Dalton Inc.

Starting Fresh

2011-08-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

I started a new blog, sort of. There are no posts yet but there will be soon! Our new address is dalton-inc.blogspot.com

Home Improvements

2011-04-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

Good news people...

Our landscaping is ALMOST done...

1599

2011-04-03T16:54:00.001-07:00

After 11 weeks of training Devin participated in first TRIATHALON!!! It was not the IronMan (not yet anyways :)) it was the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center Sprint which is:

-400 meter swim

-10 mile bike

-3 mile run

Devin has been training 4 times a week either at the pool, on the road, or the treadmill and his hard work paid off. Calculating the times he was getting during his training we were planning for him to finish in 1:30 - 1:45, unfortunately he finished no where near his calculated time....

Instead he finished in 1:01!!!!!! We were all blown away by his speediness! (I didn't even get to see him cross the finish line because I was planning for the run to take him 25-30min and he finished it in less than 20!)

His goal was to finish in the top three, but unfortunately he finished 17th......OVERALL! He took 2nd in his age class (24-29)!

So proud of this one.

Waiting to jump in the pool...

Hopping in...Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...Out of the water in 8 minutes, off to the bike...Off he goes on his 10 mile bike ride... We watched 2 different people EAT IT on this turn, yikes...End of the bike ride...In the "transition area" pulling on his running shoes...Taking off up the hill...Finished!!!!! (He loves getting his picture taken, especially when he's wearing Spandex shorts, can't you tell???) On the podium for 3.5 seconds, just enough time to snap a pic.So proud of this one.

Craft Day!

2011-04-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

After many unsuccessful shopping trips I realized that if you're picky like me, the best option when buying decorations is to not. Instead of shopping you should blog stalk crafty people so you can learn how to make your own decorations like the lady at makeit-loveit.com That's what my friend Nicole and I decided to do last week. Our crafting session consisted of fabric shopping, chatting, and crafting, and this is what I came up with...

These little fabric flowers were the perfect addition to our guest room!

My dog is obsessed

2011-04-03T14:32:00.000-07:00

After sorting through my St. Patricks day pictures like this one.... and this one...

I have come to the conclusion that my dog is obsessed with food....

"Hi, my name is Otto and I'm a Food-a-holic..."

A sad sad day...

2011-04-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

I'm very sad to say that we sold Red Thunder. After much debating, we made the adult/practical decision to sell the truck that Devin has had since college, and perhaps purchase a truck that gets better gas mileage. Oh Red Thunder, you were a great truck and you will be missed...

Autobots!

2011-03-03T08:23:00.000-08:00

What better way to celebrate the coming of a 27th birthday than to party like a bunch of nine-year-olds at a Transformers themed birthday bash?!!? Devin and our Ottobot were definitely down with the theme...

I was even able to find our own little "Ottobot" an appropriate birthday outfit (FYI Otto fits snugly into a 4T t-shirt)My friend Tanya made us this outstanding Transformers cake! Talk about a high quality cake, this thing survived getting stepped on by a 55lb chunky monkey and only suffered a slight, unnoticeable indentation... Junk food and Just Dance on the Wii, we can party circles around those 9 year olds!Otto is a fabulous host and gave loves all around...
There is truly no better way than to celebrate a birthday than to be surrounded by good friends!

Words of Wisdom

2011-01-23T23:40:00.000-08:00

"I'm not complaining, I'm comparing."

-Devin Dalton

Exhibit A...

2011-01-23T00:13:00.000-08:00

Yes I do cook, contrary to popular belief. To prove it I have for you Exhibit A... Exhibit B is the end result of my little bout of cooking...

What you see above is White Chicken Chili a.k.a. Healthy Heaven in a bowl!

Here's the recipe, you want it I promise!

- Boil 3 chicken breasts until cooked, then shred with a fork

- In a large saucepan saute one large onion and 3 large sticks of celery (thinly sliced) in olive oil until translucent, then add the shredded chicken.

- Add cumin, garlic powder, chopped garlic to taste (the more the merrier!)

- Add 1 can of chicken broth, 1 cup salsa, and 2 cans of Great Northern beans (or any white bean of your choice) and chopped cilantro

- Add 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, one handful at a time allowing it to melt

- Allow to simmer for at least 5 minutes, the longer the better!

- Serve in a bowl topped with avocado and cilantro....Flavor overload!

