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Three word sentences

2009-08-16T22:28:00.003-05:00

This is Jen.

She is awesome.
Super great photographer.
One talented lady.
A caring Mother.
Makes me laugh.
Nice to explain.
Supportive and enthusiastic.
I love her.
She is awesome.

Rain Time!

2009-08-16T03:08:00.004-05:00

Allison took this shot of Ammon and I. She was loving the camera tonight.
But not being in the pictures.

Can't you feel Ammon's enthusiasm for the rain?

*****

Park Time

2009-08-16T02:49:00.007-05:00

I just had to add a picture of some of the loot we are bringing in this year. This is by far my best garden eh-ver. I picked a nice big bowl full of beans today, two zukes, and four tomatoes. It makes me so so so happy. I love to garden.

Ick Ick Ick.
Now I'm going to have yucky spider dreams again.
This Orb weaver spider is in my front garden. Justin thinks it's awesome and won't squish it for me. I think he's chicken and doesn't want to hear it crunch.

*****

It's nice to have a park so close to our house. It would be nice to live in the era where it was okay to let your kids roam the neighborhood, but alas, that has come and gone.

Fun Family Home Evening

2009-08-16T02:37:00.002-05:00

This was a fun night!
Justin home teaches the K's and they home teach us,
and Jen and I visit teach each other = some months we just have a nice mini-party with a message.

This month we decided that we'd combine with other families that we visit/home teach for a softball game at Long Lake. The playing field was great because it was all grass. No dusty kids! We played a few innings of softball, munched on watermelon, then played kickball.
Our bases were: a frisbee, baby blanket, and a diaper changing pad. The changing pad turned out to be a little slick. It was fantastic to watch people slide into base, even if they weren't expecting to.

Amelia
Allison
Jaeden
Marshall getting in the zone
Brandon and Katie
Josh and Jonah
Brandon and Benny
Jacob
Jen

It was fun getting to know these great families a little bit more. I'm glad they came.
Let's do it again next year!

A Day at the Beach

2009-08-16T02:03:00.002-05:00

We've been having playgroup with our ward at several beaches this summer, but the favorite has been Lake Johanna. It's been fun for my kids to see some of their other church friends outside of Sunday meetings.

Katie striking a cute pregnant pose.
Beautiful Ameila.
Silly Allison in her goggles.
Ammon holding I believe just water...I hope.
Benny loves his mommy.
Miss Gracie
Isaac
Ammon and Isaac. Isaac got really into building this sand sculpture. He spent most of the two hours on it.
Rachel and Ed.

The best zucchini you'll ever have

2009-08-12T16:45:00.006-05:00

This is a family recipe; well I think it is. I learned it from my Mom. We had it every year growing up and, boy oh boy, was it a treat.
If you had a plate of candy and a plate of zucchini, I'd be hard pressed on which one to choose. Now I think about it, I'd for sure pick the zucchini. I can get candy any time.

Preparation:
In blender, put in one sleeve of soda crackers. I like to use non-stick foil to line my cookie sheet. I also like to use squeezable Parkay, or you can melt about 1/4 cup butter and pour it in the cookie sheet. You need 2 medium sized zukes.

Slice zucchini into 1/4 inch slices. Beat two eggs in a bowl. In separate bowl, have crushed soda crackers (about 1/2 -1 sleeve). Dip slice in egg, then coat in crumbs. As you can see, Ammon and Allison are great little chefs.
Put in single layer on cookie sheet. When sheet is about 1/2 full, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

When you are finished coating the slices, you can either put squeezable Parkay, or dot the top of each slice with butter. Salt and pepper.
Bake 20 minutes. Turn slices; I like to use a fork. (If you would like to try the old school method, don't prep the pan with butter. After you flip the slices, you can put on another dot of butter. I find this to be hot!)
Bake for an additional 20 minutes.

This will be your end result:

A plate of oohs and aaahs.
It may be time consuming, but it is sooo worth it.

My mom likes to use a little lemon juice for a condiment.

A Humid August Outing

2009-08-12T13:42:00.013-05:00

Could it possibly rain anymore than it did Saturday morning? I declare that it could not.
Which makes for an extremely humid day. It wasn't even that hot, but sweat was abounding.

Justin had a fun idea of driving to Taylors Falls. We have noticed that as our kids have gotten older, we don't get out and do as many things anymore. We were trying to decide the reason: I attribute it to we're busier, and it seems like our kids bicker more than they did. Maybe we've glommed into a homebody family. Regardless, it was a fun day.

Cool leaf. Can this color be true so early in the fall? Tell me it isn't so!
Metal ring for tying up boats.
Allison by the St. Croix river.
JoAnne in the Sculpture Garden.
Isaac on a swing in the S. Garden
Isaac thought this was a cool natural seat.
Ammon climbing on the rocks.
Old tree.
Tiger Lily

Taylors Falls

Ammon fell down at the end of our walk in Taylors Falls. He was NOT happy about it.
Bandaids are a marvelous thing.

*****

Franconia Sculpture Garden
We haven't visited the Garden since it relocated. I didn't recognize any of the structures. Many were thought provoking. Some disturbing. Makes for a fun family outing. Best of all...it's free.

Isaac and Allison

Isaac and Ammon

Ammon

2009-08-12T13:21:00.002-05:00

I was walking up the stairs and Ammon was at the top. He said to me, "I like you, Mom."
I heart Ammon.

2009-08-10T22:22:00.004-05:00

2009-08-10T21:42:00.000-05:00

Medicine Bow

2009-08-07T19:23:00.012-05:00

Oh, how I love Medicine Bow, Wyoming. I make it a point to try and stop through here every year that I drive to Utah. This year, the kids and I had a little more flexibility. I stopped and bought a detailed map to show us all of the back roads. I love exploring off the beaten path. A couple of the roads were impassable due to snow...at the end of August. Isaac, my ever constant worrier, kept wanting to turn around. Our GPS and the map didn't agree on many of the dirt roads, which disturbed him.

We saw four male moose.

I love this picture of Isaac. He sat down on the log for me to take his picture, and a bug came buzzing right at him. I love the look on his face, plus that the bug is in the shot!

We had to turn around. This doesn't look like much snow, but where I'm standing, there is a LOT of snow on the road.

The air up here is so crisp and clean. I wish I could bottle it.

Camille's

2009-08-07T18:18:00.009-05:00

It was a nice short stay at Camille's this year in the mountains near Boulder, Colorado. I'll explain the collage pictures...

Camille and I went for a short hike and found super D duper yummy wild strawberries.
Camille played tag with Ammon.
The 10 mph sign isn't kidding. This is a sign on the road to her house.
Mining cart on the road to Camille's.
Day lilies in Camille's garden.
Nancy Poo.
More lilies.
Camille pointing to a mushroom on our hike.
Camille made Ammon some glasses out of bristle blocks.

It didn't take long for Isaac, Tyler, and Jacob to get thoroughly
engrossed in their Nintendo ds's.

Another item on the road to Camille's.

Other Favorite Pictures from Utah

2009-08-07T11:16:00.035-05:00

Dad and I saw Peter Breinholt in concert at Willow Park July 24th. He was awesome!

Uncle Shawn helped Ammon fish in his pond.

Grandpa and Grandma Cardon

Allison really really wanted to do the pony ride at the American West Heritage Center, July 24th. Her horse started braying, which she thought was hilarious.

Ammon wanted to have the smallest pony.

Brent is still around in Logan. He is awesome.
This is the Logan City July 24th parade.
My dad and I watched him riding his bike along, picking up candy, pocketing it, then throwing it to kids.

JoAnne waiting for the kids to ride by in the North Logan Pioneer Parade.

Vally S. has been one of my adoptive grandma's. She taught me how to crochet when I was about 5 or 6. I used to go over to her house, ring the doorbell, and ask for candy. She lives next door to my mom and dad.

Ammon after enjoying a chocolate cupcake.

This is now Grandpa's rock creation center. It started out as a chicken coop, then my play house, on to Shawn's wood making home; now it houses all types of rock beautifying machinery.

Ammon at the crack of dawn wanted to run through the sprinklers.

Can you guess where in Dad's yard this is?

Oh yummy.

Grandpa taught a class on how to make cabochons. He had the grandkids demonstrate how easy it was. This Jacob taking his job seriously.

Meggin, Spencer, and James.

Allison and her cousin, Tessa enjoying the water at Lake Jordan.

Great Grandma Thomson and Isaac. This is one of the few smiles we got that day.

Great Grandma Thomson, Allison, and Ammon playing Bingo. Probably the last type of game Grandma can play anymore.

Kevin, Erin, and Jude.

Baby Jude. What a fun happy baby.

Erin

Justin admiring a painting of Captain Moroni in the Conference Center.

Ammon by Ammon.

Justin and Allison on the Alpine slide in Park City.

Ammon and Grandpa. He's holding a tiny piece of his blankie. This corner has been lost, but he has one other large corner and a blankie to pacify him still.

JoAnne at Horsethief Lake.

Cute baby Jimmy (James).

Ginger and Gideon

Tostada from El Sol

Allison after the haircut. She got about 6 inches cut.

Last but NOT least, Tiny Spicy Chicken from Mandarin Garden. Nothing like it anywhere else.

Smith reunion and Family BBQ

2009-07-21T23:49:00.006-05:00

(Saturday)
I have to be honest. I did not want to go to the Smith Reunion. I know basically none of these relatives and it's torture to sit around making small talk with people sometimes. Regardless, so I did. It was nice to see Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Earl again, and Aunt Dana and four other cousins. They have a raffle every year, which is always a great hit. My kids loved it, but not the few prizes they won. Notice Isaac's face about the Fiddle Faddle.

*****

I don't see much of my brother Kent and his family when I'm in town, but we did have a family bbq, with his Shawn and his family, sans Cortney (with friends) and Nate (on his mission in Argentina). Corinne stole the show with her blond antics...forgetting to open the lid on the ketchup bottle, getting a serving fork because all the others were gone, retelling a bat story that happened with her Mom in WalMart. Mom made a delectable dessert; I had about four servings. Baby Jude is such a treat to have around. I love to watch Erin be a mommy. You can tell how much she loves him and her hubby, Kevin.

Corinne and other misc information

2009-07-21T23:43:00.007-05:00

I love love love my niece, Corinne. She is a rare gem. She cleaned Grandma's car this morning, then came back later and we made fun flower hair clips. That girl is something special...such an amazing lookout on life, so positive and sparkly. I'm honored to be acquainted with her.

