England VS Italy

Check out the new blog for my missionary brothers, Elder Dan Callister and Anziano Rob Callister. Dan is serving in the Birmingham, England mission and Rob is at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Provo, UT where he is learning Italian before serving in Rome, Italy. They are both doing great and making us all very proud.

Click here and enjoy!

Sunday Sun

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After church today the kids and I headed outside to enjoy some sunny springtime weather. It was gorgeous out and we did everything from blowing bubbles and swinging to reading from our current chapter book. While Sable and I cuddled on a blanket on the lawn, Capri and Rome went "on safari" walking through some trees growing close to our fence. They were Peter Pan and Wendy they said, and wanted to know who would be Michael and Jon. Capri declared that Sable was Michael, and Jon was "Holland", her oftentimes imaginary friend. I have no idea where the name came from, I guess liking geographical names is in her genes!

Jeff was out cold in the basement after working all night and then coming home in time to get showered, changed and then back out the door to church. He's on duty again tonight, poor guy is exhausted! Hopefully after break-in he'll be working less hours. . .hopefully.

You are ALL Terrible Guessers

I only got one guess as to what "Start me a Mast" could mean. Therefore the prize, that's right, THE PRIZE goes to Annie Reynolds. She guessed that it has something to do with a Mastectomy. Now granted, that makes no sense seeing as Jeff is a policeman and if he were performing Mastectomies he would surely be thrown in jail for a VERY long time. Regardless, she was the only guess and shall therefore reap the reward. What is the reward you ask? It is. . . some awesome scrapbooking stickers/supplies! They will be drawn at random from my VERY plentiful supply resulting from a now defunct scrapbook sticker/supply selling misadventure. Now Annie, I'm not sure if you actually scrapbook. In fact, I'm fairly sure you hate to scrapbook. Correct me if I'm wrong. But that's the prize so deal with it.
You also may ask, "Ok Aby get on with it, what does start me a Mast mean??!!" To which I say, "Calm down, I'm GETTING to it!!"
It means; send an ambulance. Here in Kansas City our ambulances are owned by a company called MAST. And somehow that became what all the emergency workers ended up calling the ambulances. As to why they say it such a piratey way, I have no idea.
You may now be asking yourself, "Does Jeff actually say something as ridiculous as 'Start me a MAST'?" No. Of course not. Jeff is not insane. He says, "Please send a MAST."
There you go, question answered. Now for your next question, we'll see if anybody tries a little harder this time to figure it out.
What does, "Start me a Second" mean?
Good luck!

A Mile in My Very Own Sneakers

A few days ago, at the YMCA, I did something I haven't done for at least 10 years. I ran one mile, without stopping. This, to put it mildly, was for me like running an entire marathon. Not because I was ready to collapse by the end, but because in my mind I really didn't think this was something I was capable of. Wierdly enough, I did it in the SAME sneakers I wore 10 years ago. The sneakers my mom bought for me in Charlottesville, VA because I wanted to start running on the treadmill at the Wintergreen Gym.

Now to all you "runners" out there who are thinking, "ONE MILE? This is what she is proud of?? That's NOTHING!! Just the other day I ran 15 miles while pushing my baby in the jogging stroller with one hand and trading stocks on my cell phone with the other. All whilst my genius children played their violins, cellos and other various difficult instruments at their rehearsals for the New York Symphony". I say, "That's right, one mile and I'm DANG proud of it!"

Usually at the YMCA when I run on the track, I'll usually run one lap around and then walk one lap. But the other day, after running one lap, my feet didn't stop. I ran another lap, and another, and another. Before I knew it I had run 9 laps, one whole mile. The smile that spread across my face was bigger than any smile I have felt for a LONG time. Not that I haven't smiled, I smile everyday. But this was a smile of self-accomplishment. From doing something I had told myself was out of my capability.

After my 9 laps I immediately went downstairs to the weight room area of our YMCA where Jeff was doing various strong-man things like lifting ALL the weight on every machine without any trouble at all, or doing approximately 157 pull-ups with his hands about three feet apart and then just holding himself off the ground in a pull-up for something like 14.65 minutes.
I told Jeff my news, still smiling ear to ear, to which he responded "That's great!" Then I said, "I haven't done that for 10 years". To which he responded "WHAT?? Ten years?" I told him how ususally when I come to the gym I run a lap and then walk one, to which he responded "Well then how did you make such a big jump to running a mile today?" My answer? "I just felt like I could keep running." And it was the truth.

