You Done Got Shrunk 2010!

For those of you who don't understand this post's title, you obviously didn't spend Christmas with the Christiansen Family or you haven't seen Despicable Me. (Both are things you should consider doing before you die.)

2010 is over. It feels good to have a new start. 2010 was a very different year for Sydney and I. Our first full year living outside of Utah. I finished my first year of med school. Sydney started her own business. We both got really really busy with our church callings. It was a good year. Eventually I'll do a post about our 2010 highlights, but this post is about our Christmas trip home to Utah. (Thanks to our wonderful parent's generosity in purchasing our plane tickets)

I'm realizing now that I didn't take very many pictures. Must have been having too much fun.

First, this is the snow storm that happened in Richmond on Thursday morning that cancelled my exam for Friday morning. Yeah, that's right. I had to wait to take my final until...Tuesday, Jan 4. I definitely have had more snow days here in Richmond, then I have ever had my entire life living in Utah.

A casual picture at Sydney's house on Christmas Eve while Jim shared a spiritual message. Those are our feet!

Rachel and my mom put together the best Christmas party ever! It was a bunch of Minute-To-Win-It challenges. Hilarious. Don't know what that is? Neither did I. Spend the next 5 minutes on YouTube and then return. This challenge is my cousin Adrianne and Uncle Wes. They have Vaseline on their noses which they used to pick up little fuzzy balls and transfer to a bowl across the room. The person who moved the most balls in a minute won. Many of the games were quite a treat.

My favorite was a game where you put a cookie on your forehead, lean back or lay on the ground, and then try to eat the cookie using nothing but your face, all within a minute of course. Hilarious!

Tessa was not camera shy at the party!

We got back to Richmond, and have been just preparing for the new year. We celebrated my birthday and Sydney got me some wonderful presents. I got an entire paint set with a million colors and an official painting knife so I can finally create like my great mentor Bob Ross. My artwork will likely make an appearance on this blog.

So far, the tally for free things I've received on my birthday this year is:

-Free Red Robin Burger (Delicious!)

-Free Ruby Tuesday's Burger. (Haven't used yet)

-Free Coldstone (I actually got 2!)

-18 Free Wings, and a Free Dessert to Buffalo Wild Wings.

-Free Shake at Arby's.

-Free Shake at Del Taco.

-Free Dessert at Famous Dave's.

-Free Grand Slam at Denny's.

Finally, to wrap it all up, some beautiful family portraits taken at the Hamilton home on Christmas Eve. Anyone who was there can tell you that my face tells quite a story.

Happy New Year to all! Hope you have a good one.