Challenge 2014

It is the end of a great year. So many amazing things happened to me this year. I found a job that I love, despite it's difficulties. I married my Prince Charming in my castle. I have become a happier person. Now it is time for the new year which means new resolutions that no one really intends to keep. Right? I decided to do something a little different this year, in the hope that it will help me to actually achieve a New Year's goal. This year I want to become healthier and I want long hair...pretty silly, but a life-long dream. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not have a very strong will when it comes to two things, delicious food and not cutting my hair. I am addicted to both. I eat when I'm bored and I cut my hair when I'm bored (never too drastic). This year I am going to try a month at a time. 

When it comes to food, each month I will choose something unhealthy from my life and delete it. So, for the month of January I am going to stop drinking soda and eating candy. Notice that I said candy...not sweets. I will, however, limit the amounts of sweet I eat for January. Each month I will add on, or, if I'm struggling with what I have already taken out, just work on that a little bit more. Maybe in the process of all this I will even lose a little bit of weight. To document I will share my weight with you each month...that's pretty brave of me I think. 

My hair will probably be the hardest part and I am depending on my friends and family to keep my strong. I will not be cutting my hair for the entire year of 2014. I will get trims to keep it healthy, but that's it. To document this process I will take a picture each month to compare my hair lengths. 

This is probably of no interest to you, but I am excited to take on this project and see how I change from month to month.

Without further ado...the documentation...

Weight: 120.6 lbs 

Hair: 

Then Comes Marriage

There's really not much I can say about our wedding day...what do you say about the best day of your life?

Looking across the altar in the temple at the man of my dreams, knowing that we were going to have forever with each other...I couldn't help but smile. Caleb was crying and I was giggling, not out of irreverence, but because I couldn't contain my joy, I was so happy that giggles escaped my mouth...the same way they did when I prayed to know if he was the one the Lord had asked me to wait for. I was overfilled with joy.

Knowing that not only are Caleb and I married on this earth but that we are also sealed for all eternity and that even the bonds of death cannot break our marriage...that's something special. As Caleb and I sat in the temple together afterwards I thought about other religious marriage ceremonies and how they say 'till death do you part' and how terribly sad that is. My love for Caleb is bigger than this world and thinking that one day after I die he may not be there, well that's no heaven I want to know. 

I am grateful for the choices that Caleb and I made in our lives to marry in the temple. I am grateful for the people who stood by our side getting us to that point. A temple marriage is so worth it. When you love someone with a pure heart; a lifetime isn't enough.

The only thing left for me to say is this; girls, it's worth it. Wait for your prince and marry him in the Lord's castle. There is no other joy like it, I promise. 

Across the Country in 33 Hours

We are married! It was a crazy couple of months but we are (sorta) settling in and so excited for our eternity together. So, first off. Here are some pictures from our month long adventure to Southern Indiana, Northern Indiana, Ohio and then North Carolina.

On our way to S. Indiana

We started our car ride in St. George, Utah and drove straight through to Bloomfield, Indiana...about 33 hours in the car including short stops for food and bathroom. My Dad drove pretty much the entire way, with a little help from my me and my Mom. It was a LOOOONG drive and it helped my parents get to know Caleb a little better and gave Caleb a better picture of what he was getting into.

A short stop in Colorado

When we FINALLY made it to Bloomfield we got to spend some time with my Uncle John, Aunt Nancy, my cousin Camille and her two children. It was pretty cramped, but a lot of fun showing Caleb the town my Mom grew up in and getting to visit my Grandma McKean's grave. I always cry when I go visit her...poor Caleb got more tears than he bargained for...I just miss her so much and was really wishing she was around to meet my sweetheart. We also got to see our dear friends Emily and Teresa. They drove up from Jeffersonville to see us and meet Caleb. I was so happy to see them, but was missing the rest of the Smith clan. 

Vandalizing some train tracks

During a power outage Caleb sat around and played cards with all the ladies.

My great grandpa used to hide moonshine in this rock

My aunt and uncle and their plethora of hummingbird feeders.

Our travels then took us to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
I didn't really take any pictures of this part of the trip, but we got to spend a lot of time with family. Caleb met my Grandpa McKean and his wife, Grammy and her husband, aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends who are basically family. It is amazing to me that after meeting all these crazy family members he still wanted to marry me.

My City

My favorite part of the trip was taking Caleb to Perry, Ohio. I was so excited pulling into Cleveland. It was a little pathetic...there may have been some tears. What can I say, I love that place! In Ohio Caleb met my best friend Abby and they quickly formed a bond and became really good friends. He also met so many other people who impacted my life, there are way too many to name. It was so fun showing Caleb around the place that I consider home.

My Abigail <3

Pretty convincing right? 