All this time I thought my body couldn't do it, that I was not able physically. In reality, turns out, it was my mind that was the stumbling block. But that day, my mind gave me a gift and let me accomplish something I felt was totally out of my reach.
On the last few laps of my mile run all I could think about was something my cousin-in-law Annie wrote in her blog regarding her own gym related, eye-opening experience. She wrote, "Maybe I'm not the person I thought I was. Maybe I'm much more than that."
It inspired me when I read it 7 months ago, and it continues to inspire me today. It's so true, in not only a workout related sense, it's true for all the parts of our lives. Maybe we aren't who we thought, think, or told ourselves we are. Maybe, in fact most likely, we are SO much more than that. And maybe if we allow ourselves to TRULY believe it, our minds will give us gifts every now and again. Then we'll do the things we had convinced ourselves were impossible.
Thanks Annie, you helped me run that mile. Here's to the hopefully many miles ahead of me.
(If you'd like to read Annie's full post click here and scroll down to Althleticism Later in Life: Part Four)

Start me a Mast Me Hearty!

Jeff has been "on the job" for three weeks now as a KCPD Police Officer. This has, to put it lightly, been an interesting three weeks. Really he should be writing this blog, but seeing as how Jeff likes to "craft" whatever he writes, it could take him upwards of 4 1/2 hours just to "craft" the title. So I've decided to take the helm and share with you that which is, the life of a KCPD Cop.

When Jeff leaves our house at 8:15pm the nights when he is on duty, he leaves wearing:

1. Shirt
2. Pants

These items are important because if he was not wearing them he would promptly be arrested by his fellow officers for indecent exposure.

3. Bullet proof vest

He wore this every day, no matter what they were doing, at the Academy. They told the recruits that this was to get them used to wearing it to the point where NOT having it on would feel weird. I asked Jeff the other day if this was now the case, did he feel weird without his vest? His answer, "No". Okey-dokey then.

4. Very large, high topped, black, butt kicking boots

The reason for these should be pretty obvious. To kick some butt.

5. Inner belt - for his pants.
6. Outer belt, holding: gun, extra clip, handcuffs, mace, radio, transmitter, club, flashlight, keys.

When Jeff gets to work he puts on a stun-gun that attaches to his leg. He also wears a mic on his shirt that records everything he says. Pretty much he is like a walking, talking (while being recorded) lawsuit just waiting to happen.

7. Coat
8. Two gigantic duffel bags containing. . . I had NO idea. These are LARGE, heavy duffels and I seriously didn't know what is in them until I wrote this post.
I looked in the duffels to try and share with you, the reader, what is in them. That didn't help. So I went and asked Jeff who was sleeping because he is on duty tonight. The conversation went like this:

Aby (whispering): Jeff?
Jeff (sleepily squinting): What?
Aby: What is in your duffel bags?
Jeff: Huh?
Aby: Your police duffels? The littler one? What's in it?
Jeff: Hazmat stuff.
Aby: And the other one, is it riot gear?
Jeff: Yes.
Aby: And. . .
Jeff: Everything else.

So there you go.
This is what Jeff looks like when he leaves at night.

He then picks up those two heavy duffels and gracefully leaves. Actually he bumps and thumps his way out the door, and then bumps and thumps his way through the storm door.
He gets in our van, and drives away. After this it gets a bit hard for me to write what he does. Seeing as I am still at home with the kids and not actually watching him on duty. But he tells me that everything goes well and that it's A LOT of paperwork. Just like you hear, it actually IS a lot of paperwork to be a cop. Or any kind of emergency city worker I'd imagine.

So far Jeff has had a couple of arrests (all DUI's), gone Code 1 a bunch of times (meaning turning the sirens on), and has pulled his gun a couple of times. He's already seen some car accidents (ALL involving alcohol), taken a rape report, issued a warrant, etc, etc, etc. Basically crime, accidents, emergencies don't ever stop. Especially if you're a rookie cop during what they call the "break-in" period. That's the first couple of months where you ride around with a trainer but are responsible for everything. The dispatcher gives those on break-in the most report ridden calls so that they can have the experience. During break-in you try, as Jeff said "To make the dispatcher your best friend" so that you don't get so many of those types of calls right before it's time to go home.

7:00am rolls around and it's time for Jeff to leave and come home. Except he pretty much NEVER gets to leave at 7:00. Eventually he does get to leave and he drives home, makes some "dinner" and then crashes into bed in. . . the basement. That's right, we make our cops sleep in the basement here in KC! No, it's alright, he actually chose to do so after his first night on duty trying to sleep upstairs with all of us awake and the kids being their noisy, stomping, yelling, laughing, running, fitty, jumping on the beds, gotta love 'em selves.

Around 3:00 or 4:00pm Jeff emerges from the basement, we see him for a couple of hours and then before we know it he's back in his uniform and thumping out the door again.

