BYU Vs. Utah Game

So, it has been an interesting month! Since the last post Nicole and I have been pretty busy. Nicole started her busy season and has been working like crazy! I was supposed to go on the Klondike camp but was sick and it was snowing hard so I didn't end up going. As I recovered from my sickness I developed the nice cold sore that you can see in the picture. That weekend we went to Avatar in 3D and had a great time. The young men also took first in the Klondike sled race so we threw a short pizza/wii party for them and had a blast!

Nicole and I went to the Jazz Vs. Kings game on Friday night and then the BYU Vs. Utah game on Saturday. I love to watch the Jazz, especially when they play well which they have been. And of course Nicole had fun watching Kyle Korver! Saturday was actually really busy and as you can see from the picture I clearly love Nicole to pieces because I wore a blue shirt! I still cheered hard for the U though! I am going to try harder to keep the blog up-to-date, but I have a hard time posting without pictures which means I will need to take more pictures.

In other news, Nicole and I are making it through the winter with hopes of a sunny vacation sometime in the coming months. We are also training hard for the Ogden Marathon on May 15th. It is really exciting to be doing it but it is going to be a lot of work! I have an interview at the Medical College of Wisconsin on March 5th and as of yet we have not heard back from the U. We hope that whenever we hear back that it will be good news!

Home for the Holidays

This year we had a special treat for the holidays. Colb and I both had brothers serving missions who returned home. Brian Hales arrived home two days before Thanksgiving from the Argentina, Buenos Aires West Mission. Braxton Duncan returned a few weeks later on December 15 from the New York, Rochester Mission. We are so excited to have them back!

We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas in cold Roosevelt and really enjoyed the time, good food, visiting, games, late nights, traditions, and family. We missed Tim who is in the MTC learning Chinese and preparing to serve in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission. We also missed Grandma Lamb who passed away Christmas Eve returning to our heavenly home for the holidays. We are so thankful for the gospel in our lives and our knowledge of eternal families.

We had wonderful holidays and thoroughly enjoyed the time together and not working!

We don't have pics right now of Brax getting home, but I'll go ahead and post the a few holiday pics.

Our first moments with Bri and the airport

Rise and shout the cougars are out!
BYU vs. Utah football game

Cheering on our teams

Playing some Wii over the break
(I love Mom in the background folding laundry)

Making Christmas sugar cookies with Colb
This is my least favorite part as you can see by the mess (where are you when I need you LeAnn)!

The finished products!
We made over four dozen--way too many!

The guys talked Halli into giving them a back rub after dinner

11 Minute Abs = Distraction

First off, we will be going private within in the next week so if you haven't already given us your email please do so.

Next, I want to tell you about a funny story that occurred last night. Nicole and I were doing 11 minute abs together and got onto the topic of Nicole's birthday. I had gotten her gifts earlier that day but she didn't know anything about it. This is how the conversation went:

Nicole: Will you promise to tell me one thing and be honest?
Colby: Sure.
Nicole: How many birthday presents did you get me? Was it just one or was it more than that?
Colby: Hmmm. I don't think I can answer that.
Nicole: Why not? You promised to tell me!
Colby: Yeah. I can't tell you that now though.
Nicole: Please? It's really important for me to know!
Colby: Why? What does it matter if I got you one gift or if I got you thre.... Oops.
Nicole: What?
Colby: Nothing, I didn't say anything.
Nicole: Yes you did! What was it?

Well, after deciding that it really didn't matter if I got her one gift or three gifts, I finally told her what she had missed. And we had a pretty good laugh afterward. I couldn't believe that I would be so easy to fool!

Following the Trend

P.S. We're following this smart trend and going private, so comment with your e-mail if you want to view our blog.

Where did the time go?

Has it really been two months since we last posted? Life has been wonderful and busy. I don't think there's any way to fit in everything we've been doing, but we will try to share a few of the highlights.

• I am the primary president in our ward and today was our annual primary program. It was such a neat experience and something that I am also glad is now over. I was a little nervous about it all coming together, but it always does. It was another testimony building experience that this is truly the Lord's work. The primary theme this year is My Eternal Family. I'm so thankful for all of my family. My parents, Mitch, and Halli came out for the weekend and it was so fun for Colb and me to spend some time with them.
  

