Smith's Come to Austin!

Wow what a week! It has been filled to the minute with fun and work! Chris came back from Chicago and Kansas. He liked both of them but thought Kansas was more family friendly. Knowing me I would probably like Chicago better just because I like big cities. I worked this last week. It has been fun at the Texas Running Company, I love to learn about running and talk to people about it. They think of you as if you were their running doctor going to you with all their problems. Honestly, the people there are probably better than a doctor because they have gone through it themselves and have seen so many people with their symptoms of knee pain, plantar fascia, shin splints etc. I work with all testosterone, Brock a kid who just graduated from UT we just hired, is trying to become a professional runner. He runs 100+ miles a week. I don't know how he does it. We were talking about running with music and he said that he can't because then he will run super fast and get burned out. Instead he listens to his own breathing and he can tell how fast he is going by his own breathing! Isn't that pretty amazing? He said he can tell if he is at a 6:20 pace compared to a 6:30 pace. I guess if you are going to be a professional runner you got to be that in tune with your body. 

I received an email on Monday to give a talk on the Grace of God. Oh what a topic, it is hard, serious, and pretty important subject. There are a lot of converts in our church and investigators that have been affiliated with the Baptists and they are known for 'being saved by grace'. I looked up the definition of grace until Saturday night. It is a word where you can't exactly define every bit of it. I put in a joke (as jokingly you can with grace) and a few analogies, general conference quotes etc. It turned out to be a good talk at least that's what people were telling me, unless they were just trying to be nice ;). If anyone wants a copy let me know.

Karen and Brian came to visit! We went to San Antonio where we showed them the temple we go to. We then went to see the famous 'Remember the Alamo' and is that pretty exciting...they asked me what my favorite part there was and I said the tree! They have this amazing oak tree that covers you like a dome. The Alamo is pretty small but a good scene for the tourists. We even sat for a 15 min video explaining The Alamo, I may have fallen asleep I'm not going to confirm or deny that. We ate dinner on the Riverwalk and talked about Chris's residency interviews. He claimed in one question where the Chairman asked, "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" Chris says, "In a Rockband". When he said this I started having seizures. 

Day 2 of the Smith adventure I had to work. The Smith's came and visited me and stayed two hours trying on different shoes. I got to analyze their running on our Get Fit monitor and measure their feet. They bought shoes for the family and got my sweet deal of 50% off. Chris was excited about his cute new outfit :) and loves the shoes that I picked out for him. After we went to Costco where the Smith's were generous enough to buy us a load of snacks that will last us about a year. Chris says I was in Heaven. I love Costco, whoever invented Costco is a genius. Karen got me the book called Pillars of the Earth, I will have to start reading it and we can compare thoughts!

Day 3 I had to work...but I got to go to a social media marketing meeting downtown that switched up the scenery a bit. Sean did not get the point why he was there. Neither did I. He kept complaining and making it awkward not engaging in the discussion. I am in charge of the stores social media and marketing events. He let me leave a bit early, and I made it to the soccer game with the TCats! We won 3-2, Chris scored a goal, I didn't get to see it, but he is a pretty good soccer player! We went to Trunk or Treat after for our ward. We were in charge of pinning the hat on the witch. I drew a big witch on a broom. Chris and I dressed up...in our soccer uniform, we were soccer players since we didn't have costumes this year. We didn't bother since Chris will be gone for Halloween in Arkansas. It was cute to see the kids in their costumes and a couple of them loved our game so much they just kept rotating through it. It could of been because we had good candy as well, or maybe they just loved my drawing so much. Either way we had a good time. After Trunk or Treat we went to The County Line. A BBQ joint that felt like you were in the Home of Texas. Stuffed ducks hung around the fire place mantel and the wooden cabin felt cozy from the cold front we had this week. 

San Antonio Temple

Riverwalk San Antonio

Davie Crocket

                                                                            The Largest Man in the world

We had such a good time with the Smith's and hope more family will come down in the future:)....

Well see you on the flip side!

Cameryn Smith

LOOONG WEEK!

