unwrapped

dallin's stocking joining our collection stitched by my talented grandmother.

baby's first christmas!

christmas skirts

so pretty much every year, i have some sort of crazy, hare-brained, last-minute, stress-induced scheme to sew something for christmas.

it's like, the twenty-third of december, and i'm all, "i *must* go out and buy fabric and interfacing and buttons and zippers and patterns and sew through the night to make some skirts/dresses/satchels/pillows/pajamas/et cetera or else christmas will be ruined!"

and pretty much every year, bryan backs me off that cliff.  slowly, calmly, reasonably. and we go on with our lives.

but this year, bryan. wasn't. home.

the emily train could not be stopped, and the last stitches were sewn literally minutes before sitting down to dinner christmas eve.

circle skirts! with pockets! and peppermints! and twirls!

christmas. saved.

you're welcome.

bliss is

this.

meanwhile

at the wheelers:

 'cause nothing says christmas morning like a drone stuck in your hair.

with love, the wheelers

well, 2014, another self-timer holiday family photo is in the books.

tripod! you have served us well!

a little dark, sure. a little blurry, maybe. is everyone smiling? nope. but hey, for a lifeless, mechanical photographer, it's not too shabby.

probably time to hire a professional though, huh?

anyhoo, let's talk milestones.

emily kept four tiny people fed, clothed, active, intelligent, happy, healthy, and hugging it out this year. looking forward to continuing the trend (plus, maybe a bit more sleep?) in 2015.

bryan has so much free time now that he's decided to take up the ukulele. just kidding: bryan doesn't have any free time. regardless, he *has* taken up the ukulele. debut album to release next fall.

summer (7) can oft be found with paper and pencil in hand, jotting down words of wisdom in one of her many secret diaries. she enjoys dancing and talking with strangers. and occasionally dancing while talking to strangers. summer spreads love and kindness like fairy dust wherever she goes.

afton (5 1/2) spells words like a boss. i mean, c'mon, this girl could say her name at ten months old: phonemes is totes her jam. and if her little brothers would stop eating the crayons, she would happily spend all her non-spelling time coloring. afton does the best impersonations and is our resident silly goose.

caleb (2 2/3) continues to charm his way through life and, as was noted in his speech evaluation earlier this year, is "not lacking in confidence." he is also the most industrious of the wheeler children. one day, we're hoping to put that industry to good use. for now, we find stuff like panko crumbs and cheerios "put away" in the refrigerator.

baby dallin (1) is an absolute darling and pretty much everyone's favorite baby. he laughs and smiles almost constantly but can still give his siblings (read: caleb) a piece of his mind when they get in his way. with that attitude and those cheeks, he fits in around here just fine.

wishing you and yours a beautiful holiday season and the very best of the new year!

with love,

the wheelers

outtakes

from today's family photo shoot:

baby, it snowed outside

birthday dress

mama's labor of love:

you guys, you guys.

this little summer girl is such a joy. she's such a sweetheart. she's kind, she's inclusive, she shares. she's creative, she's imaginative, and she's great at math. she loves family, and she makes friends easily. plus, she laughs at all her daddy's jokes.

we are lucky, indeed.

to this. sick. beat

just your friendly neighborhood baby fix stopping by to say hello!

the rest of the haps at the Y

the alpine loop, our first "hike" as a six man fam:

noshing on burgers at in-n-out:

corn maze haze:

enjoying a true blue lunch at the cannon center on campus:

 down on the field before the football game (cool perk courtesy of james):

farewell church with these cute cousins:

sweet summer is seven

happy, happy birthday to the happiest seven-year-old we know!

it's a girl!

rebekah anne sutton 

born monday, october 20th

welcomed by parents, cindy and peter, big brother joshua, and over-the-moon-that-it's-a-girl big sister caitlin. congrats sutton family!

our princess is in another castle

mario and luigi.

yoshi.

toad.

lower right: with princess peach and bowser.

thank you so much-a for playing my game!

rise and shout

okay, first of all, i just want to say that i was addressed as "ma'am" twice while we were on byu campus.

twice!! 

(and one of those times, my kids weren't even around.)

um, does this look like the face of a "ma'am" to you?

OR does it *more likely* look like a gal who is much too young and hip and eating ice cream like a boss (ps, that was the best raspberry milkshake i've ever, ever had) to be a "ma'am?"

on the other hand, i did learn how to type on an *actual typewriter* in the seventh grade...

sigh.

am i dwelling on this too much? because bryan thinks i may be dwelling on this too much.

anyhoo, speaking of bryan, here's his selfie in front of a kick-butt poster for cindy's alumni lecture (which was amazing and totally downloadable from youtube, bytheway):

and this is a little something from the mckay building in case you wanted to see for yourself what it looks like chasing caleb around all day:

paying our respects to mr. clyde and his building full of engineers:

and before our lovely luncheon honoring all eleven outstanding alumni of the year: 

we were so impressed with the outstanding alumni and the great things they are doing in their communities and beyond. and super proud to be related to one of them. go cindy!

go cougars!

the wheelers are home from an exciting there and back again trip to BYU in provo, utah for homecoming week.

we went down to celebrate and honor cindy (bryan's sister), the david o. mckay school of education's alumni of the year. 

we had a blast! the kids were great, the weather was great, the events were great, and the ice cream at the creamery on ninth is still phenomenal. 

more to come. but first: laundry.