A Quiet Christmas in Lovelock. . .

So Bryce and I spent Christmas in Lovelock this year. We started off the Christmas festivities with Bryce's work party and the only picture we took was before we left for the party.:)

This next picture is for my mom. She told me not to torture Jack with his Christmas costume this year but I just couldn't resist! :)

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Bryce and I decided to follow the Shields' tradition of doing fondue on Christmas Eve. Bryce made the best cheese fondue!!! It was delicious!

Yummy!!!

After stuffing ourselves with fondue and drinking a little sparkling apple cider we chose one gift to open.

We had a fun Christmas Eve!

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And after we went to bed Santa Clause came and filled our stockings! What a nice guy! We forgot to leave cookies and milk for him. Oops!:)

Santa didn't even forget Jack!

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We opened our gifts Christmas morning in about 20 minutes and then just enjoyed the rest of the day! We got a lot of great gifts! Thank you to those of you that contributed.:)

I drove to Reno in a snow storm on Christmas Eve day just to pick-up Bryce's bike. I'm thankful I lived to see him enjoy it!

Bryce and I had much more fun watching Jack with his Christmas gifts! He was right in on all the action just like a little kid!:)

Who knew he'd be so excited about a litter box rug!

"Is there anything else in here?"

Seriously, Jack got more stuff than Bryce and I! These aren't just gifts that we got him either. I think a couple friends and family felt sorry for Jack because of his vet visits, leg warmers and shaved belly.:) Look at all the loot!

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The day after Christmas we headed to Utah to see our families!

We spent a couple days in Erda with the Shields and had tons of fun! Our sister-in-law Anjela was baptised on Saturday and we're so glad we could be there. We're so happy for her and her little family!

(I always forget to take pictures while we're with Bryce's family because no one else is taking pictures! I really wish I would have taken some. We had a great weekend with the family.)

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Bryce had to head back to Lovelock on Sunday and I headed to Blanding! My mom had a late little Christmas party for me and the family that was still in Blanding. Thanks mom!! You're awesome!
I love spending time with my family during the holidays! They're so great!

We exchanged gifts and of course the kids loved opening theirs. . . . .and helping with everyone elses.:)

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I had to throw this picture in because it's so cute! I got this book for the kids and they love to have Grandma Joy read to them!

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There was tons of snow in Blanding so it was a very white Christmas!

Check out the ice sickles on my parents' house!

On Tuesday we decided to take the kids tubing at the 4th Reservoir. The hills were awesome and we had them all to ourselves for a couple hours!

Jett and Tenli had tons of fun and they looked so dang cute all bundled up in their snow gear!

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My mom is not much of a risk taker but we finally convinced her to go down a hill. . . . .and she loved it!

It was the perfect day to go tubing! We had a few too many layers on and had to remove a couple because it was so warm!

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It was a way fun day! Thanks mom and dad!

MeRrY ChrIsTmaS tO aLL!!

Bryce and I will be spending Christmas here in Lovelock because Bryce is a "career man" now.:) But we wanted to wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas and let you all know that we'll be thinking about you!

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Those of you that we'll be seeing shorty after Christmas. . . . .save some goodies for us.:)

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We hope the Spirit of Christmas touches your heart this year as we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We love you all!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like CHRISTMAS!

After living in Omaha for three years and enduring the coldest winters I've ever experienced I never imagined I'd be happy to see snow again. Well, who was I kidding? You can't beat snuggling up on the couch, watching Christmas classics & drinking hot cocoa while the ground outside is being blanketed in white snow.:)

This is our first snow of the season and I'm sure it'll be all melted by tomorrow but I'll enjoy it until then.

Even though my Christmas decoration supply is a little scanty I enjoy it all the same!
Here's the world's smallest Christmas tree!:)

Oh but I love it!

The gifts are as close to being "under" the tree as they can.:)

"And the stockings were hung from the bookshelf with care."

Nothing like placing the cutest Nativity set in front of the greatest books ever!!:)

For all you Twilight fans out there!

