Where did Christmas break go?!!! I swear it was the shortest break in history... or maybe just in my history. But no matter what, it was WAY too short. But still thoroughly enjoyed.

We spent Christmas with my family in Colorado. My family is really into traditions, so I was really excited for Brandon to experience the fun! Christmas Eve we eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant, Little Yen King, then come home and read the Christmas story in the scriptures. We then all open one present, which is always PJ's! We then all sleep in the same room together. We then wake up relatively early and cover our eyes as we walk across our balcony so we don't see our presents from Santa below in the living room. We go into our parents room to wake them up and they always pretend to be asleep... but then they take off the covers and they are already dressed in normal clothes! We then line up youngest to oldest and run down the stairs as my dad videotapes us. We play with our presents from Santa for a while, open our stockings, then we make breakfast and distribute the presents into our assigned spots. We have one person open a present at a time, starting with the youngest. We usually don't finish opening presents until 2 or so in the afternoon. We then make lunch, play with our gifts, then go see a movie. I think it is all super fun. Here are some pictures of our holidays.

The presents were overflowing. I did not complain.
All of us in our new PJ's. Mike is covering himself because his were a little too small.

Cooking banana chocolate chip waffles for breakfast. And yes, that is my mom. She is super cool. I like her.


Brandon and I completely covered by our presents. It is too bad though.. you can't see our awesome outfits.

My dad and Brittney sitting in their spots. My dad is just resting... don't worry.

Brandon made a temple picture for Mike and Linds.
Apparently my mom likes her temple picture. And yes, I use my husbands talents for presents. Do you blame me?
Brandon drew this picture of us three girls to go along with the one he drew of my brother Brian.
Brandon wrapped all of my presents individually and really gaudy like. So I tried to one-up him with this. Yep, I took wrapping lessons.
Please excuse my beastliness, but I had to show off my vest. I heart it.
After we ate lunner, (this is the word I just made up for lunch slash dinner) we played Would You Rather. Brandon got a challenge and it was to squish around food in his hands for a minute that was chewed up by the person to his left (me). Please beware. If you have a weak stomach you might not want to look at these next few pictures. They are quite nasty.
This is a random one, but I wanted to include it. This is one of the many reasons I love my husband. He lets me put my purse around his neck when I don't want to carry it anymore and then lets me take a picture of him in the middle of Bed Bath and Beyond.
We got snowed in, in Colorado again. The mountains were a complete white out and we knew our little civic wouldn't have made it. This is a picture I took off of the news.
So when we came home from Colorado, we got our kitties neutered! My mom gave us enough money to neuter them for one of our presents! It was exactly what I asked for. If you guys have followed our blog at all, you might know about our kitties' personalities. Well if not, here are some pictures to display what each kitty did when he came home from the vet.

Sniper went straight to playing with his toys.. acting like nothing happened.



Gunner curled up in a ball inside a blanket and slept from 4 pm to 9 am the next morning.

Here is Gunners shaved stomach and scar.
We celebrated our second New Years Eve together! We were really excited to go to Outback for dinner to use our gift card we got for Christmas. But it was a 2 hour wait!! So we decided to go here instead.....


Go figure, we both love buffets.
We then drove downtown to watch the fireworks with some friends.
Shawn and Erica, Mike (his wife Hanni is taking the picture), me and Brandon.
Kiss.
On January 1st, we went to the Temple Square Lights. I LOVE THEM!!! And I haven't seen them for several years. But it was really special for us because this was our first time back to temple square since we got engaged there.

This is the spot where I got this amazing ring.

It was mighty cold.

Here are some pictures I took with my temperamental camera.

This is my hubby. He likes to take professional pictures with his professional camera.
We then drove to Spokane Washington last weekend to Steph and Dave's reception. Since we were snowed in, in Colorado, we didn't make it to their wedding in San Diego, so we wanted to make it up to them. The drive was beautiful.

And the reception was beautiful. Sister Kulisch did a superb job.

This is my hubby. He turns decorations into props for photoshoots.

Us with Mr. and Mrs. David Kulisch!

Boys.

