Emma's New Emotion

Emma is definitely her own person with her own idea of how things should be. Just recently she has discovered the emotion of anger and frustration and can portray it quite well with a scowl on her face. Some of her scowls are real and I think some are just her exploring new facial expressions because she seems to get mad for no apparent reason. I know I probably shouldn't react in any way because then it just spurs her on but it is so funny to watch her cute little face scrunch up into a scowl.

She is also definitely developing an attitude. The other day she was trying to stuff her sock into the fire place and I asked her to hand me the sock instead. She turned to look at me and then turned the other way the through the sock just so I wouldn't get it. She has learned that being told no should mean something and she doesn't like it. This does not mean that she obeys when I say no though. The doctor said we can start putting her in time-outs (one minute per age - just as Supper Nanny suggests), but how in the world do you make a 1 year old understand what a time out is.

Well you have to start sometime with the concept though. I know you can't just spring it on them at age 5. So the other day she got a time out. I sat her on the bottom stair and held her there for all of 30 seconds, she clearly had no idea what was going on. She thought I had put her there so she could climb the stairs which she loves to do. If your not careful before you can turn around she will be up the stairs which is alright when someone is with her but alone is dangerous because she refuses to be shown how to come down safely.

Anyways, I'm getting the scowl right now because she has dropped all her toys from the highchair and desperately wants to get down. You can't tell very well by the photo but her eyebrows are down. I keep missing the really good scowls.

Here are some photo's from the past month:

Playing with her new toys from Christmas!

We had been cooped up too long inside and just had to get out and enjoy the sun on this very rare sunny day!

I haven't posted a monkey picture in a while...

...so here you go. This one's playing hockey. hee hee

Enjoy!

Quinn

Go Flyers!

Everything I need to know I learn from the movies

This weekend we finally got around to celebrating our anniversary (6 years!). All three of us have been varying degrees of sick over the last couple of weeks. Lauralee and I were finally feeling well enough to go out, and Emma was well enough to leave with a babysitter. We went out to dinner and then finally saw the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

The title of this film really bothers me. Past Bond titles are all fantastic action titles: Live and Let Die, License to Kill, Thunderball. So what the heck is Quantum of Solace? Well, according to dictionary.com, "quantum of solace" means "a particular amount of comfort in sorrow." That's no Bond title.

The movie was good. Full of action, a few funny parts, very little swearing, and even the obligatory Bond bed scene was short and fairly innocuous. One thing I enjoy about the Bond movies is that they don't use actors that you've seen anywhere else, so you're free to focus on the plot rather than the actors. The one exception, of course, is Judy Dench as "M," -- but I don't mind having her in the movies because it makes me feel like I'm stimulating my intellect by watching an episode of Masterpiece Theater. Until someone gets shot in the sternum -- then I remember that this is a Bond film and not a Jane Austen adaptation.

One complaint that Lauralee and I shared is the "shaky camera" technique used for car chases and fight scenes. For us anyway, it is impossible to tell who in the world is driving which car, or who just broke whose arm with a 2x4. I actually found myself silently cheering when a car would drive off a cliff or a bad guy would get shot, because that was just one less car or person I had to keep track of in these confusing scenes.

I should also mention that Daniel Craig's pouty lips didn't bother me nearly as much this time as they did in Casino Royale. I'm sure they're not any less poutier -- perhaps I'm just getting used to their pouty quotient.

Anyway, we both enjoyed the movie, but as I watched it, I couldn't help but think that movies teach us so, so much. For example, in watching Quantum of Solace and its predecessor, Casino Royale, I learned a few things about how to chase someone:

