Remember this quote from President Uchtdorf in April General Conference? I get what this lady is saying.
“One woman... said through her tears, ‘I have come to realize that I am like an old 20-dollar bill—crumpled, torn, dirty, abused, and scarred. But I am still a 20-dollar bill. I am worth something. Even though I may not look like much, and even though I have been battered and used, I am still worth the full 20 dollars.’”
Monday, October 25, 2010
photog
Avery has a new hobby: stealing my camera and taking pictures. She loves it. Every time I pick up my camera (from wherever she has hidden it) there are new treasures on it for me. Here are a few of her shots. 
Friday, October 22, 2010
u-pick
Avery is in preschool!! I can't believe she's old enough to ever leave my side (I was hoping we wouldn't reach this point until she's, like, twenty-five-ish), but she is definitely loving life. In fact, when I went to pick her up on her first day I found her coloring a picture with her teacher. When she spotted me she looked back down and said, "Mommy, can you go? Can I stay here?" haha A few days ago her class took a field trip to the U-Pick Pumpkin Barn in town to pick out pumpkins and check out how plants grow.
uncle zach
Avery is obsessed with her uncles! I don't blame her, they are pretty dang amazing. She especially loves it when her Uncle Zach visits. They get together and giggle and dance and swim and cause all sorts of mischief. Zach was called to serve a mission to Equador a few months ago, and it seems like the time has flown. This last month we were lucky enough to be able to go to Las Vegas to attend his mission farewell and then again a few weeks later we met up with my family in Provo, UT to say goodbye to him outside of the doors of the Missionary Training Center. He is such a great brother and I know he is a great missionary already. I'm really really really proud of him. And Avery remembers him in every single prayer she says. Here are a few pictures of our recent road trips. 
Monday, October 4, 2010
here's looking at you, kid
Rant alert:
I saw a news segment last month that made me laugh (derisively, but it still counts) out loud. Apparently there is a movement to create "Family Sections" on airplanes and even in restaurants. These sections would corral families with babies and young children who have the potential to disturb other diners/fliers. This story was led with the story of a woman who claimed to have gone deaf on a plane before takeoff (she de-boarded) because of a three-year-old's screaming tantrum behind her. To this woman, and others (recently a price-comparison site called Skyscanner polled 2,000 people and found that about 60% of them would love to see Family Flying sections on airplanes) who hope to see this asinine plan come to fruition by making segregated sections in restaurants and airplanes like children are the equivalent to cigarettes or lepers, I say You have got to be kidding me.
First of all, let's just get this out there right now. You were once a child. Yes, even you. No, not you (well, yes, you too), that crotchety old lady with the professional-grade dirty looks making the disgusted "eccchhhh" noises behind you. Ma'am, you were once a child. A baby, even. And I'd stake my life on the fact that at least once (a day) you embarrassed and annoyed your mother with tantrums, crying fits or smelly diapers in public places. I know, it's really hard to believe. Especially now that you never would leave home without your snazzy old lady suit (Shoulder pads? Check. Elastic banded pants? Check. Sensible shoes? Check Check.) and your neatly done (and weekly-dyed) hair. That's fine. Thank you for being an upstanding citizen. I just need to put out there that you did start out as a sweet, smiling infant. And, for your sake and hers, I really hope that your mother took you out of the house every once in a while despite your tendency to cry.
Now, I am not arguing with the fact that it is awful to listen to someone cry and scream. I have been annoyed by someone else's children before, to say nothing of my own two kids. It is just not fun to listen to crying. Ever. I am a rational being, however, and I absolutely cannot imagine the lack of maturity and compassion of those who are offended by the noise that accompanies having little children. I have flown many (many many many) times with my kids, including a cross-country and cross-Atlantic flight from Salt Lake City to Paris, France with my then-one-and-a-half year old daughter. And while I have tried my very best to parent my children well and to be cognizant of those around me, I have had some bad moments with screeching kids on airplanes. And I have been on the receiving end of more than one dirty look from the woman (and her husband, and her 30-something year old daughter with a her power suit and holier-than-thou stare and ice-cold ovaries) described above. At times I have shrugged it off, at others I have panicked and absolutely sweated and scrambled my way through making a bottle/changing a diaper/finding the right toy. Once I even had the nerve to shout, "What are you looking at?!!" ...Not my finest moment, I'll admit. Truly, though, I cannot fathom these people's lack of empathy. If nothing else, I don't think it takes that much effort to put in your earbuds and tune out the noise. Put on your Big Girl pants and deal with it (yeah, that's right. I said it. Someone had to).
