Siblings...gotta love 'em!

Life has been busy for the Holmes! Brendon's schedule: study, study, study; Stephanie's schedule: work, cook, clean, find new job (contract up in 3 weeks).

This past week I was able to have a good phone chat with my younger sister & a good gmail chat with my older sister.

This is why I LOVE siblings (chat with older sister)...

Sister: (Checking up with job search) What applications are you filling out?
Me: University applications and cover letter after cover letter after cover letter.

Sister: What about city organizer something or other?
Me: Community Director...so I called the guy who supposedly does the job right now with questions I prepared. Turns out, they're doing some reorganization & this is a new position. So I asked if it was okay if I asked some questions anyways & I totally bombed the call. Felt really dumb. It was BAD. Who can mess up asking questions you ask...well I can, & I did.

(Told her the story)

Me: I wanted to cry after the call. But I held in the tears. Dad would be proud.
Sister: Good job, dad...you...I was just saying that!

Me: Brendon made me feel better when he got home. He told me I used some words I probably shouldn't have. I chalk it up to culture difference...from the West to the Midwest.
Sister: Chalk it up to learning experiences, right?...Hey!
Me: That's hilarious! It's like we're sisters or something.

Sister: You keep typing things I'm thinking!
Me: I just type faster.
Sister: You can just type...
Me: :)
Sister: ...faster.

Me: HAHAHAHAHA! Is the baby in bed?
Sister: Yep. But I'm laughing my head off!!!

The conversation continued...

I just loved this conversation & wanted to remember it, so I decided to blog about it.

Happy One Year Anniversary!

Yesterday marked the exact day (September 22) to make the happiest, most amazing year of my life! Brendon & I have now been married for just over 525,600 minutes; 8,760 hours; 365 days; 52 weeks; 12 months; 1 year! What a wonderful ride it has been. This is mostly for journalling purposes, so if you want to spare yourself now, don't read on.

It's amazing how you know with your whole heart that you should marry someone long before you completely know that person. And I have learned so much about Brendon this past year that I didn't know before we were married...

• He's HILARIOUS (don't let his calm demeanor fool you)
• He has a love for tickling like his mother
• He is SO willing to help out around the house
• He has extremely strong faith (assuring me that "everything will work out")
  

Some of my favorite moments of the year...

• Getting texts from Brendon saying, "I miss you!"
• Talking in bed together before falling asleep
• Waking up & hearing "I love you so much!" before anything else
• Shouting "Brendon's home!" & embracing
• Eating dinner together
• Going on hikes together
• Cruising with our friends, Mike & Rachel
• Playing volleyball together (just the 2 of us or with a group)
• Playing the smile & laugh game (can't be the first to smile/laugh)
• Running together (the whole 3 times we did this)
• Going on trips to California to visit with family
  
• Driving across the country together talking, singing, & laughing
• Working at Overstock.com together
• Giving Brendon the 12 Days of Christmas & hearing him say, "You really DO love me more!"
• Fighting about who loves who more

I still have my moments when I think, "I'm married! This is so cool!" And cool it is. Words can't describe.

I love you, Brendon!

I Have an Addiction

Dinner conversation yesterday

Steph: "So...I have an addiction. I'm addicted to blogging."

Brendon: "Is it bad?"

Steph: "No...well, it could be."

(Interjection: I make all efforts possible to spend my time wisely. I hate TV, not a big fan of movies, & I always try to keep my "to do" list full, giving me something to keep me busy. In fact, I've even had multiple internal battles about limiting my blogging time, so as not to "waste" hours on end in any given week. For those of you who don't believe I spend a lot of time blogging: I usually read other's blogs rather than posting on my own, because I enjoy it more.)

Steph: "Whenever I make a post on my blog, I get so excited about reading people's comments, that I check the blog ten times throughout the day. I check the blog first thing when I wake up, throughout the day, and before going to bed."

Brendon: (chuckles with a big smile) "Now you know how I feel about sports!"

