Season of Change

Change is inevitable. We will all experience change in way or another. I just didn't expect it to be in every aspect of my life all at the same time. What a month this has been! Take a look:

Home Life: My daddy is gone. Huge change in our family life.

Work Life: I started a new job recently. I changed from being a programmer to a systems engineer. That's pretty much a career change. It is completely different than what I've been doing before, but it has great potential to be very interesting.

Church Life: Two weeks ago I was called to be the Stake Young Women Secretary. I was released as Relief Society First Counselor the following week. I was in the RS presidency for a year and a half. Now I am returning to young women. I love the youth. I've loved the Relief Society calling...I think I grew a lot in that calling. But I am excited to be back in Young Women. I've never had a stake calling like this before. It should be very interesting.

So there you have it. It's certainly a time of change in my life.

In Loving Memory

The funeral is over. Our family and friends have gone home. Now we have to find a new normal in our everyday lives without my dad. It is so strange to think my dad is gone. It still doesn't seem real to me. The day of the funeral I couldn't stop crying because it was so real then, but I've slipped back to denial and not believing this tragic thing really happened.

The funeral was really beautiful. The spirit was so strong and everyone did such a wonderful job in their talks or their musical numbers. It was really hard to be there, but I am glad it turned out so well. There was a huge turn out too. And many people have come up to me afterwards and apologized for not being there because they didn't know what day it was scheduled for. I have the service on CD if anyone wants a copy.

I wanted to share with you the cover of the funeral program. My sister did a wonderful job in designing it. I love the little pictures of his life down the side (and yes...that's really him with hippy hair!). The main picture was taken this year...I think in June or July. It was the most recent picture we had of him.


This is the back of the program. This picture was taken of my dad right before he met my mom. He is balancing on some wall, that's why he looks like he is trying to fly. We all really like this picture, so we wanted to include it on the program.

Thank you everyone who helped in any way to make the funeral run smoothly and the meal afterwards so delicious. We really had an excellent spread! THANK YOU ALL!

My Father

My father, Michael Brian Callahan, passed away yesterday (Nov 6) at 12:14 in the morning. He was surrounded by his family when he died. He is no longer suffering and he is in a much better place. We are grateful to him and the wonderful legacy he left. I hope I can be half the person he was! I will truly miss my daddy, but I know he will always be watching over me and my family. He is paving the way for us to return to him someday.

I would like to thank everyone for all the prayers, love, and concern that you have shown our family during these past few weeks. It is incredible how our friends and family in the ward, stake, community, and around the country have rallied around our family. We have really been blessed because of you. We will probably need more prayers on our behalf since we lost our beloved father and husband, but I know we will be well taken care of. The Lord is in control and He knows what is best. We may not understand it right now, but I keep thinking of the scripture...This will be but a moment. I am so glad we have an eternal perspective and can anticipate seeing my father again. And in the grand scheme of things, this will be a short separation. It will hurt now, and we will hate it, but it seems my dad is needed on the other side of the veil and he will accomplish great things over there. In his short 60 years of life, he has already accomplished a lot of great things on this earth.

Funeral services will be Thursday, November 13 at 11am. The viewing will begin at 9:30. He will be buried in Southern Arizona Veterans' Memorial Cemetery at 1pm.

In the Lord's Hands

As many of you know, my dad is really sick. He's been in ICU for two weeks now. He had an infection that went into his blood and caused some of him major organs to shut down. They were able to stabilize him...they've put him on the ventilator...they had to keep his blood pressure up with medication (they've since taken him off and he's maintaining his own, which is good)...they've had to perform dialysis on him almost everyday because he is becoming extremely bloated. Now we have been told that his liver is failing and there is nothing in the medical world that can simulate a liver. He has had a liver disease for over 15 year that is finally catching up to him. It is really hard and sad to see my dad like this. Many blessings and prayers have been said on my family's behalf, which help tremendously, and so much love and service has been show to my family, so thank you for everything.

Now it's in the Lord's hands. My dad has been fighting so hard to remain with us on this earth. We have completely put our faith in the Lord and whatever He wants will happen. And we will be okay with whatever.

I got tagged again...

Wow! Christy did it again. This time I am supposed to tell you six quirky things about me. It's hard to limit it to just six...I have SO MANY quirks. Just ask my friends and family.

Let's see...

