Mission Impossible = Family Pictures

Here is Addison, my angel poser...I thought I would put his picture first since they are the best of the group my Dad took for us. For some reason Laynie WOULD NOT cooperate with anything this day, so we have lots of good pics of Addy, and NONE of Laynie...she wouldn't even look at my dad!

Here is this best picture out of LOTS and oddly enough it's the only one that Addy isn't smiling in!

This is supossedly Laynie's "pretty smile"...that's what we asked for at least!

I had such great fantasies of beautiful pictures on the beach with smiling children and hair blowing in the wind...

Mommy and Laynie-- Is that a smile?! Maybe we'll have to try the whole picture thing in a few years...or at least come up with a good bribe!!

I thought I'd do a little up date on the kids... so here is my sweet Hailey, always ready to give a smile and so patient with her siblings. She has had a little bit of a rough few days, last night we were up for a lot of it and had to take a bath at 4:30am because she was covered in throw-up! Good thing I L.O.V.E. my kids!! I don't think I could clean up throw-up for anyone else but them!

This picture is the portrait of my sweet and terribly moody Laynie. Lately her tantrums come out of nowhere and we wonder what has possessed her body!! I am only writing this for posterity's sake...Laynie, someday when you read this, you will know what an instrument you were in teaching your mother patience!! Thanks honey! She does, on the other hand, have the ability to be incredibly tender and SO cute...

Addison has been a little shocked with the idea of being at school all day every day! He has said a few times "when will school end?!" But when asked about the favorite part of his day, his answer is still "school!" He is very excited to move into our new house (as is his mommy!).

GGGOOO COUGARS!

I do realize that this post is a whole week late...and that is entirely my dad's fault for not getting the pictures to us until now! Okay, maybe not entirely his fault, since we did bring the camera bag to the game, just not the camera (so smart!)
So, Anyway, here we are in Seattle on a GORGEOUS day, cheering on the cougars!!

This is the Spectacular view from Husky stadium overlooking lake Washington and all the boats that find the water traffic much easier to bear than the typical Seattle traffic!

Even Hailey sported some BYU blue and was real excited for the cougs...unfortunately this outfit ws no longer clean come game time, so she cheered wearing pink!

Nana couldn't get enough of little Hailey!

1st Day of School!

Here he is! My big kindergartener! I dropped Addy off this morning, wondering how it would go for him...well, I should have been more worried about me than him! He showed ZERO signs of hesitancy as he walked in his classroom, met his teacher, found his name tag, and sat down! And that was that! I was feeling like at any moment I could cry, and he was ALL smiles! You know how old people have always said how fast time goes? I must be old!! I can't believe that Addy is old enough to go to Kindergarten! Time goes so fast!! :)

Lake Cavanaugh...round 2!

How lucky are we that we get to go to the lake TWICE a year now...or really whenever we want since it's only a 4 hour drive instead of a plane ride across the country!
I took the kids all by myself to meet up with my sisters and mom for a few days, and it was a blast! Addison and Laynie LOVE their cousins Clay and Ella! Here are some great hot tub shots.

We had GREAT weather on Saturday...which I guess is a rarity in Seattle this summer! I even sported a swimsuit for most of the day! But don't worry, I will spare you pictures of that!!

Here is my Addison, all grown up and starting kindergarten on Tuesday!! I can't believe it! And I must mention my excitement upon learning that it is ALL DAY kindergarten! Is that horrible that I am excited about that? I will probably miss him terribly...I just won't miss the fights that he and Laynie find themselves in several times a day!

Oh how we LOVE aunt Mimi! Mary did matching hairdos on Laynie and herself, so naturally they had to take a picture! Whenever Mimi's name is mentioned, Laynie ALWAYS talks about getting her nails painted and going swimming...Mary has left some undying memories on this little girl!

And here is my little Hailey-- 4 months old today! I broke out some rice cereal to celebrate, but Hailey wasn't thrilled about that...she sure likes her mommy's milk though, as you can probably tell from her double chin :)

Have I mentioned that Lake Cavanaugh is my favorite place in the whole world?! If you have never been, I will take you and you will see what I mean...it is beautiful and peaceful and I LVOE IT! Just call me, and we'll go!