Steph: "Really, is that what it's like? I thought I'd never understand."

Brendon: "That's exactly how it is: first thing in the morning, throughout the day, and right before going to bed."

Steph: "Wow!...

(Trying to get to a more important thought...)

"But wait, listen to this. I'm so addicted & I wanted to read a new post this morning, but nobody on my list had posted. I thought, 'I'll go to Sheryl's blog (my mom-in-law), she ALWAYS has someone who recently posted.' So I go to your mom's blog and randomly click on people I don't know. As I'm scrolling through a random blogs, glancing at pictures, a family picture catches my eye. The post mentions the family's lives have been changed forever. I was intrigued, so I followed the link to a blog and started reading about this family who's parents were in a plane crash and were in critical condition, but are now at a burn unit. The four kids now live with their aunt. I went back in time to before the crash happened & they were such happy people, who seemed to have a picture-perfect life. They loved life & seemed to cherish every moment.

"The sister of the woman in the airplane accident had a link to another blog, mentioning his hardships. I followed the link (this may sound familiar to some of you bloggers...link to link to link). The blog is a man writing about his wife's recovery. She had a baby in June, had complications with delivery, and the doctor's had to amputate both of her legs below the knee, her left arm, and she's blind. She'll never see her baby.

"My life was put into perspective today. It was amazing."

Anyway, I was in awe of these incredible stories and was once again reminded that life is about the relationships we build and the way we treat people, not keeping the house clean, building status at work, or worrying about the future.

Thank you, bloggers, for helping me keep my life in perspective.

The Holmes' Apartment is Now a Home

We have finally turned our apartment into a home and I am SOOO excited! While living on my own the past five years, I've never thought it was worth the money or extra nails in the wall to decorate a temporary dwelling. But I finally broke down and made our apartment a home by nailing pictures on the wall.

As a little preview to the our second apartment, when Brendon & I found our first apartment, I was proudly showing it to my parents. Their faces didn't show the excitement I felt and my mom said, "Well, at least it will always get better than this." And better it is.

Here is a little tour for those of you interested...



Thanks to my running buddy, who just happens to be an interior decorator, Brendon & I agreed on a nice, conversational set-up for our living room. The living room is my favorite room and, coincidentally, the only room that's decorated.

On the main level with the living room is the kitchen and we love it! There's a lot more counter & cupboard space than we're used to. There has been more time for dinner preparation than in the past, so we're finally trying a lot of new recipes.


Up the Stairs...
We have a bed ready for all of you coming to visit. There's plenty of room: you can even have your own closet! Unlike the spacious guest bedroom, the bathroom is a bit small, but it's working out fine.



And the "master bedroom" (that's the same size as the guest bedroom) is our bedroom. It's bigger than our last bedroom, so practically a master bedroom to us.

And Down the Stairs...
We have SO MUCH ROOM FOR STORAGE! And, as a result, no junk room. It's so great! Our washer & dryer are downstairs along with storage food & supplies, camping gear, volleyball stuff, and everything else that needs a storage room.



What's even better is that this apartment doubles as a study room for Brendon & an office for Stephanie.



That's right! Brendon has surpassed amazing! Here he is, studying hard in his newly remodeled study room.

And here's Stephanie working for Overstock.com in the kitchen/dining room that doubles as an office.

From Passions to Phrases....All about Steph!

So...I got tagged. Not a fan, but here's to you Momma Sheryl!

