One Year old!

Happy First Birthday Hailey!!

This is the evolution of Baby Hailey...on her 'birth day' last year, and on her Birthday this year! How time flies!! I can't believe it! Our little Hailey is

ONE!

Hailey is a joy to our family! She is most often called Hay-bop (which Kelly started) or Baybays-Haybas (which Addison started!) She is smiley and happy most all of the time. She puts up with a lot of roughness from her siblings, but loves them anyway! She has started to say Daa-da, and "sings" the daa-da song. She eats most everything put on front of her, and a lot of things that aren't (dirt, grass, etc.) She has 6 teeth! (yay!! she had no teeth last month!) and she pulls herself up on everything and will even let go for a few seconds and stand alone.

Happy birthday Hailey!! We love you so much and are SO glad you are a part of our family!

Sunshine!!

This picture was actually taken LAST Tuesday, when the weather was L.O.V.E.L.Y and the kids were in Heaven. Unfortunately today, it is about 40 degrees and threatening RAIN! But last week was a sweet little glimpse of what's to come!

So the kids did the classic sprinkler-under-the-trampoline to "cool off" from the brutal 77 degree weather!! They loved it and so did I because they played outside for like 4 hours and then we ate dinner outside too!!

My mention of dinner outside must be accompanied by a sweet deal story. I was driving through a little neighborhood, and there on a driveway was a picnic table and 2 long benches and on it a sign that said $10. Yes Please!! So perfect for our deck! But, alas, how would I get it home? The mini van wouldn't quite cut it. That's when the little grandpa selling it said "I can drop it off for you." Wow, it just keeps getting better! When I asked the cute couple if I could pay extra for their delivery, the little grandma said "No, we're just happy it found a good home." So am I, so am I.

Well, Tuesday also ended perfectly with FREE cones at Ben&Jerry's!! It was their anniversary or something... Anyway, Ben&Jerry's is right downtown, so we got the free cones and walked down by the river and let the kids play in the little park area-- are we the best parents or what? Sprinkler, Picnic, Ice Cream, Park, what more could a kid want in a day?

Sweet Hailey will be 1 on Thursday!! So she'll get a nice Hailey-only blog then...check back! But she DID finally get some teeth, 6 of them in fact...so she is not turning a toothless 1- Hooray!!

Addison and I have been reading chapter books like crazy. Magic Tree House and Secrets of Droon. He is really into them and gets so excited for reading! He gave a talk in Primary on Sunday and read the WHOLE THING (minus 2 words) ALL BY HIMSELF! Speaking of 'all by himself'...he also made a ham and cheese sandwich with NO HELP from mom-- I love it when he is independent and helpful! We are super proud of you Addison!

I need to post a most-current picture of Laynie, because currently she has a pretty sweet shiner! She was jumping on the bed at a friend's house and fell near the side of her eye on the wooden railing meant to protect a child from falling out of the bed! When she woke up the next morning, she had a lovely dark purple circle under her eye...so fun to explain to everyone at church what happened...

Wicked Awesome!

"Wicked Awesome!" is Addison's new catch phrase. He goes through his new little phrases every few weeks or so. When I say catch phrase, I mean he tends to say these things ALL DAY long! Some are less coherent than others... his most recent phrases have been "Baybays Haybas" (a deranged form of 'Baby Hailey') and "ah my shweats, ah my shweats" (that one was more like a mini song). Somehow he gets the whole family saying his jibberish because in the end, we think he's a pretty funny kid.

So, if you also would like to be like Addison this week, you can add "Wicked Awesome!" to every thing you say! For example: when I told Addison we were having a babysitter come over he said "Is she wicked awesome nice?" or last night when he wouldn't stay in his bed he explained "I'm wicked awesome lonely!"

We are having some wicked awesome days here in Spokane! I don't know if there is a better way to describe it, yesterday and today have been sunny and in the 70's!! I'll take it!!

"Family" Pictures

Actually, this is the only picture of the whole family that we got on Easter, because Kelly was too busy being the master photographer!...but at least we got one!

Obviously the dress-up theme was yellow...I was worried we'd all be a little too matchy-matchy, but I think it turned out alright...


We had a lot of 'if only' pictures...like the one above- IF ONLY Addison weren't hiding behind Hailey, it'd be such a cute picture!!

Thanks Ashley for making the cute flowers to go in the girls' hair- so girly!! and I love it!

Addison can be so sweet when he's not wrestling or torturing his sisters!! Thank goodness for the warm weather on its way so Addison can get all of that pent-up energy out on the trampoline or something non-hurtable!

Best Friends....okay, so they're on-again, off-again best friends...I'm sure when they're grown-ups they'll be permanent best fiends!

Don't you just want to eat her right up? So cute!

Here are the TRUE colors of the Ditto clan coming out...Laynie strangles Addison....

And he gives it right back!!

Happy Easter!

What a wonderful holiday!! and despite the rainy weather, we had a beautiful day!! Complete with bunny cake- of course!! Only this year it tasted D.I.V.I.N.E. because I use THIS RECIPE! Check it out, you will NOT be disappointed!!

The Easter Bunny sent Addison and Laynie hopping all around the house looking for their baskets!


Laynie found hers in the bathtub!

And Addy found his in the Dryer!

Hailey found everyone's candy and loved it-

Loved the Easter grass too!

As I look at this picture and think of Easter, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the Savior Jesus Christ, that his sacrifice made it possible for me to live forever with my three beautiful kids and my wonderful husband! When I was in Jerusalem 10 years ago, I visited the garden tomb, the garden of Gethsemane and Calvary. I felt the Spirit witness that in fact Christ is the Savior of the world and His sacrifice is for for me and each of us. But that same Spirit that bore testimony to my soul in such a sacred place, is the same Spirit that bears witness to me in my own living room as I read the scriptures and ponder God's plan for me and my family. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is the plan of happiness and salvation.

Weekend Wonderland

We had a dream-come-true weekend because ALL of the ditto cousins (except for Tyler, who was at conference with his dad) came to Spokane! We played and played from Thursday afternoon to Sunday afternoon and loved every minute! Above is Hailey and Chloe checking out their newest cousin, Maycee!

Addison is a little 'kamikaze' on the trampoline...actually, I'm better off not watching his side-twisty-flip-tricks...they scare me!

Here is Laynie and her cousin Avery. The girls had a lot of fun together and even put on a show for us between conference sessions on Sunday!

Here Addison is strangling Nate who he declared last weekend to be his "best cousin." When everyone had to leave Sunday Addison cried and said "I want to live with my cousins!" Well, that would be fun, however...this weekend was evidence that NO house could stand up to the Ditto cousins for more than a few days at a time...20 kids mostly 8 and under...I'm sure it won't take too much imagination to picture what Grannies basement looked like after only a few hours together!

The REAL party happened Saturday night when everyone 'surprised' uncle Logan for his 30th birthday. The kids were VERY excited about the whole event; my kids practiced SCREAMING "SURPRISE" at least 1000 times that day. Happy Birthday to one of our favorite uncles!!