Welcome! We are the Callisters, Dan and Angie. We were married in 2006 and have been trying to start our family for most of those years. We can't wait to be parents! It's just not happening for us naturally right now and we need your help to make our dream come true. The following two posts will give you a brief introduction to each of us. The rest of the blog will be filled with other random information and facts about us that you may find useful in getting to know who we are. There is also a link to the blog we've had for several years...mainly for the purpose of keeping our families updated on our lives. Please feel free to look through anything and everything. Contact us if you have any questions. Thank you for taking the time to read this and may God bless you as you make your decisions.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012
Angie Callister
So here’s a little bit about me. I was born and raised in the Logan, UT area. I'm the oldest of four kids. I grew up on a farm and I am a farm girl at heart.
I always enjoyed school and there was never any question in my mind that I would go to college. I was just never sure what I wanted to study…so I studied all kinds of things and at the end of my third year in college pulled it all together into an American Studies major.
Soon after that decision, I decided to serve a mission for my church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). For a year and a half I served among the Spanish-speaking people of Sacramento, CA. I learned Spanish. I learned an awful lot about being humble. I learned about serving and loving. I learned that I am loved greatly by my Savior and my Heavenly Father. It was a difficult experience but also extremely rewarding. Very much worth the struggle.
Within a year of coming home, I met Dan at a concert he was playing in (super talented guy, by the way: sings, plays guitar, bass, drums, banjo, mandolin…pretty much anything but the piano and I’ve got that one covered). I was intrigued by this quiet, talented guy with the beautiful shoulder-length curls. We hung out a lot after that. We would spend a lot of time in nearby Logan Canyon. We loved to hike and explore. One of my favorite things we did often was drive up the canyon at night, hike into a spot with a wide open view of the sky, wrap up in blankets and lie down under the stars, sometimes we’d talk, sometimes were just quiet and thoughtful (and no we weren’t kissing or even holding hands, honestly, I think he was afraid of me for quite a while…the first kiss didn’t even come for eight months).
After about a year home from my mission I decided to spend a semester abroad. I lived in Innsbruck, Austria and went to school there for four months. What an amazing experience! In so many ways I felt like I was a missionary again. I didn’t speak German. I took German classes while I was there and finally started to feel comfortable with the basics just about when I was leaving, of course. Innsbruck was beautiful! I loved living abroad and seeing things in a new way. I’ve let Dan know I wouldn’t mind doing it again someday…they need city planners in other countries too, right? While I was there, Dan came to visit me over Christmas break and he, my roommate and I traveled around Austria a bit and also visited England and Ireland. We really enjoyed traveling together and since our marriage have been able to do quite a bit of traveling around the states. We’ve also enjoyed trips to Italy, Mexico and Canada together. We hope to make it to Asia someday in the near future.
After close to four years of knowing each other, we were sealed in the Logan Temple. That was just over six years ago now.
We’ve been through a lot together…a lot of good times and a lot of struggles. We’re not perfect and our life definitely isn’t perfect but we love each other and we feel very blessed. We have been anxious to start our family, to share all the things that we love with our little ones, to be amazed by them, to laugh and cry with them, to love them and be loved by them. It’s hard to put the desire in our hearts into words. But we have so much love to give. Thank you for reading this and considering us or sharing this with others. We admire you and acknowledge the courage it takes to make the decision you are making. We pray for you and ask that the Lord will bless you with peace and help you to know what it is He would have you do. He loves you.
I always enjoyed school and there was never any question in my mind that I would go to college. I was just never sure what I wanted to study…so I studied all kinds of things and at the end of my third year in college pulled it all together into an American Studies major.
Soon after that decision, I decided to serve a mission for my church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). For a year and a half I served among the Spanish-speaking people of Sacramento, CA. I learned Spanish. I learned an awful lot about being humble. I learned about serving and loving. I learned that I am loved greatly by my Savior and my Heavenly Father. It was a difficult experience but also extremely rewarding. Very much worth the struggle.
Within a year of coming home, I met Dan at a concert he was playing in (super talented guy, by the way: sings, plays guitar, bass, drums, banjo, mandolin…pretty much anything but the piano and I’ve got that one covered). I was intrigued by this quiet, talented guy with the beautiful shoulder-length curls. We hung out a lot after that. We would spend a lot of time in nearby Logan Canyon. We loved to hike and explore. One of my favorite things we did often was drive up the canyon at night, hike into a spot with a wide open view of the sky, wrap up in blankets and lie down under the stars, sometimes we’d talk, sometimes were just quiet and thoughtful (and no we weren’t kissing or even holding hands, honestly, I think he was afraid of me for quite a while…the first kiss didn’t even come for eight months).