This week has been so long! Yesterday I worked all Saturday 10-7:30 with no breaks! I am a working woman at Texas Running Company. I really like it so far, I am just getting used to what I am doing! It is always hard to start out somewhere. You have no idea what you are doing, you get in trouble, ask millions of questions. As long as you enjoy what you are doing I think it will be worth it. I do get 50 % off so that is nice and I get free running gels and gu. I helped mostly put away the running shoes this week. There are all these names for the shoes like the Kinvaras and the GT 2000 Asics, the W8950, and Brooks Pure Connect. I have to learn about all of them and how they are distinguished from one another. I learned about the "drop" and on average a shoe's drop or heel to toe ratio is about 10-14 for stability and 0-4 for neutral. Supposedly there are shoes that have widths like D or double E and I was supposed to organize them with this in mind, ya let's just say I got that part wrong. I had no idea how complicated running shoes were! I have been watching the video monitor to see how people run. I will have to examine their running performance on how they run. Their feet could over pronate or their feet can supinate. Everyone's feet tend to over pronate without any stability after long runs. This can cause shin splints, tight hamstrings, and plantar fascia. To correct these problems we have many stability shoes that support the inward part of the foot with a type of cushion. It's interesting and I will learn a lot as time goes on. 

I have also been a nanny for this mom I am helping out. The baby's name is Eloise and the mom needs help to run errands and work conferences and such. Eloise is a four month old that needs a lot of attention. We usually watch all the day time shows like Live with Kelly and Michael, Dr. Oz, and Rachael Ray. I only babysit her once or twice a week. The other week the mom  Jackie called me upset that Eloise was sick. She blamed me for feeding her or not doing something! I was like really, I did what you asked and she still got upset. It's hard to watch other people's kids because they want you to do everything they do but they are not there so everything is your fault if something happens! So I am not sure how long this will last. She told me the last nanny she had didn't work out because she would put eloise down to play and then look at her phone.? I wonder how relaxed or anal of a mom I will be...

Chris and I went to Houston this week. He had to do a clinical test for Step 2. We stayed with Lewis and Jesse at their apartment and cooked steaks and potatoes. 

Chris's test got done at 3:30 so he came and met us and we went to the Chocolate Bar. Lewis really wanted to go and supposedly it's famous in Houston. I can't resist chocolate so  Chris, Lewis, and Jesse got ice cream and I got a chocolate orange! It was so good! It has white chocolate and milk chocolate on it. I had never had a chocolate covered orange so I knew I had to try it.

I have also been working on my Personal Training booklet which has been fun! It gives me something to do and I enjoy it. I can't wait for the Nutrition and Wellness booklet. These are two separate things that I will "certified" in. It would be nice to be able to work from home and do a couple of consults and personal training. I have been interested in learning about nutrition for a long time. I have a nutrition blog and I just love learning about it. So I am going to see how studying for nutrition makes me like it or hate it and see if I want to do that in the future. You never know I may just end up being a RD? Which I would love...!

Anyways I just want to relax! I have work work work and achievement days next Wednesday! We are decorating Halloween cookies and I have to come up with the lesson. I am also going to try and coordinate an indoor soccer team so maybe we will have more soccer in the future! 

LOVE

Cameryn Smith

Mr. and Mrs. Siddens

Karly and Cameron have been planning this wedding for a whole year. As an outsider I was able to hear about all the details and even see Karly's wedding dress 8 months before! That is how prepared she is! San Marcos where they had their wedding is gorgeous. The country side of it is definitely Austin Texas, which means it is green and has trees and hills! Chris got his ordained minister license online and married the couple! He did a great job and told touching stories of how he was there when the two met. It was an intimate wedding with close family and friends. 

I helped Vanessa with Karly's wedding hair. Isn't it beautiful? :)

The view from outside was incredible. This is what the pretty part of Texas looks like...

The quaint home where Cameron and Karly stayed the Venue was also at this location

Chris helped Cameron with his tie before the wedding

Little Jackson and his cute tie, Karly's nephew. He is so adorable!

Mad libs the guests give the couple advice

Where the ceremony was held. 

This is where Karly walked down to her Beatles song in her wedding dress. Both Chris and I posed for a picture.

Cameron's sister Grace 

Robbie, Chris, and Cameron 

It was so fun to be a part of their big day! We loved sharing it with them. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Siddens! 

Love,

Smiths

Back in Austin

So it has been one week since I have been back in Austin. It feels like a life time. How can being in Utah for 6 weeks rush by while being in Austin go so slow! I count the seconds on the clock. I love Austin it is good to be back with my cute little family as Chris would say. I went back to work at Xplore Technologies. I started to apply for other jobs in need of something to alleviate the tension my internship was giving me.

 I applied to Texas Running Company and got an interview set up for Friday afternoon. I tried to finish out the week with a smile. Dan, my boss called me in the following day, saying that my internship has come to an end. They needed someone with more experience in graphic design. I can't blame them, I still had no idea what I was doing! I think the Lord heard my prayers because in my head I screamed, "Hallelujah!" He kept saying, you are so optimistic! Ya, you should have seen how happy I was for my internship to end :). I got the job at Texas Running Company, which was exciting news. Although it is part time, I will be nannying the other few weeks until we are out in Utah for Thanksgiving. 

