built up hyperactivity (usually from sitting too long) that we tend to accumulate. well Becky has this trait as well, and there is honestly nothing more amusing to me, then seeing her in one of her spaz 'wigouts'. it always puts a smile on my face! but most things she does put a smile on my face. She is saintly, though she would probably never believe it. Strong personality and strong beliefs, strong determination and will, these october girls are pretty special. i think that is why i was attracted to Deena right away, she is the double image of what i grew up with all my life. So in a way, I owe my family to Becky, as well as my strength in dealing with these strong personalities. I love it, i need strong women in my life, and 2 of the strongest have had to deal with me for quite a while now! i love ya beck, and hope there are many more opportunities for me to see you 'spaz', chat about kids and school. discuss books, give each other strength, and help each other pull through. (or maybe take a spin on a motorcycle) happy birthday little sis!

Jimminy Cricket

I remember Dad getting a jimminy Cricket toy at work (or someplace) because it was the charactor that most reminded these people of Dad, or at least their thinking was that Dad, had a very Jimminy Cricket -ish personality. I thought that was pretty fitting for a man who "always lets his concience be his guide'.

I spent last night at the priesthood session alone, for the first time in, I don't know how long. I always have Dad and usually Dan with me, they were both gone for this one. It was telling that there was a talk about Fathers and Sons. Brother Ballard said that Fathers need to listen to their sons, and sons should seek advise from their fathers. Well, I have an exemplary Father, who i know had an exemplary father as well. I thank my 'lucky stars' this is the case. I can remember his attempt at the awkward (for both of us) bird and bees talk, I know he was trying to do what he as a father should do. mostly I remember that he never blew me off, there where times when i am sure it wasn't the most convienient or pleasant thing to father me. however, even in my more rebellious times, my friends always commented on how much they liked me dad. i know my dad didn't approve of what we were doing most of the time, but he genuinely liked my friends, he saw past adolesent stupidity and saw them as people with potential. Jeff, and Thayne, Matt Maio, Jason, all made comments about how they liked my dad, not because he condoned things we did, but because he was always friendly and asking them about thier lives, he was a fatherly figure to some of them who were missing that in thier own homes. Dad never left me out when i was living on my own. he came by all the time to see if i wanted to go golf, or come over for dinner, or go hiking or camping. I know he thought that if he gave me opportunities to be with family i would come back to family.. and he was RIGHT!!

i could go on.... and on. but i just want to wish my Dad a happy birthday! and let him know that i love him and hope that i can be half the dad to my kids as he was and still is to me!