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 able to stay two days, but the kids had a great time. I hope they'll come up more often. *hint hint*

Easter Fun

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.

"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

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

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

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

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).