Chris has put me in a predicament. I can't have anything permanent right now because who know where we will end up next year! Life is just one big adventure, I keep telling myself, and I am in the middle of it. Chris has gotten interviews at three programs so far. Arkansas, Detroit, and Kansas City. Guess it looks like I'm going to become a hick or a gangster ;) Just kidding, but really. I created two new blogs. Yes this is what I do in my spare time, that and Chris would say Pinterest.  

We watched an exciting game Longhorns v. Oklahoma. I have never seen a game so close, Carly and I got into it! Cameron and Carly's wedding is next week. They got us a hotel to stay in the night before and Chris will be conducting the ceremony. Hmm, Chris will be conducting the ceremony... I don't know how I feel about that, but it is casual and fun and Chris introduced the two of them. Let's just say, this can get interesting. 

Chris surprised me with flowers today! Orchids! I love them. He is such a great husband and treats me so well. He even turned on a chick flick for me and rubbed my feet now that my friends is true love.

I am in Achievement Days! Oh, I already love it and it hasn't even started, my partner Elin Roberts and I have already gone over what we are going to do this Wednesday. We are going to make cake balls and a book mark craft while we listen to President Uchtdorf's Happily Ever After talk. I think this calling is made especially for me. The little girl's are so cute!

Today at church I ran into one of my good friends and soccer buddies Kaitlyn Brunsdale. I knew she was serving in the San Antonio mission but I never thought she would be at my ward! She is actually in a different ward than mine but I gave her my number. I can't believe that a majority of my friends are on missions. It makes me sad because I can't see them, but I am so proud of them, and possibly would have done the same thing if I didn't meet Chris :) Good thing I did though, married life is so much better!

It was a rainy weekend here in Austin. We were looking forward to playing soccer on Saturday with our new team the Thundercats. The rain didn't even hit until later that day. We ended up making the best of it. We went and ran around Zilker (the humidity about killed me because of the fog and rain) and then went to the Pecan Festival. It was on 6th street middle of downtown, I think the tents thought that no one would show, so there weren't too many people out. 

Saturday night, I went with Christine Mead to the Relief Society Broadcast. I love the new presidency and it was so good to feel that "spiritual high". I can't wait for Conference next weekend. 

It is FALL! My decorations are out and pumpkin recipes are in order. I made pumpkin smoothies and pumpkin cookies. Chris you can't complain about the Kitchen Aid, because it does WONDERS!

Pumpkin cookies! I gave most of them to my Visiting Teaching. 

Breakfast Pumpkin Smoothie!

Half Marathon with Linda and my Mom at Big Cotton Wood Canyon

At the finish line, finished in 1 hour 25 min. I thought I was the first girl to finish. But I was the second!!!

Have a great week y'all, and mom + dad I'm jealous your in Prague. Can't wait to hear how your trip was!

Love always,

Cam

Lone Peak Mountain

So before we left to go back to Austin after visiting Utah my husband and I decided to climb Lone Peak. Now this is no particular easy hike. This is strenuous, back breaking, sweaty, inflammation hike. We got up bright and early at 6:00 a.m. You have to give me props because I don't usually wake up this early. We drove around for an hour trying to find the trail head. Finally at 8:15 we found it close to Draper. The first part of the hike is called Jacob's Ladder, but I like to call it the Gateway to Hell. It is a dirt path that goes up and up and up for about 3.5 miles. I wish I took pictures but that would only exhaust you from looking at it. The funny thing is, after we finished Jacob's Ladder than the "hike" to Lone Peak starts. We got swatted by branches, bitten by bugs, and finished my whole camel pack by the time I got to the peak. We took an hour detour crossing over big boulders before we realized the peak was in a different direction.

Here is me climbing over the boulders of death

It's all fun and games from here. Fortunately we packed a lunch but didn't want to eat it until we got to the Summit. Chris and I learned a new word "Cairn" yes that was our guide through the whole 9-10 hours of our hike. On our detour we ended up taking a different route and following the mile high club rock climbers. I thought I heard voices from above...now that makes sense, it wasn't just the dehydration getting to me.

Yes! I got to eat my turkey sandwich, taste a little like Heaven. 

Literally clinging to this rock, now I am definitely scared of heights!

Don't look down...

We would have made it around 4 hrs but our hour detour left us hanging... pun intended

So happy to be alive :)