We love our KC Police Officer, and we miss him tons when he's on duty. But there is no way Rome and Capri could be more proud of their dad. They LOVE that Jeff is a cop and tell everybody who will listen that their daddy is a Policeman. Capri especially loves to tell other kids, she does so in a "my dad is cooler than your dad" kind of tone.

The KCPD, along with other cities departments I'm sure, uses a TON of slangy, codey type of talk. Our favorite to make fun of is "Start me a Mast". Any guesses on what this means?

Conference and Independence

Monday, after a really good conference weekend we decided to go to the newly renovated (and when I say newly I mean I think it's been done for a couple of years and we were just now going) LDS Visitor's Center in Independence. It's only a 20 minute drive, and is Jeff's birthplace. We go there every Fourth of July for a GREAT fireworks show, but we hadn't been to the VC there yet.
We walked in and were greeted by a very nice sister missionary from Idaho. She took us on a tour of the different exhibits. They are AWESOME. The church really put a lot of time and money into this Visitor's Center and it is well worth the visit. During our tour, which consisted of just our family, the sister missionary kept remarking how good the kids were. She must have said this at least 5 times when suddenly she said, "Seriously, I think they are the best behaved kids I've ever seen come through here." Shocked we were, yes. Happy we were, OHHH yes. Way to go Capri, Rome and Sable!
There is an exhibit on families there that is really great. It's hard to explain, you move from display to display that are decorated to look just like the clip being played on the monitors. Again, I'm not expaining it well so I guess you will all just have to come and visit us to see it for yourselves! It brought tears to my eyes - and usually I'm not one to cry at stuff like that.
After touring the VC we drove around Independence for a few minutes. It really needs some livening up. It used to be the last outpost on the trail out west. Now, according to Jeff, it is the Meth capital of the United States. He wasn't kidding. Time for the City of Enoch anyone??? Anyway, Jeff has a great idea for starting Independence down the road to more tourism and less Meth. He thinks that they should have their cops dress like old west sheriffs, give them two old timey six shooters, and a belt that holds bullets. I think this is a GREAT idea and that the City of Independence should get moving on it right away. "Less Meth, more old timeyness" is MY motto!

Nana's Funeral and a BIG Surprise

Friday we made the 3 hour car trip to Springfield, Missouri for Nana Berbert's (Jeff's grandma) funeral. Jeff had to work the night before, from 9:00 pm to 7:00 am. So we couldn't leave until he got home and got changed, and the funeral started at 10:30. Needless to say we didn't make it on time to catch more than the last few minutes of the church service. But we did get to hear the closing prayer and see the casket taken out to the hearse. Family and friends poured out of the chapel with tears in their eyes. But none were of real sadness. Most people were smiling through their tears after a celebration of a great woman's life. The cousins all sang, minus our kids, and we heard they did a wonderful job.
After the service all the family gathered in the cultural hall for a lunch prepared by the Relief Society. Those who really know me how I feel about the Relief Society - I LOVE it. I've loved it ever since the very first sunday I got to go. I left Young Women's and never felt sad for a minute. I was embraced by the amazing women in the Potomac South Ward RS and treated like a treasure. Seriously, I had a great welcoming into the organization and to this day I am sad when a sunday goes by and I don't get to go.
Back to the lunch. It's always nice to get to see extended family and we were thilled to see Karen & TJ, Aimee & Dale with their kids Arwen and Emmett, Granddad, Ken, Chad, Alan and Todd & Becky with their kids Anna, Laura, and Emily.
After we ate we all headed to the cemetary for the dedication of Nana's grave. Because Nana and Granddad are WWII vets the cemetary was a beautiful new Military cemetary. But because it's so new they are still clearing for plots, meaning we weren't actually able to go out to where Nana's plot is. Instead we gathered in a small shelter and Ken gave the prayer. It was short, very sweet and we could feel the spirit strongly. Jeff, Rome and I went up to Nana's casket to say a final goodbye. Capri was nervous so she said goodbye a few feet away.
We drove from the cemetary to Granddad's house where everybody gathered to visit, and let the cousins play. The picture below isn't from the funeral but it does show all the cute cousins. I sure wish that my kids had some on my side. HINT, HINT to my brothers.