Mom and I went out with our cameras tonight. I tried to teach her the little I know about ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc, but I don't think it took very well. It's like a new language. We went to the new North Logan cemetery, First Dam so Ammon could feed the ducks, and drove by my grade school. We spend time out in the yard photographing flowers and misc. places.

Shawn took the three older kids fishing tonight at Newton Dam. Jacob said he was ?? darn can't remember the word, but it was funny. He didn't catch any. Isaac caught two and Allison one, the smallest. They declared they had a good time. No fishing hook incidents this year, thank goodness.

Trilobite Hunting

2009-07-21T23:09:00.008-05:00

After a scarce one hour sleep, Grandpa woke me up. Ick. We left only 15 minutes after scheduled: 6:15 AM. In the van was Jacob, Isaac, Dax, Grandpa, and me. We listened to Brian Reagan on the iPod. Good laughs.
It took a little remembering from Grandpa, but he did figure out where we were suppose to hike, and he wasn't lying...it was a steep hike. We found the Spence Shale area and rapidly were able to find trilobites, almost on every rock. Some were better than others. Grandpa and I spent quite a bit of time on a huge rock that had two nice sized trilobites.
Hiking back, we found a well tread trail which would have made bush whacking much limited than on the way up, and maybe helped not have so many darned grasshoppers land on us. On the way up, Dax got a grasshopper in his shirt; he thought it had been a bee. Later he found it squished and was thoroughly grossed out.
I love to go rock hunting with my dad. We work well together and always have. I can often see what needs to be done and help him out without speaking to each other. Justin and I are like that on some things too, like folding up camping gear...it just comes naturally.

One week to go

2009-07-20T01:34:00.013-05:00

It's 12:30 AM and I need to wake up at 5:30 to go trilobite hunting with Grandpa, Jacob, Isaac, and Dax. What is my problem? This happened to me last night as well. I finally got out of bed around 2 and repainted my toenails, and cleaned the kitchen until 3:30; consequently, I napped over four hours this afternoon. That's my problem.

Last Tuesday, I went camping with all the kids and Grandpa up Logan canyon on the road to Camp Lomia aka Girls Camp. Dad drove his truck with camper, and I drove my van. I camped in between Jacob and Ammon in the tent both nights. I can honestly say those were two of the worst nights of sleep ever. At least the first one for sure. Aching hips, cold, hot, cars driving by, honking, yelling punks, Jacob talking in his sleep, early rising birds.

That first night, Ammon and I scrounged up some wood for a fire, while the other three campers played in the stream. After our tin foil dinner, we roasted marshmallows and played Password. I was on a team with Allison and Isaac, Grandpa was with Jacob. I was amazed at how the kids did at this game. It was fun!

Wednesday, we started off by driving up Franklin Basin road a few miles and bush whacking along a beautiful stream for a short distance along a cow trail. Not a good trail, so we went back to the car. We drove on to Bear Lake and spent a couple of hours there. The fascination started off looking for shells, but soon turned to minnows. Jacob even found a frog/tadpole that he fell in love with.

We did the obligatory shake thing: ice cream, cookie dough, and blueberry.For me, the funnest part of the day was exploring the road to Swan flats. A ways up, there is a marshy area with a small stream. We spent an hour looking through the area and finding all kinds of interesting wildlife. Jacob decided to let his frog/tadpole go since there were millions of tadpoles swimming around. There were also millions of dragonflies. The kids want to go back next year. Driving on, we noticed a huge area of rock and decided that we must climb over a few of them. Dad said it was a strange natural phenomenon and was trying to figure out how is might have occurred. Any ideas?

Almost back at camp, we drove by China Wall (or maybe Scout cave?)and I noticed some climbers, and just had to stop and watch those crazy guys. This is an insane place to climb.

More campfire and marshmallows to be had the second night. Kraft marshmallows are definitely the way to go...these were terrible.The next morning, we explored the Hobbit caves a few minutes. The kids remembered these from a couple of years ago, but still thought they were super cool. Grandpa, ever rock hounding, proclaimed it made from limestone and travertine. I love love love camping in Logan canyon. It has so many happy memories. Plus nice cool temps at night, very few bugs, clean air, astounding scenery, solitude, and still many new places to explore for another year.

*****

I wanted to write about waking up in my old house. I usually sleep downstairs in the darkest room with basically no light, so I sleep in forever, but this year, I decided I wanted to sleep upstairs in my old room. The first morning I woke up and everyone since then, I have been absolutely amazed at the pristine blue skies out the north window. It makes me smile. I love my old home. I recently read a book called "The Boxmakers Son." In a part of it, the author writes about how buildings can bring so many memories. This is how I feel about this house. I know my parents are getting older so the years left of them living here are lessening all the time, but I cherish coming here.

Thinking about it, it's more than just the structure; it emcompasses the entire yard; from playing badminton in the front yard, sitting by the fish pond, picking fresh produce, or walking through the tree farm. This is home to me; not Minnesota. I still dream in Logan. One of these years, I'll have to cut the apron strings, but for now, it makes my heart happy to be here.

One third of the Way

2009-07-13T22:30:00.003-05:00

Here I am, already one week passed in Logan, with another two to go. The kids love it here. They love cable tv a little too much. We need to have a few days of no tv. I picked a few cups of raspberries with Ammon this morning, which wasn't even half. Oh yum.
Last night and today, I've been Crazy Pruning Lady. I love to prune. Truly I do. Some people like to vacuum, I like to prune. My dad has lots to prune too, so I'm in heaven.
I went to a chiropractor for the first time in my life today. I'm hoping to resolve my migraine issues. Dr. Karson said that my first vertebrae was immovable, so would need some work and that's probably why I'm getting migraines. Cross fingers that it will work.
We had family home evening tonight and focused on prayer and the proper words to use, how we need to be thankful first, then ask for blessings we need. I feel like the kids often ramble quickly through their prayers; I want them to learn to truly communicate with Heavenly Father, not just to get something out of the way, which I am guilty of at times. We also need to work on having better personal prayers. I'm soooo guilty of not teaching this to the kids. Most nights, I want to get them in bed as quickly as possible, so Jusitn and I can have some quiet time. Thank goodness for repentence, cause I'll be using it.

Logan Sweet Logan

2009-07-08T23:33:00.006-05:00

Justin stayed with his cousin, Teague Cowley, in Park City Tuesday night, then Teague drove him to the airport this morning. Teague is pretty cool. He is disabled, but that doesn't stop him from anything. He's quite admirable.

I had to drop two down hill moutain bikes off at a store in Logan that Jusitn borrowed, so Mom and I just had to stop by DI. A couple of good finds: a "You are special" plate for birhtdays etc for $2, and a pair of Dr. Marten boots for Ammon for $2. A couple of steals. That store is mostly over priced, but it's still fun to browse. You can find hidden deals.

After lunch, a nap became a necessity, so I layed down. Ammon came in and announced that he wanted to nap with me a little after I was asleep. We ended up sleeping for over three hours. Now that's a long nap!

I love walking around the yard. It brings such a happy feeling. The cherries, raspberries, and peas are all ripe. Yummmmmmy little treasures.

Isaac's prayer tonight was awesome. I reminded him before he started that he didn't need to say "safe time" and "fun time" in all of his prayers. That didn't leave him with much else to say, so his prayer was as follows: "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day. Please bless that I can go fishing with Uncle Shawn. And please bless that I can finish my rock with Grandpa. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." I about lost it.

It feels like home

2009-07-05T00:42:00.004-05:00

Here we are in Utah. I love the mountains and the way the earth smells. It buoys my spirits to be here. It just feels right. We are in Park City at the semi-annual Dittmer family reunion staying at the National Ability Center. It’s a gorgeous facility and perfect for a reunion. It’s nice to get reacquainted with all of Justins’ relatives. It’s especially fun to catch up with Sam and Katie Cowley. Our kids and their kids seem to be hitting it off. Allison became fast friends with Tessa (the only other girl cousin here besides Ava who is one).
Our first day here, I didn’t want to greet anyone until I’d showered. I thought three days of hiking, campfires, and mosquito repellent were enough to warrant one. And it was heaven. We mostly just talked and got settled. I did go into town with Teague in his Audi convertible to shop for church pants for the boys. The only pants they packed were for church and they wore them backpacking.

Justin thrives in spending time with his family. He is out right now (11:51 pm) doing a 15 minute hard core exercise work out thingy with Alex and Tony. They’re always trying to one up their manhood with each other. It’s usually entertaining. Justin reverts back into a kid at heart around his siblings. I love seeing a family like each other this much. I hope my kids will be this good of friends when they’re grown up.
Saturday, we went into Park City and watched the local parade. I like parades. Not sure why, but one of the main reasons is that they throw candy at you. You don’t have to go door to door, or dress up. But they must have a city ordinance because there was no candy! Isn’t that an oxymoron? A parade with no candy???
Later in the day, and after a much needed nap, Justin Allison, and I went with a bunch of cousins to see the Olympic park. That was really cool. It’s amazing how freaking tall those jumps are! Justin and Allison rode the Alpine slide and Justin had to prove his manliness on the zip line to see who could be the fastest. He raced Jeremy and ?. Justin won hands down.
I started a headache after the nap, and it got progressively worse as the day went on. I didn’t have Ibuprofen with me to stop it before it got worse, so it turned into a full blown migraine. It might be the worst one I’ve ever had. So nauseated and dizzy and just can’t think straight. Ibuprofen, Excedrin, a Skor bar, and a Dr. Pepper have helped immensely. I hope I can sleep after all that caffeine.

Meeting up

2009-07-05T00:37:00.018-05:00

I'm hating moving pictures around, so here they are...out of order and everything. It's bothering the ocd in me. Oh well.

Grandpa Thomson telling stories from his childhood.

I didn't want to forget two of my favorite stories, so while we were sitting around the fire, I wrote myself a note.

Isaac resting by the Popo Agae river.

These mosquito nets were nice!
Jacob forgot he was wearing his and tried to take a bite of his macaroni noodles.

"I ripped my pants!" rolling rocks. in three places.

Grandpa, Jacob, and Isaac.

Miracle of miracles, Justin found the water bottle.

Grandpa loves to have pictures of trying to push over a rock.

