My Sam.

All of my boys are . . . quite simply put . . . AMAZING!!

Each of them have a special place in my heart.  I wanted to

give a shout out to Sam!  He is such a wonderful person!

He has only needs to earn 10 more credits and he will

have his Associate's Degree.  He works hard and does an

amazing job at everything he tries.  He has had a different

golf season this year for many reasons, yet has remained

committed to his team . . . even in the most difficult 

moments.  He is smart, kind, loving, and Christlike.  He

sees the good in just about EVERYONE.  I could not 

be prouder of a seventeen year old if I tried.  He loves

me in spite of myself and is my psychologist, computer

wizard, photographer, accountabler, and much more

all rolled into one ball.

As I walk this unfamiliar journey, I have become so

very much more aware of why our Heavenly Father

has placed different individuals in my life.  He certainly

knew what He was doing when he gave me the

gift of this guy.  I continue to be blessed by him daily

and grateful for the wonderful young man he is!  I

do so wish that our Dad could be here to witness Sam.

It is difficult to imagine the milestones my boys will

pass through without their amazing Dad.  I will

continue to be thankful for my many, many blessings,

especially the gift of my amazing boys.

Dissertation Data

Next step in the dissertation process: 

tallying teacher surveys!  Chapter 4

just keeps getting more and more

exciting by the moment!!!

Stay tuned!

Wild Weekend.

Tietjens LOVE weekends.  The planning begins

on Wednesday - for ALL of us!!!  The boys begin

reporting in on their plethora of activity and I 

fill in the holes with my goings on!  This weekend

was no exception.  None of us were able to put 

a comprehendible sentence together by Sunday

evening.  That.is.just.the.way.we.like.it.

This weekend we:

*put over 300 miles on my car

(just around town, mind you)

*visited the Grandy in the hospital

six times 

*played music in the car REALLY

loud with Uncle Jeffy

*drove to Tule Springs and back

four times

*ate Taco Bell three times

*made blueberry pancakes

*had Sam's possie over for a

sleepover on Saturday

*went to see Luke's amazing

friend Faith in the 3-hour

long Wizard of Oz play

twice

*Had friends over to play

cards

*Talked to new friends who

stopped by our home until

2 in the morning

*Went through two cases of

water

*Ate two bags of Tootsie Rolls

*Ate cereal in bed . . . on Sunday

night . . . a tradition

Thankful that we have so many blessings

and friends that fill our weekends.  Truthfully,

since our sweet Dad went to Heaven, this

is just about the ONLY way we can

fill the emptiness of those darn weekends.

Empty weekends turn pretty darn miserable

around our house . . . 

Just look at how much we have to do

to replace our wonderful Dad in our home!

I clicked the heels of my ruby slippers together

over and over.  Our Dad is still in Heaven.

We are learning our new normal.

We are forever grateful to friends who fill

our moments . . . They are amazingly 

wonderful!  Quite simply, we would be

sunk without them.

Off to bed.  We have Monday and Tuesday

then we will start planning for next

weekend.  Cheaper than rehab I suppose!!

Proposal Conference Call.

 Slam dunk.  Today was the day that I

had to defend my dissertation proposal

in front of my four committee members!!!

 This is only a small portion of my PowerPoint

presentation about my dissertation 

proposal.

 My committee members were satisfied . . .

I was endorsed to begin my research and

get this dissertation.done. Period.

The Wiz of Oz.

 Sam's sweet friend Faith performed

in the play "The Wizard of Oz" with

Calvary Chapel Christian School.

Luke and I had so much fun attending

this play together.  I just love

mother and son nights . . . I get

to have them EVERY night!!  How

lucky am I?!?

The play was wonderful!!  Luke and I

loved the cowardly lion the mostest!!

He was so funny and made the play

awesome!!!  Wonderful, wonderful day

of fun!!!!

Kneaders.

 Anyone who knows me for about six seconds

knows and understands that I am a breadaholic!

I admit, I have a serious problem when it 

comes to bread . . . any shape, size, or flavor.

I did not know that my problem was so

serious until I went to Kneaders Bakery & Cafe

in St. George several weeks ago.  I bought

a loaf of raisin walnut bread.  Now just let

me preface this by saying that the bread was

baked within moments of my purchasing it,

had raisins the size of quarters, and yummy

walnuts throughout.  Prepare yourself when I

tell you that I ate the ENTIRE loaf of cranberry

walnut bread on the way back to Las Vegas.