And don't forget Jack's stocking!! Doesn't he look thrilled??
By the way- - Jack is back to his normal self and we couldn't be more thankful! Gosh, we love that cat!!

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Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Serisously??

Bryce and I had quite a rough week.

As you know we don't have kids but we do have a cat that is basically treated like a kid. He gets most all of our attention and pretty much runs the show at our house. We have had him nearly as long as we've been married so you could say we're just slightly attached to him.:)

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Jack started throwing up a couple weeks ago which is really, really rare for him so after a couple of days I took him to a vet in Reno. After a physical examination the vet diagnosed Jack with gastroenteritis and sent us home with some medication that he needed once a day. So that meant that we had to take Jack with us to Tooele for Thanksgiving, which I now know was not the best idea. Cats don't do well with change and it totally stresses them out! By the time we got home Sunday night Jack was throwing up every 3 hours or so! He couldn't even keep his water down! Bryce and I got really worried so I called an emergency vet in Reno at 11:30 PM and they told me to bring him in. Bryce had to work in the morning so I put Jack in his cage and headed to Reno. I ended up getting lost, took an hour longer getting there, Bryce was calling me every 15 minutes and Jack threw up on himself in his cage! I finally got to the vet at about 2:00 AM!

Jack was really dehydrated so they had to start an IV, draw blood, and take x-rays to try to find out what was going on with him. Well. . . . it turned out to be a process of elimination on the diagnosis and by 7:30 AM they still didn't know what was wrong with him and because they're an emergency vet they close at 8:00 AM so I had to transfer my sedated kitty with an IV in his arm and a cone around his neck to a regular vet.

Well, to shorten the story a little: the vet kept Jack all day so they could rehydrate him and I finally got to take him home around 5:00 PM on Monday. They still weren't exactly sure what was wrong with Jack but the vet wanted to see how he did at home now that he was hydrated.

Poor sick kitty! Jack did OK at home (still not eating or drinking anything) until he threw up again Thursday morning when I got home at 6:00 AM from a night shift at work. I thought "oh, here we go again." I called the vet and she told me to bring him in again so they could do an ultrasound to rule out pancreatitis, which is really rare in cats his age. Keep in mind that I had just gotten home from a 12 hour night shift and had to be at work again at 6:00 PM that night too! I was exhausted!

Anyway, so after an IV, anesthesia, another blood draw and an ultrasound the vet diagnosed my poor little kitty with inflammatory bowel disease! She gave him a steroid shot and anti-nausea medication and told me I could take him home for now.

The vet is not sure yet if this is an acute thing or a chronic condition that Jack will have to take medication for, we'll know more after a couple weeks.

This is "the cone". Jack absolutely hated this thing and actually managed to push it off with his back legs while he was still slightly sedated.:)

Jack spent the 1st few traumatised days after the ER visit under the bed.:(

The only good thing we got out of this whole experience was a new pair of leg warmers for Jack!:) Check them out! Bryce and I think they're pretty funny/cute but we're pretty sure Jack's embarrassed of them. They had to shave his arms for the IVs and his belly for the ultrasound and let me tell you the whole bare belly thing is very unattractive.:)

Isn't he just a cute little poser??
So anyway, $1500 later, 3 lbs lighter and a new nick name "Flash dance Jack", our kitty is home and feeling better.
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Oh the things we go through for our children. . . . .I mean pets!:)

*Christmas Chaios!*

We had a great Thanksgiving but I completely forgot to take pictures of it! The food was great and the company was even better! The Shields' are pretty fun people and Karmen(my sister in-law) was the perfect host! I love Thanksgiving and have so many things to be thankful for!!

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Almost as great as Thanksgiving is Christmas shopping on "Black Friday"! This is the day I start feeling the Christmas spirit for the season! There's just something about fighting the crowd for the best deals while Christmas music plays through out the store!:)

My mom has NEVER had the opportunity to experience Black Friday shopping so Adrienne and I were really excited to take her out in the crowds this year! Come to find out, the malls in Salt Lake City open at midnight so we started our shopping very early.:)

Not to worry, we took a nap before leaving the house at 12:45 and Yes!. . . . That's AM.