Backpacking in the Wind Rivers was awesome. As a young girl, I always yearned to go with my Dad, but I’m a girl and the youngest, so never got to go, but my dream came true…
Justin and I decided that we would leave for Utah a few days early so we could back pack through the Uintahs or the Wind Rivers. After looking at the map, we decided the WR made the most sense for our drive. In the mean time, my parents had gone to visit Camille in Colorado and I thought, ‘hey maybe my dad would like to meet us there.” So I called him on Sunday and told him that we would be there on Wednesday and would like to go for two nights. You ready for some amazing coincidences??
He said that he was driving to Lander, WY on Monday to visit with some rock friends and were going to drive home on Wednesday. Lander is a town about 15 minutes away from the WR. We worked out a few of the details and made a plan. I think Heavenly Father had a role in this backpacking trip.
My kids (besides Allison) hadn’t seen my parents since last summer. I love that initial excitement , hugs, and the feel in the air when you are reunited with people you love.
We figured out the hiking route, arranged the bags for Allison and Ammon who were staying with Grandma Ricky in their camper and left. On the way to the trail head, we stopped and looked at the Popo Agae river, and a trout area. What was awesome was that there was a big horn sheep sitting by the ranger building. I think these are majestic animals and have never seen one in the wild before.
Looking down on the river, there were dozens of HUGE trout swimming. Some forestry workers gave us bread to feed them. My dad and I threw bread chunks down to the fish while the rain started to really come down. This river is unique in that it goes under ground for several hundred feet, then pops back up.
It took us about forever and a day to get our packs situated and food figured out, but eventually we got going. (It only rained about 15 minutes, thank goodness.) We hiked along the Popo Agae river for some of the hike. That is a big raging river. We hiked to the falls which were spectacular. Hiking on, we were crossing a mucky water crossing with a few limbs thrown in. Yep, I fell in, and have a nice purple/black bruise to prove it. I lost my balance and with the weight of the pack, I tipped over. Muddy pants and wet. Not my favorite way to start a hike, but helps to make things memorable.
We found a place to camp about 2 miles in. Someone had previously camped there but it had been many years before. It was nice to camp somewhere that felt like the wilderness. We quickly started a fire to scare away the swarming mosquitoes, then put up our tents.
After we were settled we sat around the fire and listened to Grandpa tell some of my favorite stories from his childhood. He is an amazing storyteller. I want to have them documented for ancestry. My boys were transfixed. Maybe some day I’ll try to retell them, but here’s a list of what we heard: taking apart the gymnasium in the middle school for a job and almost getting killed but saved by divine intervention; riding his bike on 8th east in logan and running into a foreigner head on; warming up cans of beans over a campfire; sliding down the hill by Romney stadium before it was built on a car hood and going under the barbed wire fence; getting thrown into the middle school gym naked after a shower in the middle of girls gym time; story of the peanut butter man camping.
The next day we did a 6 mile hike. Some highlights were naming the many wild plants, rock rolling and Grandpa ripping his pants, Justin losing his water bottle and actually finding it later, eating Ramen under a huge boulder while rain started but ended as soon as we were nice and sheltered.

I never thought I would drink filtered water, but I did and seem to be okay. It was tasty water.
The next morning, we packed up and hiked out the remaining two miles, renaming the plants, and enjoying the majestic views of the waterfall on a different route back to the car.

I am so, what’s the word….heart warmed that I was able to go back packing with my Dad and have the boys there too. I hope they can remember this trip for the rest of their lives.
Ammon and Allison supposedly did great with Grandma. On the second day, it rained all day, so Grandma drove into Lander to the local thrift shop and also took them to the Children’s museum. They also went to the playground and watched a little of Shakespeare in the Park. What a fun Grandma!

Driving Day #2

2009-07-05T00:22:00.009-05:00

We woke up Tuesday morning to an extremely hyper Jacob. First there was cranberry juice on the floor, then hot chocolate on himself and on the bed. Justin started singing the Dora song, “Jacob spilled on himself and he spilled on the bed and he spilled on the floor, yeah! He did it! He did it! He did it! Yeah!”
The kids and I hiked on an island called La Frambois. It was a nice walk. The kids liked to explore the shores on the Missouri river. Jacob was fascinated with these sand funnels things. I need to figure out what they’re called, but a bug will get caught in one, then the bug in the ground can eat it.

*****

Randomness:

Isaac: Allison kicked me in the shin and it made my mosquito bite start itching.

Jacob: I couldn’t sleep very well, cause of Ammon. He was rubbing his blankie on my cheek. "I thought it was a hairy spider."

Allison woke up at the feet of all the boys.

Hiking back, Ammon came up to a sign and said, “and this says…” waiting for someone to fill in the blanks.

We hiked after a downpour so we got quite wet. The next morning everyone needed to put on wet socks and shoes. Ammon seemed to have walked right in the stream because we were able to ring water out of his socks. He woke up touchy and didn’t want to put on wet short, socks, and shoes. When I was putting his socks on he cried, “they’re weeeeeet.”

*****

We ate some of the grossest pizza at Wall Drug. Allison got soaked in their water play area and got the giggles. Ammon was freaked out by a Jurassic style looking dinosaur that came alive and growled.

We love this picture of Ammon. It makes us laugh.

After much deliberation with our gps unit, we decided to drive through the Black Hills because it said it was the shortest drive. We got to see Mount Rushmore driving by. Then we stopped and swam in horsethief lake. Justin cliff jumped a couple of times. It’s funny to me how he was too scared to jump from the higher cliff. He’s always up for crazy stunts like that. Maybe if he had someone to egg him on .
We noticed a trail head called horsethief and decided that we would backpack in and camp for the night and pound out the last 8 hours to Lander, WY tomorrow. There were no camp sights on the Wyoming map, so we thought it would be more fun to camp somewhere beautiful, and we weren’t disappointed.
Everyone got their packs on and started on the trail. There was a small gurgling creek to make it even more scenic. Up a little farther on, Jacob and Isaac found a small cave that they wanted us to camp in. We had to convince Isaac that is wasn’t a good camping place: right on the trail and not big enough for two tents. We ended up camping across the creek next to some majestic rock formations.
Some of you might know my aversion to ticks and bugs in general, so be prepared to be amazed. I saw a dark spot on Allison’s leg and sure enough, it was a wood tick. I didn’t scream or anything. I told Justin and he grabbed it and skewered it with his pocket knife. So far, we’re up to Tick Man #5 (meaning we found 5 ticks so far). I was calm at every sighting. Now, I didn’t sleep well because every tickle on my skin, I had to inspect and make sure it wasn’t a tick, plus there was more thunder and lightening in the middle of the night.
We were able to get our tents set up with about 30 minutes to spare before the rains descended. The kids were in their tent, Justin and I in ours. I love the sound of rain on a tent. It’s one of my favorite sounds.
After the rain, Justin pulled out his pocket rocket and boiled us up some Velveeta Shells and Cheese. We had to share sporks and plates, but no one complained. We also did a little more hiking, which proved to be wet wet wet and muddy. The earth smelled so clean. I love a good rain storm.Notice all the kids squished onto one side of the tent...
Justin’s watch alarm went off at 6:30. Of course I was out cold and not wanting to get up, but we were on a schedule. We actually got packed up and back to the car by around 8:30. Not too bad for us Dittmers.

Jacob's 13th Birthday

2009-06-29T22:30:00.008-05:00

It looks like a miniature fire truck, but it's next to a billboard along the freeway.

Driving through South Dakota to Pierre, there was a big storm abrewing, with beautiful dark clouds. I had to stop and take some quick photos of the kids.

*****

We started the day with a dental checkup for Jacob. Surprisingly, he has no cavities this time around. That means he earned $5.00. He hever brushes his teeth, so I usually expect cavities. It was a nice surprise.

We planned to leave at around 9, but of course didn't actually get on the road until 10:30. We had to do a quicky pinata smash. I didn't get any pictures of it, but it was so basic. I had the kids help me paper mache a balloon over the past couple of weeks, then Justin painted it yellow yesterday, and filled it last night. It looked like a yellow happy face. Jacob said it looked like the Wal Mart smiley face. All kids got several hits before it broke. Tony and Grace happened to stop by, so they got to give it a few whacks too.

Driving through Mankato, I mentioned to Justin that Arby's has the 5 regular sandwiches for $5. He said that's worth turing around for. He got 10, yes 10, roast beef sandwiches. Jacob loves Arby's, so we thought it would be a great place for him. We also got an orange dream shake, and Jacob got an apple turnover. I think all sandwiches were eventually eaten throughout the day. We didn't eat dinner.

In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Justin visited two bike shops. During the first one, I took the kids to McKennan park. It is a beautiful park. I like how this city puts lots of effort into their public areas. There were many of flower gardens and a nice park area, even a free wading pool.

During the second shop, we went to McDonalds and got ice cream for Jacob's birthday. Ice cream just makes things feel better.

Tonight we are staying in Pierre, South Dakota at an AmericInn. We got here about 8 pm and the kids really wanted to swim. Isaac cracks me up. He's forever on a quest to make a whirlpool, no matter the size of the pool.

We all drank hot chocolate and listened to Dad read about the rameumptum in the scriptures. Here's to hoping for a nice night's rest. Making our way towards Lander, WY to meet my parents and go backpacking in the Wind Rivers for a coule of nights, if all goes well. !!!

Happy Moments

2009-06-27T23:40:00.003-05:00

I'm so happy for little moments that make me smile. Ammon is such a treat to have around. I've never had such a helpful toddler. He loves to help and be in the middle of anything going on, no matter the task. He often will do something for you, like get you a glass of water, then tell you "thanks Mom." I also love how he says "flamily" and "nayvors" (for neighbors). I love that he likes to snuggle and will often come take naps with me on his own. He definitely has his moments, but he's a keeper.

Parting shots

2009-06-27T23:20:00.009-05:00

First Dahlia blooms

What a sad raspberry plant. I'm hoping it will make it. I just planted it a few days ago.

We didn't get many peas this year. They're a special treat for all.

Also planted grape and blackberry starts this year. What will I do if we ever move?!

My zucchinis always look like this, but rarely turn into a pickable size. It just shrivels up. Any suggestions? I've tried "artificial insemination" previous years, but hasn't worked.

First baby tomato.

*****

It's hard for me to leave my garden for such a length of time. Justin is a great dad and husband, but doesn't know a weed from Adam. We have sprinklers set up to take care of the main two gardens during the time we'll both be gone. I've never spent so much time outside as I have this year, primping and staking, weeding etc, so I feel a special attachment to my plants. I get so excited to see developments. Like the tomato for example; even though I don't eat them. Even noticed the broccoli is just starting to get little heads. Baby green beans are so cute...about 1-2 inches long.
Oooh, they are so yummy.
I'm hoping we catch that dang mole that has recently been reeking havoc in our yard and my garden.
Gardening brings me so much happiness. I'm thankful to be in a place and home that I can enjoy it and learn how to do it better.