This was not the original recipe that I was shown (thanks you Marissa Neve and Erin Tate for introducing me to heaven in a bowl) but that is the greatness of chili, you can kinda put your own spin on it and it still turns out delicious(most of the time)! Next time I make this I am going to add more veggies because I will take any opportunity I can to trick my husband into eating veggies! Another perk to this recipe is that it makes for great leftovers especially when you're sitting in the xray control room at 1:30a.m. Whoops, there's a knee, gotta go!

Just call me Emeril...BAM!

2011-01-15T17:25:00.000-08:00

Funny story: The other night I decided to make the California Pizza Kitchen version of Barbeque Chicken pizza. Its delicious...here's the recipe just in case you're interested...

California Pizza Kitchen Pizza
-Roll out and bake a "can" of Pillsbury Pizza dough for approx 7 min
-Remove from the oven and top with BBQ sauce, shredded chicken( I used Costco's rotissere chicken, yum!), cheese, and chopped red onion
-Return pizza to oven until crust turns golden brown, then remove from the oven
-MOST IMPORTANT STEP: Top your pizza with chopped cilantro! Bam!

This is the finished product... We started eating and after a few bites I asked Devin if he liked it. He replied, " Yes it's good, but I think it would be even better if you put CHEESE on it!"
I forgot the most important ingredient! So this is actually what it should look like...
Devin was right, it WAS even better with cheese! Otto enjoyed it too,but his opinion cannot be trusted since he also enjoys eating slippers, twigs, and underwear

Look what I found...

2011-01-11T00:02:00.001-08:00

About a week ago I was "window shopping" through the purse section at Dillards with my sister and we saw this hot little item... Unfortunately the price of this Kathy purse was not that hot...

So we forgot about it and moved on.

Three days later during a quick trip to Ross to buy much more practical items, I quickly browsed through the purse section, you know cuz I was already there I might as well, and I found this hot little item.... And the price of THIS Kathy purse was much hotter than the first...

So I did what any girl would do, I bought it. Did I really need it? I'm pretty 99% of women who buy purses don't actually have a real "need" for the purse, so no. But some deals are too hot to pass up!

Cabin Fever!

2011-01-03T00:08:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas since I've dated Devin we have made it our Christmas tradition to travel to Moab and spend Christmas with the entire family! This year both Devin and I had to work on Christmas but have no fear because we still were able to participate in all of the Moab Christmas activitites, they just had to be pushed back a few days. (Thank you to our Moab family for accomodating our schedules, we are so glad we didn't have to miss a beat!) Upon arrival to Moab we had an amazing PrimeRib dinner, followed by white elephants gifts, and then normal gifts....great times. (For the white elephant I was lucky enough to get a belly button lint cleaner along with some real belly lint, thanks Chad!) We got some great gifts from the Daltons (decorations, a portable vacuum, and a FREEZER, yipppeee!!) and some awesome homemade gift from the Shepards. The next day we dropped of Otto at Karen's Canine Cabin (I have a taste for what dropping off our child at the first day of school will feel like, but hopefully their teacher won't have the same smell of cigarettes and alcohol) and headed to the LaSal mountains. We snowmobiled into the cabin but had to stay on the trail because the snow wasn't very deep. The next morning we awoke to this.... and this... (there are seven snowmoiles down there)and temperatures like this...

So the men had to dig out the snowmobiles...

So we could go sledding...

Chad, Kennedy, Macray, Andrew, and Larry Bear at the bottom of the sledding hill
Here I am with Payton, Macray, and Ean at the top of the hill...

and here we go....

At the bottom of the hill, Ryan was waiting in the snowmobile to drive us back to the top of the hill, that's sledding Ellis-style

When it got too cold to be outside anymore we moved the activitites inside to play.....Minute to Win It

It was a fun game AND a fun way to make fools out of ourselves! Case in point, me attempting to move and Oreo from my forehead to my mouth hands-free

Devin attempting to retrieve a penny from th bottom of these pantyhose...Breckin gave up and played his own game with the pantyhose

Britt, Nick, Kent and Chad shaking their cans to get the bouncy balls out of the tissue boxes...priceless!

Rubbing our noses with Vaseline to transfer cotton balls across the room...

Kent (my teammate Woot Woot!) fishing for marshmallows with a gummyworm...

Devin and Steph doing the Russian dance on the Just Dance 2 game for the Wii!...

Check out those moves...

After all of the playing, we did a lot of eating. Here's a big thank you to Joelynn for keeping 20 hungry hippos fed and then some!

After all the playing and eating we had some vegging out time...

