LIFE

I know posts are no fun w/out pictures, but sometimes I just need to put things down while it's on my mind. Life is interesting!! I am amazed at the strength the Lord has given me to overcome, not hills, but MOUNTAINS in my life! No matter how tall the mountain, and whether or not I can see the top, or what is on the other side, He continues to give me the strength and courage to keep on climbing. I am so blessed and grateful for the people in my life. I cannot imagine a life without the gospel! How do people get through life without it? How do they have the will to keep moving forward? Sometimes when we get thrown things that we have absolutely no control over, all we can do is just keep a smile on our face and have the faith that the Lord is always aware of us and our needs, and that He will always give us the things that we need to overcome our trials. I think one reason that I have been blessed with so many wonderful kids is because when life gets hard, everywhere I turn there is an adorable face reminding me of why I keep going AND bringing me joy along the way! I could never let them down and all I want is for them to get through life knowing how much they are loved.

HAHAHA!

Last night Devin was going to Target so I asked if he could get me one thing & he said, sure, put it on the list. So I wrote down, "Playtex gentle glide-regular". When he got home he said, "I guess Target doesn't carry that brand cuz I looked everywhere & couldn't find it. Then he handed me a women's Schick razor! I was laughing so hard! He started laughing asking, "what? what? did I get the wrong thing?" When I told him what it was I needed he started laughing & said, "um yeah I guess this would really not work for what you need" I am still laughing about it!! I love it when he makes me laugh!

Silly Libs!

This isn't Libertys official birthday post, but I had to write this down before I forgot. I asked her on Saturday what cake she wanted for her birthday & this was following conversation we had.
"Libs, what cake do you want on Sunday?"
"Duh, I told you mom, I'm having an ICarly party"
"Oh yeah, my bad"
"So I want a cake with Carlys face on it and Sams face on it, and oh, can you put Pipers face on it?(my neice)"
"um, sorry Libs, I can't do cakes w/faces on it"
"oh, dang it....cuz Piper is so cute I just really want her face on there too"

HAHA, I barely do half decent cakes anyways, like I could seriously start drawing out faces! I was laughing so hard. Then my mom & I made the mistake of asking what she wanted for her Birthday.....here is just A FEW that I can remember
* a fake kitchen
* fake dishes
* dress up clothes
* makeup
* jewelry
* fake shoes
* a fake couch
* a fake bed
* clothes
* a fake puppy
* a fake blanket to go on the bed
I can't even remember them all, but for some reason she wanted mostly fake stuff...not REAL shoes, but fake ones! I love it when she makes me laugh!

Happy Anniversary!

13 years doesn't sound like much, but when I think about all the things that have gone on in 13 years......time really does fly when your having fun! I still feel young and like we should be on our honeymoon instead of getting a young man prepared to receive the priesthood! Marriage always has it's ups and downs, but one thing has remained the same in our relationship.....both of us have always put 110% into our marriage and have always tried to remain each others best friend. Our trials through life have made us not only stronger individuals but closer to one another. I love my husband so much! He is so wonderful and there are not many men who do all that he does. I love him for who he is, the way he is with me and the way he is with our kids. People ask all the time how I can handle 8 kids, well I have said before, I couldn't do it without an amazing man by my side. I couldn't image life without him and I look forward to many many more happy years with my best friend!! I love you Devin!

Jacobs a big boy now!

I told you I'm trying to get caught up on my posting! May 10th my brother Jacob graduated from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute specializing Associate of Occupational Studies for patisserie & baking. It is funny to me that this is what he got a degree in, NOT because he is not super awesome at it and he has always been the baker in our family, but I always saw him as some cute computer geek, cuz he is also incredible at that! I guess since I don't have as many talents as some others, its amazing to me how someone can be so great at two things that are so completely different. He pretty much has a standing "dessert" assignment for all our family get togethers, which we LOVE cuz he brings us so many amazing things. I am so proud of him!!! He is the FIRST sibling to get a degree in anything (I mean, besides my degree in baby making!) and he worked so hard to accomplish what he has. Congratulations Jacob!!!