Having kids from diapers to adulthood wasn't an eighteen-year sentence to a life stuck at home doing laundry and picking them up from soccer practice! It should not make you a social pariah. It is absolutely ridiculous for an adult of sound mind to let a child's cries ruin their day (*caveat: this really only applies in situations where there is no where else to go. There is just no excuse for parents who think that others should suffer while their children scream when they could easily remove them from the room). In my most desperate moments, I have so appreciated kind words and looks from strangers that say "I know what you're going through" at the airport. I have appreciated even more those who have put aside feelings of anger and annoyance to reach out a helping hand. One kind fifty-something woman on a plane once even offered to hold my infant so I could make her a bottle, and then took that bottle from me (I am pretty sure that after traversing airport security alone with a baby, two carry-ons, a car seat, and a stroller I must have looked about one spit-up away from landing myself in a mental health facility), fed and burped her. Did it make her day to help out a struggling mother and hold a sweet little baby? Maybe. Did it make mine? Absolutely. I have no patience for people who only think of themselves.
The most ridiculous thing about this idea is that it won't work. Have you ever been in an enclosed space with a smoker? Even if they were 25 feet away from you, were you not eventually surrounded by a noxious cloud of smoke? Sound travels similarly. This is not the Splash Zone at Sea World. What about the people who buy their tickets last minute and get stuck in the very last row before the Kiddie Corral? What if they run out of seats in the Family Section? Will families be bumped because of their lower-class status to have the nerve to travel with children? It is just plain old insanity. But, then again, when I think of the struggling airline industry with its $25 carry-on baggage charges and Postal Service-worthy flight attendants, perhaps this is just the thing they need to get business booming.
I saw a news segment last month that made me laugh (derisively, but it still counts) out loud. Apparently there is a movement to create "Family Sections" on airplanes and even in restaurants. These sections would corral families with babies and young children who have the potential to disturb other diners/fliers. This story was led with the story of a woman who claimed to have gone deaf on a plane before takeoff (she de-boarded) because of a three-year-old's screaming tantrum behind her. To this woman, and others (recently a price-comparison site called Skyscanner polled 2,000 people and found that about 60% of them would love to see Family Flying sections on airplanes) who hope to see this asinine plan come to fruition by making segregated sections in restaurants and airplanes like children are the equivalent to cigarettes or lepers, I say You have got to be kidding me.
First of all, let's just get this out there right now. You were once a child. Yes, even you. No, not you (well, yes, you too), that crotchety old lady with the professional-grade dirty looks making the disgusted "eccchhhh" noises behind you. Ma'am, you were once a child. A baby, even. And I'd stake my life on the fact that at least once (a day) you embarrassed and annoyed your mother with tantrums, crying fits or smelly diapers in public places. I know, it's really hard to believe. Especially now that you never would leave home without your snazzy old lady suit (Shoulder pads? Check. Elastic banded pants? Check. Sensible shoes? Check Check.) and your neatly done (and weekly-dyed) hair. That's fine. Thank you for being an upstanding citizen. I just need to put out there that you did start out as a sweet, smiling infant. And, for your sake and hers, I really hope that your mother took you out of the house every once in a while despite your tendency to cry.
