Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas...

We spend most of Christmas Eve day with Matt's extended family. We started out the day by making sack lunches for the Salvation Army and delivering them. Then we ate lunch ourselves. Later, we had dinner (scones!) and had a little family Christmas Eve party. There was a small talent show, a reading of the Christmas story, singing, and of course present opening. It was fun to spend time with them and participate in some of their traditions. Matt's family always opened all of their presents on Christmas Eve, so to compromise we opened a few up- Sydney wasn't really in the mood because she was pretty tired, but she opened up new Christmas pajamas and a book about the first Christmas.

Our stockings hung with care...
Our tree!

Christmas Day!

This was our first Christmas that we haven't slept at either one of our parent's houses. It was weird to actually set up Christmas and to not be with family in the morning, but we all enjoyed having Christmas with our little family of 3. Because we spent Christmas Eve with Matt's family, we were going to my family's house for breakfast at 10, and had to be ready for the day when we left. So we decided to wake up early in order to get everything done that we needed to. We went in Sydney's room to wake her up at 6:30, and she was furious. Really, she just kept yelling at us (normally she sleeps till about 9). So, we got her calmed down with a bottle and got ready to go see if Santa had come. We sent Sydney walking down the hall, unsuspecting of anything different. When she walked into the family room this is what the couch looked like...


Sydney looked at the couch, looked at me, walked closer to the couch, looked at me, and finally reached out and touched one of her toys with one finger, then looked at me as if to make sure it was ok. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. She really didn't know what to do! This is not the greatest picture since we don't have very good lighting in our apartment, but you can kind of see her smiling under her binky, just standing there looking at her toys...

After we opened the packaging on all of the presents Santa brought, we started opening up the presents that were from eachother, wrapped under the tree. Matt had the best Christmas he will probably ever have for the rest of our lives, because he got his much anticipated Wii.

Sydney got daddy a new book called Daddy Hugs 1-2-3 for him to read to her, and she colored him a card...


Sydney's stocking stuffers- spoons, applesauce, an orange, baby soap, and a rolo...

She loved the rolo...

Pictures of Sydney enjoying her presents! A Little People airplane & boat, a Cabbage Patch doll (which she LOVES) a stroller, and new bath toys. Grandma and Grandpa Page and family sent some puzzles, jammies, a new dress, and a few other toys. And Chris and Lisa gave her a new adorable book! Thanks for a great Christmas!


Sydney has been into pushing things around lately. Like at my family's house, she pushes around their bar stools. So now, she has a stroller to push her baby around in. She likes to walk around pushing it...

Since my mom knows how much Sydney likes to push stuff around, my family gave her this shopping cart, and a couple of cute new outfits... now she has a few new things that move a lot better than bar stools!

At the beginning of December we got our bathtub/shower redone for the 3rd time. It has been awful since we moved in (over a year and a half ago)! I have always worn flip flops in the shower, and Sydney has had to bathe in her little baby tub every day. The paint was always peeling off, so it wasn't a good idea to bathe her in the big tub, even though she had long outgrown her infant tub. Every time they re-did the tub, it seemed to get worse. With each re-do we could not use the tub or shower for a week, we had to leave the windows open because of severe fumes, in the middle of freezing cold winter, and we had to redust the entire apartment because it left paint dust all over, and even ruined some of our clothes. We threatened moving out, and giving bad references, and told management what a pain it has been. They assured us that this time, the tub would be better because they got a new company to re-do them. Putting my trust in that, we agreed to re-do the tub again. The day they were supposed to come, we prepared the apartment by putting towels under all the doors, and making sure all cracks were covered so the dust wouldn't ruin more of our stuff. We opened the windows, and I spent the day at my mom's to not have to breathe fumes all day. When we got home that night, they hadn't even done the tub! I was furious! Luckily, Matt talked me into being patient for one more day. The re-did the tub the next morning and it has been bliss! I have loved not having to wear flip flops when I shower. Sydney has LOVED her baths in the big bath tub. Which is why I am even telling this long story in my Christmas post.... she has been so excited to take baths every day that we decided to buy her new bath toys for Christmas. She loves baths even more with her new toys. When I start the water running, she runs in, giggling, and tries to get in with pajamas on and all. It has been fun to give her baths, and I am glad we finally have a decent bath tub. Now I will always be grateful to have a good bath tub! Here's Sydney on Christmas morning!


We had the Holmes Family Christmas Party on Christmas Day. It was fun to see all of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. It is quite the gathering, even with a lot of families out of town. Sydney wasn't intimidated by the large crowd one bit. She loved playing on the floor with Paige and Hannah, who are about 8 months older than her. It is always so fun for me to watch Sydney interact with other kids because the closest thing she gets is Allie. She is very social and always has fun with other kids and babies... Here she is with Paige, playing with a set of manger toys...

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope everyone else did too! Have a happy new year!!!

It's the most wonderful time...

