....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.

I had an awesome birthday. I got to go eat at Outback and pick a movie to watch. I chose The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and Brandon was such a sport and watched it with me. This was an eventful week, both good and bad.

The Bad:

My Dad was submitted to the hospital late Saturday night because he had a stroke. (This does not help my emotional stage I am in lately). My Dad is only 53 and very active and healthy. He has a tear in his vertebral artery in the back of his head and blood clots have formed all around it. He is in a lot of pain and can't really comprehend what is going on. He is still in the hospital today, Sunday, getting several tests done. He also just recently found out that he will lose his job in December. So he needs your help. Please please please pray for my father that he may be able to become well and healthy again very soon.

One of our dear friends Dan Moedl got a kidney stone (on my birthday) and has been sick all week. Brandon and Dave gave him a blessing Friday and ever since he has been doing a lot better. His enormous kidney stone miraculously broke down by itself, and he is starting to "pass" pieces of it. Man, I am so thankful for the priesthood! He is still in pain though so say an extra prayer for him.

Now for the good:


Brandon and I at Outback for my birthday dinner. This is the birthday "dog" a.k.a Sundae I got to eat in celebration of turning 23.





















Brandon eating the Bloomin' Onion at Outback. Man was he happy about eating there!

















This is the "Slave Packet" I received as a gift from my Hubby. I am super excited to redeem my slave rewards. Examples: 3 full body massages, 2 times he will clean the bathroom without complaining, 3 times he will wash AND dry the dishes.. and more!

















I was craving pumpkin chocolate chip cookies so bad so while I waited for Brandon to get home from school on my birthday, I made myself some birthday cookies. Note there were a LOT more cookies than this and I took this picture the day after I made them!


All my old roommates took me out to dinner for my birthday on Thursday night. It was so fun to have a night with the girls and to hang out with them all again. I am the first to get married out of all 10 (3 not pictured) of us, so it is always kind of awkward between the singles and the married.















We went to see Twilight on Friday. My awesome friends Steph and Allyx got me this Twilight jacket and I sported it around all day! I have decided I need to see the movie again to really decide what I thought about it. NOTHING from my ideas in my head were close to how they portrayed it all in the movie. It made me so sad to see Edward as a skinny, gross teethed-really red lipped- boy.. but overall I would say I am happy with the movie and want to see it again.



Me crocheting with my kitties..


This is a horrible picture, but as I have mentioned Brandon and I tend to match and we do not plan on it ever. This was on our way to Zuppas for our anniversary dinner and we both walked out in white hoodies with something in a shade of pink on the front. I was wearing a white headband so I made Brandon put one on too so we could be totally matching. He only kept it on for a few moments.




















Mike and Leslie stayed with us one night this weekend, and Mike fell in love with the kittens.. and this is a big deal! This is Mike and Gunner. Notice Gunner's paws.. he is so darn cute!





















Miracles really do happen! Gas has dropped below 2 dollars! I have not seen this since high school. I sang at the top of my lungs, "Hallelujah" as I drove past this gas station.


The day has finally come! I made funeral potatoes for Brandon. He has been talking about these potatoes his Mom makes ever since we got married. So I got the recipe from Janene so I could make Brandon happy.. and it worked!


I am convinced Utah has some of the best sunsets EVER! Sunsets make me very happy so I thought I would share this one with all of you. I saw this on my drive home one night this week.

Can you believe it?! It has been three months. It honestly feels like so much longer than that. We are so comfortable with each other that it feels like we have been married forever! But in a completely good way. We are planning on going to Zupas tonight for dinner. It is our favorite. I can't wait.

So it is my birthday on Tuesday, the 18th, and I told Brandon all I wanted for my birthday is for him to go to my workout classes with me. I have been dying for someone to join me. Well since he has school every night next week, I made him go to kickboxing this morning with me. He lasted about 15 minutes and then walked out. He told me he couldn't do it and was too embarrassed. He is so adorable! He actually did really well, he just needs to not worry about other people. And we were in the very back and no one was looking at him, but he was still worried. I am just happy that he tried. And it made me soo happy to see how he really did want to go for me.