And lots of this...

There's nothing better than spending the Holidays with family! See you all again at the cabin next year!

Home Improvements 2

2011-01-03T00:02:00.001-08:00

Today I decided to go to the movie True Grit (amazing movie, I highly recommend it) with my sister. As I was leaving the house Devin mentioned that he might head to Lowes and check out prices on wood for the shelves in the garage. I came home to this....

...Our beautiful new garage shelves! Hooray for organizing! Hooray for handy husbands!

Sidenote: Sorry for the backside shot of Devin(or should I say you're welcome), he's not a fan of pictures so I will settle for whatever side of him I get ;)

Sidenote 2: The dirtbike in the second pic is for sale, tell all of your friends!

Meet Larry Bear

2011-01-02T23:38:00.000-08:00

Larry Bear is Andrew Dalton's firstborn and is officially the newest addition to the Dalton side of the family. I met Larry for the first time this Christmas and he was a delight to say the least. After spending lots of time with Larry Bear shacked up in a cabin here is what I learned about him...

He enjoys his naps as much as the next dog, or human.

He is well-rounded in the "trick" department. Double high-fives are his specialty.

He loves to snuggle, almost as much as his Grandpa does.

He loves to play in the great outdoors, rain or shine or 10 feet of snow.

He has many friends of the canine kind, one of which is his cousin Otto.

He is not hard to keep track of. If ever you can't find Larry, a sure bet would be to look within a 3 foot radius of his Dad.

Welcome to the family Larry Bear! You are in for a fun ride!

Holding on the the 50's

2010-12-26T00:50:00.000-08:00

December 16th was my Mom's 59th birthday. As part of our gift we invited my family over to our new house for her birthday dinner. I guess you could say that this was my first official dinner party and I can say without a doubt that I need some practice throwing dinner parties, so anyone in need of one please let me know.

The night started off horribly wrong when our little guy, Otto, got so excited to see our dinner guests that he piddled on the tile, then on the carpet, then on the BRAND NEW COUCHES! Poor Otto can't be judged to harshly since he recently got "fixed" and ever since has had some "issues." After those messes were cleaned up I proceeded to cook dinner, salmon, steak for Dev, and asparagus, and potatoes. Easy, right? Wrong. Chaos ensued as some mysterious substance decided to burn in the oven, causing the entire house to be smoky and freezing after we had to open all the doors and windows. I wish that I could say that in the midst of all the chaos I kept my cool and gracefully conquered these obstacles but afterwards I was a grumpy mess and was unable to even enjoy my dinner. Better luck next time.

In spite of my grumpiness I think everyone else had a good time, that's what I'm telling myself anyways...

My sister and the birthday girl! Yes we let our dog sit at the table with us while we eat, i promise this is normal. My mom and the birthday cheesecake

My sister bought my mom this purse for her birthday. Apparently we have the same taste in purses.

Best.Night.Ever.

2010-12-26T00:18:00.001-08:00

(FYI:The title of this post is the Facebook post that Matt (the birthday boy) posted late that night)

Matt and Karly and our very good friends that live in Las Vegas. Karly planned a surprise birthday bash for Matt at none other than...Hooters, seriously. She chose this fine eating establishment becasue Matt claims to be a huge fan of the wings...some of the highlights of the night included a live band, lots of dancing, a Delorian cake (from Back to the Future Matt's favorite movie of all time), an impromptu trip to Stoney's that included line dancing attempts, and a mechanical bullride! Great times were had by all...Clearly the PPC (any fans of The Office) did it's job!

Home Improvements

2010-12-25T23:59:00.000-08:00

Since we(I promise I didn't just shun Devin to the garage, this was a collaborative decision, i think) made the decision that the garage is officially Devin's designated area to do with whatever he pleases, you better believe that he is gonna make that thing look SHARP!

Step #1 to making a garage look sharp : Epoxy the Floor

After almost of week of drying, rinsing, drying again, epoxy-ing, drying again...Ta da!

It's the stuff that dreams are made out of! I should also add that we sacrificed a bunch of brain cells after being locked in that garage with only the epoxy fumes to breath in!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-13T02:45:00.001-08:00

Wishing you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Love, Devin, Whitney, and Otto

Welcome to our home (a work in progress)

2010-12-13T02:21:00.000-08:00

Here are a few snapshots of our home! I've started to decorate but have not even come close to having everything the way I (we(k so i'm kind of controlling about everything in the house, but Deven has free reign of the garage. That's a fair trade, right?))want it but that will all come with time (and $$$). So here is what it looks like so far, decorating tips are encouraged!