1) It's not a real foot pursuit unless you're chasing someone on a rooftop.
2) Regardless of how many obstacles the chaser encounters (garbage cans, fruit carts, panes of glass, injuries) the chasee never gains any substantial lead.
3) Policemen all around the world shoot at anybody that runs away from them -- even if there is no immediate threat to their life.
4) If the chasee is a real pro, he will push and knock over as many innocent people as possible as he runs through a crowd. But as a chaser, you are expected to polite as you dart past people.
5) Any injuries you obtain while chasing will last only a scene or two. And by the time you're done with the chase, they will be virtually non-existent.
6) When the chase is over, and you've successfully killed the chasee, and you're all sweaty and your clothes are all ripped up and you've got blood all down the front of you, and you're walking back to your hotel, nobody will even give you a second look.
7) Girlfriends are never hotter for you than when your clothes are all ripped up and you've got blood all down the front of you. They're way more likely to kiss you, and would never dream of saying, "Look at you, you're disgusting right now! Don't touch me! Go take a shower! Yuck!"

With that in mind, here are some other things that the movies have taught me:

Rocky taught me that you can get punched in the face and stomach any number of times without losing consciousness, or even falling down.

Rambo (and, to some extent, Nintendo) taught me that machine guns contain an unknowable amount of ammunition.

The Godfather taught us that murder can be beautiful when it is set against classical music.

Friday the 13th taught us that good guys die the first time, but sometimes it takes 4, 5, 6, 7 deaths before bad guys are really dead. It also taught us to never fool around with a girl in a cabin in the middle of the woods. You might as well just paint a bullseye on your back.

The Bourne movies have taught us that it's really easy to knock someone unconscious with just one punch. Wait...doesn't this conflict with what Rocky taught us???

What Lies Beneath (et. al) taught us to never walk backwards when you think there may be someone -- or something -- in your house.

What have the movies taught you? Leave a comment.

Quinn

Emma walks -- the video version

We have a couple of different clips of Emma walking, but this one is my favorite because as she's walking back toward the camera, she pauses for a moment to see what's on TV.

We also enjoy her walking form, which is kind of Frankenstein style, but she also holds her hands up when she walks, which we think is quite adorable.

Quinn

Emma walks, then doesn't, then does again . . .with an asterisk

Chapter I "Walk On"

About a month ago Emma began to show an interest in walking on her own. She still preferred to crawl or walk along the furniture, but if we stood her up and coaxed / encouraged her, she would take a few steps on her own. And boy, were we proud. Emma seemed to like it and got a little better at it the more we practiced. Then one day, she just stopped. We would prop her up and balance her, but when we let go, she'd just sit down right where she was. Even funnier was when she was 'onto' us trying to trick her into walking: we'd pick her up off the floor and try to set her on her feet, but -- not to be outsmarted by two college graduates -- she would bend her legs back so that it was impossible for us to even set her on her feet. The reason for the sudden refusal to walk remains unsolved. Some would say that the emergence of her first molar had something to do with it. Others would say that other cognitive skills were emerging at that time. Still others would propose that high carbon monoxide levels in our home meant that we only dreamed that she had been walking. Others would say that we were thinking of someone else's baby.

Chapter II "Enter the Croup"

This past Friday night, Emma developed a wee little cough, which by Saturday turned into a cough, and by Saturday night turned into a . . . well . . . honk. Saturday she did not sleep well, and the more she cried, the more she honked, and the harder it was for her to breathe. On Sunday Lauralee called the doctor, who asked her to "describe the cough" over the telephone (it's a good think Laura was making this call; she handled it much more professionally than I would have done after a question like that). As Laura flipped to "cough" in the thesaurus and attempted to describe in words the exact sounds coming from our baby's mouth, Emma had a well-timed cough in the background which was audible to the doctor on the phone. "It's croup," the doctor said saturninely (the thesaurus is still sitting by the computer). The throat inflammation / blockage caused by croup can cause problems breathing for little kids. The doctor called in a prescription for a 2-day supply of a steroid that helps keep the windpipe open, allowing unrestrained breathing. We started Emma on the medicine on Sunday morning, and saw a noticeable difference.