Birthday Donuts

2009-06-27T23:09:00.005-05:00

e're in the middle of getting ready to leave on Monday for our annual trip to Utah. It's adding stress to the birthdays that are at the end of June. Jacob's is on Monday, the day we plan to leave, so we had donuts in lieu of cake (for him and Ammon). I did not want to bake two cakes etc. Everyone was more than happy to have donuts anyway. Might become a Dittmer tradition.

This is what was left of Ammon's donut. He came moseying outside munching on his donut, so we had to stop everything and have a quick birthday song, blow out candle ceremony before it was entirely gone.

Jacob chose a sugar covered cherry filled delight. I can't believe he's going to be 13. Well, I should say I can believe HE'S going to be 13. But hard to believe I have a 13 year old kid.

Birthday Boy!

2009-06-26T22:05:00.005-05:00

He's four!

His Sunbeam teacher, Sister Brooks, brought Ammon a present: his own package of gum and a magnifying glass. She knows his heart.

We have a tradition in our family that Justin brought: tying string all over the house leading you to your presents, but you have to move a ring along the string to get there. The kids LOVE LOVE LOVE this. Ammon got a little frustrated a couple of times, but never fear, Allison and Isaac were hovering nearby to give him a hand.

On the way home...

2009-06-26T21:48:00.010-05:00

Justin caught me...

I had to stop and try Wisconsin squeaky cheese. I've only ever had Cache Valley Gossner squeaky cheese. It seemed about the same. I'm not supposed to be eating cheese.
I took a day off.

Lots of Mennonites ride bikes.

I love farms. This is on the drive to the Mennonite bike shop that Justin works with. The kids and I spent half an hour in their general store. I liked pointing out the young kids doing lots of work, without a grown up looking over their shoulder.

Isaac found a treasure in the store: a bag of just marshmallows. The type from cereal. 24 hours later, the bag is gone, with help from friends and family.

Ammon got a Happy meal; a rarity for us. He liked being able to choose which type of pop he'd get. Isaac liked sneaking sips.

We also got Birthday ice cream for everyone, including Mom.

Wisconsin Quick Trip

2009-06-26T21:39:00.004-05:00

The family minus Jacob, went with Justin on one of his overnight work trips to Wisconsin so we could stay in a motel and get away for a bit.

Ammon isn't a fan of swimming so much and was happier to throw water on Dad.

There were lot of balls in the pool. Isaac loved playing Monkey in the Middle and seeing how hard he could hit Dad.

Self-portrait

Allison acts like water is home to her. She loves to swim.
*****
The kids got a $3.99 medium pizza from Dominoes. Justin and I tried Chinese food from a brand new restaurant next to the AmericInn. This place didn't spare any details. Gorgeous and so much atmosphere. Justin got beef lo mein and I had general tso chicken. I'm trying not to eat gluten and milk products (plus about 2 million other types of foods), so this was a treat to eat something other than lima beans and hash browns.

Father's Day Breakfast

2009-06-22T20:33:00.005-05:00

Justin requested sunny side up eggs.

Allison made this at the end of the school year. There was a panicked moment when it couldn't be found.
*****
Isaac gave Justin a nice silver pen that he found in the playground.
*****
I gave him Snickers and Twix ice cream bars, and a box of Honey Buns.
*****
Isaac and Allison made oven pancakes from scratch almost entirely by themselves.
Now that's impressive!
*****
Justin got to speak in Sacrament Meeting. I think he did a superb job!
*****
We played a family game of Settlers of Cataan. Justin won.

2009-06-22T19:50:00.005-05:00

Do you see what I see? I spy a ....
You might have to click on the picture to see it. Not planned on, but funny nonetheless. These are sunflowers planted by Jacob and Isaac.

Finally have some holly hocks that haven't been eaten to death this year.

I love summer tosies (these are Ammon's).

Rainy Walk

2009-06-16T17:53:00.003-05:00

Today had the perfect conditions for a walk in the rain. Relatively warm, nice drizzle, good sized puddles, and no lightening or thunder. It's rare to get the perfect combination here in Minnesota.
I didn't take my camera with me, but Ammon and Isaac were the lucky two who wanted to be adventuresome. We walked our regular route to the park and back home.
Isaac found a chain which he had to keep, and measured how many links deep each puddle was.

This lovely gem was found by our neighbors garbage can. It still has gas in it - and my hands can attest to this by their smell right now - and sounds like it might start. Justin isn't home yet; he's got the manly touch. We have lots of trees that could use some benefit from this chainsaw. If it doesn't work, back to square one: leave the trees as is.

*****
Ammon just came inside and informed me that he saw two toads. "They had to get out."

2009-06-16T17:51:00.002-05:00

I asked Jacob to wash his hands before we started making cherry turnovers. I found this later in the day.
Need to add some clarification:
This is his hand print on the bathroom mirror. Typical Jacob behavior in the Dittmer Household.

Next up: Allison

2009-06-16T17:48:00.003-05:00

Allison has been begging me to make chocolate covered pretzels for months. The problem is that as soon as I buy a bag, they're pretty much eaten. Today, the chance came up and I found some chocolate. Happy Allison. This is also something the family likes (except me). It's a fun treat.

Jacob's Turn

2009-06-16T17:43:00.002-05:00

Jacob LOVES turnovers from Arby's. And I mean loves. When he was looking through a cookbook and saw these, his mind was made up.

They were quite messy and not much likeness to the picture in the book, but he's excited nonetheless. No one has tried one yet; we're saving them for dessert tonight.

Yum

2009-06-16T11:55:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year again for strawberry freezer jam. This is a family favorite. It's hard to believe, but every one of us likes it. That's hard to come by.

Saturday Family Time

2009-06-13T20:00:00.008-05:00

Ammon helped me plant potatoes. A couple are finally popping up.

He's still three for another couple of weeks.

I love Allison's eyes. They remind me of the rings you can count on a tree.

2009-06-10T11:20:00.002-05:00

These are chocolate chocolate chip cookies made by Isaac. I am going to try having the kids choose a cookie each week and teach them how to measure, mix, bake, clean up, etc.
This is week one for summer break. The kids are excited about it, so it might actually last more than a couple of weeks.

More Education

2009-06-10T11:13:00.003-05:00

Isaac was making toast. I came upstairs to see flames in our toaster oven and Isaac at the fridge filling a cup of water.
!!!
I unplugged the toaster then proceeded to ask him what he was doing with a cup of water - what were you thinking?!?!? Water on an electric appliance?!?!? Plus, if you were going to get water, why from the fridge? It takes about 60 seconds to fill a cup, verses the sink which would take 10 seconds. I wonder about that kid sometimes.
Our toaster may have to visit the garbage. Our kitchen still stinks; three days later.

Gardening Merit Badge

2009-06-10T11:08:00.004-05:00

Jacob and Isaac harvested their first veggies yesterday. They are working on the gardening merit badge. They are required to plant from seed and harvest three veggies (among other requirements). So far they have spinach and radishes. They both tried them; spinach tasted like nothing, and radishes were spicy. I was surprised that they didn't have a stronger reaction.

2009-06-08T00:32:00.004-05:00

So amazing. An apostle of the Lord was in my midst today. Jacob, Isaac, Allison, Ammon, and I shook his hand. He even asked Isaac how the Book of Mormon reading was going. Isaac said, "good!" I hope they remember this event for the rest of their lives. What an amazing experience for these young children.

I joined the Stake Choir because I wanted to be close and have a good seat for this special stake conference. Also, I miss singing. To be honest, I was disappointed in my seat. The organist left his hymnal at the organ, which consequently covered Elder Perry's entire head.

The family got to the church at 7:48 am. Justin and I needed to be in our choir seats by 8:15 to practice. We got the kids great seats. LaMon and Barbara were kind enough to sit with the kids.
Elder Perry arrived about 9:40. When he walked in, the congregation rose. This was a time that I did love my seat. Being able to see all of these followers of Christ stand to honor an apostle. I wish I could bottle the feeling I got when I saw him and share it with you. It's indescribable. I'm getting teary just thinking about it.
He shook hands with many people as he entered, made a joke with the organist, and talked with our director (the best!) Sister Gray.

President Wiberg greeted us; opening hymn; prayer, then the choir sang More Holiness Give Me.
President Wiberg spoke first, followed by the mission president (Howell), then Elder Perry.
He stressed making the Book of Mormon come to life for your kids and retold the story of getting the Brass plates from Laban. He also talked about how we need to make things happen in our lives, not wait for them to happen.

This day is a highlight in the life of JoAnne Dittmer

Cute grill

2009-06-04T19:05:00.004-05:00

I wanted to document something that Allison (cute baby grill) does when she's saying goodbye. She gives us Air Hugs.
I'm hoping you can imagine it. Not hugging herself;
hugging the air with arms stretched out wide, patting.
It's becoming another Dittmerism.
Justin tried to Air Make Out tonight. He's such a dork.

Faith = Blessings

2009-06-02T21:55:00.003-05:00

I wanted to relate an experience that our family had a couple of weeks ago...

Our ward asked all of the families to keep track of their expenses for the month of May and to make a budget. Justin and I sat down early in the month and divvied up how we thought it should be spent. We have a rather "large" expense this month: Allison's tonsils are costing us $2000. Wow! More than we thought. Plus Justin is making quite a bit less money this year than any previous year so far working in MN. Also, we're trying to save for that once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disney World.

All of this means we have been cutting back drastically on everything. In fact, the only extra thing we could eliminate was piano lessons for Jacob and Isaac. So now I have to teach them again, and of course, it isn't going as well as I'd hoped. I hate the nagging to practice everyday. Where's self-motivation???

I'm so off track here...

My Mom also had told me about a comment made in her Sunday School regarding Fast Offerings: that if you are having financial trouble, pay double. Justin and I discussed it and decided to pay so much that it's uncomfortable. I have to be honest. When I was writing the check, I had little prayers going out.

You're wondering what blessings were poured upon us, right?

They were joking in church last week how we can't expect Heavenly Father to send us a check, but he kinda did for us. Not many days later, we received that exact amount of money we paid in fast offerings, via check in the mail. It wasn't signed Him personally, but I know He was blessing us.