I'm still trying to convince him that we should move there and raise our family...I'll keep you updated on what happens. Abby threw me a bachelorette party while we were in Ohio :) She's the best. While she was getting a white ink tattoo, we tried convincing my family that I was actually getting the tattoo, so we set up this picture. That's Abby's hand in front of my body and we put my ring on her. Looks good, right? Anyone who wants a white ink tattoo and is in the Chardon, Ohio area should go to Chris Klee, he's awesome and he REALLY loves doing white ink tattoo's. :)

Took Caleb to Historic Kirtland

Kirtland Temple

On the plane :)

After Ohio we flew to Newport, North Carolina where I met his Mom, sister, brother-in-law, nephew and many other people who influenced him for the better and made him the man he is now. North Carolina is not my favorite place and I don't think we will be going back there to live...100% humidity!!! No thank you! However, it was wonderful to get to see where Caleb has spent his whole life and to get to know those closest to him. We got to go to the beach, which was a little scary for me, I had forgotten what real waves felt like! Sad, I know. We got to celebrate Caleb's birthday with his family. Since Caleb and I don't really have money to be spending on gifts I just got him a few of his favorite things...Oreo's, GingerAle (yes...that's his favorite soda) and Reese's and a coupon book. 

Caleb's Birthday

I got to meet the Rolling family who basically adopted Caleb as their own. They were so kind to us and completely welcomed both of us into their home whenever we wanted to hang out. We had an engagement party in his hometown and were so blessed by the amazing women in that ward who put together the entire thing. It was beautiful and so generous of them.

Meeting Poseidon 

 That ends our trip. We left North Carolina more in love than when we started our trip and with only 10 days before our wedding! I will post another update about our wedding fun :)

An Entry From Caleb...

Never could have guessed that I would be at this point in my life. There is no amount of joy and love that this woman makes me feel. Her name is Rebekah Rasada McKean Ort and she is my angel and my sweetheart. We met on May 4th and she was looking so beautiful and so smiley I was scared to talk to her in any other way than a friend. Then she kept coming to our bonfires and every time I saw her she was so beautiful and it seemed all the guys were waiting in line to talk to her. One night we all were going to watch a movie in the backyard and she came up to me and asked if I was going to come watch the movie, I said yes, but I was going to make a s'more first. The whole time I was watching just to make sure no one laid next to her. Once I finished the s'more I was so happy because the place next to her was still empty, but to my ever bad luck, right as I was heading that way Victoria stole my place...grr. Fail on my part. Then, next weekend, I knew if I had a bonfire she would come, so I started one and sure enough, her and a friend of hers came! As we sat around the fire she claims I was running away from her whenever she tried to move closer, but all I remember is joining a conversation of hers with a friend named JJ. As I joined the conversation she invited me and JJ to Iron Man 3. Awesomness! This amazing, beautiful girl making the first move, this means she must really like me! Of course I said yes. Although the night didn't end there. Later we all went in the blanket fort I made and watched Despicable Me. I laid on the floor and she sat next to me "trying to get me to ask her to lay next to me: but I saw nothing and heard nothing of the sort. Anyway, she ended up moving to right next to me and at that moment I never in my life felt so close to anyone. As the night went on my hand crept closer to her, then, with my pinky, I hooked her pinky for about 10 minutes, just enjoying the moment. Eventually I grabbed her hand...we held hands for the rest of the night and when the movie ended I walked her home and ever since there has not been a day I have not seen her beautiful face. She has been my earthly constant and my spiritual influence. On August 23, 2013 I am going to be sealed to her. Rebekah will be my wife and the mother of my babies. I will love her forever. I know God had put us together and that we promised each other in the pre-earth life that we will be together forever. My whole life has led me to this wonderful, loving woman and daughter of God.

You're Invited

We are having four parties and you're invited! Our first three parties are Pre-Wedding Celebrations. Since we are getting married in St. George, Utah and neither of us are really from there we are going to have a lot of parties this summer as we travel to the various places I have lived and North Carolina where he was been his whole life. We would love it if you could join us at one of them. Please let us know if you will be able to attend. The Indiana Part details are still being worked out, but we know it will be July 21st, we just don't know where. Stay tuned for more updates! 

How We Got Engaged

Caleb isn’t very good at keeping things from me, which I guess is a good thing. So I knew that he was going to ask me to marry him on Wednesday. I also knew that he was going to take me on a treasure hunt to ask me. How did I know this? Well, as we were driving back to Rexburg from St. George I read him my bucket list. On my list is to go on a treasure hunt. He asked if I’d ever done that I and I replied in the negative. So when I figured out he was proposing I put two and two together.