1. I am borderline obsessive compulsive or anal-retentive (I am not sure which) because I am such a perfectionist and things have to be JUST RIGHT! I CANNOT STAND when a picture is crooked. I feel compelled to fix it...and I mean COMPELLED. I HAVE TO fix it or I go crazy! Or if cupboards are left open...I HAVE TO close them. There are a million other examples of my undiagnosed disorder. It's been pretty funny when people test me to see how long I go without noticing something out of wack. When I was in college, my roommate's boyfriend would literally time me. I would leave the room for something, and he would quickly put a thumbtack in the wall in an odd place, or move the corner of a picture down slightly, and when I would return he would time me to see how long it took to notice and fix whatever he changed. I didn't realize he was doing this until later. I am getting better, though...I only fixate on things I have control over. I may notice something at my friend's house when I go visit them, but I don't HAVE TO fix it...It's not mine to fix. I had to learn that with living with over 50 girls during my college career (that's another story). I can only fix what is mine. :o)

2. I HAVE TO know what time it is ALWAYS! Even when I am sleeping. If there is not a clock somewhere near me, I get really nervous and start to feel a little crazy. My sister laughs at me when we travel and stay at a hotel. If there is not a clock that I can see when the lights are off, I have to have my cell phone or watch near so I can always have access to the time when I need to know. There have been several times when I had that desire to know the time almost as soon as we turned the lights off so I opened my cell phone to get the time and the light of the phone illuminated the room. My sister was so surprised the first time I did that. I had to tell her about my quirk. Now she always laughs at me.

3. I CAN'T STAND it when numbers are upside down on marquees. The marquee for the hymn numbers at church or the marquees for gas prices at a gas station are good examples. People always switch the 9's and 6's. Or the 8's and 3's are upside down a lot. It almost makes me ill when I see those upside down numbers.

4. I absolutely hate the sound of something scraping against ice. That sound is worse than nails on a chalkboard for me. For example, if a freezer gets a little too much ice buildup in it, I cringe every time the sliding racks scrap against the ice on the walls. I am cringing now just thinking about it. It makes my head hurt.

5. I really hate it when people chew with their mouths open and make a loud smacking sound with their lips. I think that is really disgusting.

6. My brain goes faster than my ability to speak. A lot of times, my brain is so far ahead, I get stuck trying to tell a story or give input into a conversation. My brain gets confused so it draws a complete blank and I stutter and stumble trying to figure out a very common word or trying to describe something I am saying. It is very frustrating to me when I can't carry on a conversation without stumbling. But I am very appreciative to people who try to finish my sentence or help me out when I get stuck.


So those are some of my quirks. I am supposed to tag six people, but I just tagged some people with the other post. So I invite anyone who hasn't done this tag before to do it.

I've been tagged

This is my first time being tagged. Thanks, Christy! So here I go...

"The 5"

10 years ago I.....
1. Was finishing my senior year at Brigham Young University
2. Was trying to survive three of the hardest classes in my Information Systems major (which HAD to be taken all in the same semester. Needless to say, it was my hardest semester ever)
3. Took a "Teachings of the Living Prophets" class from Lloyd Newel (you know, the man behind the voice of the Music and the Spoken Word, a broadcast by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir)
4. Was able to listen to the prophet, apostles, and other general authorities LIVE during weekly devotionals and monthly firesides at BYU
5. Roomed with Kristi Wasden, my future European travel buddy (Italy and France)

5 things on my "to do" list.....
1. Decorate my house for Halloween and Fall
2. Mow my lawn
3. Organize my home office
4. Spray for bugs
5. Wash my car

5 snacks I enjoy.........
1. Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. Chocolate covered pretzels
3. Pistachios
4. Candied Almonds
5. Trail Mix

5 places I have lived...
1. Sierra Vista, AZ
2. Provo, UT
3. Thatcher, AZ
4. Lorch, Germany
5. Diamond Bar, CA

5 jobs I have had.....
1. Army Contractor as a Senior Systems Engineer
2. Web Designer
3. Custodian at BYU (I had the early morning shift so sometimes after working since 4am, my class with Lloyd Newel put me to sleep.) :o)
4. Teller and Receptionist at Huachuca Federal Credit Union
5. Advanced Team member at Eastern Arizona College (basically a glorified receptionist at the college, but I did get to conduct tours of the college to prospective students. That was always fun)

5 things I would do if I was a multi-millionaire........
1. Be debt free
2. Travel all over Europe (or maybe even live there for a few years)
3. Travel all over South America (including Machu Picchu in Peru)
4. Be able to say I traveled to all continents of the world
5. Go on a world-wide LDS Temple tour... Travel to all the LDS Temples around the world

People I tag are.......
1. Julia Ferguson
2. Tami Hughes
3. Amy Callahan
4. Keri Payne
5. Anyone else who wants to play this game

FLASHBACK: Tacoma, WA 2007

In July 2007, I traveled to Tacoma WA to visit my oldest and dearest friend and her husband. Heidi and I have been best friends since sixth grade and we were college roommates. I had an opportunity to visit Heidi and Ryan and we visited places that were free or less than $10. We had a BLAST!! Here are some of the things we did during my trip:

Visiting Mt. Saint Helen

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Exploring the Ape Caves at Mt. Saint Helen

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Snoqualmie Falls

We hiked down to the bottom. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful waterfall.

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Exploring the Boehms Chocolate Factory in Issaquah, WA. YUM!