Winter Wonderland

So this post is kind of a catch-up because I just barely ran into these pictures, but thought they would still be fun to share. One day over Christmas Break (which seems like such a long time ago!), we went sledding. However, we now sled very differently than I did as a child. Instead of sledding down a hill and having to haul yourself and your sled back up we just use four wheelers. This eliminates pretty much all forms of physical exertion, adds a new element of wet and cold snow in the face, and is still really fun! We were there with lots of family (Hales, Duncans, and Hackings) and had lots of fun!

Halli had lots of fun with Brynlie sledding down a small hill and playing in the snow. We made lots of snow angels and even had a few snowball fights.

Mom and Lisa are usually right in on all of the action, but they stayed a little warmer and drier this time.

Tim, of course, is looking pretty stylish...

We had a lot more people on the sled, but about this time we figured out that we didn't put in the card for the camera so we were done taking pictures.

Christmas Break!

Yay! Christmas break is finally here! Nicole and I finished school around the 19th and so we had a few days to really get into the Christmas spirit. We also had the opportunity to attend a small ceremony for Paul Curtis. We were so happy for him and his wife. We have known Paul forever and it was way fun to see him making that step.
We had the opportunity to go to the First Presidency Devotional earlier in the month and we happened to make it to Ring Wild Bells (the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Program). It was amazing! We went back to Temple Square that Sunday night and took a few more pictures with the lights.

We left for home with our car packed completely full of gifts and everything we would need for almost two weeks! We spent Christmas Eve at Nicole's house and we had a blast! We had been cooking all day too and we had a great dinner with chicken cordon bleu. We opened our gifts there and then went to my house to spend the night. We got up at a decent time and lined up in the hallway to open our gifts! We all got some pretty amazing things. I must have been half asleep (and Nicole must have gotten a camera!) because she managed to get this picture of me on Christmas morning:

The day after Christmas is the traditional day for the Swain Family Christmas Party. We had it at the Technology College where Nicole's uncle works. We had fun playing games and exchanging presents and just catching up with everyone there.

We had a great Christmas and were very lucky with all of the gifts we received but especially lucky to be with our families and to talk to Braxton and Brian (both on missions). This last picture we actually took at Thanksgiving Point on the 2oth but I thought it was a nice one to finish out this Christmas post. "And to all a good night!"

Seven Month Catch-up

So I have been convinced to start blogging. Colb and I started this blog a while ago when we were dating, but have never done anything with it. A lot has happened in the last seven months so we decided to make a few posts to catch things up and then we will try to be better at keeping it updated.

Hales Family Christmas Party

December 13th was a very snowy Saturday in Salt Lake City but we all managed to brave the storm and travel to the Hales Family Christmas Party. We had a great time, the food was really good and we had a blast taking pictures (as you can tell). Here is a picture of the boys:


And two of the girls (the other one was dressed up as an angel for the nativity scene and was running around somewhere):


This is a picture of us with Nicole's Great-Grandma. She is still with it and she throws a great party!


This is Nicole in her "eskimo" vest. Isn't she the cutest thing ever! I am such a lucky guy!

Christmas Tree (And Cookie) Decorating!

Nicole and I are spending our first Christmas together this year! We got a tree and I literally smothered it in lights, over 1500 in all! Nicole's Grandma helped us out with decorations and they looked great!

We also decided to make some Christmas cookies to take to some of our neighbors. Nicole made some great looking cookies and everybody loved them! Needless to say that the cookies I decorated were left home for our own consumption...