So like I said my birthday is Tuesday. Well Brandon is the absolute BEST HUSBAND EVER and got me kitties for an early birthday present! I have been begging him for a kitty and he has always told me that he will let me get a kitty if he could get a new computer. Well the computer he needs is at least $1000 so I figured I was never going to get a kitty since we we can't afford a new computer. Well I guess last week, when I went to dinner with he girls, Brandon went to go look at kitties, but fell in love with them, he brought them home that night! A week and a half before my birthday. They are they cutest things you have ever met. And so entertaining. All they do it sleep and wrestle. We got 2 boys from the same litter. They love playing. We clipped their claws last night and they hated it. They meowed like crazy. I felt really bad. But now they can't climb on the bed and it makes it totally worth it. Here are some pictures:


This is Sniper. He really likes to play Hide and Go Seek.


This is Gunner. He is really really fast and can jump like no other!


This is them wrestling.. they usually kick each other in the face like this.


Steph and Dave came to visit the kitties!

My boys sleeping. They like to go wherever Daddy is at.


He fell asleep doing his homework.. haha


Just going out with Dad..




This video is of Sniper playing with his new toy. Gunner found the bag more interesting!

Well it is the middle of the semester of school now and we are TOTALLY overwhelmed with everything going on. Seriously counting down the days until Thanksgiving break. I am extremely busy with school and sometimes pull all-nighters to get my homework done. Brandon has big projects due a lot and they take tons of time. He is also starting to work for a mobile marketing company called Xanthem. They provide companies with new options to market their consumers. It is a great idea! And it is the new thing now. Tons of companies are doing it. Like redbox.com. (Which we are OBSESSED with!). So anyways, Brandon is continuously creating new logos, business cards, and designing things for this new company. His first appointment with a potential client is on Tuesday!

At school I am working on 2 accounts in classes. One is called Job Pix, a college student job source website, and the other is UCMA, a mother and baby health care center in Payson Utah. They are not the most exciting accounts, but I am loving the experience. I am pretty much doing account planning right now, which basically is getting to know the consumers. I am in charge of figuring out who the consumers are and what they want. I never thought I would like this but it is fun! We even had to do an ethnography for each, and follow around a complete stranger for 3 hours. I had tons of fun with it! We are also editing and cutting all the film so I am learning tons of new things.

So basically every day this is our routine..
I got to work and school everyday around 8 AM. I get home at about 6:30, I start making dinner. Brandon goes to work and school everyday as well, and walks in the door around 7:15. We eat and talk until about 8, then since we don't have a dishwasher, we do the dishes together and continue to talk. At first, I was completely ok with not having a dishwasher, but now that we are even more busy, I want one so bad!! But we take turns washing and drying so it goes a lot faster having both of us do them. Then we go in to the second bedroom and sit at our separate desks, which face opposite walls, and do our homework. Then I usually go take a 15 minute nap, in purpose of "rejuvenating myself," but end up falling asleep around 11 or 12, then totally regret it when I wake up in a panic the next morning! Brandon lately has been falling asleep early as well, but somehow we take turns...

My Wednesdays I call my "Suicidal Days." This is when I have 3 quizzes due the next morning, and always at least one assignment or a midterm... since BYU believes in a midterms every 2 weeks. But somehow I make it through. Brandon is really helpful and supportive. He helps me calm down and wakes me up sometimes when I fall asleep too early.

I love cooking for him, even though I feel like I don't have enough time. We were given potatoes, carrots, onions, and tomatoes from Janene's garden, so we have some type of meal that incorporates those ingredients like every night! But it is awesome! We don't have to go to the store to buy those! And since I only get home like 45 minutes before Brandon, I try to make food that is quick so we can eat right when he gets home since I am always STARVING!! I mainly make mashed potatoes, chicken either breaded or marinated, steaks, chicken pillows, tacos, hamburgers, meatball surprises, stroganoff, stir-fry, homemade pizza, homemade lasagna, spaghetti, waffles, omelets, french toast, and beef stew (This is Brandon's favorite). Like I said, I love cooking, I just wish I had more time for it. I want more recipes so if anyone has something they love to make, send the recipe my way.. I am ALWAYS up for trying something new. We have tons of recipe books, but sometimes they are too overwhelming for me. I never know what to pick.