The feeling I had when I saw these checks was amazing. It was almost like an out-of-body experience. My love for Heavenly Father grew and I was excited to share with Justin our "Dittmer Miracle."

Playgroup at Shamrock Park

2009-06-01T13:02:00.010-05:00

For some reason, I have a hard time putting pictures up in order, because you have to do it backwards. If anyone knows of an easier way to do this, PLEASE do tell. It's hard to drag the pictures around.

Ammon pitched a mini fit so I rode Lil Push down the hill.

Ammon decided it looked fun when I rode the bike down the hill, so proceeded
to do it three times.

Going...

...Going...

...Gone. Nap time.

This is a cool modern type teeter totter. It helps to have somewhat even weights. I've got Ammon and Jaeden on here with me.

Park Time

2009-05-31T11:24:00.008-05:00

Isaac trying to do a pull-up. Jacob and Isaac do pull-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups every other day for the personal fitness merit badge.

Allison doing a pull-up.

Isaac and Justin playing catch with a fun changing ball.

Ammon loved riding the wagon down the hill. He tried his little red bike once, but I think it was too fast for him. He wouldn't do it again.

Allison rode Ammon's little red bike down the hill several times. She LOVED it.

2009-05-30T20:47:00.001-05:00

This picture is for my dad. This is my poor Linden tree. The deer love it. It if four years old, and hasn't stood a chance.

2009-05-30T20:45:00.000-05:00

Playing around with my new 50 mm lens.

2009-05-30T20:37:00.004-05:00

Don Johnson Clematis in my front yard. It's going to be spectacular! They're about 6" blooms.

We decided to fill our pool. This is less than half-way full, and the hose has been on for about 5 hours.

Maple tree

Sedum

2009-05-30T20:34:00.002-05:00

The first pickings from our Tree Spinach from Canada.

Isaac grated the cheese for our chicken taco dinner. He made a hockey puck shaped piece of cheese, and thought it was pretty cool stuff.

2009-05-26T21:53:00.001-05:00

Spring...Nature Center

2009-05-24T11:47:00.005-05:00

Allison, Ammon, Joyanna, Joshua, and Jaeden

Not much exciting happened on our walk; just a nice day. Perfect weather. No bugs. Cute baby ducks. And great company.

2009-05-24T11:02:00.002-05:00

Ammon said to me this morning, "Mom. There's an ant on my watermelon."

...and such is life, my little dude.

2009-05-21T21:42:00.008-05:00

Last Halloween, I was walking the neigborhood with Justin, Allison, and Ammon. I'm hard pressed to even remember what their costumes were. It was an unusually warm October 31st; the kids didn't even have to wear a jacket! Allison started out in a Bat Woman costume, but changed.
*******************************

Okay, I just looked up pictures. It's all coming back to me.

t wasn't even Bat Woman. It was Wonder Woman!!! We put funky gold eyelashes on the rim of her glasses.

Then changed in to a skeleton. Here she is with her loot yet to be sorted.

A firefighter!

Jacob. Can you guess? A Pokemon Trainer.

Isaac went trick-or-treating with his friend, Cameron Nigard. He was a Knight.

As a kid, learned from my sibs how to sort the candy and get your "unfavorites" ready for trading. I've instilled this tradition in my kids. Sometimes, there are types of candy that no one likes, so Justin or I get a few goodies
********************
This wasn't even what I wanted to blog about.
********************

Anyway, we're out knocking on doors and one house has a dryer smell going and Ammon said, "it smells like my blankie." I thought that was so sweet!
********************

Today, I spent another 30 minutes mending his crocheted blanket. I've done many repair jobs and it's getting threadbare. Ammon likes to rub one particular corner on his nose. I had to chop it off once due to *ick* so he now has a "broken corner," which he's always snubbed. I washed his blankie today as well, and forgot to put it in the dryer. I easily convinced Ammon that he could try out the broken corner until his other one was dry. Amazing! He actually went to bed! He even remembered where the broken corner was. What a smart kid.

*****
I just took Ammon his newly mended and cleaned blankie. He had the broken corner tucked inside his jammie shirt. Close to his heart.

2009-05-21T12:05:00.001-05:00

We were reading in Alma the other night and it was talking about lawyers. Jacob said, "they had lawyers back then? Now I've heard everything!"

Como Zoo

2009-05-11T16:08:00.011-05:00

I decided to take Ammon to Como Zoo today, and we happened upon the free Monday for the carousel!
Ammon was not excited about riding the carousel. He's never really been on a "ride" before. He tried to sneak away from me, so I had to hold him.
We shared a horse, which I think calmed his fears some.
Once it got going, he was still somber, but liked it.

I guess I didn't take any pictures of the animals. Ammon loved the new rain forest room. He especially loved the turtles, snakes, and fish. He hated the fire ants. They "freaked his freak."

I love his reflection. It's fun to see tree ferns native to New Zealand in this room.

As soon as we walked in the sunken garden, my senses were going bee-zerk. Then I saw fresias. Mmmmm.

Oriental Garden

What is it? Fun colors!

Ammon begged to go on the carousel again on our way home, and loved it.

*****

I need to add that we went to Target before and after the zoo. I don't journal about my great coupon savings, but I think it'll be fun to remember some day. Spent $18.59; saved $70.94. And guess what? It's all stuff I would buy anyway. 15 lbs of chicken breasts for $14.

Whineys

2009-05-10T21:29:00.002-05:00

Ammon woke up this morning acting like he hadn't slept all night long. He whined about anything AND everything. Doesn't make for a fantastic Mother's Day. He has learned how to fake whine and cry. Most of the time I can't tell when it's real or not. I think it blends on occasion.
At church today, he was acting okay, until I pulled out the stack of magnets. It was a tall stack. About 15 little 1/2 inch circular magnets, similar to the ones in the picture.
(Aunt Grandma taught the kids a trick several months ago with the magnets using the hymn book. Put one on the inside cover and one on the outside, and you can move the one on the outside using the one on the inside. Wow. That probably made no sense.)
Justin was going to help Ammon do the fun little magic trick and took five magnets from the stack. Ammon whined in a soft little voice, "don't break my Tower of Power."
(don bwake my towa of powa)
I don't know where this saying came from but it's a Dittmer household favorite.
I got the magnets back into one nice tower and he was fine again.

Eloise Butler Garden

2009-05-10T20:27:00.011-05:00

3rd Annual walk through
Elloise Butler Garden in
Theodore Wirth Park, Minnapolis

Zoe Thomson, Isaac, Allison, Ammon, and Jacob

Isaac made a red cardinal

Jacob a blue bellied Dittmer

Wonder what I was thinking about...

I'm pretty sure I was thinking about naps in this one.

Isaac, Jacob, Barbara Thomson (Aunt Grandma), Ammon, Zoe Thomson, Allison, JoAnne
(back) Quinn Thomson, and LaMon Thomson (Uncle Grandpa)

Trillium

Isaac worked on identifying 10 types of plants for Scouts.
Not sure what the outcome was; I'll have to look into that.

Ammon loves to squish his Daddy.

Ammon wasn't quite tall enough to reach the drinking fountain. He figured out a way around it though.

I love to go to this garden. It is peaceful - with the exception of the Dittmer clan rampaging the area. I love to go here in the spring. I love the fiddle heads on the ferns and the translucent new leaves on the plants. I love the majestic trees and the birds chirping. I wish we would have had time to visit the quaking bog across the street.

2009-05-06T21:02:00.002-05:00

This was the most intense vivid full double bow rainbow I've ever seen in my entire life. I wish I had my camera with me. This was taken with my cell phone. It was stunning.

Random Pictures

2009-05-05T16:41:00.004-05:00

I love spring flowers.

I hope we get more than three strawberries this year. I've dedicated one whole box to them.

Troop 906 Court of Honor
This was Justin's last court of honor. He was released on Sunday and is now 1st Counselor in the Young Men's presidency, and assistant scout master. Jacob and Isaac both earned the Citizenship in the World merit badge that they earned from their Grandma Dittmer (pictured in an earlier post). Jacob also earned Emergency Preparedness and Isaac his Scout rank.
Dusty Johnston, LaMon Thomson (my uncle), Ryan Koch, Jacob Dittmer, Isaac Dittmer. & ?

The boys are working hard on their personal fitness merit badge the past few weeks. Justin had them make up a fitness plan. They run one mile one day, the next do sit ups/push ups in certain amounts. Plus they're trying to get in ONE pull up.
It takes them 10 laps around the back yard to get one mile. Justin clocked it on his bike.

Bunnies Bunnies Bunnies.

2009-05-05T16:22:00.005-05:00

I wanted another raised bed/grow box so Justin built me one a year ago, but it was outside the original fence. The bunny rabbits loved my garden last year; so much that I didn't get to enjoy it as much as them.
This year, Justin revamped our old garden and included the new grow box plus some in ground space. Yeah! And I think it turned out great!
It took him two days , but he did a super job.
It's hard to tell, but there are three grow boxes. Jacob and Ammon are digging a hole for the compost.

There is a spiritual side to this story.
We aren't rolling in the bucks this year, so we were going to utilize the wood we have in our garage. We have lots of pine shelving from a store closeout that Justin wanted to use and to seal. I wasn't excited about the idea of having to take care of it year after year, so was urging him to look at treated lumber at Menards when we went, just to price it out.
Before we left for the store, I checked a local freecycle type website and someone had posted ten minutes earlier exactly what we were looking for. Justin called, and no answer. He left a message. We've tried to get a few things from this website. It's nearly impossible to get things, because they're snatched up almost immediately.
While we were in Menards, they called us back and said it was available and that several people had called after us so they had to pull the listing. Crazy!
We bought our stuff and drove to their house, which incidentally is in Blaine as well. They had this huge stack of lumber already on a trailer and said we could take as much as we needed. They were happy to get it out of their garden.
One of the best parts was that they drove the wood to our house!

Here's the spiritual story:
The night before was my turn for family prayer. I asked Heavenly Father to guide us in building the fence for our garden.
Not only did he guide us in the design, he helped us build a much better fence and strengthened my testimony of prayer.

Stoic

2009-04-25T14:53:00.013-05:00

Allison's Hospital Story

Not only were we on time, we were 20 minutes early to Children's Hospital, St. Paul. We didn't need to be there until 6 AM, but arrived at 5:40. Before the employees were even there. Grrr. Allison was all kinds of hyper and excited and I wanted to sleep on the couch.

