Auf wiedersehen

at dress rehearsal

can you say, "stage mom?"

pirouette

tomorrow's the big day! summer girl's first recital. be prepared for videos and more too cute pics coming soon.

as it is suddenly sunny in the northwest (hooray!), we had a hard time finding good shade to take a photo of my lovely in her costume.  so excuse the darkness and my back-of-the-house-siding and all that.

summer steals the show anyway.

at dusk

it's been a long, hard day, and then...

catch up

okay, so for those who are having trouble tracking all my recent random posts, here's the low-down: we just got back from a wild and crazy mother's day/graduation weekend (congrats james and peter!) spent with bryan's family in utah. the girls and i joined bryan kind of last minute as a surprise for bryan's mom (she didn't know until we met the family for dinner at the brick oven on thursday!)

of course, it wouldn't be a wheeler family vaycay unless somebody decided to get sick. this time, it was afton's turn and she spent a day fevered and vomiting (poor sweetheart!) which put a kink in some of our plans, but we were still able to enjoy a trip to the tulip festival at thanksgiving point, a morning at the swimming pool, a brief interlude at the university of utah graduation, many good meals, time with family, a pitstop to see uncle schmatt and, of course, the aforementioned mother's day extravaganza.

ps - if you're keeping score, summer's flight status is now at twenty-one, with afton holding strong at ten.

the girls in their gowns

showing off my handiwork:

cutie cousins kellyn, summer, and afton on their way to church.

fifty three layers of love

in addition to a few childless hours to indulge at the spa on saturday, my husband and his brother treated their wives (that includes me!) and mother to a delicious 53-layer homemade crepe cake with lemon cream filling, fresh strawberry syrup, and sweetened whipped cream for our mother's day breakfast.

don't be jealous.

(okay, be jealous).

our boys are the best!

pour ma mere

my mother, and my mother's mother, taught me how to sew.

i am not (and never was) an easy person to teach how to do anything. i require a very wide berth for my, uh, "creativity," i like to do everything myself (even if i don't know how), i like to cut corners, and i like to make A LOT of mistakes.

as an example, i took piano lessons from various talented and hardworking individuals for over ten years and was a terrible piano student for every single one of them. i never practiced, i rarely listened, and i short-cutted nearly every assignment i was given. hence, i'm not a super great pianist. but i can and do play the piano and currently regale the ladies at church with a few hymns every sunday. i wish i could write each of my former piano instructors a letter thanking them for gritting their teeth and bearing it and proving that their time wasn't wasted -- while not on my way to carnegie hall, many, i think, would be shocked to learn that i turned out to be a competent pianist in any regard.

along those same lines, after finishing these mother's day dresses for my daughters and niece, i wanted to say to my mother (and grandmother), "look, mom! fifteen or twenty years ago, whilst painstakingly teaching me about pressing seams, cutting fabric, using the seam ripper, and dragging me to and from craft stores for yet another one of my hair-brained schemes, your efforts (like so many) were not in vain: look at what i can do!" 

from twenty-seven-year-old emily to the sweet mother of ten-year-old emily:

thank you for sticking it out.

how do i love thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

big brown eyes

and a big orange cone.

many thanks to the byu creamery for treating the wheelers to 

the best ice cream we have had in a long time.

(ps - this is summer's "you better leave me alone 'cause i'm eating delicious ice cream 

and will take no prisoners" look. isn't she precious?)