After about a year home from my mission I decided to spend a semester abroad. I lived in Innsbruck, Austria and went to school there for four months. What an amazing experience! In so many ways I felt like I was a missionary again. I didn’t speak German. I took German classes while I was there and finally started to feel comfortable with the basics just about when I was leaving, of course. Innsbruck was beautiful! I loved living abroad and seeing things in a new way. I’ve let Dan know I wouldn’t mind doing it again someday…they need city planners in other countries too, right? While I was there, Dan came to visit me over Christmas break and he, my roommate and I traveled around Austria a bit and also visited England and Ireland. We really enjoyed traveling together and since our marriage have been able to do quite a bit of traveling around the states. We’ve also enjoyed trips to Italy, Mexico and Canada together. We hope to make it to Asia someday in the near future.
After close to four years of knowing each other, we were sealed in the Logan Temple. That was just over six years ago now.
We’ve been through a lot together…a lot of good times and a lot of struggles. We’re not perfect and our life definitely isn’t perfect but we love each other and we feel very blessed. We have been anxious to start our family, to share all the things that we love with our little ones, to be amazed by them, to laugh and cry with them, to love them and be loved by them. It’s hard to put the desire in our hearts into words. But we have so much love to give. Thank you for reading this and considering us or sharing this with others. We admire you and acknowledge the courage it takes to make the decision you are making. We pray for you and ask that the Lord will bless you with peace and help you to know what it is He would have you do. He loves you.
Daniel Callister
I was born in Salt Lake City, UT on June 6, 1983. I am the fifth of my parents’ six children (three boys and three girls) and absolutely loved being part of a big family. I spent my first four years in West Valley City before our family moved to the other side of the valley in what is now known as Cottonwood Heights, where my parents still live. I spent much of my childhood playing with neighborhood friends and going on camping trips with family, church and scouting groups. I became an eagle scout at the age of 13, and am grateful for the skills I learned in the program. As a teenager I became very interested in music and formed a garage band with some friends. I graduated from Brighton High School in 2001 and moved from home the next school year to study at Utah State University. While living in Logan, I joined another band. We played all over town and had a great time working with each other and making music. The University gave us all scholarships to be their “house band” and play at games, events and recruiting tours where we would travel to high schools all over northern Utah to play music and plug Utah State University. When I wasn't playing with the band, I was a cartoonist for the Utah Statesman newspaper. In the middle of this excitement I made the decision to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which I fulfilled in Fortaleza, Brazil. Upon my return, I finished my coursework and graduated with a B.A. in Geography and a minor in Portuguese.
Angela and I met in the lobby after a concert my band had played at the Ellen Eccles Theater in Logan. She had come with a friend who knew the band. We were both going to school at the time. She had recently come home from her mission in California. It seemed like we had almost everything in common; music, travel, food, hiking, camping, movies and so much more. After a lengthy courtship we were married and sealed for time and all eternity on a blisteringly cold December morning in the Logan, Utah Temple in 2006.
After graduation I was fortunate enough to be hired locally by a firm as a Geographic Information Systems Specialist. In a nutshell, I made maps. I loved working outside and mapping areas I wouldn’t have ever even known existed otherwise. After two years the company had to make some big cuts due to financial circumstances and I was forced to work some rather unpleasant hours on an assembly line for six months to help make ends meet. It was during this time that Angie and I decided I should go back to school. In the meantime Angie occupied herself teaching at a bilingual preschool. In August of 2010 we moved to Moscow, Idaho where I had been accepted as a graduate student and offered a position as a Research Assistant with a brother of one of my professors from Utah State. Angela found work in the neighboring city of Pullman, Washington teaching preschool. When I wasn't working on my thesis, I kept myself busy as the host of my very own weekly radio show on a local FM station. I graduated in May of 2012 with a Master's degree in Bioregional Planning and Community Design with a special emphasis on Transportation Planning. Literally hours after completing my graduate studies, I was offered a job doing transportation-planning in the beautiful Lakes Region of New Hampshire- which I accepted! We have loved living in the beautiful bay-side village of Meredith, NH, where our work and church responsibilities keep us on our feet. We are looking forward to a satisfying future here.
Music is still a very huge part of my life. My brother Jacob and I have utilized the marvelous technology that exists in today's world to collaborate on several songs over cyberspace (he lives 3,000 miles away in Eugene, Oregon) and produce two albums under the name "Cedar and Sage". I also have loved hiking all over the White Mountains, canoeing in the many beautiful lakes nearby, as well as fishing, and just touring the countryside with Angie and the dog.
I come from a long line of big families. My parents have 6 children and my dad is the 12th of 16 children. Family reunions are enormous. I have around 90 first cousins! Family has been the most important thing in my life and I’ve always taken for granted that I would have a large family of my own someday. we were maybe a little naïve in thinking it would happen when we wanted it to, but the Lord’s timetable isn’t always what we want it to be and we had to keep trying. Angela and I have only drawn closer together through our struggles with infertility, and we can't wait to share our love with the special spirit we know the Lord has been preparing us for.