They supplied Allison with her own hospital jammies and socks/slippers. Notice the big grins.
They let the kids choose a flavor of Lip Smacker lip gloss to paint the inside of the mask they use for the anesthesia. By the way, these really are Lip Smackers. They help cover the smell. Allison was set on Watermelon for days ahead, but at the last minute heard they had
Dr. Pepper, so chose that instead.

After Surgery:
Everything went great in the surgery, which is awesome, except Allison had a horrid reaction to the anesthesia and/or the pain medication Loertab (sp). She was SUPER nauseated all day, didn't want to eat anything, drink anything, somber, definitely no smiles or joking around, and vomiting.
Children's Hospital has Bingo on Friday's only and she was able to "participate", although it was just about two hours after surgery. There was no excitement. She had me playing for her, until the end, when she was up to doing one card. She did win one Bingo. If you're wondering how this is done, well here ya go: they broadcast an employee on their hospital channel. It's pretty cute. We had to call in as soon as we got Bingo.
Even though Allison was super D duper sick, she wanted to go upstairs to choose her prize.
After the wheelchair arrived we went up to the third floor and she got to choose from an impressive array of prizes. She chose a Gabriella barbie from High School Musical 3. Just to let you know how yucky she felt all day, she never asked to open the box or even look at it until the next day.

Justin was able to stop in for about half an hour. This smile was one of the rare ones I'd seen since surgery.

Justin and Allison played a heated game of Checkers; she creamed him. I'd played her earlier and she beat me too. ;)

The nurses kept commenting on what a brave girl Allison was. One nurse told me that she'd heard about her and how "stoic" she was. I'm proud of my little girl. She's awesome.

There was a minute of silliness. She wanted to play with the Play Doh, but only had one hand available because of the IV. I made a lamb, but she thought it was so funny, she started giggling, I'm sure out of pure craziness and hysterics. It was great to see her laugh, even if for just a minute. Looking at the picture, it really was a bad lamb. Yikes!

I took a short video clip of her laughing at the lamb.

Sleep was hard to come by. At least for me. I opted to sleep in the bed with her, instead of the purple vinyl recliner, so was kicked at, snored at, and heard lots of moaning all night. The poor little thing. My heart was breaking for her. I wish I could have taken away her pain. She was only taking regular Tylenol by the evening because of the nausea, so I don't think it was keeping her pain at bay much.
Her heart monitor kept coming unplugged so the nurse would have to come plug it back in.

The morning brought a new Allison. She had an appetite and was even smiling! The nurse was so excited (and me)! We got home at 11 AM. That was one of the longest 24 hours of my life. (Well it was actually 29 ish hours). It felt like the never ending day.

2009-04-22T21:48:00.002-05:00

Justin put this up in the shower this morning, and I didn't notice it until tonight when I gave Allison and Ammon a bath. He's such a goof.
Allison has strep throat again. It's her fourth occurance this fall. I'm so glad she is getting her tonsils out. I took her to Target today to get antibiotics and let her choose some different types of ice cream in preparation.

2009-04-21T21:25:00.004-05:00

This is a picture of Ammon at Allison's baptism. He loves his blankie/buddy (binkie). He has completely worn out his corner several times. I have to sew holes in it about once a week. He likes to rub the corner on his nose or cheek. If he's in a lovey dovey mood, he'll rub it on your cheek or nose.

That is why I love what happened today:

Ammon and I went to Sam's club after playgroup to buy chicken and cheese. I saw a quarter on the ground and gave it to Ammon. I told him "it's called a quarter." He said, "corner?" then started rubbing the quarter on his nose laughing.

Random Pictures

2009-04-20T16:38:00.005-05:00

The treat for this soccer game was .....Dilly Bars! The kids were ecstatic! I love this face.

Isaac at a soccer game.

Allison had a sleepover with her friend, Grace this past weekend. She came home looking like this. There was a carnival at her elementary school. Allison LOVED having her hair done and looked like a different kid. It took awhile to get the pink and glitter out, but I think she'd do it again in a heartbeat.

We had preschool today and focused on the letter "F". Reagan, Ammon, and Ben were great little students. We colored a frog, made "F"s out of popsicle sticks, made grocery lists by cutting up ads, and watched a few You tube cartoons.
The only mishap was when I found a bag of marshmallows dumped on the ground. Ammon and Ben said they were monsters and were giggling and hiding under the blankies.

Gardening

2009-04-16T20:58:00.001-05:00

It's finally feeling warm enough to get outside and de-winterize the gardens. I'm having Jacob and Isaac start the Gardening merit badge. It sounds like an easy one, but it involves quite a bit. They helped plant radishes, spinach, beans, peas, and parsley for the veggies, and marigolds and sweet peas for the flower parts. They need to plant three veggies and three flowers from seed, then the same amount from seedlings, then harvest. Plus we chose to do a compost for 90 days (in lieu of a worm factory).
It was fun to watch their enthusiasm for finding bugs. They even found a caterpillar! Jacob thought the grubs were gross and Ammon freaked out when a spider started to crawl in his general direction.
We're gearing up for a yard sale hopefully this Saturday, if I can get it ready in time. Our house is overrun with stuff. I want my house to feel tidy. Even when it's clean, it feels cluttered. Maybe when the kids move out. Most of my friends are super neat freaks so it's intimidating for me to have them over. Plus, how do I get my kids to pick up after themselves? I sure get mad enough that you'd think they would want to, so not to get the wrath of Mom. But nope. I guess I'm using the wrong parenting techniques.
Ah, here comes Ammon. He napped today, so he now gets to be my friend tonight while Justin is in northern Minnesota.

Lasik

2009-04-14T11:27:00.004-05:00

One of these days, I'm going to get Lasik eye surgery. If for the only reason to be able to see spiders in the shower. Usually it's a hair or fuzzy, but this time when I was squinting and getting close to it, I realized it was a REAL spider I'd been showering with for the past five minutes. So I had to do the obligatory scream and yell for Justin.

It would also be nice to be able to see what time it is in the middle of the night when Ammon decides to crawl in our bed. Last night it was twice. We rarely get a night's rest without an interruption from one of the kids - usually Ammon. He is very talented at night terrors.
Sometimes he just likes to climb in bed between us. He flaps his blankie on us - he likes to rub the corner on his nose. Then we hear the squishy sound of his "buddy" (binkie) so sleep comes slowly, for me at least. Justin falls asleep through anything. Lucky bugger.

I keep hoping Lasik's will get somewhat cheaper and maybe they'll come up with something not quite as disgusting as cutting your eye open. Hats of to all of you that don't need eye correction.

Fun times with Jen

2009-04-12T21:48:00.011-05:00

Justin insisted that we buy a new digital slr camera about 1 1/2 years ago. For the past year and 5 months it's been a point and shoot for the most part. It's been fun, but I knew there was so much more that it could do. I have a friend that is a professional photographer (I'm one of her biggest fans) that offered to take me out and teach me some of the basics. She is so talented!
We went to the state fair grounds. The weather forecast looked great, it was sunny, and everything was going our way.
It did go well, but it was FREEZING!!! Our poor kids opted to sit in the car for lots of the time.

These are some of my favorites:

Ammon and Joyanna

Jennifer

2009-04-12T21:42:00.005-05:00

Ammon liked to snuggle with Grandpa. He's showing us his beloved "buddy."

Grandpa Dittmer getting squashed by Allison and Ammon.

Grandma Dittmer is a merit badge counselor for Citizenship in the World. She had Isaac and Jacob enthralled. They got this done in a few hours.

Ammon loves to snuggle with Grandma Dittmer too. This is during the Saturday General Conference session. It was so fun to have Justin's parent's come. They were only about to stay two days, but the kids had a great time. I hope they'll come up more often. *hint hint*

Easter Fun

2009-04-12T21:09:00.019-05:00

I wish I knew how to get pictures in order, but here goes...

Justin and I came home from Stake Conference not expecting this delightful treat: the kids found Easter baskets, lined them up, and put their names on them.

My one and only egg I decorated this year.

Made by Justin

Justin getting into his art.

Ammon showing us his blue egg.

Justin didn't know I was taking his picture. He was trying to get Jacob to smile.

We stopped by a local park egg hunt. They had it separated into age groups. ALL of the eggs had jelly beans. Isaac was too old to participate in this egg hunt. He took it quite well.

Ammon loved meeting the Easter Bunny. He kept saying, "I like the Easter Bunny," over and over for about 10 minutes.

Church egg hunt

My kiddos. Ammon, Jacob, Allison, and Isaac.

Isaac's last egg hunt at the church (he's 11 now).

Ammon didn't want to pose for pictures very much. Too many eggs still in sight even though he already had his allowed 12 in his basket.

Allison thought these princess eggs were something special.

Easter at Uncle Grandpa's

Me and my honey.

"Strike a pose"

Dittmer egg hunt
Justin started a tradition where the kids get to choose a color egg to search for, then we hide them in the living room. It helps to keep it even. Also, we count them so we know if there are any still MIA.

We put a "buddy" in one of Ammon's eggs.

Ha Ha. This the one of a kind egg. Allison found it. She was so excited until she read the note inside. It said "Do dishes for one week." Mean Mom and Dad. Of course we won't make her. Wink wink.

2009-04-08T21:16:00.003-05:00

"The Screwdriver" by Isaac.
It was an impromptu attempt at the Demolition Derby Elders Quorum activity.
Some of the competition was fierce so he got about 9/10th place.

Isaac coming home from school.

This shows a little bit of Ammon's personality. He was posing for some "cheese."

Visitor

2009-03-31T21:56:00.004-05:00

Jacob had his second soccer game of the season tonight and I was able to go. It is eye opening to see him with other kids his age. He stands out as being an odd ball type of guy. Quiet. Quirky. Non-athletic. Loner. Visitor. My heart, as a mother, went out to him. I don't know if he's aware that he's different, or that he even cares. I love my kiddo and want what's best for him and for him to be happy. Maybe being different is what makes him happy. I need to focus on his quirks and love him all the more for them.

Baptism

2009-03-30T00:32:00.006-05:00

Allison in her new dress.

Allison with her Daddy before the baptism. She loves her dadddy.

If you notice the lack of usual energy from the two older Dittmer boys, you aren't mistaken. Both were feeling under the weather. "After much deliberation" it was decided to go ahead with the baptism. It wasn't a decision easily made. I'm honestly very glad to have it done.

This is one excited girl for scriptures. Uncle Grandpa and Aunt Grandma gave these to her with her name engraved.

