5 Month Old Sweetie!

Our little angel girl, Emma, is 5 months old! In fact, she has been since the 18th of this month. (Yes, we are behind on blogging.) Gpa W took this photo of our little sweetheart to show what a happy little lady our Emma is.

A fun little anecdote about this social girl. I had to go to the doctor's office last week, and Emma accompanied me. There were two ladies in the waiting room. Emma fixed her gaze on one and smiled until she had the woman's attention. Then she proceeded to have a little smiling conversation full of "aahs" and "goos". The woman was called back by a nurse, and Emma was distraught at having lost her new friend. She started crying as the woman walked away. That is - until Emma caught sight of the other lady, at which point she picked up her smiling chatter where she had left off. What a social butterfly!

"Happy-lations"

A few months back, sometime around an onslaught of family birthdays, Spencer coined his own phrase, "Happy-lations!" This has become an endearing exclamation for any exciting moment, and we had occasion to use it last Friday when Adam put in his two weeks' notice at Deloitte. That's right. He is living the dream, going with a TRUE start-up business. We are now living the sometimes uncertain albeit very exciting life of entrepreneurs. "Happy-lations, Adam!" (And wish us luck!)

Relaxed in WV

Relaxed in WV
Originally uploaded by Adam W.

We've fallen a bit behind in blogging since our camera died. However, last weekend we spent a relaxing 24 hours out at Carol and Geary's WV cabin. (Katy, we missed you by just a few hours). Carol (my aunt) sent this picture of my happy, handsome hubby with our sweet kids. There is nothing better than being cuddled up with cute kids on a Saturday morning and reading a book. I believe that at this particular moment I was out on the hammock reading my own book.

It is so nice to break away from the norm every once in a while. What do you all do to relax? Where do you go?


p.s. posted by Marie, via Adam's flicrk account

the non-museum

The Temporary Museum of Permanent Change

I just found this through Deseret News. With all the changes going on to revitalize the downtown of SLC to make it more everything (walkable, shoppable, livable, etc), a group has set up The Temporary Museum of Permanent Change to catalog and invite people to find the interesting, historic, and beautiful objects all around the city. I really like the idea of moving the museum out of the museum. Everyone is a curator! (and how often do you read about urban archaeology? =)

DT Family Reunion

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Originally uploaded by Adam W.

Our friends the Martins (some of the few who truly appreciate yellow kitchen counters that are separated from living spaces only by accordion doors) joined us this evening to root on the BYU Cougars this evening. Sadly, the Cougs couldn't pull off the win, but we had a great time hanging out and admiring how much the kids have grown in the last year. Lucas and Gabey are so big!!! Spencer loved having boys to hang out with and was so happy to be a kitty cat or dog, copying the Martin boys in their play. Thanks for making the drive...and for any who were wondering, we can confirm that the Martins are in VA. Hurrah!

(Sorry we don't have a better quality photo. This is taken with a phone since our camera gave up after taking something like 14,000 pictures. Yes, most of those are of our children and you can basically do a flipbook on flickr to watch them grow up before your very eyes. Any suggestions for a new camera? I'm thinking that's on the wish list this Christmas. Have you all found one you like?)

Spencer in his cowboy duds

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Originally uploaded by Adam W.

Ride 'em, cowboy!

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Originally uploaded by Adam W.

Our Spencer has long been an avid fireman fan. He dresses up in his firehat and shouts, "TO THE RESCUE!" then races along on his little red bike to visit the fire hydrant up the street and make sure all is in working order.

However, his attention has turned to cowboys as of late, thanks to an introduction by Uncle Rick - the bank president/cowboy. Uncle Rick has horses and let Spencer ride Pinto. He got all gussied up in the cowboy duds: boots, hat, chaps, coat, and he even had a lasso to carry along. This boy was utterly happy and SO proud of himself as he strolled up and down the gravel driveway. Thank you, Uncle Rick. Even now, Spence loves to review the pictures at the computer (my version of scrapbooking = scrolling through iphoto) and talk about when he rode the horsie. Yee haw!

