trouble gets taller

great. now he's actually in the fridge.

for fridge one, go here.

here comes trouble

yesterday, caleb took his first assisted steps.

here he is today kicking ten months' trash:

sweet treats

this afternoon, daddy had *delicious* valentine's cupcakes 

from our friend cheri delivered for his little lovelies.

thank you, daddy!

a kiss for you

armed with forty bags of hershey's kisses and some major help from the inside (thanks, alex!), i managed to carry on in a ten year tradition of embarrassing bryan at work on valentine's day.

bryan, for his part, continues to be genuinely surprised.

for more on this tradition, read here.

happy love day, ya'll!

and if you happen to be near bryan's desk at amazon, go help him polish off some of that chocolate.

superhero valentines

because who doesn't love a superhero?

baking disaster

so these little truffley treats used to be heart shaped chocolate chip cookies on a stick:

it's true. they were.

only they weren't really heart shaped chocolate chip cookies on a stick. they were more like ugly blob/uterus shaped chocolate chip cookies on a stick.

you see, the internet has been trying to convince me for years that heart shaped chocolate chip cookies exist, but they don't, people. they absolutely do. not.

thankfully, almost any baking disaster/blobbity organ cookie can be salvaged with a food processor, cream cheese, and sprinkles.

internet: 1, emily: 1 million

working on

valentines:

ski lesson one, take two

success!

having taken to heart the hard-knock lessons we learned from our previous ski experience, we ended up managing this week's excursion without a hitch.

slopes, ho!

why making people never gets old

so caleb now knows how to clap.

like, if you clap for him, then he'll clap back.

and i swear, it's the *best thing that's ever happened in the history of the world* every time his fat little baby hands clumsily come together and a big, big grin spreads across his face.

it's pure joy.

and that, my friends, is why making people never gets old.

because one day they can't clap and the next (can you believe it?), they can.

before i forget

the girls did have some fun at the ski resort this past weekend.

there were about fifteen minutes to kill whilst bryan went to retrieve the car from wherever he ended up stashing it, and the girls had a blast playing up on the snow bank near the parking lot while we waited.

ski lesson one

which should probably be more accurately labeled "ski lesson zero" because we never actually made it to the part where we got to "ski."

or perhaps an even more fitting title would be the term i so fondly use to describe today's overall experience: "ski hell."

i shan't go into all the details here, but let's just say we kicked off the day spending an unexpected hour and a half looking for a spot in the parking lot.

and because of the lack of parking, the unsinkable, unbreakable, and unmistakable team wheeler had to split up: les boys continuing the fruitless search for a place to park the car, and les girls venturing out on their own like three little ski lambs to the great and terrible ski slaughter.

to get a rough idea of how our day went, picture me (my first time in ski boots) awkwardly carrying *three* pairs of skis while trying to drag summer and afton (also their first time in ski boots) who are crying loudly (cause they totally hate their ski boots) and falling on their faces every so often (again, those wretched boots!) as we try to make our way from the rental place (a special ski hell all its own) to the ski school through the utter chaos of people going hither and thither and every which way on their skis.

it was an epic two hundred yards.

anyhoo, we didn't make it to our lesson even close to on time and were not prepared to wait another two hours for the next available opening, so they refunded all our money, and we returned home seven hours later and seven hours wiser for all that had transpired.

but do you think you can break us that easily, great and terrible ski slaughterers?

*scoff*

not these little lambies. we've shed a few tears, we've got a few bumps, we've got a few bruises, and so what if it's all without having even been on the "skis" yet?

next weekend, the wheeler girls is definitely coming back for more.

it's. so. on.

like sands through the hourglass

so i have a three year old and a five year old who are way, way in to barbies. after we do chores in the morning, and they're ready to start their play for the day, it's like a mattel pink and purple glitter explosion in their room.

lately, though, i've been wondering if other barbies are as awash in soap opera drama as summer's and afton's barbies seem to be.

just today, for example, the mother of the daughter decided she didn't like her daughter any more and the daughter ran away to marry her father. then the mother wanted to have another baby of her own, so she married the baby's doctor.

and that was just all to get the ball rolling.

 yes, these are the days of our lives.

c'est chic

you know, i bet these two lovebirds have the most gorgeous kids:

ps - last night, amazon also treated employees to a stellar performance by imagine dragons, with super adorable and such-a-nice-guy (LDS, too?) front man dan reynolds.

