"Bringerbread" Houses and Christmas Spouses

This year we had our first married Christmas together!  We were so excited to get our first Christmas tree, so with the help of Tai Pan, Walmart, and Colby's parents we began decorating Thanksgiving night.... with many mishaps that is.  After restringing the lights about five times we were Almost done when, lo and behold, the last strand doesn't work, so we ran to Walmart...more than once to buy the last of the boxes of lights that FINALLY worked!  Over the next few days we were finally able to get our Christmas tree, my favorite part of Christmas, up.   And the Christmas garland was able to be lit thanks to my dad for installing a plug.

Colby took part in the After Thanksgiving sales.  Me?  No thanks, I have to wake up plenty early every week for clinical, I'll take my rest thank you very much.  He landed us a wet/dry vac regularly 90 bucks for a whopping 20 dollars!  He bought 2 and sold one for $40.  So, it was basically free, besides the fact he chilled to the bone waiting in line as the 40th person or 15th, depending on when you talk to him.:)
Week after finals we participated in the long awaited annual Sherman Gingerbread House making contest.  Colby and I had been preparing for months.  We knew we were on top from last year and could not disappoint this year:).  So, after hours of work here was our finished product.  My Grandma Hassell said (so you know we gave ours to her last year), "I still like mine better."  Ha ha what do you think?

 

Just the beginnig, hours left to work

 
Colby's genius idea, the cobble stone fireplace

 
The finished product of our log cabin, with yellow snow, we're not quite as good as Susan at making frosting

 

The proud builders

We had a month full of many parties and festivities.  Between all of Colby's family parties, my family parties, and work parties, we were swamped.  But we had a lot of fun doing it.  We won the ugly sweater party at Kyle and Sheena's, came home with the prized shaving gel at the Berg party, and I won the headstand contest at the Sherman party (I was NOT going to fall:)).  Unfortunately at the Radmall party Colby and I would rock the name game until it came down to the end, and we'd choke.  Oh well, I guess we can't win Everything:).

 This was last years sweaters, I forgot my camera, but as you can see we take the Ugly Sweater theme very seriously.  This year I wore a ninja turtles (a smash hit) and Colby wore an awesome denim Christmas diddy.

After taking pictures in front of our illuminated Christmas tree and reading "The Night Before Christmas," (a gift from my parents) on Christmas Eve, we settled in for our long winters nap.  So much for long, I could hardly sleep, I felt like that 7 year old girl again waiting for Santa Clause to come!  I woke up at 6:50 and could not get back to sleep, so we opened presents at 7.

 

A Sherman tradition: new Christmas jammies.  Thanks Sue and Mitch, they are soo comfy!

 Titan and Kohen so excited after throwing "reindeer dust" could hardly wait for Santa to come.  And Dexter in the next room, crashed from the excitement of Santa

Colby's Christmas Stocking loaded with goodies, and my new Camera!  So excited!

 

These were the homemade

stockings I made for Colby

After Sue and Mitch came for a visit, we left for my Grandpa's.  As always we had a yummy Christmas brunch.  Thanks gramps for all your hard work to keep the traditions alive!  Then it was over to Grandma Hassell's, we had fun watching the kids rip into their presents.

This is Kade, much to his dad's dismay he likes to fit in with Kelle and Kendell.  Ha ha at least he looks freaking cute doing it.

After a long day, we made one more trip to Colby's parents to hang out for a bit.  We then headed down to Woods Cross, to have a sleep over so Em and I could hit the big after Christmas sales at the Gateway at 6 AM!  Well, to our disappointment, the only store that opened that early was Old Navy.  Ha so, we did go back later and did great at not spending too much until we hit the Gap on the way out.  Ooops, I guess at least we came out with some great deals. 

Our attempt at Kendell's first sleep over.  After she ran laps around us at about midnight, we decided she probably wasn't ready for that step yet.  Maybe in a few years Kenny!

Then, to finish off the Christmas festivities, I hosted my annual friend Christmas party.  We had Cafe Rio burrito's which our house now officially smells of garlic.  Oh well, according to Colby at least we won't have Vampires.  We had a lot of fun, and were sad for those who couldn't make it.  Let's plan for next year!

