The Tietjen Family

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Matthew's 3rd Birthday

My baby boy turned 3!!

I made the "mistake" of promising my kids homemade baked doughnuts on their birthdays in an effect to make their day special. This has turned out to be more work then I thought and have since convinced my children that chocolate chip pancakes would be just as cool!

Present time! Good thing that he has so many older brothers that are willingly to help him!

Not quite sure if he liked this or not! It was a need at our house because they were always fighting over shovels and buckets! He liked it a lot more later!

By far the best present...even though the tent poles got bent within 24 hours...sigh..oh well!

Anthony even had to get in on the action!

It was a little harder then he thought to crawl out of the tunnel!

Happy Birthday, Matthew! I love you so much and am so thankful for your easy going nature that has made it possible for this mommy to survive! You have a easy laugh and always know when I need a hug and a I love you!

Father's Day

Anthony is sometimes hard to buy for! All the things that he would like to have are kind of out of my price range. So he asked for cash this year so that he could save up for something big! I tried to at least make it look attractive!

Showing the boys how a level works! Anthony is starting to get more handy around the house so I thought I would help encourage that!

His favorite trail mix!

And a binder full of questionnaires answering questions about Anthony! It turned out so fun and I plan on doing it every year and filling the binder so that we can see how the answers improve.

And finally ending with a hug!

The day wouldn't be complete with making silly faces!

Julia thought he needed a little extra help!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is often celebrated the same way at our house. Two of my brothers birthdays fall on Memorial Day we usually celebrate by having cake and ice cream! This year was no exception!

Here's Shaun blowing out his candles!

And Glen his! He is always the most dramatic of them all!

On the actual Memorial Day we decided it would be good to go to a cemetery and talk to our kids about what the holiday was about. Since we weren't sure where any of our Rexburg relatives were buried we went to Goshen to were the Monson ones were. This is my Grandpa's grave. He served in the Navy for many years!

The famous glowing Monson headstone! There something like limestone in the stone that makes it glow at night!

I am so thankful for all those that have died for our country and helped to make it as great and wonderful as it is!

The rest of May!

The rest of month was filled with end of the school year activities and of course graduations!

My wonderful niece Shila graduated from Seminary and High School at the end of May. We weren't able to make it the high school graduation but were there for the Seminary one. I was so moved by the strength of the youth as they bore their testimonies.

Jillysa..one of other nieces.

James...the baby of the family

Had to include some of the outtakes!

Finally a perfect shot...kind of!

These are all the youth that were in the same ward as Shila!

Peter and Andrew set up a sitting arrangement on the couch downstairs.

Peter got to sit on the highest portion, followed by Andrew, and then Matthew was on the bottom. We found him sleeping like this one afternoon! That kid can sleep in any position!

Julia was caught not sleeping but playing Mommy! She likes to watch me put on my makeup and mistook my lotion for foundation. Not sure if she was upset because she made a mess or because she got caught!

Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day by heading to my parents for a baby shower for one of my sisters-in-law and to stay over to celebrate the holiday...the last with all of us till my brother leaves for his mission.

This is at the shower after all the gifts had been opened! It was a lot of fun to get together as a family to celebrate the new little girl that would be coming into it!

This was on the menu for dinner Mother's Day weekend! A family favorite of what I like to call "Pop" Chicken because you marinate it in a combo of sprite, soy sauce, and oil.