Allison came for a walk with me across the street.  I made her pose.  

 Have I mentioned that I love living right by trails?  Well, I do.  

Ammon is such a stud. 

Ammon was playing with some ornaments.  

 Santa came to visit at the HOA office.

 What did you say your name was?  Usually a give-a-way for a non-mormon.

 Turtle Balloon.  

Christmas Morning.  Kids all got their traditional book to read when they work up.  So we started around 8 am.

 Way for dandruff shampoo!

 Jacob had a hard time waking up.

 The kids were really in to a youtube movie Bad Lip Reading, NFL.

 So we bought them orange peanuts.

 And everyone got two boxes of cereal.  

 Justin made Jacob a Lego figure display.

 I made Ammon a bag of disguises.

 Thanks Justin, for the zebra print blanket and pillow.  Snicker.

 Justin got a fancy bike tire from his parents.

I made Isaac a Minecraft quilt.  He loves it.

Our Christmas was amazing, especially while Justin is out of a job.  We were richly blessed by Secret Santas and friends alike.  Some was large and some not as much, but all touched our hearts and made our Christmas merry and bright.  God is great!

Randomness for October/November

10/14 Great campout to Goblin Valley this weekend.  

Opened a delightful anonymous envelope with a $50 gift card to Smiths.  

It feels good people looking after us.  

Jacob WAS accepted at VocRehab.  Hoping this will be life changing for him.

Car battery was dead and was jumped.  One thing after another.

I love my bed after camping.  Oh.  So.  Much.

Justin has started working on his children's book that he did in college.

10/17 Jacob and mostly Isaac have a serious issue of getting work turned in on time.
I had a photo session tonight for a family in the ward with five kids under the age of seven.
Justin is an amazing assistant.
Allison made us dinner tonight:  oven pancakes.
She also likes to play soccer.
Ammon had pajama day at school.  He wore his Lego jammies.
My photography website is mostly up and going how I envisioned it.
I have spent too many hours on it for what I get paid.
10/28 Plants VS Zombies 2 has hit the Dittmer Household by storm.
Ammon had a fun play date with Jonah.
He also finished his book report, due tomorrow.
The kids all got a pumpkin from my dad that he grew.
I think this is terribly cool.
I came up with the best idea I think I've ever had.  At least for awhile.
If Jacob and Isaac have late assignments, they have to eat a large spoonful of cottage cheese.  Everyday they have late assignments.  Isaac often says that cottage cheese is his "worst favorite food".
My aspen tree is a beautiful golden butter yellow.  *smile*
I have a cool family.  I wish we got together more because we have great laughs.
When I wear clothes with pills, it drives me insane.  But, I do have a shaver thingy that takes them off.
One of the best inventions ever.
Flannel sheets are so comfy.
Woke up with a pretty bad headache and slept most of the day.
11/11 I went for a walk to the woods with Ammon yesterday to visit our fort and explore.
I asked him what he'd like for Christmas but it had to be under $20.
He said a few random toy ideas then he said, "I'd really like a hug."
I didn't win a trip to Disneyland and I'm immaturely depressed about it.
 Went for another exploring hike with Ammon.  Found several deer bones and firepits.
11/12 Used up the last of our WalMart gift cards that we got by using our credit card rewards.
Resources are getting slim.
My parents left for Arizona for the winter.  I'm going to miss them.
Justin was a chauffeur yesterday for a Toyota event.  He worked almost 12 hours.
11/16 Isaac gave himself a hickey on his cheek from a bottle.  I think this is hilarious.
Ammon made a gigantic snowman today.

I've had a migraine all day.  It makes me stupid.  And down on life.

I was in charge of a ward humanitarian night yesterday.  We made Hats for the Homeless.

It was a great turnout with over 100 hats made.

This is why I have a migraine.

We got a Costco membership today.  I feel so grown up.  Supposedly you get a discount on your Sprint phone bill.  Since Justin lost his job, we now have to pay for our phones.  First time ever and it sucks.

Some very good friends sent us a large sum of money.  They must have been listening to the spirit because our funds are getting very low and we couldn't pay off our car repair.  

I love the little wrinkles in front of Justin's ear, behind his sideburns.

Everyday I don't have a sale on my Etsy store, I get a little more crushed.  

Justin has been unemployed for three months today.

We gave the kids a list of items they needed to accomplish today in order to go see Despicable Me 2.

Everyone did them quickly and happily except Jacob.  He didn't get to go.  He liked playing Legos more.

Language Arts Assignment by Jacob

This cracked me up.  

Jacob always complains about not being able to write or put his feelings down, but I think he's lying.

What do you think?

"Let me just say that I don't use quotes ever. I don't have the time, memory, or effort to put one to use in my life. The quote I chose was new to me, but I really liked it, so I decided to use it for this project. “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”. I live this quote. I will get the facts, then forget the details, and then make those up in my mind, and that's how they stay until I forget that version of it. Usually the information I give is totally skewed from the original, and the person who is on the receiving end of my blunt lies either knows it, or they are going to be getting into some sort of terrible flame-spewing argument about it. My facts change people without me knowing it. You and I both know how words spread like viruses. I have probably indirectly caused a couple of divorces somewhere in the vast world of fact communications. I sure hope not, because if people did some serious digging and found me as the spark of these accidental lies, I would have no better excuse then “I'm sorry, my brain was on vacation when I gave that information.” Hm, that rhymed. So if you start hearing people talk about how glowworms secrete liquid nitrogen or how Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson are closely related, then it might have spawned from me. Just an FYI. :)"

The Babysitting Grandparents

Justin's brother Alex got married a couple of weeks ago.  My parents were exceedingly kind and came to our house and stayed for six days to watch the kids. 

My dad was successful at watching most of the Harry Potter movies.  Plus accidentally subjecting my kids to all three of the Matrix movies (unedited).  We have the edited version, but he picked the wrong cd's.  Whoopsie Grandpa! 

We missed carving pumpkins and trick or treating with the kids.  Jacob got quite a load this year!

Jacob and Isaac playing games on my computer.

BYU art museum.

 Allison riding a scooter on the swirly twirly sidewalk on the BYU campus.

Spring Break 2013 Part 2

After leaving Vegas, we went to Zion National Park.  We found a lovely free campground and got our new car all kinds of dirty (still is dirty btw).  

My kids are such spazzes.  

Spring Break 2013 Part 1

I had this trip all kinds of journaled during our trip on Justin's laptop.  He emailed it to me, which is now, of course, LOST in cyberspace.  AND Justin no longer has that computer, thank you very much, Raleigh.

 Family ride in St. George.

Family ride in Las Vegas.

 Easter celebrated in the great outdoors.

I loved our campsite.  Quiet.  No people driving by.  Lovell Canyon Road.

The kids built an extensive fairy house using garbage found in the area.

Red Rock Canyon.

 Hike before hitting The Rock that broke the trip. And the car.  And our happy day.

Look out for that rock!  BAM!@#$%#$!!!!  = New Odyssey bought in Las Vegas.  Long painful story.