Welcome to our humble abode!

HUGE entryway. I'm somewhat baffled as to what to do with these walls...any suggestions???

Hello livingroom. The couches are brown,even though they look black in this picture, and I'm thinking of doing a burnt orange/cream/forest green in this room. Notice that the tags are still on the couch, I'm having anxiety about cutting them off, it's my retail commitment phobia.

Hello Kitchen/dining room. For these two i'm thinking burnt red/creams/forest green...

Our new dining room table that we've been wanting for almost two years. We have yet to actually eat on it, we seem to gravitate to the stools at the counter to eat our meals.

And this is where Otto eats...

The kitchen, and the lonely rooster on the shelf

Devin's office with a painting by none other than my dad! This room needs one of those big chunky desks I think.

Our cute little laundry room with....

the CUTEST little laundry room sign!
This is all the decorating I've done so far, hopefully the next post will have some major updates!

Big News!!!

2010-12-13T02:09:00.001-08:00

Big news!! We are......not pregnant......HOME OWNERS!!!!!
Take a look...

She is officially ours as of November 19th, Happy Birthday to me! We are so thrilled and we can't wait to make her a home. Otto is pretty stoked as well..

Here are a few pics of the whole process...

Let the decorating begin!!!

We're not dead, I swear!

2010-12-13T00:50:00.000-08:00

So...I've neglectedt the blog just a bit in the last few months! I can say that I'm completely free of fault because we have had the CRAZIEST few months ever known to man, well probably not that crazy, k fine,I've just been a bit neglectful for no reason. But that all ends NOW! I'm officially back on the blogging wagon! Here's a quick recap of the last ___months...

I took my test in May to be an LPT(Limited Practical Tech, I passed(Hooray!), and I was lucky(and I mean very lucky)enough to get hired on at the hospital! So in addition to my 24 hours of clinicals every week, I will also be working 20-40 hours! Let the craziness begin! Albeit crazy, working those extra hours has given me sooooo much experience that I desperately needed!

How cute are these girls?! I am lucky enough to get to hang out with them 24/7 because they are also in the Radiography program! This is a picture of us at a conference in Las Vegas, good times were had by all! Dacia, Jessica, Nicole, Mary(our teacher/one of the nicest ladies in the whole world) and me.

Our friends MArki and SHane got marriend this summer. It was a beautiful wedding in her grandparents bakyard in Hurricane.

This is a family picture :)

As i mentioned in the previous post, we went to Lake ARrowhead for Kevin and WHits wedding...ANOTHER beautiful wedding

Devin got a great opportunity to play in a WORLDS softball tournament in Colorado! He loves softball and he has been putting a lot of time into this team practicing during the week and going to tournaments on the weekend so it was agreat reward for them to make it to this tournament. Here he is with his teammates and the ANgels cake I had made for their going-away present/carb load Haha

While DEvin has been playing softball, I've been trying to stay in shape by running, since the gym has been dropped to the absolute bottom of my priority list these days :( I've been running with Jessica, my friend from school. SHe is a running/workout machine so she keeps me motivated. This is us at the start of the SAVE A SISTER 10K run. Good news, I beat my last 10K time by minutes! OH ya!

As you all know THe Dalton's are HAlloween enthusiasts, and normally we go all out dressing up. This year we decided to do something different and check out Disneyland on Halloween. We brought along our BFF's the Holts and had a grand time...

In between all of this activity...I GRADUATED!!!! Devin had this delicious cake made for me as a surprise...

He is the BEST at thoughtful surprises. For my graduation weekend we had EVERYONE in town: Devin's parents and sister's family, my parents and grandparents, and my sister. Unfortunately I didn't take ANY pictures, but trust me, we had a great time!
Here is the only pictures we got, this is my whole(yes, ENTIRE) family on THanksgiving in Cedar City...

Another BIG thing happened during graduation...stay tumed to my next post!

American Honey

2010-08-06T00:40:00.000-07:00

The Dalton's have officially made it past the ONE YEAR mark! Yip-eeeeee! August 1st of 2009 was the day that changed my life all for the better in so so many ways. This first year has been one some trials, enormous loads of fun, several ups and downs, and most notably it has been jam-packed full with lessons! And those lessons seem to never cease, and i have a feeling that they will never cease, probably a good thing. I don't think that there is any situation that can make a person more self-aware than living with someone. I can say that I have a completely different view of the person I am than I did a year ago thanks(this isn't to imply that one view is better than the other, I'm jsut appreciative to be more self aware) to Devin.