Now, I am not arguing with the fact that it is awful to listen to someone cry and scream. I have been annoyed by someone else's children before, to say nothing of my own two kids. It is just not fun to listen to crying. Ever. I am a rational being, however, and I absolutely cannot imagine the lack of maturity and compassion of those who are offended by the noise that accompanies having little children. I have flown many (many many many) times with my kids, including a cross-country and cross-Atlantic flight from Salt Lake City to Paris, France with my then-one-and-a-half year old daughter. And while I have tried my very best to parent my children well and to be cognizant of those around me, I have had some bad moments with screeching kids on airplanes. And I have been on the receiving end of more than one dirty look from the woman (and her husband, and her 30-something year old daughter with a her power suit and holier-than-thou stare and ice-cold ovaries) described above. At times I have shrugged it off, at others I have panicked and absolutely sweated and scrambled my way through making a bottle/changing a diaper/finding the right toy. Once I even had the nerve to shout, "What are you looking at?!!" ...Not my finest moment, I'll admit. Truly, though, I cannot fathom these people's lack of empathy. If nothing else, I don't think it takes that much effort to put in your earbuds and tune out the noise. Put on your Big Girl pants and deal with it (yeah, that's right. I said it. Someone had to).
Having kids from diapers to adulthood wasn't an eighteen-year sentence to a life stuck at home doing laundry and picking them up from soccer practice! It should not make you a social pariah. It is absolutely ridiculous for an adult of sound mind to let a child's cries ruin their day (*caveat: this really only applies in situations where there is no where else to go. There is just no excuse for parents who think that others should suffer while their children scream when they could easily remove them from the room). In my most desperate moments, I have so appreciated kind words and looks from strangers that say "I know what you're going through" at the airport. I have appreciated even more those who have put aside feelings of anger and annoyance to reach out a helping hand. One kind fifty-something woman on a plane once even offered to hold my infant so I could make her a bottle, and then took that bottle from me (I am pretty sure that after traversing airport security alone with a baby, two carry-ons, a car seat, and a stroller I must have looked about one spit-up away from landing myself in a mental health facility), fed and burped her. Did it make her day to help out a struggling mother and hold a sweet little baby? Maybe. Did it make mine? Absolutely. I have no patience for people who only think of themselves.
The most ridiculous thing about this idea is that it won't work. Have you ever been in an enclosed space with a smoker? Even if they were 25 feet away from you, were you not eventually surrounded by a noxious cloud of smoke? Sound travels similarly. This is not the Splash Zone at Sea World. What about the people who buy their tickets last minute and get stuck in the very last row before the Kiddie Corral? What if they run out of seats in the Family Section? Will families be bumped because of their lower-class status to have the nerve to travel with children? It is just plain old insanity. But, then again, when I think of the struggling airline industry with its $25 carry-on baggage charges and Postal Service-worthy flight attendants, perhaps this is just the thing they need to get business booming.
Monday, September 20, 2010
we're off on a mission
Tonight for Family Home Evening we decided to make up a Family Mission Statement! And, let me tell you, it was awesome! It's something I've been thinking about since our Bishop mentioned it in January! Needless to say, I probably should have mentioned something about not procrastinating in there. Oh well. Anyway, first we had an Avery-age lesson about following the prophet (gearing up for General Conference!! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out mormon.org) we sat down and wrote out all of the ways we want to be described by others and the values that we want to have and the things that are important to us (we got ideas from FranklinCovey.com) and things like that. We even decided to choose and incorporate a Family Scripture (you know, like missionaries do on their mission plaques?!) Then Klayton sat down with all of our ideas and started to write it out. He decided to go for a Declaration of Independence theme, which I laughed at at first, but wound up loving!! It's definitely a work in progress (aren't we all? haha), but I thought I'd share it. Let me know what you think!
Tietjen Family Mission Statement
We, the members of the Tietjen Family, in order to create a more perfect home, set forth our values and traditions:
We recognize God's hand in every part of our lives. We seek His will through humble prayer and careful scripture study.
We love Jesus Christ. As Nephi did, we "talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, and preach of Christ, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins" (2 Nephi 25:26). We show our belief in His gospel by eschewing sin, selfishness and contention. We give all that we have in service to those in need.