Reading over the notes people gave her. I love having a girl. I am proud of her and proud to say she's my daughter. I am so thankful to Heavenly Father for sending me such a sweet spirit. She truly is a sunshine.

Allison

2009-03-30T00:00:00.021-05:00

Allison looks pretty good, but that Tylenol worked wonders. She was sick the last four days visiting my brother in Carlsbad.

JoAnne and Andy on a leisure hike. Ha Ha. He tried to kill me and his pregnant wife, Trevyan with a mountain climb. I must add that Trevyan is in much better shape than me by far. She's amazing!

Grandpa and Grandma Thomson were able to come with us to California Adventure for one day. Allison thought it was a super nice treat to sit on Grandma's lap, especially after I'd been dragging her around for 4 days straight.

We ate at Ariel's Grotto. This is the dessert for all of us. Quite the gourmet restaurant. Allison loved the white chocolate seashell.

Allison's favorite princess (this year) is Ariel.

Waiting for our name to be called at Ariel's Grotto. Ooh the suspense!

Grandpa Thomson was game to try on a big hat.

One of Allison's favorite rides was the Inspector Gadget Go Coaster. Fairly long line, very short ride, lots of laughs.

How can we not feature Minnie Mouse? Allison adopted her early on in our trip. Minnie was with us for most of our rides and even buckled in for many of them.

Alice and the Mad Hatter were one of Allison's favorites.

She also loved Goofy. He was pretty funny.

Our first ride in Disneyland, the Nemo ride.

This is the Disney hotel we stayed at for six nights that cost us $0!! Loved it!

Allison's 8th party. Such concentration. She must be opening presents.

Allison's 8th Birthday party. Look at those princesses. We might need to send them to finishing school after coming to this party.

Ribbit. Mom wimped out on a fancy cake this year, but Allison seemed happy with this.

Stupid Ecomony

2009-02-17T21:28:00.005-06:00

Well it's finally starting to happen to The Dittmer Household. I'm so tired of hearing about "the economy" and "how the economy is today" and "in times like these." It's just causing more problems the more you talk about it.

Justin's work "temporarily" stopped matching our 401k. That's a huge hit! They were matching 100% ! Then they dropped the car allowance from $650 to $450 a month. Whammie!
The trip he won to Seattle for being Territory Manager (western US) might be postponed too. Smackdown!

Now I'm feeling super tight with our money and having a hard time planning on a trip to Disney World this Christmas. Now if it were a trip with Justin to the Caribbean it wouldn't be so hard to justify (wink wink).

New Memories

2009-02-06T11:22:00.002-06:00

Ammon has discovered Willy Wonka and the Charlie Factory. Except it's the new one with hunky Johnny Depp. Except Johnny Depp is not hunky in this movie at all.

Ammon has never watched a movie so many times in a row. I'm talking, he asks for it all day long; we try some distraction techniques. I wish I had a copy of the old one. It is so much better, and not quite as creepy. I'll have to look into buying it next time I see it on sale, or watch eBay perhaps. Gotta get his childhood memories straightened out.

Die Hard Fishie

2009-02-05T08:57:00.002-06:00

We have owned a 5 gallon fish tank for several years. The kids seem to still enjoy it. Isaac has been wanting a plecostomus (algae eater) for a very very long time. We finally bit the bullet and bought one after Christmas, along with two tiny frogs (super cute!). Well, we still have one frog alive last I checked, but in one week, we lost one frog, one plecostomus, and two blue guppies. There must be something wrong with our water. Cha-Ching! Money down the toilet - pun intended.
We have this orange mollly. We've had it for at least one year and counting. It doesn't want to die! It has lived through all kinds of trials; having to deal with murky waters, algae, new friends, friends dying, and inconsistent feedings. It's a trooper.
I want to be like our little orange fish. It has a willpower to keep going through tough times. Reminds me of Job.

Letter E

2009-01-30T09:56:00.003-06:00

Ammon was (as usual) needy for attention, so I decided we'd work on the letter E, even though his friend, Benny, is out of town. He knew the sound of the letter even before we started today. I think it's because we have this fridge toy that plays the letter sounds with a catchy tune. So catchy that Justin goes around the house singing "A says A and A says ah, every letter makes a sound, A says A and ah." We made an elephant puppet, which right now he's snuggled up with in his doggie sleeping bag,watching The Jungle Book. We read Green Eggs and Ham and looked through a picture dictionary and found other things that begin with the letter E. He seems to love the attention. It made me sleepy.
I've been spending insane amounts of time on the internet researching my trip with Allison to Disneyland in about 5 weeks. I am getting excited! I'm also nervous about being alone with a kid, in places unknown. I have a fear of doing things out of my comfort zone. And I'm not talking about how everyone has these fears. I inherited it from my Mom. Blah blah blah, I know it's good for me to get out there in life and just live it, but it's scary sometimes!
I found out yesterday that I have a minor allergic reaction to sunflower seeds. This is ironic because I am so addicted. I can go through a pound in a week easily. Disgusting, I know. I'm going to try not eating nuts for a couple of weeks and see if I notice any changes. This should be interesting. I'm not eating gluten or any milk products either. Very boring diet.

Huh?

2009-01-19T17:49:00.003-06:00

Sliding. This is a new term for me. Well at least what Minnesotans refer to it as, which is: sledding. I've now heard two locals call it this, so it must be true. Kind of like Duck, Duck, Gray Duck, and "budging" in line. Funny Minnesota-isms.

2009-01-10T10:00:00.011-06:00

Has anyone noticed that everyone is having babies, or just had one? Let me count the ways...Meggin, Holly, Karen, Sienna, Trevyan, Tina, Jerica, Erin, Brandelyn, Brittanie, Jacob's teacher from 5th grade?? . That's all I can think of right now, but that's a large list. Four are sister-in-laws! I'm feeling the pressure, and babies sure are cute, especially now that Ammon is getting older. Gosh he's changed since he was born.

2009-01-08T15:09:00.002-06:00

Last day of Awesome Vacation to Florida

We actually got home last night from Oklahoma, but these are the memories from the last moments of stress-free life.

Packing up was a piece of cake. I was surprised how we fit everything into our bags so we didn't have to check one on the plane. On the drive to the airport, we stopped at Fudruckers and saw the alligators. Even if it wasn't in the wild, at least we got to see some.
We were on the last row of both of our flights. The second flight, we were on a huge plane. We opened our window, and what a view! All we could see was the jet. When the engines started up, we couldn't hear each other scream, it was so loud. And the vibrations on the feet! It was almost like getting a bonus foot massage.
We made it back to Oklahoma with no problems. Meggin picked us up at the airport and then we drove to the Dittmers. It was nice to see the kids, I suppose. Being home for a day now, I am realizing how much stress I carry in my daily life. This vacation was perfect. Just what I needed.

2009-01-06T00:25:00.002-06:00

Day 5 of Awesome Vacation to Florida

Another beautufil day. The forcast is very deceiving. I'm glad we didn't decide not to come because of those lightening and cloud pictures. It was cloudy and looked a little "tut tut," but no rain.
We drove to Deer Lake State Park and hiked on the Linear Trail across the highway. It was about a 1.5 mile loop. It was nice and secluded; didn't see any other people. It was fun to see different types of wildlife growing, like mushrooms and pines. We even saw a lizard/gecko that turned from bright green to brown. So cute and little.
Justin decided that he wanted to jog back to the house along the beach, which is only about 1-2 miles, so I drove back. I got there just in the nick of time. The cleaning crew was just getting out of their cars getting ready to clean the house. I told them we had extended out stay one more day, and the office should have told them.
Lunch, nap, then we walked to the beach. Justin brought the skim board and wore the wet suit. We walked south a little ways and found a flat-ish spot. I got busy trying unsuccessfully doing a Sudoku for a few minutes, got frustrated, so started making a family-school-of-fish sand sculputre.
In the mean time, Justin walked back to the house and got an inflatable lobster to ride the waves. He was making me laugh so hard. He is such a dork. After awhile snorkeling with the lobster, he came back in and said, "that guy walking by probably thought "they shouldn't let retarded people go out that far."" He did look really, uhm for lack of a better word, retarded.
He found a little shell with a crab in it, and we also noticed all of these little tiny clam shells that had clam type things in them along the wave front. You could see them digging back into the sand as the waves receeded. We had fun digging for them and watching them dig down.
Back at Endless Summer, we played another couple rounds of Skip-Bo. Our scores are now 400/65 in favor of me. Poor Justin. He usually beats me at Skip-Bop too. Then we made chicken/rice/black beans/salsa for dinner. We made regular rice and no Lawreys season salt for the chicken, so the rice wasn't as good as Basmati and the chicken a little boring. I guess it filled the tummies though.
We packed up most of our stuff, and surprisingly, there isn't that much food to throw away. Justin has a big appetite.
I felt like a late night walk on the beach so we headed down there again around 10 PM. There was no one there, except for the county guy driving his truck down the beach checking on garbage and what not. It was soooo fun! We sat on a sandy ledge by the waves and laid down and looked at the stars. The ledge was about 18 inches tall, and would crumble very easily. We had fun trying to knock the sand out from under each others' bumbs. I had fun trying to get on top of the ledge then slide down on my feet. It was hard just to get on top without it falling down. I was getting the giggles. Justin was a pooper because his "muscles hurt."
We walked back and played chicken with the waves to see how far out we would stand. I was by far the most chicken, not scared of the waves, but of what might be in the waves. Even though the whole time, we have never seen anything, just not being able to see what's in there is scary!
Back at the house, we rinsed off our feet outside, and then I sat and put my feet in the pool. It wasn't too bad! Justin was right all along. Then I was rinsing off in the tub and stood up under the faucet and scraped my backside pretty good. Not a great end of the day.
It's late and we have to get up at 7 AM.
XII

2009-01-04T23:24:00.002-06:00

I had a thought...Justin and I were walking along the beach tonight about 10 PM through the fog and were talking about how many trips we've taken over our 13 years of marriage. I can't believe how many! It's really important to me for these trips to happen. It makes me feel like a wife instead of always a mom, and makes me feel so loved. Here's the list we came up with:

Center Street Bed & Breakfast in Logan
? Inn in SLC
Providence Inn
Portland/Olympic National Park
Yellowstone/Tetons
Fish lake/Capitol Reef
Seattle - beach
Tulsa hotel
Branson Missouri
Grand lake resort Oklahoma
Cancun Riviera Maya 2006
Oklahoma City - temple with Meggin and Spencer 2007
Florida South Walton beach house 2008

Not too shabby of a list! Hoping to making it longer in the years to come.

