Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We hope you all had a happy and blessed holiday. We sure did! The holidays are so much fun with Sydney. She loved the presents, playing in the wrapping paper, and we all enjoyed seeing our family and friends.

Sydney did her fair share of crawling around to explore on Christmas Day.


She played for such a long time with cousin Brianna's camera.


One of the best things about having a baby girl-the ruffle-butt tights! I got these for her when she was born, and they finally fit just in time for the holidays!


She was so happy to get a Sleeping Beauty Minnie Mouse doll!


Sydney was SO EXCITED to get a sarong and tube top from Hawaii! They are so cute, we will definetely get pics of her in them this summer.

Picture with Santa

Ok, so notice the title of this post is not "Pictures With Santa," but a single picture! I think every child in America probably has a crying-with-santa picture, and now we have ours! I wasn't going to make the poor sweet santa sit through multiple pictures, so we just got one! Poor Sydney, she didn't know what the heck was going on, but she did not want to sit on Santa's lap! It made for a cute picture.

More of Sydney's Party

Finally, almost 3 weeks later, I have gone through all the pictures from Sydney's first birthday party. The best pictures are posted a few posts below this in a different slide show, but here are a few more pictures of the special day.

Happy Birthday Madison!

Sydney's best friend Madison just had her first birthday party last weekend. It was so much fun! Melissa decorated in an M&M theme, and it was super adorable! She made an M&M themed photo banner, and there were M&M gift bags with party favors for all the kids, and there were multi-colored balloons everywhere that were weighed down with M&M tins filled with, you guessed it, M&M's! It was a very fun party and Sydney had a great time!

Santa Baby

Last year, we put Sydney in a Christmas stocking for an amusing photo-op. She did not think it was very funny, but we thought it was pretty cute. I was looking at those pictures today and I am just amazed at how quickly this first year has flown by! She was so little in those stocking pictures! Here is one from last year along with a picture of Sydney in her Santa dress this year. Madison has the same dress and we couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the girls together.

Sydney and Madison-the first year of friendship!

A few years ago, our good friends Matt and Melissa decided to try to have a baby. A few months went by with no luck, then a year. Everyone prayed and prayed for them as they went through months of infertility, doctor visits, and tests. Still, nothing happened. After watching them go through this, Chris and I decided that we better start trying, just in case something similar happened to us. A month later, Matt and Melissa told us their good news-they were expecting! We were so excited for them! But more than that, when Melissa was telling me she was pregnant, something deep down inside me responded. I thought it was just my joyous feelings for my best friend, until 4 days later, when I found out I was pregnant, too! We only told our parents right away, and we waited a few months before telling our friends, except for Matt and Melissa! We told them right away because we were so excited to be expecting at the same time as them, and they were super excited, too, but bummed to not be able to tell anyone! For 2 months we giggled as people would come up to Melissa and hug her and ask how she was feeling, never knowing I was pregnant, too! Finally, we told everyone and the secret was out! It was such a blessing to go through pregnancy with my best friend. In July, we found out we were both having girls! Of course they will be best friends, just like their mommies! Melissa and I have been best friends now for 13 years. My mother and her parents grew up together in the same church in Springfield, and then they met up many years later in Hillsboro at the same church. Melissa and I initially hated each other, but that soon passed and we were soon the best of friends. We always dreamed of when we would each get married and have babies, but we never knew the special blessing that would come to us at the same time. Our due dates were 2 days apart. Then, on December 12, my little Sydney Grace was born, just before midnight. Then, the next day, on December 13, Madison Kay was born. They missed the same birthday by about 45 minutes! We went to visit them in the hospital on our way home from the hospital, and the girls got to meet for the first time. Now, it is a year later. Yesterday was Sydney's birthday, and today is Madison's birthday. Happy Birthday to our beautiful baby girls, and we pray for your blessed and special friendship to continue.

Sydney's First Birthday

Today, December 12, is our Sydney's first birthday! Our baby girl is not a baby anymore! Chris and I walked into her room this morning singing "Happy Birthday To You" and she just looked at us like we're crazy! Maybe we are, but being a parent makes you do crazy things! But, she soon smiled when she realized we were singing to her! Unfortunately, she's got a cold today. She has a cough and a runny nose and she isn't quite her normal happy self, but she'll bounce back soon. We have spent the day together as a family. Chris took the day off work and we went to have family pictures taken this morning. We're going to have a special dinner tonight, too. All day long I've been looking back to this time last year. I can't believe it's been a year. It seems like two minutes ago the doctor laid her on my chest and I was crying tears of joy! Now that beautiful little baby is crawling and laughing and getting more of her own personality everyday! I am so excited for her to be a little girl so we can bake cookies together and read Laura Ingalls books, but I will miss the baby stage. We are so thankful to God for every precious moment with our baby, we love her so much!

Sydney's First Birthday Party!

This past Sunday we had Sydney's first birthday party! It was so much fun! It took a lot of work, but it was well worth it. Sydney did a great job with the cake! We had sheet cakes for the guests, but Sydney had her own special cake with a white chocolate bow on top! It was just darling. She also got to wear her first real tiara, from Grandma and Grandpa. Lots of our family and friends came to help us celebrate and they all made the day very special!

If you don't want to view the entire slide show, you can click on the view all images selection and view them one by one.

Future George Fox Bruin?

