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?)

gotta get down on friday

one day, i'm going to have to send a letter to rebecca black thanking her for introducing summer (and the rest of the world) to the days of the week:



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spRcSJ6NQ40)

an evening with alice

i hosted book club last night to discuss alice's adventures in 

wonderland (thanks again for humouring me, ladies),

and i just couldn't resist with the refreshments:

zack attack

good news everyone:  the zack is back.

but really (as you can CLEARLY see), not good news. *epic sigh*  it turns out that my hair, like miley cyrus, just can't be tamed. so stay tuned for the "i'm a quitter; i cut off all my hair" post, coming soon.

in the meantime, enjoy a little 90s flashback.

ten fingers, ten toes

announcing danton owen young, born april 25, 2011,

to proud parents, owen and anna 

summer and afton's eldest cousin à la famille young.

all dressed up

sunrise devotional

so i would like to report, as the Easter weekend is coming to a close, that though it was a bit awkward at first (and may be for awhile yet), we have been very pleased with the easter bunny's relocation to the first day of spring (read about that here).

also, a special thanks to grandma jacquie for sending me the information necessary to make the easter devotional (see: egg carton above) that was used in my home growing up. 

Easter Sunday

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. 

Matthew 28:6

 Read He Is Risen! by President Thomas S. Monson

 Read Sunday Will Come by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

vitamin d

finally, on april 23, 2011,

the wheeler girls get some sun:

(pictured here at the duvall community easter egg hunt, where summer
and afton turned out to be real cut-throat huntresses -- lugging
home a whopping seven eggs between the two of the them.)

s is for summer

and snake.

angry bird-thday

behold, bryan's birthday surprise/emily's first cake pops:

awhile back, bryan sent me this video about the playable angry birds birthday cake. and while it's true that i'm pretty amazing, i'm not that amazing, so i conjured up this doable substitute to bring in on bryan's birthday for him and his co-workers.

and it's totally cool that most of my angry birds ended up looking more drunk and/or crazy than angry because it's the thought that counts, right?

31 flavors

that's right,

thirty-one years deserves thirty-one flavors:

the birthday boy

happy thirty-first to the big daddio himself!

(shown here breaking in his brand new birthday hiking boots.)

so...any guesses on where the wheeler girls will be taking our main squeeze for some celebratory dessert tonight?

in bloom

is it weird that summer and i share hair accessories?

death by cookie dough

these babies are ragers:

why, yes, that is a chocolate chip cookie cupcake 

filled with chocolate chip cookie dough filling, 

frosted with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting, 

and topped with a chocolate chip cookie.

thanks for asking.

recipe here.

hippity hop

little bunnies for my little lovelies:

tutorial here.

bunny-go-round

round and round,

and round she goes,

and where she stops,

nobody knows.

i love us

for our landmark anniversary, bryan and i went out on saturday and treated ourselves to a sublime dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, a set of much-needed floor lamps, and new bedding (shown above).

i know: we party hard.

seven year itch

in honor of our seven years wed, here is bryan and emily (est. april 10, 2004) wedding video redux:



when i look back on our time as newlyweds, i think, yeah, that was good, and that was fun, but the great gift of our lives is that it just keeps getting better.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iUeFknc8Kk

growing up