The South Town Mall was just our first stop of many that day!

Here we are waiting in line at 5:00 AM for our third stop at Old Navy. The 1st 50 customers in line received a free MP3 player and my mom cut in front of me at the last minute to be #50! That's what I get for showing her the ropes!:)

Not only did we make a few amusing memories and had tons of fun but we got some great deals too!! We shopped for 14 hours straight, ending at 3:00 PM! And I will admit that I was completely worn out!

Now it's time to wrap all those Christmas gifts! This is what my "extra" room looks like right now! I also just finished the all day project of redecorating the house with Christmas decor. This time of year might be a little chaotic but it is Oh So Fun!

Carrie....Candy.....and Twilight!!

WOW!!. . . . is the best word to describe the week I just had!

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I drove to Salt Lake City on Tuesday to spend a few fun filled days with my mom! We had a couple things planned:

Wednesday: Carrie Underwood concert!!

Thursday: Christmas shopping & hanging out with the grand kids!!

Friday: Twilight movie!!
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First activity on the agenda. . . .the Carrie Underwood concert! And let me just tell you it was worth every penny!

It was fun to get dressed up, go eat dinner & spend a fun night with my mom! Happy belated birthday present for you mom.:)

Here we are waiting for the concert to begin.

I really don't listen to much country music besides a select few (Carrie Underwood obviously), so I had never heard of "Little Big Town" but I was definitely impressed! I loved their music and they were very entertaining so I'm planning on downloading their new CD. They did a great job opening the concert!

And then. . . . . .(drum roll please). . . . Carrie Underwood came out and just completely blew me away!! She's amazing!!

She's beautiful!!

She's extremely talented!!

She has an amazing voice!!

She's entertaining!!

She's very down to earth!

And she put on an awesome concert!!

She sang 18 songs, changed 4 times, and totally rocked out to Guns 'N Roses "Take me down to the Paradise city" and through the whole 2 hours her mega vocals never wavered! Holy crap!! Did I tell you how amazing she is??

I really liked Carrie Underwood before and now I am just in "awe"!

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On a much lighter note but only just slightly less exciting was making candy turkeys with my niece and nephew.:)

I got the idea off Elyse's blog (thanks Elyse) and thought it was such a cute idea. And since I don't have kids of my own, and wasn't about to make them by myself, I thought Jett and Tenli would have fun making them.

I was right!! Jett made about 20, I think, and he had to have new candy for each one even though he would take them apart after making each one.:)

Yea, they think Aunt Brittany is pretty cool for showing them how to make candy turkeys! And they talked about them for a couple days afterwards.:)

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And last, but certainly not least, on our agenda for the week was going to see the "much anticipated" Twilight movie!!

My mom had pre-ordered our tickets about a month ago but we still were too late to get into the mid-night showing so we opted to go the following morning after a good night's rest.:)

Oh!. . . but before the movie we had to stop off at Village Inn to fuel up and show off our Twilight T-shirts!

And yes, that is a big yummy glass of chocolate milk which when I ordered, made my mom ask, "how old are you Brittany" and I replied with "not too old to wear a Twilight shirt and order a glass of chocolate milk with my breakfast." :)
I went into the movie with very little expectations and I will say that it far exceeded them!! I loved the movie! I thought it was well made and that they did well with what they had. Most of the cast played their parts really well! And I will have to admit that I am now in love with Robert Pattinson just as I am in love with Edward! They come hand in hand now! He was a pretty sexy vampire! I can't wait to buy it when it comes out on DVD! And I'm also very excited that they set it up for the sequel "New Moon".

What did all you Twilight blogger fans think of it??

What a great week!

I am back home now and am anxiously awaiting Thanksgiving in Tooele with Bryce's family and "Black Friday" shopping in Salt Lake with my mom!

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I love the holidays!!!