A last minute picture before everyone left.  Love you guys!

Merry Christmas 2009!

Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving

This year was our second annual Turkey Trot.  We went up to Ogden Regional to run with my brother and his in laws. As Always we had a lot of fun, we (I) look forward to it next year.
Although we spent Thanksgiving with Colby's family, we were in my hometown, South Weber.  Down at the Cedar Bench ward house we had a yummy turkey dinner.  After that Christmas was officially on!

This is Colby so "excited" to go run, he could hardly wait:)

  This is us both Red faced, feeling good after a
nice run

Halloween Extravaganza and Birthday Fun

October has come and gone, and Halloween and birthday parties are in the past.  Here are some highlights from both.
First off, we moved into my Aunt Kris's old house in East Layton.  We finally are settled and although it's pretty bare from the lack of furniture, we are loving our own house.  We look forward to many years here!
Halloween we started out with a yummy meal of: blood, brains, and eye ball soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, monster heads, broomsticks, and frog eggs.  We then got ready to host a little party for our families.  It included: bubbling witches brew, ice cream filled jack-o-lanterns, and lots and lots of sugar cookies.  We had much less trick or treater's than expected, but with Colby's sister Chantel and her family, then the whole Radmall family, along with Tom and Whit we had plenty going on.  The kids loved the empty front room; perfect for playing "swimming."  Kendell demonstrated her slolemn skiing technique after "jumping in the lake" and "waiting for the rope.":)  Colby blew plenty of smoke rings from the brew, and now Titan is positive Colby doesn't have a brain.  Ha we had a lot of fun.  Emily thinks it should be an annual thing, we'll see.  Doubt it though, sorry, you all are multiplying too fast!  By June next year we will have 3 more to add to the family!

These pumpkins were from the Martha Stewart website. Although I was happy with how they turned out, they were NOT worth the 4 hrs to make 8!                          

The next day was my birthday.  Colby of course spoiled me Way too much, but it was fun.  I now have 2 new coats, scriptures (mine were completely out of the binding) and some other fun stuff.  That night we went and had the traditional cheese enchiladas at my mom's.  Always yummy.  Then Kelle and I shared a birthday song and cake.  She turned the big 5 the next day on the 2nd!  We went and visited her, and Kade was exstactic about the "Badu's" (balloons) from Kelle's birthday party.  I think he finally likes Colby after that night.  Wahoo!:)
That about sums it up, we are looking forward to the holidays, and a break from school!!!

Vacations

Since school has started Colby and I have both been very busy.  I with school and work, and Colby with work.  He has recently started a new job as the computer guy at Sherm's Store, still selling cars here and there.  So when we get time off we make sure we make use of it.  Over Memorial Day, we went and hiked Waterfall Canyon.  I swear that hike gets steeper every time!  Then, this past weekend, we took my Grandma with us to Montana.  After not merging to stay on I-15 and having to stop on the top of a mountain to tie up the splash guard on my car with string and a flimsy metal chain, we finally arrived there at midnight Thursday.  Friday we spent the day with my cute Auntie Dort playing cards, and doing nothing else but...  homework.  That night Colby and I thought we'd go see what the "Night Life" was like around there.  Oh wait, there is no night life.  Ha every shop on Main Street closes at 6 o'clock!  So here we are strollin down Main Street at 6:30 and the place was deserted.  So to say the least, we didn't stay out very long.  The next day we drove to my Auntie Marge's house, where she had a full house with all her kids there visiting.  After a big dinner, we played hate your neighbor for the next 4 hours.  Let's just say I'm not so good at that game, especially when I have 2 very serious players on either side of me.  We had fun, Colby got a taste of the fam, I think he was a little shocked but liked it.  Sunday we rolled out of there sad to leave so soon.  Montana is my favorite.  It is so beautiful, and there is nothing better than spending time with family. 

Pictures: 1. Over looking Ogden a top Waterfall Canyon.  2. At Autnie Dort's with Grandma, and Dort.  Unfortunately my camera always dies and I wasn't able to get one at Marge's.