I am sorry to say that I do not have a picture

of my yummy raisin walnut bread that I bought

last night on my way home from St. George,

due to the fact that I ate the ENTIRE loaf

AGAIN on my way home!!!  However, here

is a picture of my the yummiest sour dough

bread ever made that I will be toasting and

jamming all day long today!!!

A girl's gotta have a vice right . . . 

Quilt Store Fun.

 . . . a quick trip to St. George, Utah

is always a great time to pick up

quilt fabric . . . 

 Susan and I have been looking for

this fabric in Las Vegas and

could not find it . . . anywhere!!!

Wala . . . Here it is in a sweet

little quilt shop in St. George!!!

With CHRISTmas only 244

days away . . . I had better get

crackin'!!!!

Gout.

Gout. Seriously. Really. 

Yep! I've got it!!  It wasn't

a bug bite.  Grrrrrrr.

Happy Birthday Sweet Friend.

 Happy, happy BIRTHDAY to the best

of the best!!!  You mean more to me than

silver or gold!  I do so treasure our friendship!

The Lord gave me a tremendous gift in you!

 Quilt fabric for Susan . . . 

 . . . would she REALLY want quilt fabric

for her BIRTHDAY?!?

Our next conquest . . . "French Roses"!

Susan:

*loves the Lord

*loves UNCONDITIONALLY

*is a wonderful wife and mother

*is unselfish

*gives tirelessly of herself

*loves Dr. Pepper

*loves quilting

*is.just.THE.bestest.EVER

I.do.not.know.what.I.would.do.

without.her . . . it wouldn't be pretty!!!

A Hiking We Will Go.

You might have to use a wee bit of

your imagination, but that is a quick

pic of Cathy and I.  Our new goal

is to conquer the mountain in 

Mountain's Edge THREE or FOUR

times.  Cathy called me and asked

me to hike that baby with her this

morning.  After one trip up the

easy side and down the hard side,

I was ready for another trip!

Welcome to Jill's Bootcamp!

Next week: It's up and down 

that mountain THREE times!!!

Boys Will Be Boys.

 Sam had ONE friend over tonight . . . 

 Boys always means food . . . and

lots and lots and lots of it!!!

Boys always means bacon . . . and

lots and lots and lots of it!!!

I am so thrilled that our boys have

such amazing friends.  I am so glad

that they choose to hang out at our

house.  I am so glad that we have

so many blessings . . . 

Paint the . . .

Sam and some of his friends decided to

put on all white clothes, grab buckets of 

paint, and meet in the desert behind the

church!!!  I don't think that fun actually

gets any.better.than.this.

Cherish the moments folks, they fade

all too quickly!!!!

Missing Our Wonderful Dad.

So loved when things were JUST like THIS!!!

It is just so hard to comprehend.

Difficult to still imagine.

More than hard to believe.

We miss and love our wonderful Dad

so very much!!

Some days are much more difficult

than others . . . Yet, we are all

trying desperately to somehow

move on in our journey.

THURSDAY BONUS:  Had so much

fun facetiming with our Tim.

He is a wonderful son and I miss

him with all of my heart!  I am so

excited that he working so hard to

achieve his goals.

Zach continues to work hard at his

studies and his job.  I am so thankful

for him and how he cares for 

all of us!!

Sam is doing such an AMAZING job

both on and off the course!!!  His

schoolwork is impeccable.  He is

truly a remarkable young man.

Luke . . . what a WONDERFUL

WONDERFUL son!!!  Everything

about him is beyond words.  I

am so very proud of him!!!

BLESSINGS abound.  We are so 

incredibly thankful for our wonderful

family and friends . . . for their 

continued support and prayers.  

There have been so many who have

come alongside . . . willing to bare

some of the burden.  We are forever

grateful.

Cankles.

Courtesy of a spider or some other sweet

little pest, I endured three butt shots and

a mother load of antibiotics today.  

Originally, I thought that I had done 

something muscular to my shin while

walking . . . turned out to be an infected

insect bite.  My sweet farmers tan is

from the 9 mile walks .  .  . Trying to 

live healthy can really almost kill ya!!

I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing.

Stopped at Marie Callender's. Ordered my

favoritist RAZZLEBERRY PIE. Got a fork.

Sat down in a booth. The rest is history!