Wednesday I made sure to look good…I knew that pictures would be taken. I wouldn’t let him kiss me or touch me all day because he would ruin my hair and makeup. I told him that after he proposed he could kiss me. We were hanging out at his house, waiting for his sister, and it started to rain really hard. He asked me to say a prayer that the rain would let up. We both bowed our heads and prayed for a calming of the skies. Within a few minutes the rain had stopped. After his sister came he handed me the first little yellow bag. Inside was a piece of the treasure map he drew with some candies. 

As we went on our adventure to each designated destination we found a yellow bag with a piece of the map and a goodie. In one bag was an ‘H’ ornament; our first Christmas tree ornament. Inside another was a pair of neon stripped socks. 

 

When I got the last puzzle piece it had a big ‘X’ on it, so I figured that’s where he would propose. We get to this last piece and there is a picture he drew for me with a letter from him. As I read the letter my heart swells with the desire to marry him. When I finished I expected to turn around and find him on one knee; instead he hugged and kissed me and asked what I wanted on my pizza for dinner. 

 I was so confused! I just looked at him dumbfounded. As we walked away I stopped him and said, “Really? You’re  really not proposing?” He responded saying that he never said he was, he only said he wanted to give me something nice. I accused him of tricking me. He laughed…I didn’t think it was funny. As we were walking pass the Greek part of the garden he led me over to it. He said this was his favorite spot and wanted to walk around a bit before we went back to his place. I did not want to walk around, I was so sad that he hadn’t proposed, all I wanted to do was go home, but I humored him. He took his coat off and led me around a little bend. As we walked around the bend a man quickly walked away. At the time I didn’t think anything of it, turns out it was his brother-in-law. Bryce and Danielle were hiding taking pictures of us. We stood there for about a minute and then he got cold so we went to get his coat. I turned to look at something and he grabbed me, turned me around, gave me a hug and kiss got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.

Our Beginning...According to Rebekah

Many of you know about the track system at BYU-Idaho, if not you can ask me about it later. Anyways, Caleb was assigned Fall/Winter and I am Winter/Spring. This winter was Caleb’s first semester up here and he became friends with Victoria Race, who I am also friends with. However, I wasn’t up here for the winter semester, I was at home working in the Special Needs classroom and loving it. I didn’t plan on coming back for the spring semester. Caleb was planning on going home since we isn’t actually on track for the spring, but he decided to stay. About three weeks before spring semester started I decided I needed to come back to Rexburg. I didn’t know why, but I knew that this is what the Lord wanted me to do. So I moved back to Rexburg and wasn’t happy about it.

On May 4^th I made plans with a friend, Kasey, to go to a bonfire later that night. I also made plans to go to the hotsprings with my roommate and some of her friends. Realizing I wouldn’t be able to make the bonfire if I went to the hotsprings I opted out of that activity. Then I was left with no plans for the day. I texted Victoria and asked what she was up to. She told me she was going to et Kiwi Loco with her friend Caleb and that I should come. Now, any of you who know me know that I am not one to just invite myself into things, but I went anyways. When I started talking to Caleb I got butterflies. I wanted him to ask me out on a date so badly! That little stinker didn’t ask though! That’s a running theme in our story. It was weird, while I was spending time with him that day I realized that I was being myself the whole time, I never put on a face or tried to act any differently around him. I told Victoria that I was crushing on him and she replied that I should ask him on a date…but I don’t do that.

On Sunday his apartment did a fire/movie in their backyard. I went and tried to talk to him. I asked if he was going to come watch the movie and he said he’d be over later after he was done making a s’more. I left a spot open for him next to me…he never came…eventually Victoria laid in the spot I’d left open. Caleb claims that he came over later and laid behind me trying to look as lonely as possible…but he was behind me…I couldn’t see him!

The next week, on a Tuesday, I saw him walk past my window and my heart flipped. It was strange. I hardly even knew him and yet my heart was acting as if I was already in love with him. I knew after that that I had to do whatever it took to get to know him…even if that meant making the first move.

That Friday I went to a fire at his house again. I tried so hard to get him to notice me. We even played a game where we were paired together as the “lovers” and yet he still was oblivious to my attempts. I kept moving to sit next to him and he kept moving away to make a s’more (another reoccurring theme). Eventually he stopped moving and sat and talked to me for a while. I invited him to come see Iron Man 3 with me, my friend Kasey and his friend JJ the next day. He accepted. When the fire started to die down some of us went in his apartment to watch Despicable Me in the blanket fort he had made. I sat against the couch with my head turned in the most awful direction. He laid down with his mattress pad and left room for another person…but didn’t ask me to lay next to him, even though I was making comments about how this was going to hurt my neck to look at the TV this way. After like 3 minutes I took matters into my own hands and went and laid down next to him. He slowly moved his hand towards mine.

Eventually our hands met.

The rest is history.