Eight of my Passions

• Cuddling with Brendon
• Playing games with my family
• Holding babies (& making them smile/laugh)
• Bonding with loved ones; family & friends
• Running outside
• Feeling productive
• Cooking a good meal
• Eating an ice cream sandwich from Smart Cookie (too bad those can't be sent in a package to MO)

Eight Things on my "To Do" List before I Die

• Raise children
• Run another marathon
• Serve a mission
• Buy a home
• Go to a different country for a medical mission
• Start doing family history
• Be an active learner (...till I die)
• Enjoy all the small moments in life

Eight Phrases that Commonly Exit my Mouth

• I love you!
• Brendon's home!!!!
• Are you serious?
• You're SOOO funny!
• Gol! (I was told I say this when I get tickled)
• Look at you!!!
• Let's play a game!
• You are my sunshine....(I only sing in front of one person)

Eight Items of Entertainment my Eyes have Viewed (books & movies)

• The scriptures
• The Last Lecture
• Biography of Mother Teresa
• They Saw Beyond Death (written by my very own Arvin Gibson)
• The Pelican Brief
• My Wedding Video
• Emma Smith
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Eight People I Want to Hear From (blog, phone, letter, or package:)

• Mindy, Mindy, Mindy! (blog)
• Julie Burnett
• Cassie
• Mom
• Dad
• Brittany
• Austin
• Melissa (new site coming soon???)

...okay, so that was more fun than I expected. Thanks for the advice on my blog, Momma Sheryl!

Home Sweet Home

It's a new phase of life for the Holmes...

Not only will I be taking over our blog (this is my first post on this blog...Brendon has been so wonderful about posting while I read everyone else's blogs and leave comments), but we also made it to our new home in Kirksville, Missouri!

We left Utah first thing Monday morning with our treat bag from my mom (it wouldn't be a road trip without it). Saying "good-bye" to my family was a little harder than anticipated, but Brendon said I did a good job. :)

We jumped into our Penske truck and headed for Colorado to stay with Matt & Heidi.

Playing with baby Jackson and talking with Matt & Heidi in Colorado was so much fun!.

Since Tyler & Mindy were nearby (Littleton, Colorado), we thought we'd stop by and say hi before we parted ways to Michigan (for them) and Missouri (for us). We played with baby Brooklyn and had dinner with Tyler, Mindy, & Tyler's parents.

We just can't get enough of our niece and nephew! And we love our time with our siblings and their spouses.

We left early Wednesday morning for our new home. We saw hundreds of thousands of millions of corn. The ride was enjoyable and beautiful. I've always been a fan of road trips, they always provide good "bonding moments.


After driving in Missouri seeing small towns here and there, I asked, "Is that what Kirksville is like?" Brendon nodded his head and I prepared myself for the worst.

I was pleasantly surprised as we drove into Kirksville; we even have several street lights.
Population: 17,406

And we love our apartment. We're in a four-plex with three levels.
Upstairs: 2 bedrooms and a bathroom; Main Level: living room and kitchen; Downstairs: unfinished basement with PLENTY of room for our washer & dryer and a lot of storage room--I'm a huge fan of that--goodbye junk rooms, hello storage room! More pictures to come...right after we're all settled in.

Orientation at A.T. Still University...
It was so much fun! Brendon & I got to meet a lot of new people (they even had a spouse orientation, a good sign that I will be well taken care of while Brendon is busy). The school is wonderful. We heard many times that the next few years of school will be hard and challenging, but there is plenty of help, for the both of us.

We are excited for our new beginning in our lovable town of Missouri. We adore the people here!

During Orientation, the school had a white coat ceremony. A previous A.T. Still student spoke. As a recent patient with cancer, she gave advise to the students on how to be a good doctor from the viewpoint of the patient. I wish I recorded it and could post it.

Here's Brendon walking down with his white coat in hand.

I am so proud of Brendon and his hard work as he achieves his life-long goal of becoming a doctor. Here he is during the ceremony, getting coated.

Last, but not least...the future Dr. Brendon Holmes (just for you, Mom).

The Last Lecture

As a gift from the Dean during orientation, each new 1st year was given a copy of a book called "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. Just out of curiosity, I picked it up on Friday and couldn't put it down! Randy was a computer science professor who was invited to give a last lecture to the school after he was diagnosed with fatal pancreatic cancer. It's a story of a phenomenal man, sharing his unique perspective on life lessons. I would love to share more, but I really want everyone to read it for themselves.