*Note: this is Marie typing. I just used Adam's flickr account to blog away.

Daisy chain

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Originally uploaded by Adam W.

I just had to put this photo up. Isn't our sweetheart precious??? Grammy made this daisy chain for Emma when we were taking our siestas (see Gpa Bezzant in the background) after a picnic lunch along Kings Creek in Lassen Volcanic National Park back in August.

Teriyaki Beef & Vegetables - YUM!

I always appreciate it when friends post recipes that have been successes in their kitchens because I am always looking for good dinner ideas. Here is one we had tonight. I am so pleased that I can make my OWN teriyaki sauce and am no longer tied to the bottle. Here are the goods. Cooking time is really quite fast; it's just the chopping that takes some time. Maybe you all out there in the blogosphere can wield a knife against the carrot foe faster than I. Happy cooking!

1 lb. top sirloin steak
4 carrots
2 medium zucchini
4 green onions, sliced
2 T oil
1 tsp. beef bouillon
2 T cornstarch
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion salt
1 T red wine vinegar
3 T soy sauce
1 cup water
4 cups cooked rice (2 dry, 4 cups water)

Cut meat, carrots, zucchini and onions in thin diagonal slices. Heat 2 T oil in large skillet. Add meat slices and cook, stirring constantly, until meat is no longer red, 4-5 minutes. Remove meat to bowl. Cover to keep warm. Add carrots. Cook and stir 3-4 minutes. Add zucchini and onions. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

In saucepan, combine brown sugar, beef bouillon, cornstarch, garlic powder, and onion salt. Stir in vinegar, soy sauce and water. (I whisked this so there wouldn't be any lumps). Cook over medium-high heat until mixture boils and thickens. Add meat and vegetables. Serve over rice. YUM!

First Day of School

Today I have not had time to feel the usual pangs that accompany back-to-school time. I am a teacher at heart, and I love the first day of school. I love smelling school supplies and freshly-waxed tile floors, helping kids find their next class, explaining the lunch schedule, figuring out how to pronounce each kid's name (kudos to creative Utah spellers on that one), and launching into another year of learning. This year, in conjunction with everyone else's first day of school, we have started POTTY TRAINING SCHOOL!

And, as always, it is the "teacher" who learns the most. Here are a few of my insights.

1. Procrastination can be retranslated "preparation" when it comes to potty training. We've been thinking about potty training for months. It started by taking the contents of diapers and flushing them down the toilet. That got old fast, but it introduced the topic nicely. Next came sitting on the potty. But that was a bit overwhelming to one so small - so we invested in the Safety 1st 3-in-1 potty. (If I knew how to post a link, I would...maybe later when I am less tired). Then we postponed until after our trip to Utah...and again until we had readjusted to the East Coast time zone and recovered phsically from our trip. As a result, we've been actively talking about potty training for weeks. We were ready.
2. Candy and stickers make for excellent motivators. Perhaps too good. As the day wore on, the trips to the potty became more and more frequent in search of these rewards. But I can't REALLY complain about that on the first day, can I? Spencer got to choose his candy. What was his selection, you ask? After dinner mints. I picked up some Skittles in case those didn't do the trick, but the combination is now a favorite of his. Spence gets one of each with every success.
3. Everyone likes to share their successes. "Let's call Daddy!" I said it the first time, and Spencer took up the exclamation the second time. We both needed a little "hurrah!"
4. The potty trainER deserves treats just as much as the potty trainEE. Suffice it to say that if we DID have ice cream in the house, I would feel completely justified in having consumed it all.
5. Buy underwear BIG; it's easier to pull down in a pinch. 'Nuf said.

More on all of these items later. For now, let me just say that we are finding success - little by little. We are just a day in, and Spence managed to be in the same undies (he says "and-ies") from 9:30-5 or so. Then he got busy playing, and...well, you know how that goes. He was in route, just couldn't move quite fast enough (a few times over). Still...I find myself optimistic for tomorrow. He woke up dry from his nap and ready to go. We'll see if our luck continues to the morning.