The Holman's

Wow, a big toy for Daddy to put together

Zoo Lights with the Predeek's (Eric, Jenn, and baby Sienna)

There's got to be more in here!?!? I've only opened 100+ presents so far!

I got to have Christmas with my cousin Conner!

Go Cougs!!!

Last year our eyes were bigger than our house. We have vaulted ceilings but didn't think about the width, so by the time we got our 12' high, 8 ' wide tree home last year we realized we made a mistake. After multiple trips to Fred Meyer, two tree stands, and 4' feet cut off the tree fit.

This year we took it easy and were able to cut down about an 8' high and 4' wide tree that fits perfect. About a half mile down the road from us is a nice tree farm that has a lot of acreage to wade through, find your perfect tree, and cut it down. The only thing was it was raining like crazy when we first got out there, Payton pooped her pants (and we didn't bring any diapers because we thought it would be a quick trip) and it was really muddy and cold. But we shook off the Ba Humbug thoughts and made it through. When we got the tree to the house we put it up in the garage to dry and waited till Payton went to bed to put it up. The next morning we turned on the lights and let her walk into the room to see the lighted wonder. Her expression was worth a thousand words and she backed it up with a giant "WOW" while pointing at the tree. Lisa also has also put up a bunch of X-mass "items" around the house that still gives Payton enjoyment to walk around and want to touch everything.

Well, what can I say. After my beloved Chicago Bears went to the Super Bowl last year they're experiencing a horrible season. At the time I'm writing this the Bears are out of the Playoff race with no hope at making a wild card, but a few weeks ago my buddy Derek and Tami treated Lisa and I to a rare treat, a game between the Bears and the Seahawks in Seattle. This is the second time D has taken me to see the Bears and I can't tell you how special this is to me. Even though we lost it was a terrific game. The Bears fought hard but couldn't pull it out in the end.

For the Anniversary weekend Lisa's parents let us use a time share they have out at Seaside. It was a wonderful room right off the main strip where we could walk down the stairs and on to the beach in a matter of minutes. I can't believe it's already been 5 years! Time sure does fly by when your married to a wonderful wife and have a beautiful little girl. It still seems like just the other day we were planning our wedding, body surfing in Cancun, and then moving into our first home together.


Payton was unsure what sand was, how to walk in it, or how to react when she touched it. After a few whines and groans she was okay with it and became quickly distracted by chasing down a Seagull. She couldn't quite catch up to it but had a great time attempting to do so.

We took her to ride the merry-go-round and it was a perminate grin the entire time. I thought I had captured some good pictures of her to share on this blog however they didn't turn out. Oops, maybe next time.

The next weekend gave us a chance to try out the trailer we bought a couple of months ago. We've been pretty excited to give it a try and with our busy schedule the weekend of the 10th was the only one we had available. So after I got home from work on Friday we hooked up the trailer and headed back out to the Seaside/Astoria area. If you've never towed a trailer it's a new experience that takes some time to get used to. Setting the tow bars, trailer breaks, turning, etc. But once used to the feeling it's not that bad at all. The trip out there was rainy and foggy, but we just took our time and arrived safely at about 6pm at night. On the way there my wife looked over at me and said "did we remember Payton's bed?" She sleeps in a little play yard crib and guess what, we had forgot it. So once we got to the campsite in the dark I got the trailer unhitched, the heater working, and off to Fred Meyer I went to try to buy one that we could use for the weekend. No luck, they were fresh out so what we had to do was take the pads from the fold out table bed, put them on the floor, and Payton had her little area ready to go. The nice thing about the play yard is she's familiar that when she gets put in there it's bedtime, which is between 7-8pm usually. Because we didn't have this we had a little girl who was up until 9pm both nights.

On Saturday night we had Eric and Jen Predeek join us. Eric was hunting a few weeks back and still had his parent's trailer so they were able to bring out their little girl, Sienna, for her first camping trip.

We watched Finding Nemo a number of times, walked on the beach during a beautiful Saturday, and enjoyed each others company.

Thanks to Addi Daisley I learned that I can allow anyone to post comments, even if they aren't registered with this site. So I turned that on so anyone can post a comment.

Greetings! I've decided to give this a try and hopefully friends and family will visit it enough to keep me going. With our busy life I figured this would be a good way to give some details to family and friends.

Okay, so where to start. First let me start off with a picture of the most important person in our life. Our beautiful daughter Payton Elizabeth Holman. She's just over 18 months old and it seems like just the other day we were bringing her home from the hospital. She's one of the most beautiful, fun spirited, little girls you will ever meet. Okay, maybe I'm a little biased... There's not a day that goes by were she's not making me laugh, pushing the limits of what she's allowed to do, or giggling so hard she's almost in tears. We've managed to give her a few nicknames that we interchange all the time. I'll give a rundown of everything we call her:

PP: Lisa started calling her this one. We may need to stop calling her that as she gets older, the name might take on a different meaning. She'd probably never forgive us for calling her this in front of her friends.

Turbo: She has two speeds. Stop and GO!!! Once the forward momentum gets going look out! Maybe she'll be a sprinter we she gets older.

Sweetness: This one worked out pretty well. With me being a huge Chicago Bears fan and the original Sweetness being the great Walter 'Payton' this one seemed like a natural.

Godzilla: If you ever see her go through her toys you'd understand this one.

So, there you have it. A few to choose from and we probably have more for her that I can't think of at this moment.

Lisa has been doing well also. She works part time as a HR Manager working for our accountants. That worked out pretty well. She works 3 days a week and is only minutes away from home. On Thursdays Lisa and Payton have been taking Mommy and Me swim classes that Payton seem to be enjoying. It's really special they're able to spend quality time like that together. Lisa is still very active and since having her knee surgery is able to run once again without pain.

We've been able to get her out on her motorcycle for a ride. When she jumped on it after a year of being off of it because of Payton and her knee I asked her "do you remember how to ride?" She looked at me through her helmet, said no, put it in gear and off she went. She did very well and caught on to it once again without any problems.

We've also recently purchased a travel trailer that we're very excited about. Before Payton we did a ton of camping during late spring and into summer. However when Payton came along a tent wasn't going to cut it anymore so we invested in the trailer to keep our little one warm at night and cozy. We're looking forward to getting out for our first time the weekend of November 10th. It's going to be a whole new experience so hopefully I spend more time actually camping than learning about the trailer.

I've been very busy. Along with my full time job where I manage a team of software developers and 6 products, I have my web development business, HTF Solutions. Combine that with a little girl and I've got my hands full. By the time the weekend comes we're off traveling up north, down the gorge, or meeting up with friends across both states.

We enjoy life and hope to hear from people visiting this site. Keep in touch as I'll try to keep this updated in my spare time. Maybe Lisa will even get involved writing on here. We'll post more pictures, possibly video's, and have fun stories to tell.

TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)