As many of you know, I (Dara) went to George Fox University. I loved it! I had some of the best times of my life there and made some really deep connections with friends I still have to this day. 4 times a year I get the George Fox Journal, the quarterly update on Fox to all it's alumni. I love sitting down to read it and find out how the school is doing. It always makes me remember some of the best times I had there: Serve Day, pink donut Wednesdays, the girls bruin brawl, atomic nachos, and my close friends and neighbors. Well, apparently I am not the only one who looks forward to the Journals coming in the mail. Two weeks ago when the fall issue came, Sydney somehow got ahold of it and she loves it! It's her new favorite toy. It's made of really thick paper, so it doesn't rip easily, and she will literally lay there for 30 minutes, just turning the pages and "reading" the journal. It makes me very proud!


"Excuse me mom, please don't bother me, I'm reading the Alumni Connections."

First Thanksgiving

Last week we enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving! We were so excited since it was Sydney's first turkey day. As we were getting ready to start cooking that morning, I couldn't help but look back one year to last year's Thanksgiving. I was still pregnant and HUGE!! I was so tired and sore and uncomfortable last year, but this year was so much fun with an almost-one-year-old daughter and house full of company! We started the day off with a family tradition-the Turkey dance. When I was a kid, my dad always "danced" the turkey around in the sink before it got stuffed. We were proud to pass the tradition on to Sydney. We got Sydney dressed up in one of those outfits she'll be embarrassed about someday, but it was too cute! She had on a little skirt with a "My Frist Thanksgiving" Shirt, and a matching turkey headdress! We were all laughing so hard at her in that outfit! Then, Grandpa Ken and Monica, and my parents and Abbie came over to help celebrate the day. The football was good, the food was great, and the pumpkin pie was the best! Holidays are so much more meaningful now that we have a daughter to share them with. We are so thankful for our God, our family, and our friends this year!
Sydney watching daddy do the turkey dance!

Our cutie-pie in her turkey outfit.



Sydney eating her first Thanksgiving dinner.

Sydney and Madison at 11 Months

As the girls get older, they play together more and more. A few weeks ago, my best friend Melissa had a birthday, so we got the girls together for a few pictures.
Best Friends!

Madison, are you attacking Sydney?

Tired out from all their fun!


Playing so nicely together! Chris and I went to a Blazers game, so Sydney went over to play with Madison for the evening. Their first mini-sleepover, although they didn't sleep!

Halloween at Mommy2Mommy!

Sydney and I go to a mom's group every week. This year, it happened to fall on Halloween, so all the little kids dressed up in their costumes. It was so much fun! We even got a group picture at the end and every baby was happy-no one was crying or trying to crawl away!

Sydney's First Halloween

So for those of you who have been faithful viewers of our blog the last few months, you will remember in August we purchased Sydney's Halloween costume and there was some worry that it wouldn't fit come October 31. A lot of people told us to just put her in the costume anyway, even if it didn't fit, because it's just so darn cute. Well, it barely fit, but it worked! Here is the picture from last August when we first got the costume...

And here is the costume last night on Halloween-notice how short the legs are!

This is just another super cute picture of Sydney in her winter hat. It's been getting so cold lately that we have to bundle her up whenever we go outside. I think this hat makes her look like an elf!

Our Little Pumpkin

Our little pumpkin....doesn't like pumpkins! I know these pictures look terrible, but I had to put them up because they are kind of funny! We thought we'd carve out a pumpkin and put Sydney in it, but she was NOT happy about it! I think it scared her. Oh well, it's still a memory and we'll try it again next year!

Random Pictures

Just some random pictures of our sweet little girl from this week. Enjoy!

Sydney's Inspi(RED) AIDS awareness t-shirt. Never too little for a good cause.

So, we were getting Sydney all bundled up to go to the pumpkin patch, and she sort of pulled her hat half-way off. Doesn't she look like the pope? We were laughing so hard we were almost crying!

Sydney's First Ponytail!

Today is a big day! Today Sydney had her first ponytail! It might not sound like a big deal, but this girl has almost no hair. My mom was able to get it slicked up with water and made a little Alfalfa point ponytail. It's so cute! We probably won't be able to give her a ponytail very often, because her hair is too fine and just falls right out of the ponytail holder, but it was cute for today.

The Pumpkin Patch!

Today Sydney and I went to the pumpkin patch with the mom's group at church. We were there to celebrate a visit from our friends Christa and Charlotte, who are in town from Fresno. It was a perfect day for the pumpkin patch! The weather was clear but cold, and no rain. We got to ride a train out to the patch, which Sydney loved. Sydney and Madison had lots of fun picking out their own wee little pumpkins, and they posed for lots of pictures for us! We had such a great time and we can't wait to go again!

Two Years Later

Today, October 8th, is our second anniversary. It really seems like no time at all since our wedding day. It was such a beautiful day, and we have a wonderful marriage. I really think it helps when a couple has a foundation in God and faith, it keeps the marriage strong. Last year for our first anniversary I was over 7 months pregnant, and we spent the weekend in Eugene where we met. This year, we went out to dinner and movie and had a great time. This year is even more special for us because we now have our precious little Sydney. I loved the times that Chris and I had just the two of us, but now we are a family, just the three of us, and we cherish each moment we have. Enjoy some of these pictures from our happy day two years ago.