Baby Ry turns 1

Thats right, my baby is one! (ok, his birthday was in March....I know I'm such a looser!) AND I have an announcement to make!! This is the longest I have gone without being pregnant since I started having kids! Crazy huh! It's a good thing I am about to get a new niece, AND they live closer now, so I can get my baby fix!

We had a fun time with Ryker for his birthday. Jacob was kind enough to put together a super sweet cake for him, and we had family over to help celebrate. He is THE SWEETEST baby ever! He started walking right after his birthday and the boys LOVE teaching him all sorts of funny faces and laugh like crazy when he learns to do it on command! He has been such a joy to our family.

Kepping with tradition over the past year, I get to write his birth story.

I kept telling the Dr. over the last 3 months of my pregnancy that he was going to be a really big baby. As it got closer I kept asking for an ultrasound to check his size. Finally 3 weeks before my due date he did one and it said that he was 9 lbs., which could be off 1 pound either direction. So he scheduled my enduction at Banner Gateway. We ended going in at like 9 at night on a Sunday. My parents and Cassie & Jeremiah came down to see me for a while and hopefully be the first to meet our new baby. Things were moving really slow so they decided to go home and get some rest. This was the 1st time I ever had any problems w/my epidural. I wasn't getting any pain relief on the left side of my belly. They called the anethesiologist in 2 times to try and figure out what was going on.He finally put medication directly into my back and that not only made me completely numb, but it finally took all the pain away. The nurse was having me roll from side to side to get the medication to kind of spread out. One time she rolled me to the left side and Rykers heartbeat went down instantly, to like 30 or 40. That was the WORST sound I have ever heard. To hear his heartbeat that slow, and the nurse trying franticlly to get it to come back up, shot horrible fear all the way through me. She rolled me back over, saying that it would come back up, but it didn't. After several min she pressed her panic button and there were nurses flooding my room and they were all yelling for someone to get the Dr. because they needed to get the baby out right now and to get me ready for a C-cection. I started crying and Devin was trying to be brave for me, and I really thought I was going to loose my baby. Right as the Dr. walked into the room, Rykers heartrate started coming back up and he checked me and I was ready to start pushing. So I called my mom & they headed down to the hospital (I think it was about 6:30am when I called them) By the time they got there I had started pushing. I was so numb that after the 1st push I asked the Dr. if I was even doing anything and he said, "oh yeah, your doing great!" That is the weirdest feeling, to be pushing and feel absolutely nothing. Well, after he was born, about 3 pushes later, we realized why my epidural needed to be so good. They laid him on the scale & Devin & I were like holy cow I bet he is almost 10 lbs! When the nurses told me he was 11 lbs I just couldn't stop laughing! I asked them 3 times if they were kidding, and just kept laughing. I knew he was big but I never thought he was going to be that big!! It was so fun having my family come in and asking them to take bets on how big he was.....no one guessed 11lbs. He was perfect and beautiful and I was so glad he was here safely. He was the largest baby that had been born at that hospital and it was so funny because I would have nurses knock on my door all day asking if they could see the 11 lb. baby. When we went by the nursery when we were leaving the nurses there told us people would come by and ask where the 11 lb baby was and they would tell them, "the mom is so selfish! She keeps him all to himself" Haha! It was really funny! The kids were so excited to come and meet their new baby and he was an instant hit! He was such a sweetheart from day one. Very rarely did he give me any troubles!

I am so blessed to have had 8 beautiful healthy babies! Will there be more in our future? Only time will tell!

More Mexico pics

Life for the Tietjens

So just a quick update. The kids are out of school, and having a blast! I started working @ Copper Canyon Dental in May, which I love, but hate being away from my kids. I work 3 days a week and usually have cleaning jobs on the other two days, so I am trying to cut back on the cleaning to be home with the kids more. We moved AGAIN....this time from Gilbert to Mesa, to live with my parents for the summer and then hopefully we will be able to move back into our ward in Gilbert.....which we miss TERRIBLY!! It is amazing that we were there for such a short time but fell in love SO quickly! Devin is finding working, thank goodness! Devins Dad just moved here which is wonderful! We are so excited to have him close and spend time with him. Tiffany (my sister) is just weeks away from having her 3rd baby girl and I am SO excited!! Jacob and Crystal added to their family with Iris.....their cat Eddies new wife! Amanda finally is working days...no more nasty night job YIPEE! We are missing Cassie SO MUCH and wish we got to see her more and my baby brother Jeremiah was married to his sweetheart Ciera this past Saturday (pics and post later). So life is crazy as always, but were here, healthy and happy.....couldn't ask for much more than that!

