finally FIVE!

ah man, is this little mister excited to be five-years-old today:

DALLIN! DALLIN, DALLIN, DALLIN!

dallin, with the powerful voice. dallin, with the powerful lungs. dallin, who is inquisitive and observant and excitable and entertaining and (maybe more than) a wee bit short-tempered. dallin, who feels it all intensely and RIGHT NOW. dallin, who is absolutely not giving in and who is paying ZERO DOLLARS for your false dichotomy. dallin, who will apologize over his DEAD BODY! adorable, adorable, feisty little dallin.

his favorite meal is lunch. all other meals (except for lucky charms) are for the birds. his favorite thing is spider-man. his favorite other thing is rainbows. he lives to be a mischievous BEEMBI! (a word he and caleb made up that has reached cult status in our home) with his older brother and to be doted on as the cutest wittle baby boy who ever did live by his two older sisters (wonder when that one will end?).

and if caleb sees the world in mostly numbers, well then, dallin sees it in mostly words.

words, words, words. like, so many words.

he's my early reader. my top-notch speller. my spot-on lyrics singer. my talkative, talkative, talkative dally woo.

happy birthday, son! may you never stop drinking it all up and soaking it all in. on your own terms and in your own way, vegetables be d*mned! also, i'm pretty sure everyone in sacrament meeting at church super appreciates the weekly FULL VOLUME spelling bees you hold there, so for heaven's sake, don't stop with those any time soon.

BANGARANG!

love, mom

ps, if you know dallin at all, then you know why there's so much apparent YELLING in this post :) 

so big / so small

date night: dear evan hansen

in the same vein as two of my favorite films, sing street and lars and the real girl (and i'll even throw hunt for the wilderpeople in there), dear evan hansen surprised me.

i knew it would be a fantastic, entertaining, sublimely acted production, and it was. and i knew that it would thoughtfully weave together important and timely issues, and it did. i even knew i would love the music (and of course, i did). 

but ultimately, for me, it turned out to be kind of a different story -- and a much more beautiful love story -- than i was expecting.

i love surprises like that.

"no matter what. 

i'll be here. 

when it all feels so big, 

til it all feels so small."

ps, bryan is shedding no tears over the six month broadway musical drought he's about to endure. stay tuned for june, though, when summer and afton get their first taste of wicked. 

#duckbrothers

bye bye braces

yesterday morning, afton entered the caramel popcorn eating, crunchy nut cluster chomping, frozen snickers biting, ooey-gooey-chewy filled world of life after braces:

#retainersforlife

a little january 2018 vs january 2019 action.

(otherwise known as "be still my beating mama heart" or "at least her precious dimple hasn't changed.")

christmas, before i forget

hearkening back to simpler times. (as in, before we unboxed the legos.)

merry christmas (again), boys and girls!

and a very special thank you to our grandparents and great-grandparents and aunts and uncles who continue to shower us with the best-ever gifts that these four awesome kiddos could ask for!

meanwhile, back at the barbie dreamhouse

so i came across our barbie dreamhouse one morning while the kids were at school and found barbie and ken chillaxing like this:

you know, just casually dangling from the rafters and what not.

usually, i let what happens in the dreamhouse stay in the dreamhouse, but curiosity got the better of me here, and i had to ask what was going on with these two.

apparently, barbie and ken are having a little pull-up competition.

and barbie is taking it easy on ol' ken-boy there by doing hers with just the one arm (complete with tasteful evening handbag, of course).

i kid you not.

where on earth do they come up with this stuff?

#minusthetastefulhandbag

#stillworkingonmysinglearmpullup

#barbieisabeast

snow campout

wheelers et al. headed out this past weekend for an overnighter at blewett pass.

this was supposed to be our first backpacking excursion as a family of six (plus friends), but as we were LITERALLY walking out the door, poor dallin vomited. we were thisclose to pulling a stupid, deciding it was a fluke, and going anyway, when he vomited again. so! we unpacked the car, made a few gear adjustments, repacked the car, and dallin and i waved goodbye whilst bryan drove away with the other three kids. 

(dallin remained very sick for the rest of the day, so we were glad we made the decision to stay home.)

here is the remainder of the adventure we missed:

the pulks loaded down before beginning the ascent. 

summer is a boss and pulled this pulk for a significant portion of the uphill journey.

warm and snuggly in the tent after playing in the snow past eight.

(note: it got dark at four.)

rise and shine! they survived the night!

the adventures of the next day included mostly sledding.

caleb and danton would have gladly sledded for six more hours.

they had no plans to return home.

bryan hearts snow camping, so we'll be up on the mountain again soon.

fingers crossed dallin and i can make it next time!