Chapter III "The Integrity of the Record"

Emma had a good morning nap on Sunday, and her steroids did a great job of keeping her breathing problems at bay. With these things in her favor, Emma decided to break her month-old ban on walking, and actually (of her own accord) decided to walk from the coffee table, across the room, to hand me something on the couch. I couldn't believe what I saw, so I attempted to duplicate the results, and sure enough: Emma had not only decided that walking was fun again, but that she was going to do it on her own, and -- come to find out -- she is so much better at it now than she was when she abruptly stopped over a month ago. She could also stand and balance in place. We were so excited; we got out the video camera and recorded some of it, when it dawned on me: this doesn't count. These can't be Emma's first real steps. She was on performance-enhancing drugs. I suppose we could include this day in her baby book as "first real steps," but if we did, it would have to have an asterisk after it.

*First steps came during the steroid era. Record is therefore suspect.

Quinn

Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Utes! Da da da Da da Daaaah: UTES!

Basketball

What a great week last week was! My brother-in-law, Taylor, the talented actor/singer/musician and apparently good student (ladies, mark your calendars: he turns 16 on Februrary 4) won free tickets to the University of Utah v. Gonzaga basketball game. Kids these days win all kinds of free swag from their schools -- event tickets...even cars. I was a pretty darn good student growing up and I think the most prestigious prize I ever won was a coupon for a personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut. Mmmm....pizza. The point is: I couldn't hop in my personal pan pizza and drive to school.

Anywho, Taylor was kind enough to invite me to go to the game, along with his dad and grandpa. We parked at an ultra-secret parking lot downtown and took Trax up to the arena. I can't tell you where the ultra-secret parking lot is, so don't ask. Nobody else can know. The lot is free, and the location is ideal, however, the number of spots is limited. I've already said too much. Besides, you all wouldn't make it past the retinal scan. Or the dobermans.

We arrived at the arena and made our way to our seats. Luckily we had hired a Sherpa and I had a couple of bottles of oxygen, because our seats were on row 41. We had just made ourselves at home when 2 teenaged boys with unfortunate potty mouths sat next to me. They talked about a lot of things, from who likes who to who doesn't like who to who might like who. It was kind of a whirlwind. But they didn't stop talking.

As the game drew near, I was amazed by the number of people sporting Gonzaga apparel. Where was all this support coming from? (Gonzaga is located in Spokane, Washington.) Does Gonzaga have a Salt Lake campus? Or were these just die-hard John Stockton fans?

The game was fantastic. The Utes came out on a 14-2 run and it looked like they would handle #17 ranked Gonzaga. The Bulldogs came back, although they never took the lead. Taylor left with 2 minutes to go in the first half to go get some snacks. Trying to be a true Utah fan, I waited until halftime to go, not wanting to miss any of the game. This turned out to be a mistake. Because Taylor got back from his snack run during halftime, having missed only 2 minutes of the game. Whereas I chose the slowest line at the slowest snackbar in the history of the Huntsman center. I seriously could have killed and grilled my own cow, as well as planted, grown, harvested, sliced, and deep fried my own potato chips, and still got my "Ute Burger" faster than I did that night. And I missed about 8 minutes of gametime, in addition to being there during all of halftime.

With three minutes to go in the game, a miracle occurred: the two kids next to me stopped talking. With two minutes to go, the wheels started falling of for Utah. We couldn't break their full-court press, we had troubles imbounding the ball, and we had some some ill-advised fouls. With six seconds left in the game and Utah winning by only one point, Gonzaga stole the imbound pass. They took a good shot and missed, then missed two tip-ins as time expired. Huzzah! Utah won. It was a great night; thanks again for the ticket, Taylor.

Football

Of course, the big night of the week was Friday night, when the Utes took on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl. During the day I had run a few errands around town and I was really surprised by the amount of Utah gear people were wearing. As mentioned in Laura's post, we went over to the Paschall's to watch the game. The game was awesome. After our third touchdown in the first quarter, I remember looking at the other people in the room and thinking "Is this really happening? Are we really punching Alabama in the mouth?" And even though Alabama scored to get within 4 points, the Utes tacked on 10 more points and really was in control of the game. As I was driving home, it really began to sink in that this football team is the real deal. It's been a whole lot of fun this week to listen to/read comments by nationally-known sportscasters talking about little ol' Utah. What a great win for the University and for the state. Some people still don't think we can hang with the big boys, but some have decided that this team is for real. ESPN's (formerly Sports Illustrated's) Rick Reilly is among them.