We seek the promptings of the Holy Ghost. We ensure its presence by propriety in our thoughts, speech, and actions.
We love each other. We build our home every day through honesty, respect and humility. We are friendly, healthy, hard-working, economical and reflective. We share our time, our feelings, our ideas and our happiness within the safety of these walls.
Through faith, repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our family will be together forever in love, work and play.
Tietjen Family Mission Statement
We, the members of the Tietjen Family, in order to create a more perfect home, set forth our values and traditions:
We recognize God's hand in every part of our lives. We seek His will through humble prayer and careful scripture study.
We love Jesus Christ. As Nephi did, we "talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, and preach of Christ, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins" (2 Nephi 25:26). We show our belief in His gospel by eschewing sin, selfishness and contention. We give all that we have in service to those in need.
We seek the promptings of the Holy Ghost. We ensure its presence by propriety in our thoughts, speech, and actions.
We love each other. We build our home every day through honesty, respect and humility. We are friendly, healthy, hard-working, economical and reflective. We share our time, our feelings, our ideas and our happiness within the safety of these walls.
Through faith, repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our family will be together forever in love, work and play.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
everything will be alright
However cheesy it may be, I have always felt like my life runs on a kind of soundtrack. Whether it is the music that I am listening to that fills in my memories and shapes my life around it, or my current mood and circumstances that provide the songs and lyrics that help me deal with the day, music seems to add color and substance to my experiences and helps me express things that someone as uncreative as I would otherwise have no hope of expressing.
My dad doesn't seem to experience music in this way, so maybe I'm crazy. He loves all kinds of music and, for as far back as I can remember, has been up for listening to whatever he draws out of the cup to listen to that week. Literally. He has this awesome systematic way of going through all of his albums (he is working on filling his THIRD 80GB IPOD right now) so that they each get their fair share of play-time. It's awesome (and juuust a little bit mad-scientist-y).
I just can't do that. I don't love all albums equally at all times. I rifle through my IPOD every time I turn it on for the perfect tunes to fit my mood or the setting or even the weather. And whether or not I'm using my music collection correctly, lately my playlist has been a cathartic mix of downers and uppers so confusing and emotional it almost makes me feel normal! ...That sort of didn't sound like a good thing. But, I swear, it is. One day it's bright and hopeful: "Here comes the Sun (doo-in doo doo) Here comes the Sun and I say, 'It's alright'" The next it's dark and dooms-day-ish; "Change everything you are and everything you were. Your number has been called."
How's your Fall 2010 Playlist shaping up?
My dad doesn't seem to experience music in this way, so maybe I'm crazy. He loves all kinds of music and, for as far back as I can remember, has been up for listening to whatever he draws out of the cup to listen to that week. Literally. He has this awesome systematic way of going through all of his albums (he is working on filling his THIRD 80GB IPOD right now) so that they each get their fair share of play-time. It's awesome (and juuust a little bit mad-scientist-y).
I just can't do that. I don't love all albums equally at all times. I rifle through my IPOD every time I turn it on for the perfect tunes to fit my mood or the setting or even the weather. And whether or not I'm using my music collection correctly, lately my playlist has been a cathartic mix of downers and uppers so confusing and emotional it almost makes me feel normal! ...That sort of didn't sound like a good thing. But, I swear, it is. One day it's bright and hopeful: "Here comes the Sun (doo-in doo doo) Here comes the Sun and I say, 'It's alright'" The next it's dark and dooms-day-ish; "Change everything you are and everything you were. Your number has been called."
How's your Fall 2010 Playlist shaping up?
Friday, August 27, 2010
Check my new (to me) 2004 Chevy Trailblazer! I used to drive a 2005 Toyota Corolla and It was definitely time for a change! My Trailblazer has a bunch more miles than the Toyota so the car dealership traded us for it! That probably sounds crazy, but I'm definitely an SUV kinda girl. And it's all black! It's sooo nice for the girls and I to have more room. And I needed a change. What do you think?
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