Girls.

the reception was in an art museum... so we decided to go exploring and we found these fun activities in the childrens museum!

We then went bowling with Matt and Brit when we got home.

I thought I would include this picture. This is Snipers new favorite spot in the house. I don't get it. (And sorry I talk about the kitties so much on here.. but they are seriously like my kids. Don't blame me for being a proud mother!)

Brandon and I decided to do something pretty crazy and out of the ordinary this past Friday night. We decided to make homemade ice cream! We made our favorite kind.. mint oreo. You may think we are lame, but we think we are pretty awesome and we are pretty proud of ourselves as well.

Last night was the Square Magazine 1st Christmas party of the year. This is our second time attending the annual Christmas party and we really enjoyed it. This is most of the crew.. and our belly laughs.
That was our busy, short, but very eventful break. Now we are back in school and working again. Gotta love it.

I made it! 5 written finals, 2 big presentations, 1 project, 18 zits, 1 canker sore and a LOT of stress later.. I am done with FALL SEMESTER!!! WAHOOO! You have no idea how good that feels! I finally slept for 8 hours straight for the first time in 4 months. I haven't had caffeine for a few days since I am not trying to "survive the day." And I am smiling! Just one more semester of this torture and I will finally be freeeeeeee!

I finished up my last final on Friday morning and we left right after to drive to Colorado for the break. (We left the kitties and we miss them so much... we are pathetic!) We arrived around 8 pm... and were given a long laundry list of things to do: hang Christmas cards up, cook treats for all the neighbors, vacuum and wash the cars, clean the bathroom, vacuum, sweep, cook, seal and stamp all the Christmas cards, finish binders for Primary, update family blog, and more.. can you see what I mean?! But we are more than willing to help out. My Mom has been so out of it, bless her heart, trying to organize all the things she needs to get done. "Never fear, Steph and Brandon are here!" That is how I feel... and I like it. I like knowing we are helpful and wanted around. I am getting used to hearing my Dad continuously call my name to help him with something. And it has been so great to just sit with him and talk about life and important matters. I miss my Daddy!

My Dad went to the first hour of church today for our Christmas program! It was definitely hard for him but he set a goal to make it there and he did it! He has a walker with him all the time, but he is making movement around the house! He even cleaned the carpet!

Today was my dear friend Allysa's graduation party. We went to high school together and were roommates up at Colorado State for the 2 years I went there. I had 3 thoughts while at this party:
1. How jealous of her and some of my other friends for graduating.. and how sad it is that I am still in school!
2. How much I miss my friends from high school. He had a group of 15 or so that always got together... and most of them still do hang out. They are some of the most inspirational and caring people I have ever met. They are like brothers and sisters to me and am so thankful for them.
3. How different all of our lives will be from this point on. Everyone is graduating, moving all across the states, and I ran off to BYU and got married! I really hope we can stay close, even when there are many miles between us.

So as you can see above, we made a Christmas card this year! We bought these sweaters and knew right away we had to share their beauty with all our loved ones! We hope you enjoy it! (Please note the amazing placement of everything, our posture and legs, and the tortured cats.!)

Here is my Dad at home on his bed... his usual spot!

The family and friends gathered for Sunday lunch!

Good news everyone! My Dad got to go home yesterday! YAY!! I have been celebrating all day. I am seriously so happy for him. The past couple days have been really hard for him with chronic stomach pains as well as intense head pain.. but he has pushed through it because he has wanted to go home so bad!!

He waited all day anxiously for my Mom to go pick him up. The car ride made him really sick so he basically just sat on the couch the whole day. But they put a twin bed in our den so he doesn't have to struggle up and down the stairs to go to his bedroom.

And I have taken 2 finals, and have 3 more to go. I am heading over to the testing center in a few minutes to take my 3rd. Brandon is off snowboarding today with his brother Cam and our nephew Jordan. It is his first time in 2 years so he was like a little kid on Christmas this morning.. so excited to go! He is still sick and is coughing and blowing weird things out of his nose (he will kill me when he reads this) but nothing could stop him from going to the slopes!