Mexico

The Romneys where the reception was













SO beautiful!












The Romneys faimly & friends offerd their homes for us to stay in. THANK YOU












The McGee family in front of the temple (in the Romneys
yard)

The beautiful couple!

Jacob & Crystal

Awwwww, we are so cute!

You get pretty nuts being in a car with 8 adults for 9 hours! These are FOR REAL the walkie talkies my mom brought so we could communicate with the other cars. HAHA

There are so many things that I haven't posted about but I want to start most recent and go backwards! We had the opportunity to go to Mexico last weekend with my parents and all of my siblings for Cassie & Landons open house. It was SO awesome!!!!! Getting there was quite the adventure! Mike & Tiff got pulled over, then at the border we had drama with 2 of our 3 vehicles that we were driving so we had to drive to the Romneys farm and drop off Tiffs truck and Cassies car and have Landons family drive them to their house because we couldn't get the permit for their cars. So we had Dev & I, Mom & Dad, Amanda, Jeremiah, and Jacob & Crystal in our Tahoe....it was squishy! We finally made it to beautiful colonial Warez. I had been told that the temple was in the Romneys front yard, but I didn't expect their driveway to be right next to the gate of the temple. I was driving, and I was freaking out cuz I totally thought I was driving on the sidewalk of the temple. Everything there was so incredible and so beautiful. 2 families offered there homes to allow all of us to stay in and everything was just perfect. It has such an amazing feel there because the temple is right there in the community, you can really feel the spirit that is there and almost like a protection of the great people that live there! The reception was beautiful with awesome mariachi, great food, dancing and we got to visit with our wonderful friends the Johnsons that moved back there over 3 years ago. Landons family was so kind to take such great care of us and made us feel so welcome. Sis. Romeny made us a fabulous authentic Mexican breakfast before we left on Sat and we got to stay and watch Cassie & Landon open their gifts. I am so grateful to Devins family and our friend Jenn who took care of ALL of our kids so we could go. It was such a nice little get away, even if it was just 2 days. The ride home was fun as well, again with Mike & Tiff (they were our entertainment!!).....we were all trying to get into the line of cars @ the border and no one was letting us in. So we kept sticking the nose of the tahoe and mikes truck into the line so someone would just have to let us in. Well their was a nice senorita (sp?) that DID NOT appreciate that very much and was yelling and shaking her fist at Mike. While she was doing that, she wasn't paying attention to traffic and slammed into the car in front of her. HAHAHA! It was so dang funny! All of the sudden there was an opening for us to get in line! Funny how that works huh!?! We were all laughing so hard. I always really enjoy spending time with my family and I LOVE laughing with them!!! Thanks Cassie & Landon for getting married so we could go to Mexico! :) We love you!!!

Happy Days

Things here are great!!! Devin is feeling better, thank goodness and has been helping out so much around the house and is trying to find a job.....that's never fun! I am recovered from my surgery, but am back to being sick to my stomach 24/7. So I had to go back on meds for that and am going to see a gastrointestinal specialist to see what could be causing me to be sick all the time. Hopefully that will be short, and we will able to get this crazy problem solved! Our sweet puppy Maddy is fully recovered from almost dying of Parvo; it is so great to see her back to her bubbly self again! I have a job interview on Thursday at Copper Canyon Dental which I am SO incredibly excited about!! Hopefully there will be more details on Friday! :) I am happy to be alive and have my sweet little family! Life doesn't get any better. Hopefully I will get some pictures downloaded on this new computer and be able to start catching up w/my posts!