We always hang out with our friends Steph and Dave and Allyx and Dan. Yep, pretty much our only friends! And we love them! And we are soooo sad because they all are moving to Idaho the beginning of January so we will be complete losers after they move. I have to pretend like it isn't happening or else I will get really emotional. Oh and Steph and Dave are engaged!!! YAY! They are getting married on December 27th in the San Diego Temple. I am so excited. It will be so perfect. We went with Steph to her final dress fitting on Thursday and she looks GORGEOUS!! I can't wait until Dave gets to see her in the dress.

Chris, the youngest of 8 Marcum children tied the knot last Saturday, November 8th, to Julia Bradley. These two were so giddy the entire day. You could instantly tell how excited they were. They got sealed in the Rexburg, Idaho Temple. These two were actually the 1 millionth ordinance performed in the Rexburg Temple since its opening in February. Chris even raised the roof in the sealing room! Haha it was awesome. It was so fun to have the entire family there. And it was also fun being at a wedding, but not having it be ours. It was fun to watch and help out.

I am way excited to have Julia as a sister now! We are only 2 weeks apart so I know we will connect really well. She is so fun to be around. I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

The funniest part was Brandon and I received 5 gifts at their reception! We got married 3 months ago, but I guess some people didn't make it to ours and wanted us to still receive our gifts. Awesome right? That was our favorite part of getting married... the gifts! Keep them coming!

Brandon and I with the newlyweds.

We decorated their car. We had everyone write down advice for the couple on post-it notes and put them all over inside the car. It was way cool.


The kids signing the book.


I forced Jordan to hold my hand. By the look of his face, he thinks I am the worst aunt in the world.


Us outside the temple after the sealing.

Check out this article. I just found this on the internet randomly. I thought you all might enjoy reading it. Basically, a boy from BYU lied to his bishop that he was obeying the honor code. I am not sure exactly what he was doing, but it was bad enough that he got excommunicated from the church. He graduated in August '08, but BYU revoked his degree since his classes the last semester were not valid, since he was not obeying the honor code. Seems pretty understandable right? Well this guy created a calendar of returned missionaries. Each month has an RM on the page in his Missionary outfit, and then with just pants or small shorts on.... so shirtless. And he says since he got excommunicated, the sales on the calendar have doubled and he is happy about it. So he chooses damnation for some money? Hmmm.. well anyways, read the comments at the bottom. Everyone is blaming it on the church saying we are hypocritical and say this is all because we think we can do whatever we want.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/thegodblog/item/byu_strips_degree_from_creator_of_mormon_hunk_calendar_20081027/

http://www.mormonsexposed.com/

Also you can google Men on a Mission Calendar and see other articles about it.

I love Halloween! It is so fun to play dress up and run around and act kinda crazy. Even though I did this everyday for work at Disney World, I still love Halloween. We got to carve pumpkins with Allyx, Dan, Stephanie, and Dave the night before. We had awesome designs. I made mine into flowers. I got the idea from a Martha Stewart magazine cover in the check out line at Walmart when we were buying the pumpkins! haha. I was happy with it.

Halloween night I guess is different now that we are married though. Sad to say, but Provo kind of uses Halloween as an excuse to dress however you want. And act however you want. There are HUGE parties everywhere with tons of dancing and loud music. Even though I love to dance, I am just not really interested in going to those type of events anymore. So we went to Dan and Allyx's with Steph and Dave. Of course we all still dressed up. Allyx made really yummy Halloween desserts and foods. We played games all night and I actually had the time of my life! I love hanging out with them. And it is really fun to see how happy Brandon gets when he is around his guys.



This is us making the same faces as our pumpkins.

Carving pumpkins with the group.


Brandon and I on Halloween. I was his ball and chain.

Zombie Slayers, Ball and Chain, and Thing 1 and Thing 2.