We are in the middle of studying for tons and tons of finals. I hate this week. Every semester I get really stressed before and during this week that I always get a cold no matter what time of the year it is... Well it looks like Brandon beat me to it. He has come down with a nasty cold this week and feels miserable.

I have tried to make him feel better by cooking anything warm for his throat, making the house warm for him, taking care of all the chores around the house, and asking him if there is anything I can do.. but he is still miserable:( I guess the flu shot doesn't really work? Or does it just cut down your chances of getting the flu.. but yet still allows you to get it? I am not sure.. but it has helped me so far.. (but I am bound to get sick since I cannot resist kissing and cuddling with my poor sick boy).

Oh and p.s.. I love my crock pot! I can throw anything I want in there at the beginning of the day and have dinner ready at night! (This may look gross but it was so yummy! I made it up too!)

This past week we went to 2 Christmas parties. On Thursday was our ward Christmas party. There was a talent show so I signed Brandon up (without telling him!) to bring and display some of his art pieces! He was a good sport about it and we packed up some of his recent work. There was a raffle for some presents and since so many families had left by the time they gave them away, we got one! (Brandon and I are both not very lucky people so we NEVER win anything.) Brandon got a little "Intelli Heli" which is a mini helicopter that is controlled by a remote control. He loves it! He sits and flies that thing all the time now.. and the kitties are so intrigued that they chase it around the whole time. The second party had Comedy Sportz there.. which is an improv comedy show here in Provo. Brandon and I have worked with a few of the guys at Comedy Sportz so we LOVE to go watch them. It was hilarious!

Brandon and Trent (our hometeacher) with their presents.

Here is some of his work:
This first one is of me and Brandon (hopefully you can tell!) He drew this for my birthday last year and he hated it so he has told me for a year now that he is gonna fix it.. well finally for my birthday this year he finished it! And I love it.

These are from his painting class that he has to do paintings of single, simple objects.




We also played the Wii Mario Cart at Erica and Shawn's house with Jeff (my cousins) and we loved it! And they helped us complete on of Brandon's projects he had to do. We decided we had to leave their house early so he could finish, but as soon as we told them what the project was, they all started searching the house for letters. So Brandon's project: Find all the letters in the alphabet in things around you.. but in their natural habitat and surroundings.. meaning you cannot move them around to look like a letter. Not fair I think. My homework involves ethnographies and stalking people in Walmart asking if I can survey them.

Thanks guys for helping! He got full credit!

See if you can guess what letters these are!





On Friday, after I left work, I had a whole list of things I had to get done. First stop: Walmart. I rushed through the store so I would have time for every other stop.. I put all my groceries in the trunk (all while I am freezing because I left my coat in the car), shut the trunk and ran to go put my cart away. By the time I got back to my car, it was locked. And I discovered that I had locked my keys in my trunk! I have NEVER done this! I called and texted Brandon probably 20 times but he had left his phone in his car and was still at work. So I had to call his boss to ask if I could talk to Brandon. And being the most awesomest husband ever, he hurried home to get the spare key, then came to rescue me in the Walmart parking lot. So I never had time to run all my other errands. Sad.

So lately I have been researching the prices for all the many initiatory health things we need to do for the kitties. I have been looking at how much their shots are, neutering, as well as declawing. Well it turns out.. having 2 kittens is not that cheap! So I have decided all I want for Christmas is money so I can afford my kitties!

But anyways, we decided right when we got the kittens that we would declaw them. Well as I have done my research, it turns out to be the cruelest thing you could do to a cat. Cats claws have nerves in them and it is described that if you declaw a cat.. it is just like cutting a humans fingers off to their knuckles.. but even worse. Cats obviously walk on their paws and usually the majority of their body weight is on the front of their paws. But after you declaw them, it hurts so bad that they teach themselves to walk with their weight more on the back of their paws. This in turn causes arthritis and tons of pain in a cat. It also causes depression in a cat and usually changes their personality to be bitter. I had no idea! Our fat cat at home is declawed and I never thought anything about it. So I have looked around for another solution.. because they are still so young (12 weeks old!) they are very hyper and tend to claw at the furniture. So I found this company called Soft Claws. They sell claw covers that are soft plastic that you simply glue on the tips. So the cats still can have their claws and still walk normally, but the claws don't stick in to anything. We put them on this week. At first they hated them but they don't even notice them anymore. A few have come off and we have had to replace them but it is so nice not to be clawed anymore! We will see how long these things last...
The goods..