General Store . . . Yeehaw!!!

  It is done!!!  I do so love, love,

love "The General Store" quilt.

I told Susan that she, God, and I

make a pretty darn good team.

I am so thrilled that I am learning

and DOING on my new sewing

computer!!!!!

Love it when a project comes together!!!!

Count on Me.

Counting on you more than I EVER

imagined.  I do so thank ALL of

you for EVERYTHING that you

have done for my family and

me over the past two years as we

have gone through the fire.

Mom, Susan, Donna, Cathy,

Diane . . . you guys are THE

bestest EVER.  I can count on

you for ANYTHING.  You know

that you can count on me also!!

I.do.not.know.what.I.would.do.

without.you.in.my.life.

All By Myself.

A bazillion text messages. Two hundred phone

calls. Six hundred peanut butter M&Ms.  A

huge quilt project.  Two kids on their second

night of spending the night.  But I did it!!!

I spent almost all of my Saturday all alone.

I had walked my 9 in the morning.  Had

a hair appointment.  Ran several errands.

Came home and worked on my quilt and

some school work.

But . . . I did it!!  My Mom said that she

would come over at a moments notice

and I know that anyone of my pals would

have come over had I called, but I actually

did it.  I can't say that I liked it, but I

did it.  

My besties usually cover my back!

Last night I knew that the boys were

going to be gone, so I called Cathy,

Diane, and Cathy's mom.  They met

me for dinner at my favorite Cafe

Rio and then came to our house

to play cards.  I could have easily

orchestrated something like that today,

but even though there were some tears

and some loud "why" talks with God,

I can say that I did it.

Doin' It.

 Holy Cow!  Thanks to my bestest, Susan, I

am actually embroidering on my machine!

We must have said over and over and over

again that learning to embroider on your 

new sewing computer is simliar or actually

harder than brain surgery . . . 

 But we are doing it!!!

 I love, love, love my sweet button medallion!!

I love, love, love my "General Store Quilt".

I love, love, love my good friend for helping

me!!!!!

Missin' YOU!

Probably not the very best picture of our

amazing husband and Dad.  But our hearts

continue to break as we miss, miss, miss

this man so very, very, very, very much.

How could this be?  We still cannot even

begin to comprehend it . . .

You are irreplaceable!  We love you so

and cry and speak of you so much of 

our day.  We know that you are where

you are supposed to be and we are 

where we are supposed to be . . . darn.it!

. . . so can't wait to talk to Jesus about

this!!!

Happy Birthday ???

 Today Scott celebrated the BIG 5-8.

About 9:30 I got a text from Susan that said

something Nothing Bundt Cake something

something something . . . 

Even though I had just taken a bubble bath

and was in my pajamas, it took me about

14 seconds to hop in the car and head

over for some yummy, yummy BIRTHDAY

cake.  Scott was already in bed, but we

had no problem eating lots and lots

of delicious cake while laughing,

laughing, laughing and planning,

planning, planning all of our quilting

and summertime fun.

Reddies.I.just.love.them.

The Dis.

Guess where these shoes went today?!?

To my very first principal interview!!!!

Dissertation . . . I got this.

So Much To Do . . . Sew Little Time.

Holy cow!!  Since I received my approval to

finish my dissertation EVERYTHING else will

have to remain on hold . . . this, unfortunately,

includes sewing!!!  My sweet sewing machine

is still packed up from our little trip to the

quilt shop for our sewing class last Friday.

Fortunately, I talked to Suzy-Q today and her

machine is still packed up also.  You know

that one cannot sew without the other!!!

I am figuring that if I could have a personal

assistant for the next four weeks, life would

be grand.  I am going to be one busy, busy

chick completing this research project.

My View.

This will be my view for the next three weeks

or so.  I am so excited to jump out of bed at

5:30a.m. tomorrow morning and hit the

streets for my 8.3.  As soon as I come back

in the door, I am calling my three principals

to schedule their interviews.

I pray that I will get to interview all three

principals this week.

 As soon as the interviews are complete, I

plan to have them transcribed and get crackin'

on writing Chapters 4 and 5 of my dissertation.

 I am setting a personal goal of three weeks

to type Chapters 4 and 5.  I am super excited!!!

After writing Chapters 4 and 5, they have to

be edited and submitted to format editing!!!

I am pray, pray, praying that the whole 

process will be over by summer!!!!!!!