I love Christmas-time! It is always so fun to spend time with family. It does make our lives so busy, but it is totally worth it to spend time with loved ones. We have already had our McEwan and Page family Christmas parties, as well as our ward party, so we are well seasoned party-goers! It is always good to see those family members that we don't get to see often at the Christmas parties. I love the memories that Christmas always brings back. It is so fun to think of years past and the things that we did. I can't help but think of future years as well, as we establish our own family traditions with our children. This is our first Christmas with Sydney, where she actually is somewhat aware of what is going on. So we are excited to watch her open presents. It has been a kick to watch her look at Christmas trees and lights. She always points and says, "oooh!" We bought a real tree this year, our smallest yet, so our apartment smells nice and piney! We had fun decorating it while listening to Christmas music. It has been a stuggle to teach Sydney not to play with the tree, but she is doing pretty well, and is getting used to having it in our house. On Sunday, we also went down town to look at the lights on Temple Square. This really is one of my favorite traditions-that we did not do last year with a newborn. It is always so neat to feel the spirit on temple square and to look at all the happy faces. I love to look around at all the people, and can't help but think how uniting this holiday is. It truly is an honor to Christ, because people care about oneanother more at this time of year. I think my favorite thing about Christmas this year, is teaching Sydney about it. She has no concept of Santa Claus, but she does have a concept of Jesus. She really does know who he is, which has been amazing to me. We have pictures of Christ around our house, and a statue of Him with children in Sydney's room. Every morning when Sydney wakes up, she points to that statue and says in her own language, "Jesus." We ask her, where Jesus is, and she points to the statue or the pictures. It brings tears to my eyes, to think of her innocence. This past week, we put up a manger scene, and we have been teaching Sydney about "baby Jesus." She will pick up the baby and hold it. I hope, that as she gets older, we can continue to teach her about Jesus, and keep the holiday focused on Christ. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanksgiving

We had a special Thanksgiving this year, because we were able to spend time with BOTH of our families! Since the day we were married at least one of our families (and for a majority of the time, both of them) have lived in another state. Which is pretty ironic considering we grew up in the same place. Anyway, we usually have to divide holidays up, and spend them with only one family, so it was fun to spend time with all of our loved ones this year. The only hard part was deciding how to split up our time... We ate dinner with my family, at my parent's house. My grandma and cousins, the Schones, ate with us, and we all stuffed ourselves full! It was delicious! Then, we spent the rest of the day at Matt's grandparent's house, with all of his family, where we had yummy pies! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, because you get to sit around with family all day, and eat good food! It was lovely! (Unfortunately, our camera was almost full because of our trip to CA, so we only got a few pics, and not very many with extended family.)

Sydney's first Thanksgiving dinner! (Turkey sticks, carrots, and peas- which she got to feed herself. She also got to enjoy mashed potatoes, rolls, eclairs, pie, and whipping cream)

One of the highlights for me this Thankgiving was learning how to make my grandma's homemade eclairs! My grandma has made these chocolate eclairs every year for years, excluding the past couple years. Since we have missed them for a while, we asked her how to make them, so we could have them again. She taught us how to make her eclairs the night before Thanksgiving. It was such a special time, to learn something from her, and to just spend time with her! We really enjoyed everything about it- especially the yummy eclairs! Sydney really enjoyed them- and threw a fit (which she sometimes does now) when I wouldn't give her more...

The Drive

Yes, because I am so behind, I am doing a bunch of posts in 1 day... I just thought I'd include a few pictures of the drive that Sydney didn't love...these were her good times! (She really was pretty good, just had her moments)


And, I couldn't resist...here is a picture of a night in the hotel- they look EXACTLY the same!

Chris and Lisa's Wedding

We had so much fun in California at Chris and Lisa's wedding! I always love weddings because it reminds me of our wedding day. It is always so special to attend a sealing in the temple. We are so glad to have shared this day with them!

San Francisco

2 weeks ago we left on another road trip- this time to California for Chris and Lisa's wedding. I had never been to northern CA, so I was excited to go to a few new places. Matt decided that we would make the drive a bit longer and go to San Francisco so I could see it. I don't think Sydney would have considered the longer drive worth it- but I did! It was a very interesting city, where I must admit I felt like I had to keep the car doors locked at all times because there were so many people out on the streets. It is always fun to do things with just our little family!

The famous Pier 39

Lombard Street

Some of the city...

Sydney loved the birds all around...

Ghirardelli- we love chocolate!

The Golden Gate Bridge- so cool!

I promise- this story has a point! It was so fun to just walk around parts of the city and look around. It really has a unique feel to it. I have realized that I am so sheltered- which I actually like. When we got to Pier 39, it was our first time out of the car since Reno, NV. So, naturally I had to go to the bathroom. We wanted to get some clam chowder in sourdough breadbowls, so I thought I'd just go to the restroom in the restaurant. We settled down at our table, and then I went to look for the bathroom. I headed to the corner where it looked like it was at, and there was only one restroom, with only men walking out. So, I proceeded to walk around the restaurant looking for the woman's bathroom. A girl asked me if I was looking for the bathroom, and I said "yes." She pointed towards the men's bathroom I had seen earlier. I gave her this puzzled look, and she said, "it's unisex" all matter-of-factly. I about died!!! I am sure as I walked away she laughed at the look on my face. At this point, I really did need to go- so I walked over to the unisex bathroom. I think I stood outside for a while, trying to decide if I really should go in. Out of necessity, I finally went in. I was scared the entire time, that I would see a man, and thankfully I didn't. When I got back to the table, Matt said he needed to go, and I replied with, "oh we could have gone together!" So weird, and creepy! Let's just say, I hope I never have to go in a unisex bathroom again, and I really am glad I live in UTAH!