• Colb is starting to volunteer at the new Riverton hospital in the emergency department. He starts in a couple weeks and is really excited for this experience.
  

• I've been helping with recruiting at work and love it. I went up to Utah State about a month ago for Meet the Firms. About three years ago, I was a student at USU attending my first Meet the Firms and learning about internships. Three years later, I've come full circle and was now doing the recruiting instead of being recruited. We went to the Ryan Shupe concert at BYU for recruiting last night. I really enjoy meeting the students, plus I have to say that it is great to be on the other side! We love Ryan Shupe, and they are so talented.

• In case you didn't know, last week was National Chemistry week (I'm married to a chemist, I now know these things). We spent last Saturday at the city library doing science experiments for children. Colb has been volunteering at this event with the American Chemical Society for three years (and I've even been twice now). Playing with fire, liquid nitrogen, and slime is right up Colb's alley so he loves it and is great with the kids! My personal favorite is shaving cream art.

• One of the great benefits of marrying someone that you went to high school with is that you know the same people and have lots of the same friends. We were excited that one of our high school friends got married a couple weeks ago, so we could catch up with him and a bunch of our high school friends. It was crazy to see everyone (and kids) and talk about school and jobs and realize how grown up we all are.

• It's official! I passed the CPA! I have everything done and am now just finishing up all the paperwork. It feels so good!
  

There's actually a ton more that we've been doing, but I realized this could go on forever if I keep going. We helped tile the clinic, went to the Scarlet Pimpernel, went fishing and four wheeling, worked lots, took an institute class, played with the Duncan's new puppies, and lots more. Our days and evenings are all pretty full, but we are happy and really enjoying this stage of life. Hope everything is going well for all of you!

Colb volunteers at Primary Children's Medical Center every week.
The kids are very entertained as you can see!

1 Year Anniversary!

So, I don't really have any pictures to post at this time. I have been working a big post of the things we have been up to lately and there are some good pictures there. However, the coolest thing happening right now is that we will have been married for a whole entire year tomorrow! I can't believe how fast it has gone by. Since we got married Nicole has finished her last semester of school to get her Master's degree, started working at Ernst & Young and has been there for more than 8 months. I finished my bachelor's and have been working the University of Utah for 2 1/2 months. It is crazy! I wanted to update everyone on this amazing accomplishment and milestone for us. I know that one year is not that long but it is our first anniversary and we are so excited for it! Next, I want to thank Nicole for being such a great wife and friend. I know that I am not the easiest person to live with by far (and I eat cereal for dinner. OK?! I admit it!), but she loves me still the same. She is the best and I couldn't ask for anyone better! I love her so much and she is the greatest and best part of my life! I couldn't live without her! Here is to a great year and many more (plus eternity!) to come!

Nicole Vs. The CPA

So Nicole has been studying furiously for the CPA and takes the third section this coming Friday. She has been listening to lectures and one of the lecturers, Pete Olinto (who, by the way, actually has a few pretty funny videos on YouTube), says that there is an inverse relationship between happiness and passing the CPA. Well, it also has been making me feel bad for her! And thus the sad face at the beginning of the post. I also have things I am working on as well but it does give me a little time to catch up on our blog.

We had a great time the past month with the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, the The Fray concert, and the Swain Family reunion. The Fray and Jack's Mannequin were awesome in concert and we got some great pictures, especially of Nicole's cousin, Dave, who was crowd surfing. I was glad to see Nicole get down in the crowd and toss those crowd surfers around! The temple open house was incredible, I would say my favorite part was the chandelier in the celestial room. For the reunion we went four-wheeling and it was awesome! I finally got some sun on my arms and legs and we all got incredibly dirty. Nicole's uncle Mike took us on this steep cliff, or maybe it was a hill, and we made it down after sliding a little bit. Actually we were sliding and Mike came running back up the hill saying "Use your back breaks!" and I was like "Oh yeah! I have back breaks too!" Anyway, it was kind of funny and we had such a great time being there with her family.

We also went to the MLS All-Stars vs. Everton FC soccer (futbol) game at Rio Tinto Stadium. The MLS All-Stars lost in a great game and an intense shootout at the end! We have had a great summer, except for the CPA part, and we are looking forward to more fun things to come!