Lake Powell and End of Summer

We finished off the summer with a week in LP with my whole fam.  We had a great time enjoying the sunny days and rainy nights, rainbow bridge, the petrified forest, yummy dinners, and of course full days of boating: skiing, surfing, boarding (skate and wake), and just floating on the lake. Colby tried to kill himself over and over again on the wakeboard, but luckily came out alive.  He also got up his first time skiing and then once again tried to kill himself by acting like he was pro.  Then we had a good laugh watching him attempt barefoot waterskiing:).  Grandpa got up on the wake surf on his 82nd Birthday.  What a champ!  I hope I can play behind the boat when I'm his age.

Colby was stoked to find someone had brought a guitarYou can't see it, but that is a lizard.  The first I've caught since I was about 6.Catching Rain drops at Indian CreekHappy 82nd Gramps!

Tandem style, nothing better









The Beautiful Colby.  He likes to dress up in my clothes while I'm in the water.  A little weird?...  I know:)

Honeymooners

Although our honeymoon was over 3 months ago, let me just update you real quick.  The morning after our wedding, we turned off the alarm and slept in.  When we finally woke up, we rushed to the airport and were, Surprise, pulled over for speeding.  We barely made our flight and flew to Long Beach.  There we boarded the Carnival Splendor.  It was a brand new boat and so fun!  It was equipped with a water slide, mini golf coarse, out/indoor movie theater, and much more.  It had a retro look to it and we loved it!  The first 2 days were at sea and we enjoyed the night clubs, winning the newlywed game (and watching it over and over again on the TV), a couples massage (which we won, but with the tip ended up being, to Colby's dismay, expensive), the good dinners, dancing down at the piano bar, and watching the sea life; we saw dolphins, hammer heads, sea turtles, flying fish, sting rays, and even whales far off.

                               Our Winnings
The first stop was Peurto Villarta (I know I slaughtered that spelling).  There we took a little bus tour of the city but got off early to enjoy the ten cent bathroom's where you were given your 3 squares of toilet paper by a toothless old man, and Colby's first experience snorkeling.  It was fun, but we got stung by tons of tiny little jellyfish!  Ouch!
Second stop was Mazetlan.  Here we just had fun walking around bargaining.  We would talk people down, but never bought anything.  Typical me:).

The final and last stop was Cabo.  We walked to the beach and had plans of going snorkeling again, but the water was FREEZING!  It was beautiful and clear though.  We also got tattoos mine on my foot and Colby on his shoulder.  Colby enjoyed his for about 5 minutes, put his shirt on and then a few minutes later I noticed a big black blob on his shirt.  Ha his tattoo had smeared and was going to be like that for 14 days:).  I then had my first mango, Yum, I couldn't get enough.

                     Yummy Mangos

               Before Colby's became the "Big Blob"
The last 2 days were at sea and we just enjoyed all the boat had to offer.  One night we went down to the dance club, but unfortunately, or fortunately whichever way you want to look at it, were the only ones there.  We danced for about an hour while people watched us through the windows.  Ha good times.  Overall we had a great time, and would love to go back!

The Big Day

On June 27th Colby and I were married in the Draper Temple. As you know, June was a rainy month this year, and we did not know what our wedding day had in store for us, especially since the day before there was a huge thunder storm. But morning of, there was not a cloud in sight and it was a beautiful day. We were sealed at 9 o'clock in the morning. After taking pictures at the temple, we had a little family get together at the Timbermine. A few months before we decided we didn't want to do a reception and it was the best decision we ever made! Although I decided I did not want to decorate, everything looked perfect in my opinion, and I was so happy with it. We enjoyed a yummy chicken dinner, mingled with our guests, cut the cake, threw the boquet, tossed the garter and we were on our way! It was only 4 o'clok, but we were exhausted and glad we didn't have to go till 9 or later that night, we would have died! We went to a condo on Pineview, which Colby's uncle kindly let us use and enjoyed a nice long nap and a fancy take out dinner from Olive Garden at non other than Sherm's Store.:)