Sniper with his claw covers on!

....And smell like Christmas and sound like Christmas and taste like it too! Ah I seriously love this time of year.

Sound: I officially switch in to Christmas mode on Thanksgiving day.. but this year I was in the mood for cheering up.. so I started a week early. I downloaded some new music and I am loving it!

Smell: I have been burning the cinnamon pumpkin spice oil lately and I love coming home to the scent!

Taste: I have made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and I am making pumpkin chocolate chip bread tomorrow! Oh and I love candy cane hot chocolate! It is my favorite!

Look: My Mom gave Brandon and I a 6 foot tree when we went to Colorado. Well we were so anxious to have Christmas at home that we put it up last night. And it is NOT 6 feet! More like 10! It touches the ceiling and there is no room for a star at the top! But we love it! We went shopping for all the decorations then came home, turned on Christmas music, made hot chocolate and decorated the tree!

But Christmas is not complete without a warm fireplace to cuddle up next to and to hang your stockings from. And we don't have a fireplace. Well this didn't stop Brandon and I. We went to Roberts and bought construction paper and made our own fireplace! I seriously love it. Brandon keeps catching me staring at it or sitting by it. I know.. I may be weird, but it gives me comfort! And it makes me so happy to have a fireplace for Christmas!

Our Fireplace, tree, and family! (The kitties' glowing eyes are cool)

Brandon and I getting warm by our fireplace.

Our stockings hung above the fireplace! A stocking for Brandon, Steph, Sniper and Gunner.

Brandon starting to fluff the tree.


Me trying to fluff.

Our beautiful tree.

Our first Christmas ornament we were given for a wedding present!

We are now back in Utah and back to normal life. We were in Colorado since the Monday before Thanksgiving until last Monday the 1st. We were planning on coming home on Sunday but it snowed really bad in Colorado and they closed I-70 so we couldn't even go through. So we stayed until Monday afternoon which I was completely fine with.

We both missed classes and several days of work, but our teachers and employers were really understanding. We brought our kitties because we left so quickly that we had no one to watch them.

Here are some highlights from the week in Colorado:

1. My Dad got moved from the Hospital!! He is now in a nursing home and his roommate has a problem pooing his pants in the middle of the night, but we are so thankful he is off of IV's and on the road to recovery. He is still in tons of pain and can't hold himself up at all, but he is making little improvements each day.

This experience with my Dad has been really hard for me. I have looked up to my Dad my whole life. He is my hero. I have always been dependent on him but now he is dependent on me and my family and cannot do anything for himself. It is hard to see that. But this experience has really helped me be thankful for what I have and thankful that the situation was not worse. My Dad's old boss came to visit him in the hospital one day and the experience really opened my eyes. His old boss Bruce is terminally ill and is fighting cancer everyday and does not have probable odds.. but yet despite all of his trials, he still came to the hospital to make sure my Dad was alright. How amazing. I feel like sometimes I get wrapped up in MY problems that I start to have the thoughts of "poor me" and I am worse off than others. But it is not poor me or poor Dad. It is "wow he is lucky." His boss is just one example of the many amazing people who came to visit my Dad despite their personal struggles.

We all have many trials in our lives.. and they are completely different... divorce, death, illness, bankruptcy, unemployment, and many more... but we are only given what the Lord knows we can handle. And the reward for our endurance is the most precious gift of all... ETERNITY!

This picture is of my whole family together.

Me and Brandon with my Dad.

My Dad's awesome "pirate" patch he has to wear now to reduce the spinning sensation.

The sign we made for my Dad's room and friends signing it.

