wheelers, 2017

photos by the talented erin dupree photography, cropped for blog

be advised that caleb and dallin absolutely ended this photo shoot rolling around in the mud, to the sheer delight of summer and afton.

la vie est belle.

in case you missed it

white. christmas.

in video form:

let your heart be light

"There is but one guiding hand in the universe, only one truly infallible light, one unfailing beacon to the world. That light is Jesus Christ, the light and life of the world. [...] 'A light that is endless, that can never be darkened (Mosiah 16:9).'" --Howard W. Hunter, 1992

merry christmas, friends!

waltz of the snowflakes

summer and afton loved their experience at the awe-inspiring nutcracker last year so much that they begged to go again this year. 

it's a solid toss up whether i most enjoy watching the ballet or watching the girls watch the ballet.

date night

holiday party edition!

wherein bryan tore it up on the dance floor for as long as emily did.

(which is no small feat, my friends!)

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

out finding the perfect fraser fir last saturday (in the rain!) 

i asked the kids if they wanted to stay in the car while bryan and i went to select the tree, and they were having none of that. i'm always acting like the rain is kind of a big deal, and they're always acting like it's definitely not a big deal, and i forget moments like when they step off a plane in utah and ask why is it so dry? and where are all the trees? and what does this color brown mean?

that these kids are born and bred in the rain.

as indicated in this pic, dallin only had eyes for the saw.

my life with boys who love sharp things.

this year's perfect fraser fir.

celebrating summer

this little lady is ten.

summer makes growing up look easy. she loves life! she loves school! she loves dance! she loves church! she loves friends! she loves family! imma level with you and say she doesn't always love practicing the piano, but hey, in the ledger of life, she's still plus-plus-plus on the loves side.

summer is kindness wrapped up in enthusiasm. she draws her strength from people and interaction. she loves talking and expressing her opinions and sharing knowledge she's gained.

she still walks on her tiptoes and never falls asleep on car rides. she won't hear a word you're saying to her if she's watching tv, and she hates making decisions because she likes too many things.

summer is creative and artistic and musical and smart and beautiful and confident. on her own birthday, she wrapped up gifts for each of her siblings because that's just summer.

born on a dark and rainy night in the pacific northwest, we love watching summer radiate her God-given gifts of sunshine and warmth.

to celebrate! we took the whole fam damily out to breakfast and to ride the great wheel in downtown seattle and then to putz around pike place market. sidenote: summer is actually afraid of heights, BUT the wheel is enclosed, so she dug this one.

we love you, summer girl! happy birthday to my baby.

cold, cold, cold

a northwest snowstorm came through last night, dusting our town with a moderate amount of wet, wet snow that only a gaggle of children and their big, round eyes taking in the season's first white magic can truly appreciate.

caleb sneaking carrots from the snowman. 

even though "sneaking carrots" isn't really a thing. cause, vegetables.

follow the yellow brick road

this halloween marks ten years (!) of handmade group theme costumes for the wheelers. honestly, i'm just as surprised as anyone that we've held on this long. the kids have had a blast dressing up together, and i've somehow managed to stay just this side of sane gussying everyone up.

for our tenth anniversary, we went all out to celebrate the occasion with some of the most iconic and recognizable costumes of all time and a gorgeous fall, in-character photo shoot. 

i fully intended the wizard of oz to be my swan song (i mean, lasting as long as friends and jennifer garner's marriage to ben affleck seems pretty solid to me), but summer and afton already have big plans for continuing on next year...

in the meantime, i've a feeling we're not in kansas anymore.

bonus! a quick look back at years one through nine:

the flintstones, little bo peep, alice in wonderland, the cat in the hat, star wars, saturday morning cartoons, super mario brothers, scooby doo, and where's waldo?

i'd like to publicly thank all the pins and needles and seam rippers that got me where i am today. and bryan, for being such a good sport.

happy halloween!

field trip (again!)

and can you guess where to?!

side note: one of the kindergarteners in caleb's class on tuesday said she loved my hair color because it was the same color as the sky. ^^exhibit a

sasquatch is big (pun intended) around here.