For our anniversary celebration we were planning to go to the Tim McGRaw/Lady Antebellum concert in Salt Lake, but there was a change of plans when Devin's long time best friend Kevin announced that he and his longtime girlfriend also named Whitney were going to tie the knot in LAKE ARROWHEAD, CALIFORNIA on ............AUGUST FIRST!!!!!! Well, I guess that decides where we will be celebrating this year! We decided to make a trip of it and visit my grandparents in Orange, and we even brought my mom along for the ride! Here are some pictures to show what an AMAZING weekend we had....

Our first day in ORange was filled with shopping and eating at our FAVORTIE restaurant Buca di Beppo! If you haven't tried it yet I highly recommend it. They serve you family style and the whole joint is covered in kitchy(not sure on the spelling) Italian memorobilia. We were seated at the FRank Sinatra table which just happens to be my grandpa's favorite human being of all time!

I got my usual, a Peach Bellini, Cheers!

Unfortunately we were plagued with some car trouble and needless to say Devin was very upset, but I was actually grateful that it happened how it did. Our battery died while parked in a gas station on the day before we were to head up to LAke Arrowhead, we were very lucky it didn't happen a day later.
Lesson #1 Living with a pessimist(Devin) brings out the optimistic side of me

The next day Devin and I went to Huntington Beach. Devin is not a big beach/sun/shopping/crowd fan so I was doing my wifely duty by constantly pestering him to lighten up and have a good time
Lesson #2 If I lighten up about him lightening up, he will lighten up a.k.a. nagging doesn't work.
And did he ever lighten up....
This is a rare shot of Devin just laying in the sun, doing absolutely nothing, and enjoying it

We took a stroll along the beach and saw some real characters, we picked the most normal-looking ones to take our pictures.

The large crowd was there to witness the U.S. Open of Surfing which was a surfing competition being held at Huntington throughout the week.

After my long-awaited day at the beach we started our journey to Lake Arrowhead. My grandparents took much time explaining the dangers of the road up to Lake Arrowhead and basically told us that we'd be lucky to survive the journey, they can be a little worrisome. Thankfully, we did survive. Our phone GPS led the way and another lesson was learned
Lesson #3

The Dalton Gang takes on Provo!

2010-07-24T01:51:00.000-07:00

We made our 4th of July plans a long long time ago when we found out that our niece Kennedy made the cut to dance at the Stadium of Fire at Lavell Edwards stadium in Provo! Not only would she be performing but one of our favorite people ever was going to be performing...Carrie Underwood(we admire her for different reasons...I admire her for her vocal talent, and devin admires her for other talents)!! Not only were we excited to see the show, its pretty much a given that we are going to have a great time whenever we get together with the Daltons....never a dull moment!

Of course we had to go see Eclipse! All three Twilight movie openings have taken place when we've been vistiting Devin's family...coincidence? This is Stephanie and Payton in their Eclipse attire.

And here's Breckin, being Breckin, in his Spiderman attire!

All the kids (minus Kennedy) loaded up in the LIMO! Yes we are high rollers. Its amazing the looks you get as you drive by in one of these.

Here we are! The stadium was HUGE!

The Ellis's!

The stands got super crowded once the show started so we got to snuggle up to Mimi and Granpa Joe (and some odd ducks on the other side of me...)

All of the dancers put on an AMAZING performance. Devin and I were convinced that we spotted Kennedy dancing, only to find out after the show that she was actually wearing white, not red like we thought...

Big E enjoying the show on his Mom's lap

There's Carrie!

Fireworks! During the show a couple of the fireworks got out of hand and escaped running into some guy in the audience...Happy fourth

This was the most eventful ride home! Numerous hold ups took place such as being stuck in traffic, zipping down streets nearly taking out some side mirrors, and the infamous fifty point turn that the limo driver had to perform to get us unstuck in a one-way street! We had a great time, look at those disco lights, how could we not?

The next day we went to Hogle Zoo. Here are all of the kids, and a preteen.

After about fifteen minutes at the zoo we all had to take a snack break...here is my father-in-law Kent with his ice cream

Kennedy and Payton

FYI Hogle Zoo puts on an amazing bird show. We gave it five stars. Here is Olga the seagull.

This owl was flying so low to the ground that its wing hit Devin's hat!