2009-01-04T20:48:00.003-06:00

Day four of "Awesome Vacation to Florida"

Arise and shine! There was a HUGE thunderstorm and rain in the middle of the night, but this morning the sun was shining beautifully. We were able to detach ourselves from our king sized bed and make it to church in time to get the sacrament at the Panama City Beach Branch by 9 AM. That is one small building. Justin being Justin, bore his testimony today, and tried to get me to go up there. Yeah, no thanks. The people seemed quite friendly. We stayed for Sunday School then sneaked out so we wouldn't have to be apart for the third hour. I know, cheesy. I did notice a one-half inch hair growing out of the back of Justin's ear that threw me for a loop for a minute. He's only 36! Stop those ear hairs! Can this be grounds for divorce? (I'm obviously joking.)
We stopped in Camp Helen State Park and walked around for awhile. There was awesome moss growing on the trees several feet long all over the place, just like you might imagine the bayous. It was only $2 to park here and I enjoyed it lots! We saw a few interesting birds (an egret or heron) and to top it off, there weren't many people at all. I like secluded hikes and places. Since it had rained the night before, the forest smelled like tree and leaf decay. I love that smell.
We have been having fun playing with our digital slr camera. I wish we knew how to use it better. Hope some of them turn out okay.
We drove a few more miles and stopped at Deer Lake State Park (free). It was only a parking lot with a boardwalk over some forested area and sand dunes, which are neat to look at. We walked to the beach and contemplated walking back to this spot because it looked promising for skim boarding.
Back at Endless Summer, I took a nap while Justin read "The Hero of Ages" by Brandon Sanderson. He is obsessed with these books and is always trying time to squeeze in a few pages.
At 3:30, we walked barefooted to the beach and found that it was having the tide out that made for some fun skim boarding spots, so we didn't have to walk back to Deer Lake. I tried the board once and fell a little getting my sweatshirt wet, and chickened out on trying more. I probably would have if Justin put on a little pressure. Justin seemed to have lost his groove from the previous jaunt, but was able to get a few good runs in. The three times he fell down, I didn't have the camcorder on, darnit! His pulled muscle in his thigh is sure bothering him.
We made the sand come to life by sculpting a crab. I wonder if it will be there tomorrow...
Justin bought some $2.99 paddles and ball, so we had a great game on the beach. The sand is amazing (and squeaky). The was lots of fun too.
It was warm and sunny, enough that I was in my swim suit the whole time. The weather forcast has tricked us,and said that it would be rainy most of the days, but it hasn't been. Tomorrow is our last day. I would love to stay longer. It wouldn't cost us anything more to stay. Just the kids out of school and Justin's work. He said he could do some office work from here. The kids would only miss two more days of school, and we could stay through Friday or something. Just a thought. I heard it is -1 in Minnesota. Makes me think harder about staying here.
Yummy tacos for dinner. Justin ate 8, me 4 (which is LOTS for me). We had another installment of Skip-Bo, which I won, so our tally is now 175/65.

Another great day in Florida!
IX

2009-01-03T20:36:00.002-06:00

Day Three of "Awesome Vacation to Florida"January 3, 2009 "I wish I'd had one piece of bacon, instead of two. Stuffed to the rafters." Quote by Justin, teasing me because I don't want to spend an hour making hash browns from raw potatoes. He had a nice breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast, with a little cranberry/blueberry juice. Justin pulled a muscle in his thigh yesterday during one of his skim boarding jaunts, and is now valiantly trying to make as little trips up the stairs as possible.
Later that evening...
Lots of shopping. We stopped at a mission thrift store, the Goodwill, and a couple of tourist clothes shops. We were successful at getting a couple of t-shirts, something for each kid and three, yes three, Christmas ornaments. We initially purchased two, but found one we really liked later on. It's a big ball with shells glued all over it.
We spend several hours at St. Andrew State Park. First we stopped at the lamest visitor center I've ever been in, but were able to find a map of the park. Then we hiked around Gator Lake and "bushwhacked" through the forest exploring; hoping to find one of the elusive alligators. There were signs everywhere telling us how common they are and to be careful etc. Must be the wrong time of year or something. We did see about four deer.
We drove to the beach area and settled in for a nice cozy nap with the windows and sunroof open. When we woke up, there was a fog rapidly rolling in. We walked along the beach for awhile, then left.
Justin has been craving fish tacos and he saw a mexican restaurant, so we stopped there. He got his tacos and said they were really good. I ordered a side dish of french fries. I tried squeezing my lemon and Justin's with lots of sugar to make my water a little bit like lemonade, but it was soooooo gross.
I was eating my curly french fries and noticed one that looked funny. I said to Justin, "this one looks like a cobra," and made a hissing noise which made a piece of fry fly out of my mouth. Justin still is making fun of me about it.
We drove into the town of Panama City Beach and watched "Yes Man." It was pretty funny, but could sure use some editing.
We returned our snorkel gear, swim suit, beach clothes, etc to Target getting us back about $100. That's nice.
Even though they haven't heated the pool yet, we might go jump really fast, then run into the jacuzzi tub. We'll see if it happens. It's really foggy outside, kind of like Twilight Zone, and there is lightening.
A fairly uneventful day, but I still give it 3/5 stars.

Day Two of "Awesome Vacation to Florida"

2009-01-02T19:47:00.002-06:00

It is so delightsome to be able to sleep in, undisturbed in a quiet neighborhood, with no highways. I was so happy to see the sun shining this morning with the promise of a nice day. It made it easier to get out of bed.
Justin and I went to the Beach House Rentals of South Walton Beach and paid our cleaning fee of $135 and an additional $90 to have the pool heated. That was a hard decision to fork over that much money to swim, but it's going to rain and be cold, so I thought it would be nice to do something outside if it's crummy.
We drove to Seaside, where the movie "Truman" was apparently filmed, and spent an hour choosing the rest of our food for the week. We have decided on stew, chicken/rice/black beans/salsa, and tacos for our main meals. It's fun to go around with Justin and choose what to eat. He loves to get special types of drinks. We bought crannberry/blueberry, pomegranate blueberry juices, chocolate milk, and Black Cherry IBC pop. Food is about 50% more than in MN. It made it hard to buy the food, but there aren't other easy options. It's still cheaper than eating out.
After shopping, we changed into our swim suits (Justin brought Tony's purple and black wet suit) and headed down to the beach. We brought the skim board that we bought at a strange store for $5 and a snorkel and mask that Justin found under the house. Justin was such a go-getter and went straight into the ocean. I, on the other hand, wasn't too excited to get my feet wet today, despite the warmer temperatures.
Justin snorkeled for awhile, then tried the skim board. He wasn't so good, but after about 30+ tries, he started to get the hang of it. He could go about 30 feet at a time if he caught the waves just right.
Justin often has a way of making me do things I don't always want to. Meaning, I tried to skim board. I was able to skim for a few feet right off the bat, but had terrible balance. The third try, I totally did a face plant in the sand and water, then when I was trying to get the board, it came back and clonked into my shins. I still have a little bit of a burn on my chin. Luckily Jusitn hadn't started the camcorder for that ungraceful fall. Embarrassing. Covered in sand, I ventured out into the waves a little more to wash off. COLD!!!!! I think a wet suit must help a lot.
We spent about two hours at the beach, then headed back to the house and snacked on chips and salsa while we cut up the carrots and potatoes for our stew. Then we played our second game of Skip Bo. I won last night with a score of 100. Justin won this afternoon, so he's now up to 65. It makes it more interesting to be keeping score. I was able to successfully pick up 60 exact cards to deal out.
Back to the beach. Justin carried two patio chairs (yes, he looked dumb, and yes, it was his idea), to the beach and we tried to read. We were easily distracted by birds, eating an orange, the pretty sunset, taking pictures, and generally enjoying each other's company.
Genie called to ask what she could give Ammon. He had thrown up twice today. I feel so bad that they have to take care of our sick baby. It wouldn't do much good to go back early, but as a Mom, I want to be there for him.
Our stew dinner was super yummy. I'm sitting in bed and Jusitn is snoozing and it's only 7:30. The snorkeling and skim boarding must have tuckered out the little guy. We're planning on watching "Get Smart."
Time to go move the laundry over.
I give today 4/5 stars (would have been 5 if it was warmer. That's how perfect if was).

2009-01-01T21:43:00.009-06:00

Day One of "Awesome Vacation to Florida"
January 1, 2009

After a measly two hours of sleep from partying and ringing in the New Year with the Dittmers playing Nertz (I kicked butt), Justin and I got a ride to the Tulsa airport from Alex at 4:30 AM. We were the last two people to be called for standby to Dallas, out of about 50 other standby's. We easily got on the small 50 seater to Fort Walton, Florida and landed around 10 AM. We saw some interesting Salvador Dali prints in the airport then picked up our Pontiac rental car. We didn't have the address for the house we were renting, and found out that they were closed, so we called Spencer and got the lock box combination.

We stopped at Target to get a few groceries and ended up staying there for an hour, spending extra time going through the 75% off Christmas goodies. We were paid $10 for a diabetic monitor via a coupon. Arriving at our awesome rental house about 2 blocks from the white sandy beach, we turned up the heat on the house. It was only about 60 degrees today and the house was COLD! We haven't yet been able to figure out how to heat the pool outside, and hope to use the sea kayak this week sometime. We got our stuff put away and then looked at the weather forecast for the next few days to decide if we should nap or go to the beach. It wasn't a tough decision. Although it wasn't too nice and cozy outside, today was going to be the least chance of rain and thunderstorms. Bummer. The sand is amazing. It is so powdery soft and white. Finer than sugar. There are a few shells here and there and the occasional seagull. We experimented with the aperture of our camera, but couldn't seem to get it right.

We walked on a boardwalk through a sand duney/lake area for a long time and meandered our way back to the rental. It's beautiful here. I love the picturesque views and the color of the water. What an amazing *much needed* nap. We slept for a couple of hours and woke up famished and had Dinty Moore canned stew that works our well with my gluten/milk free diet that I'm on right now. It was pretty good, surprisingly.

We just got done watching a little bit of Napoleon Dynamite. That sure is one great movie. I am so happy to be here with Justin. I love him so much, it's making me teary eyed right now. He is an amazing husband and companion and I feel so blessed to have him be my eternal dude. He's my best friend.