After about an hour, Karen (Jeff's youngest sister) got up to make an announcement. The first thing she said was "It's not a baby, we're not pregnant." A few minutes later she said, "And it IS a baby, we ARE pregnant!" It was quite a surprise!
Later some of us went with Granddad to Heritage Cafe and listened to Ken tell stories about his mission in Germany and Granddad about his experiences in WWII. I got to be the Aunt of the the hour after playing 20 questions with the kids (mine, Arwen, and Emmett), and then buying them all 10 cent tootsie roll pops. There is nothing like buying a child's love for a grand total of 40 cents. My goal is to become the FAVORITE Aunt so watch out Aimee, Karen, Regina, and Katie!
Our drive home was uneventful (I didn't fall asleep at the wheel while Jeff was passed out after being awake for about 29 hours with maybe 1 broken hour of sleep). Our kids were SO good in the car (like usual), Sable slept almost the entire ride home and Rome and Capri are always pretty content when we drive. Just give them some good tunes and they are happy.
It was a good day, and just another reminder that as one life ends another begins. Congrats Karen and TJ - we love you! We'll give you our standard piece of baby advice, "Don't listen to any baby advice. Listen to your own instincts and you'll be fine."

Easter Celebration, Best Friend Visitation, Hair Butcheration, Jeff's Graduation

I've gotten behind on my posting so I'm going to try to cover some big things that have happened without going on for too long. I'm sure in this I will fail but I'll do my best. Ok, so I'll probably fail at doing my best too.

Easter Celebration
I love Easter. So cute, so fun, so important. But this year so annoyingly early. It really didn't feel like Easter at all seeing as it was way too cold and we actually got snow flurries. But it was still very cute and a lot of fun. My mom had gotten my girls their first matching outfits, new Easter dresses. They looked like two marshmallow peeps - just the way my mom and I like little girls, pink and fluffy. After church they searched for where the Easter bunny had hidden their baskets, our yearly tradition. They were of course immediately disappointed that the "Easter bunny" didn't bring big cheap gross chocolate bunnies like a friend had gotten. "The Easter Bunny" probably remembered last year when he brought those and nobody ate them, ever.
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Later, after naps, we had our Easter egg hunt. This is the most fun and anticipated event for the day and has been ever since I was a kid. My parents LOVED "the hunt" and instilled this same love into my brothers and me. We had a hunt every year and every year my dad would hide something he would call "the golden egg". This, and if you know my dad won't surprise you at all, contained money. And not just a couple of bucks either, usually it was at least 20 dollars and therefore highly sought after and very well hidden. This year I decided to keep up the Callister family tradition and hid my own version of the golden egg. It was a big blue egg and me being the creative genius I am I called it "big blue". However, big blue only contained 3 dollars seeing as my kids being little couldn't care less about the amount. So the hunt went great and they had just as much fun as I could hope. Capri found big blue and was ecstatic about it. They were hilarious opening their found eggs, Capri's pile was as orderly as humanly possible and Rome's pile didn't exist in that his stuff was spread all over the floor. Therefore I was FORCED to organize it. Like mother, like daughter!
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Happy Belated Easter!

Best Friend Visitation
Last minute my best friend Corrie told me she and her two girls were going to wing their ways from SLC for a quick visit. She had yet to meet Rome and Sable and I hadn't seen her girls since her youngest was a tiny baby. We had a great time just hanging out and catching a couple of Kansas City's staples. The best thing was just getting to stay up late and talk like old times when we were in college. And since our college days are coming up on 10 years past I can call them old times and not be exaggerating. Darn. I love you Corrie, come and visit any time kiddo! And that goes for any other "old" friends. KC is waiting for you!!!

Hair Butcheration
This is a very upsetting subject so I'm going to keep it brief. In an attempt to look cute for Jeff's graduation I got my bangs trimmed at Great Clips at the last minute. NEVER NEVER NEVER get your bangs trimmed at Great Clips at the last minute. The woman BUTCHERED my hair, left me looking like a redneck, and then had the gall to tell me that was what I asked for. I am still not over this and therefore cannot think about it for more than 15 seconds without steam beginning to gather in my head and pour out my ears.

Jeff's Graduation
He did it!!! Jeff has completed the Kansas City Police Academy and is now a commissioned officer. He graduated top of his class and was given a special plaque during the graduation ceremony for being Valedictorian. Capri and Rome pinned on his badge, #1312, and did a great job doing so. They were "the cutest pinners" according to various strangers who came up to us to tell us so. And even though Rome missed his nap that day and was HORRIBLE during the graduation (which is really weird for Rome) he was calm and good during the actual pinning. Way to pull through in a clutch Rome!
Congrats Jeff, we are SOOOOOO proud of you!
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The sad news that day was that Jeff's grandma on his mom's side had gone into a coma and was expected to pass away quickly. But even so, Jeff's mom Cathy was the only member of his family that was able to attend the ceremony. Sometimes Cathy's fortitude truly amazes me. She is a remarkable woman and an amazing grandma and mother-in-law.
The next morning, Jeff's grandma did pass away. We'll remember her with joyful thoughts and will miss her here on earth. But we feel nothing but happiness when we think of her in her physical state now, whole, happy and reunited with the son she lost so many years ago. We love you Nana Berbert.