seriously one of the best concerts i've attended. vocals spot on, showmanship spot on, a face-melting guitar solo, and a lead singer who drums? sign me up.

all four dudes in the band play no fewer than twelve instruments and are mad, mad talented.

dejected sigh.

they totally blew our karaoke out of the water.

pps - several fans have inquired after the possibility of a video recording featuring bryan's and my "ring of fire" duet. well, yes, a secret recording *does* exist, and maybe -- just maybe -- when we're old and tired and figure we have nothing left to lose, we'll share it.

meanwhile

back at the amazon post-holiday party,

bryan and emily karaoke.

on this day

technically, this was two days ago.

how we roll:

1 - waking up to naked baby in the bed 

2 - trying to decide if the world is ready for neon gingham

3 - enjoying delicious breakfast

4 - getting in the car

5 - vamping it up with terre de feu

6 - running errands at target

7 - best. bagels. ever. at blazing bagels

8 - summer and her schmear

9 - whole foods

10 - finishing up our errands at redmond town center
11 - treating myself to much deserved milka chocolate
12 - "keep calm, carry on"
13 - more naked babies
14 - daddy comes home!
15 - bearing gifts from a coworker for summer and afton
16 - winding down before bed
17 - a chunk of uberknotty hair summer had to have cut off
18 - finally working on a valentine's project while watching downton abbey

business trip

daddy and RTB (robot travelling buddy) finally come home today.

any guesses where they've been?

a sunbeam

january 6, 2013

afton's first day of primary.

and her modeling career:

baby menace strikes again

 

happy new year

the wheeler kids rang in the new year with their traditional new year's eve root beer floats:

mission statement, 2013:

"You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others."

President Gordon B. Hinckley in an address given to BYU students in 1996.

get up, stand up

allow me to introduce you to our little baby menace:

he's crawling up stairs, eating paper (bytheway, anna, if you're missing a few puzzle pieces from your christmas puzzle, um, i found them...), opening drawers and cupboards, emptying everything, getting in everything, chewing on everything, and pretty much just being the ever-exploratory nearly nine month old baby that he is.

epic sigh.

i keep thinking, "why don't you just play with your toys?" but you and i both know that no babies ever just played with their toys...

onward, ever onward

dear 2012,

remember that time we bought our first house and had our third baby and bryan started a new job all at the same time? well, let's never do that again. like, ever.

other excitements of the year include summer growing out her bangs, afton officially making the switch from bagels and cream cheese every day for lunch to macaroni and cheese every day for lunch, caleb cutting six massive teeth and biting everything he can get his little baby hands on, emily returning to her roots as a kind of bona fide blonde, and bryan continuing to do whatever it is that bryan does and being totally awesome at it.

you've been good to our family, two to the twelve, but it's time to move on. lucky thirteen is waiting for us to show it who's boss.

much love,

the wheelers

a very merry

stockings handcrafted by grandma jacquie.

highlights from this year's family christmas devotional:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dFBVfRnUoE

(ps - caleb slept through devotional and so did not get to share the dramatic reading he had prepared.  ah well, i told him to hang on to it for next year.)

merry christmas all!

“He whose birth we commemorate this season is more than the symbol of a holiday.  He is the Son of God, the Creator of the earth, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the fulfillment of the Law of Moses, the Redeemer of mankind, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace. 'And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him:  That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father--- That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.'  (D&C 76:22-24) This is our testimony to all mankind.  It is our gift and blessing to the world.  He is our joy and our salvation, and we will find Christmas of greater meaning in our own lives as we share these truths with others.”

President Gordon B. Hinckley, "What Shall I Do Then with Jesus Which Is Called Christ?"

Escape to Hex Mountain

Feeling the heavy pressure of hitting my quarterly publishing quota on this blog, I conjured up an excuse to visit Hex Mountain via snowshoes on the darkest day of the year. Owen was kind enough to join me.

A view of Lake Cle Elum

At the summit of Hex Mountain

Turns out that shortest day of the year translates to longest night in the tent. After enduring roughly 15 hours of cold, dark togetherness in cramped quarters, we heartily welcomed the dawn and the chance to retrace our steps through the winter wonderland.

the candy man can

'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good.

baby loves

forget afton, danton now has an obvious affectionate preference for his baby cousin, caleb.