The giraffes were my favorite

Several times throughout the day Devin threatened to leave me at the zoo with the rest of the animals, but in the end he took me back home with him just like i knew he would :)

Catching up with old friends...at the lake!

2010-07-08T00:44:00.000-07:00

Cortney and Candace are two of the first friends that I made in college. Since college has ended we have gone our separate ways, but despite the randomness of our lives and craziness of our schedules, we have managed to see each other at least once a year. Last year we got to spend a crazy weekend together for my bachelorette party and wedding. This year they invited DEvin and I to come out to SAnd Hollow to go boating while they were both in Cedar City (Cortney came in from South Carolina and Candace is on summer vacation from law school in AZ). Needless to say, good times were had by all, as per usual when I'm with these two!

The twins! Candace and Cortney

Candace and me cooling off in the refreshing H2O

Otto meets Achilles

2010-07-08T00:34:00.001-07:00

By nothing more than random chance we were able to meet another one of Otto's family members (last fall we ran into Anheiser, Otto's half sister, at Swiss Days). This is Achilles...

He is the only other boy in Otto's litter. It's hard to believe that they are the same age, from the same parents because of their massive size difference... Otto is 54lbs while Achilles stands at a whopping.....97 LBS!!! We decided some of this is due to Achilles being fixed at a young age but even then he still weighed in at 70lbs. Otto must have just gotten the skinnier end of the stick. Size differences aside these two are both good-natured dogs and had a great time hanging out at the ball field!

Otto later enjoyed a pina colada snowcone at the fields...it's a dog's life.

Rain, rain, Go away, Come again some other day!

2010-06-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

The Holt wedding has finally come and gone and all I can say is that we had a great time and made a lot of wonderful memories with our friends!
To start the weekend we drove up through Provo Canyon to Midway for the rehearsal luncheon. The drive through the canyon was beautiful and I am determined to make that drive agian in the future. ANd to add to everything there was a constant sprinkle that made everything look so GREEN! The rain was beautiful scenery-wise, but it undoubtedly caused much stress throughout the entire weekend. When we finally made it to Midway we had our rehearsal at the Johnson Mill(we found out later that it was ranked the #5 Most Romantic Inn in the US)after which we drove to PArk City where we had our hotel reservations for Friday night (thanks to my sister-in-law Britney). After spending time walking through Park City I have decided that we will either 1)make it an annual trip or 2) buy property there(this option will probably only be accomplished after our huge Lotto win).
After returning to Midway for the wedding preparation the stress began. Karly and Matt had for the past 6 months been planning on an outdoor wedding and all of their plans were smashed with a 80% chance of showers throughout the day. All the decorations had to be moved indoors and tents had to be purchased to cover the seats at the ceremony. After all the blood, sweat, and tears, and two days of straight rain, we had a mairacle...15 minutes before the ceremony the clouds parted and not another raindrop fell for the rest of the night! The photographer even commented that the clouds made the lighting "perfect." Here are some pictures of the wonderful night...

Karly and Matt invited us and a few other of their close friends and family to spend the night at Johnson's Mill...our rooms were AMAZING

The view from our balcony (the ceremony took place in the bottom right of the picture)

Getting the groom ready for the show

The groomsmen

Me and Matt's friend Tay

The ring bearers and flower girl in her flower mobile(Karly's niece and nephews)

Here comes the bride

Get Well Soon Andrew!

2010-06-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

Devin's little brother Andrew had a bit of a health scare last week, he had a temperature of 105 and had to stay in the hospital for a few days. He is home now and doing well thankfully!

Bridal Sweets

2010-06-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's wedding season and what more traditional way to set off the bridal chain of events than with a bridal shower! Here are a few snapshots of Karly's bridal shower...
I held the shower at The Painted Pony in Ancestor Square, and I HIGHLY recommend this place for anyone who is looking for a cuteoutdoor patio-ish venue! The staff was very accomodating, and the food was DEE-LISH! The wedding colors were orange and yellow soooo...that is the same colors i chose for the shower...

The cute personalized menus...