On a related topic: Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has announced that he will investigate bringing federal anti-trust charges against the BCS for excluding some universities from their multi-million dollar national championship.



Dear Attorney General Shurtleff:
My name is Quinn Lavender, and although you don't know me, I'm pretty tight with former governor Mike Leavitt, so please listen to what I have to say. Please spend our taxpayer money fighting crime on the streets of Utah. When you've stopped crime in Utah, you may go ahead and use our money to fix the college football championship system.


Please don't tell me that this is about getting more money for our colleges. I went to the University of Utah, and I learned one immutable fact while there: tuition never comes down. Not with a good economy, not with a state budget surplus, not with 8 consecutive bowl game victories.



Very truly yours,
Quinn



So, it was a great week to be a Ute. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Hee hee. Mormons are funny.

Although it looks like he is celebrating, this photo of Stevenson Sylvester was taken right before he got attacked by a hawk with very large talons.

David Reed makes the most exciting catch of the game. I still don't know how he caught that ball with the defender all over him and a hand right in his face.

Glen Coffee: meet Paul Kruger! (Who better to stop a guy named Coffee than a bunch of guys from Utah?

John Parker Wilson: meet Paul Kruger! Paul met a lot of people during the game.

Brent "The Man of" Casteel

That's right, 'Bama -- you're getting smacked in the mouth by the Utes!

Sugar Bowl Champs

Sugar Bowl Most Outstanding Player

The perfect season. 13-0. We beat 4 top-25 teams. We beat the team that was number one in the country for 5 weeks, and we beat them more convincingly than Florida did. Yet Florida gets to play for the national championship and we get:

A fake trophy.

Here are some motivational posters that Alabama fans can use for next year:
(I apologize that one of them has a swear in it)

And one more for my BYU buddies out there:

Seriously, couldn't you just have taken care of Arizona in the Las Vegas bowl?

Quinn

Happy New Year and the Sugar Bowl

2009 is finally here and I can't believe it. New Year's Eve was spent quietly for me at least. My little brother won tickets to the U of U basketball game that night so he took my Dad, Grandpa Z. and Quinn. The boys had a great time at a very exciting game. Well Mom didn't want to stay home alone (Anne had other plans) so she came down and spent the evening with me and Emma. Us girls went to Applebee's for a yummy dinner because there was no way we were cooking. Then we came home, put Emma down for the night and watched Pride and Prejudice the Keira Knightly version. It was good but not near as good as the 6 hour Collin Firth version. Once the boys got back they left and I went to bed. No reason to stay up late. I need all the sleep I can get. Although I did wake around midnight due the fireworks some neighbor was doing. So that was my exciting New Years.

The next day the family came again, this time everyone came including Daniel and Hannah as they were leaving the next day for Ohio. We needed to see them one last time. So we spent a couple hours playing Guitar Hero and had another blowout game of Pictionary. We are almost too competitive for that game, we get a little too loud, but had a great time.

The next day was the BIG DAY -- SUGAR BOWL DAY! Quinn had been waiting for this all week. I think he wore a U of U shirt everyday that week (yes he has plenty). We were invited over to our friends house, Joe and Katie. We arrived early to play Guitar Hero of course and then to watch the game and eat ourselves sick. Knowing that Emma would probably not last that long Quinn and I took separate cars and it was a good thing. When the game started the boys got so excited they were quite loud and I think it made Emma a little nervous. So Emma and I went home early. Quinn said the game was awesome and I'm sure He'll want to add in some comments here. I know I can't do it justice.

Emma, Quinn, Katie and Joe.

Emma of course had the right attire on for the game with her UTE overalls.

GO UTES!!