The New Ditto Residence! (pending inspection)

Well, here it is! It took looking through 70 homes or so to figure out that this was the one we want! Actually, the story is quite miraculous...
I looked at this house while Kelly was in Seattle for training. The day he came back we had an appt to go look at it together, and the owner called to say he had to take it off the market because his wife was contesting the sale of the house (they're going through a divorce) So sad! Then I started to wonder, is this a test of faith and should I be praying for a miracle (the wife changing her mind, etc.)? or is it a sign that this is not the right house for us? Well, the more I prayed, the more I felt that the answer was I should pray for what I want! miracles happen all the time! So I did...and last Friday the house came back on the market! yesterday we made an offer and today we signed papers! yipee!!

I love the kitchen in this house...obviously it needs some new appliances, but it is big and wide open...lots of room for possibilities!

The living/dining area is also wide open...which I LOVE! Lots of space and this pretty mantle/bookcase dealeeo...oh, and there are hard wood floors under the carpet! :)

Although we don't LOVE the location of this house (the street is busier than we like) it does have a big driveway area for the kids to ride their bikes, etc. And if you look in the first pic, you'll see the "mountain" behind the house right in our back yard! I love that too!

Thanks to Denny and Gloria who showed us the 70+ houses I mentioned before and thank Heaven for miracles. Stay tuned for more and better pics without other people's furniture in them!

Blessings in Disguise...

Last week Kelly went to leave for work and had a flat tire! After struggling with the wedged-on tire, and ruining his shirt...he decided to follow my advice and just take the van that day! The kids and I walked to the park and were fine with no car for a day. At about 4:30 Kelly called me from the side of the road...the transmission had DIED and he was stranded. WOW, bad day for Kelly, and it seemed like a horrible thing had just happened! But as I thought about it more, it really was a blessing that Kelly had taken the van that day and not me and 3 kids!! What would I have done if I were the one stranded on the side of the road??! We all know how often I DON"T carry my cell phone with me...and even if I would have had it, who would I have called? I would have been at the mercy of strangers!! As it was, Kelly had his nifty phone+internet-thingy and was able to call a tow truck, a transmission place, me, Logan, etc. So I am grateful for the flat tire that made Kelly take the van that died on the side of the road...and for other small miracles that happen every day!

Happy Birthday at the Lake!

We spent last week in Seattle and at Lake Cavanaugh!!...my two favorite places!! Addison and I celebrated our birthdays at the lake at the Ditto family reunion! We did a knights in shining armor party for Addy. So, here are all the cousins wearing their armor (emergency blankets with paper coat-of-arms) They all chose funny names (sir-sporty and sir-birthday king for example) and decorated plastic goblets!

Here is Addison's dragon cake...complete with fruit-rollup-wings! The cake was a hit with the kids until it came time to pick a piece (No, I want the leg!! etc.) Thanks to Logan and Julia who coined the phrase "you get what you get and you don't have a fit!" After the kids went to bed, I got my own cake...actually a YUMMY trifle made by my SIL Deena and lots of fun presents!! So I guess turning 30 wasn't so bad!

I'm sure most all of you have seen a similar picture of Kelly waterskiing...but here is the most recent just to prove that he still looks good!! We didn't have a lot of sunny weather, but the guys still had tons of fun skiing, tubing, etc.

Laynie and I had fun in the hot tub! She is is still the sweetest girl one minute and then throws the HUGEST tantrum the next minute, but we love her. No breakthroughs with the potty yet, but then again, we do have a lot going on right now!

Addison tried tubing for the first time! He went with Kelly, but as you can probably read from the picture- he didn't love it. The water was splashing in his face, he was cold, it was scary...should I go on? He is a good little swimmer though, and had a ot of fun on the beach with his cousins.

Okay, is it even possible that a little girl could be so cute? I am IN LOVE with my baby Hailey. She needs nothing but a look in order to smile SO BIG right at you. She was loved by all at our family reunion!