All the cute girls who showed up to support Karly

Of course we had to play the clothsepin game! Karly and all her "K" clothespins

Another game...Guess the number of Reeses cups(Karlys favorite candy) in the vase

Chowing down on our delicious lunch

Yummy cheesecake dessert

All the girls

Amazon Woman

2010-04-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

No i am not really an Amazon woman...yet. THis past month I have caught on to the new fitness craze called Crossfit. A friend of mine (Camie, pictured jumping next to me) told me about it and after going with her to a few classes i have found myself HOOKED! Not only is it a great physical workout but it is also a mental workout. Every time they describe the workout we will be doing that day I immediately think "oh there's no way in...you know." Once we begin the workout I am usually have to battle with myself the whole way through to keep going and I have found that I have kept going and in doing so i feel myself becoming stronger mentally and physically! And until lately, I would have never considered myself competitive but come to find, I am! K i know its weird that i'm so into this workout that i'm blogging about it but I just gotta share with you all how great it has been for me... you should give it a try.... crossfitstgeorge.com

Chocolate, salmon, and poodles

2010-04-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone!!!! Although this message is coming a week late it holds no less sincerity. Easter was special this year because it is the FIRST year I've gotten to spend it with my Devin. Normally this time of year he is in Moab visiting family or doing windows but due to bad weather he decided to put his trip off for a few weeks. So what did we do..hmmmmm..let me think...
First I made a special trip to WalMart to purchase my child's first Easter outfit(isn't that what parents do for their kids for Easter Sunday). I was very pleased with the outfit and I have decided to make holiday outfits a norm for Otto.
Sunday morning after we spruced ourselves up to our best ability we drove to Cedar City. Once we were there we had the traditional...take a guess.... Easter egg hunt with our good friends The Tufte's. After the hunt it was time to chow down on some smoked salmon(ham for Devin), cream cheese, and bagels, my FAVORITE meal on the planet! Once our scrumptious meal had been devoured we filled Devin in on the family secret... the story of Maryjo's Easter poodle cake. Basically its a cake that is supposed to be a lamb but looks like a poodle, and by gosh do we get a kick out of seeing it and talking about it every year!
Thanks to the Koepps and the Tuftes for making this Easter a hit!

Spectrum 10K (more like 10 million K)

2010-03-20T18:48:00.000-07:00

Well I can say that i have trained for(sort of) and completed my first race! Over the years I have run "recreationally" here and there so after talking with some people at work I told Devin that I wanted to attempt the Spectrum 10K in two weeks. Knowing my procrastinating ways, Devin got on the internet and signed me up. When I came home from work the next day I saw a piece of paper with all of the race details and dates hanging on my bedroom wall, I was officially committed. What can i say, he drives me. So with two weeks to go I began running with my classmate/neighbor/friend/marathon runner Nicole. Let me jsut say that without her as a running partner I don't think I would've prepared for the race or been able to complete the race! The last 1.5 miles were uphill and ROUGH but in my need to not hold her back or disappoint her I kept on truckin'! We finished our 6.3 miles in 58 min and ? seconds. Whats next? I say another 10k and maybe a 1/2 marathon....

Soooo tired...

Yay we finished!!!!!

Are you feelin lucky punk??

2010-03-20T18:12:00.000-07:00

'Tis the season of four-leaf clovers and leprachauns! Although both of our schedules have been very busy because of school and the recent onflux of BEAUTIFUL SUNNY window-washing weather in St George we got a bit of a wild hair and decided to have a small St Patty's get together. We bought hamburgers and dogs, I made some nummy buffalo chicken dip, our guests brought essentials such as chips and soda, and along with some funny accessories and green food dye we had the makings of a great time with new and old friends.

Some of the guys from Devin's softball team. These boys are a hoot and I know Devin has had a great time playing on a team with them.

Monroe and Devin "manning" the grill

Coolest neighbors/friends that we have met since we've been in St George! (Note our festive gear)

St Patty's Dalton-style

Meet My Valentine

2010-02-18T21:24:00.000-08:00

His name is Devin.
He is my rock.
He is my joy.
He is the love of my life.

Jingle Bells, Batman smells...

2010-01-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

Over the past few years Devin and I have developed a Christmas routine and it goes like this... Christmas with just the three of us on December 22nd, we drive to Cedar City to spend Christmas with my family on the 23rd, and then on Christmas Eve we travel to Moab to spend real Christmas with the Daltons. This year was FULL of activities...

Poor Otto scratched his eye a couple days before so he had to wear "the cone of shame." It was so sad to see him try to function with that ridiculous thing on but at the same time it was actually pretty funny/cute. Luckily he only had to wear it for a few days. Here he is standing in front of his Christmas present to "Mom"

For part of our Christmas present my parents took us to Brianhead to go snowboarding! My parents were ski bums back in the day and they showed us that they still have their ski legs! This day was FREEEEEEEEZING but there was fresh powder which made riding so much more fun! I hope we turn this Brianhead trip into a family tradition.