2. One morning I was talking to my Mom while Brandon was still sleeping and we all of a sudden heard a huge smack. I frantically ran around the house trying to find out what it was and I found Sniper (our little black kitty) hiding behind a frame. I picked him up and he was gushing blood out of his nose and water was just flowing out of his mouth and eyes. He was so frightened. He kept sneezing blood all over me. My Mom drove us to the vet and it ends up that Sniper broke his nose. He fell off a 15 foot balcony straight on to hard wood floor and right on his nose! (I guess kitties heads are disproportioned and kitties have a hard time catching themselves on all 4's from such a high distance). He got completely drugged up and slept all day but now he is feeling tons better and is playing like always.

This is the balcony he fell from.


I love my kitties so much so I have a problem with taking tons of pictures. So here are some:

Sniper and Fat Cat...

Gunner and Fat Cat..

Gunner fell asleep with his leg on my leg and his paws straight out!

Then he rolled over and covered his face. He is so stinkin' cute!

Sniper looking at Milo.. Lindsey's Dog. It was like an animal shelter at our house this past week with 2 kitties, one extremely obese cat and a 2 year old dog who thinks he is still a puppy.


3. Thanksgiving feast was awesome! We had 9 of us there. This is really big for my family of 5! It was Brit (my little sis), Linds and Mike (sis and bro in law), Brandon and I, my Mom, Grandma and Grandpa Moss, and my cousin Jeff Lowry. My Grandma cooked for nearly 24 hours and we feasted for way more than that! We had about 10 pies and we cleared them all between 9 of us! We of course brought food to my Dad while he was in the hospital and he actually ate it!

This is our table. I couldn't fit Grandpa in the picture :(

My Grandma is hilarious and made a joke about the Monster from Monsters Inc being a potato and Mike spit his water out all over the table, food, and my Grandparents! This is the table:


This is Mike and Brit laughing slash crying after the joke.

4. On our drive home we saw another amazing sunset, but this one in Rifle Colorado. It made the drive worth it.

I just thought I would post a picture of what my Dad's brain looks like. The white part is the DEAD part. The bottom bigger area is the cerebellum and the little spot of white above that is in the brain stem.

I decided to drive out to Colorado this morning with my Mom's parents. I have had the hardest time being in Utah while my Dad is in the hospital. My Mom has spent the past 48 hours in the hospital with him and is completely exhausted. She gets about 10 phone calls every 30 minutes. So I just arrived to help. My two sisters, brother in law, and my grandparents are here. We pretty much spent the whole day in the waiting room.

I got to talk to my Dad. He is in so much pain. It really hurts him to open his eyes, so he kept them closed while we talked. He said he is extremely tired, but has had a hard time sleeping since he is continuously woken up by visitors. I swear he has had the entire city of Littleton visit him in his hospital room.

He complains that the whole right side of his body is really weak and he says his face feels like he just got out of the dentist. He keeps biting and rubbing his lips, but doesn't notice it. We found out today that almost half of his cerebellum is now dead, having permanent damage since blood and oxygen were unable to reach his brain. Also a part of his brain stem is dead as well. This is what has caused the dizziness and the numbness. The doctor says that he needs to get right in to physical therapy so they can teach his left side of his brain to compensate for the right side that is dead.

The hospital has been pretty strict on visitors so only 2 people are allowed in his room at a time. And no visitors are allowed between 230 and 430 everyday. He doesn't want to eat anything because he still feels extremely nauseous. They are keeping him in Critical Care until Friday at least.. then we will see where he is at.

It just makes me cry to see my sweet father in so much pain. At only 53 years old, I am so amazed by the extent of the stroke. He is very lucky though. I have been doing a lot of research and most cases result in permanent paralysis. AND THE PRAYERS ARE WORKING. His boss came to visit him today and extended his job until March, and offered severance pay for 3 months after that! So he will still be payed for another 6 months. Hopefully this disability will not hurt his chance of finding another job. SO KEEP PRAYING FOR HIM. HE NEEDS THEM.

Now, to the Marcum family.. I am very sorry that I will not be able to be in Idaho for Thanksgiving. I feel completely awful about this. I was really looking forward to spending my first holiday with my new family, but thank you for understanding and being supportive of my choice to be in Colorado at this time.

Feel free to call or text me with any questions. 303-903-2105. I love you all.