After skiing we went to my parents house to bbq. Otto knows where to go to beg for some scraps of meat.

On Christmas Eve morning we drove to Moab to begin Christmas #3! Christmas tradition was to do our White Elephant exchange and it is a tradtion that never fails to deliver lots of laughs!

Let the present-opening begin!

These are the awesome tee-pee's that Devin's parents made for the grandkids. Needless to say, Joelynn and Kent are the ultimate grandparents!

The day after Christmas all 18 of us headed to the Dalton's cabin in the La Sol mountains. We snowmobiled all of the supplies and people in and spent two nights in the cabin playing Wii and racing Pinewood derbys. The Dalton's started building this cabin in 2006 and every time we go back to visit it is closer and closer to being finished!

Pie, pie, and more pie

2010-01-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2009 was spent in Moab with the Dalton's...all i can say is that this family knows how to cook and I know how to eat so we're a great match!

One tray of rolls were made by me and the other was made by Devin's mom... i'll let you guess which one was mine...

Just a few of the Dalton clan sitting down to eat

All the girls went to see New Moon, even though everyone had seen it already

Our niece Payton and her gingerbread house. Decorating gingerbread houses is a Thanksgiving tradition and it gets more fun every year as the kids get older and have crazier designs.

Devin and our nephew Ean playing catch. Ean is a NATURAL at throwing, he is only two but he throws the ball like pro. It was so much fun to watch Devin bond with Ean through baseball, plus it gets me excited to see Devin playing catch with our own little ball players one day.

Happy Birthday Week! Yes, i said "week"

2009-11-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

To begin allow me to explain the title. In the Koepp family we always recognized everyones (or should i say all four of our) birthday week. In keeping the family tradition I have encouraged Devin to recognize birthday week and believe me he has fought mo on it every year. He thinks that it is a silly tradition and that everyone only gets one day a year. I say boo on him and Happy Birthday Week to everyone!

Devin did give in a little and bought me fall flowers to enjoy during my birthday week.

The day before my actual birthday my parents came down to St George and took us out to the Brazilian Steakhouse. If you have never been it is like a Rodizio's is SLC. Lots of new interesting brazilian food and LOTS of meat. Devin and my Dad were in heaven, we basically had to roll their full belly's out of the restaurant

My Mom and Dad enjoying wine and Brazilian lemonade. My dad was a little hesitant to hold up his pink berarage but he was a good sport.

Otto was trying to snipe one of my Twenty Five Main cupcakes! I love you but i don't love you THAT much.

Me and the other birthday boy! Ottoturned ONE on November 7th! Thanks for the wonderful year Chunky Monkey. Love, Mom and Dad

This is sucha bad habit to encourage but he's so stinkin cute I can't help it

This was a monumental moment in the history of Devin and Whitney.... Devin takes his first bite of sushi. As you can tell from the picture he was hesitant but a grumbling stomach and plenty of peer pressure pushed him over the edge. He is definitely not a fan but he can now say that he tried it. So proud of you honey!

In contrast, Devin's other half obviously has no restraint when it comes to eating sushi... yum

Halloween (our favorite holiday!)

2009-11-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

If you know us, you know we are Halloween enthusiasts! This year we spent Halloween in Vegas and Devin got to play a little softball and i got to do a little shopping so everyone was happy! For Halloween night we went to the Palms and people/costume watched and stayed very entertained...

Elvis and Lady Luck... very Vegas right????

John Lennon and Michael Jackson. Michaeal looked sooooooo real, it was borderline creepy.

Christy, Chant(Manny Ramirez) and Jena

The whole Halloween party at Dick's Restaurant in the Excaliber. (Only group picture and my eyes are closed!)

Devin was getting into character and he stayed in it all night. Everyone in Vegas LOVED him. "Elvis!" "Elvis!"

Testing the blog

2009-10-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of me and Otto

Devin and I with all of our nieces and nephews at the wedding

While Devin's away, Whitney and Otto will play...

2009-09-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

So this is officially my first blog! The reason I chose tonight to start my blog is because Devin went to his hometown of Moab to hunt/work so of course i find myself with time to do whatever i want and starting a blog is what i've wanted to do for a long time so... ta da! In addition to the blog, Otto and i have had a very exciting weekend. Yesterday we went to Swiss Days with the grandparents and we randomly ran into Otto's half-sister Anheiser "Annie" sooooo cute! What a small world!