34 Things to do before 35.

Since today is my birthday, I've come up with a list of things I'd like to do before I turn 35.

1. Read 65 books. (I've read 63 so far this year)
2. Go on a family vacation.
3. Start a food storage. Including 72 hour kit for the whole family.
4. Sew a quilt for Eli and one for Alden.
5. Get family pictures done.
6. Take a class.
7. Learn to crochet.
8. Finish my last 4 recipes from MSBH (sad to say I've had those 4 for like a year!)
9. Go to Arizona with Regan.
10. Build something wooden by myself.
11. Get the living room & dining room decorated how I want it.
12. Get a fence around our yard.
13. Plant and harvest a garden.
14. Lose 10 - 15 pounds.
15. Run a race.
16. Finish at LEAST 10 already started projects.
17. Volunteer somewhere in my community.
18. Go two months without any library fines.
19. Take a picture of our family every month for one year.
20. Learn to make a budget and USE it!
21. Read the Book of Mormon again from start to finish.
22. Have a pedicure.
23. Alter a piece of clothing for myself.
24. Paint a picture.
25. Do a photo shoot of my parents.
26. Do a fashion photo shoot.
27. Decorate my bedroom.
28. Sing 2 duets or in a choir.
29. Attend a concert or show of some kind.
30. Make 4 mini albums.
31. Enter a contest.
32. Write a children's book.
33. Take a series of photographs along my "idea". (it's a secret :) HA)
34. Fill every frame I have and hang them on my walls.

10 on Tuesday

1. Yesterday Crystal commented about a raymond story about sports. Yep, it's a sports town. Who knows if our kids will ever be fully involved or not. We'll never push them to sports but if t hey want to play we'll support them. But in a completely normal way.

2. My friend Carlye made this for me... isn't it AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! I looooove it!!


3. I finally hung up a few things!!! This is in the basement with spots for my kids to hang their art up and a chalk board and a white board.


4. I love this little man. And I am enjoying him so much!! My Aunty Ilo sent this outfit plus another to Oliver! (And a book to all my other kids!)


5. Sunset. Just down the road from my parents house!


6. To me this is the essence of Southern Alberta.


7. My Grandma lives with my parents now which means my kids have a great grandma. Something I always had and always loved!


8. I never really felt nervous about the fires. They were far enough away that we were totally okay. But I did want to go closer to take pictures BADLY! Wish I could have taken some of the fire fighters and such. Cool! Takes me back to school when I took photography for newspaper stuff.

9. Eli plays with Nathan literally every day. We love having him over. Too bad they are moving soon! BOO!


10. We have a Christmas work party tonight and I need to make something tasty!

Wildfires

Yesterday was an insanely crazy weather day! With winds blowing like crazy!!!
First we noticed the smoke - but we thought it was top soil blowing away....

Then the flames started getting bigger.


The fire trucks


The fire was spreading like... well wild fire.


The horizon.

I am glad every one is safe!!

Spiritual Sundays

"Listening is an essential part of praying. Answers from the Lord come quietly, ever so quietly. In fact, few hear His answers audibly with their ears. We must be listening so carefully or we will never recognize them. Most answers from the Lord are felt in our heart as a warm comfortable expression, or they may come as thoughts to our mind,. They come to those who are prepared and who are patient." - H. Burke Peterson, Oct 1974

Foto Friday

At our new house we get to see GREAT sunrises and sunsets. I love that I can see the paint brush of God every morning!

I love love love Heathers!!!!!

Listography: List 47

List 47: Things to be Thankful for.

1. Running water

2. A dishwasher

3. A warm house

4. Vehicles that work

5. Lots of yummy food

6. A stable job

7. The temple

8. Freedom

9. Friends and family (not really things but I had to add them!)

10. My camera and lenses.

10 on Tuesday

1. Yesterday I went to Costco. And my trip there involved a H-U-G-E blowout from Oliver. As in to use a lot of wipes. And then someone (maybe me) ran a cart full of food over poor Eli's foot. Causing MAJOR screaming and ending an X-Ray to make sure it wasn't broken. Sweet trip to Costco.

2. I am glad my husband is a doctor. It sure comes in handy.

3. I've been toying with the idea of taking a week or more to unplug. No internet. And then I think okay maybe just emails and that's all. I think it'd be good for me.

4. Oliver is so lovely.

5. I have some great ideas for taking some pictures of kids. Just for fun.

6. In the middle of FHE tonight one of my kids said "blah blah blah" while I was talking. That made me feel... um... mad.

7. I read a GREAT book in the last two days. Easy fast read with a great love story! Check it out!

8. My living room is now filled with 8 foot bookshelves. They just need to be painted. And they are cool. I'll be sharing before and after pictures some time soon. (as soon as they get done.) My brother Brad made them. He's great :)

9. I am going to actually decorate my house. And my dad gave me a whole pile of tools. As in a sander, nail gun, all these saws. I am going to use them and make my house MINE. :) And I got at least 25 frames from my mom. Yes my parents have all these things to give away and I love that finally after all these years my parents have something I want and I get it. That sounds selfish and funny but I mean we didn't grow up with a lot and I'd never ever thought I'd be wanting anything they had. And now I do. And my mom is kind and shares with me. And my dad too. It's nice.

10. If I took an internet break, just think how many of these projects I could do. Or these. Come to think of it, I think an actual USING pinterest challenge would be great!

Lucy at six

I always like to do a list of things about my kids at their birthdays and I never got around to it, so this is a make-up post!

At six Lucy is....

• a great reader! Reads above her grade level and finds it quite easy to do.
• has decided that she needs to read the scriptures each night as personal scripture study (we have Alden do it since he turned 8).
• still has major flip outs from time to time (more often than you'd imagine for a 6 year old!)

• loves wearing dresses and skirts but finally can be convinced on some days to wear pants
• favorite foods are chicken nuggets, fries, Hawaiian pizza, smoothies and cranberries
• seems quite interested in boys lately (constantly talking about some in her class and how smart and funny they are)

• loves to give a scowl look at you when you tell her anything that isn't what she wants to hear
• loves to play with barbies, littlest pet shop and also lego with Alden
• Alden is truly her best friend
• has asked if we can go back to Lethbridge since that is where her REAL friends are
• loves having her picture taken
• every night at bed she has Regan do a reciprocal quadruple Eskimo kiss
• loves to hold Oliver and thinks it is hilarious when he does baby cooing

• thinks her teacher, Miss Jensen, is hilarious!
• loves to be read to
• has an insatiable thirst for knowledge. She drinks it in. She loves to learn anything about anything.
• she asks a LOT of questions
• she loves to help in the kitchen
• has to make at LEAST one art project a day. But usually it ranges a lot higher per day.
• wants to keep everything. Has trouble throwing anything out.
• has an up and down relationship with Eli. Either they are having tons of fun together or they are fighting.

• has very sensitive feelings
• has the loudest cry of anyone in our family
• has her own unique sense of style in clothing
• loved playing basketball at the elementary
• is a very social child. Always learns people's names and loves to say hi to everyone
• loves to giggle and laugh and can really brighten the room with her smile
• is taking tap dance and looooooves it
We Love Lucy!

Spiritual Sundays

Foto Friday: Week 46

And last week's (which I took but never edited and got up)


And a make up one for a missed week....

Listography: List 46

list 46: People I love
I thought I'd add some pictures of people I love... and I obviously couldn't add everyone... but here's some I love...

Regan

Alden

Lucy

Eli

Oliver

My parents.

All my Davis family.
My in laws.

All my Steed Family.

Spiritual Sundays

Today's topic is gratitude. The first two quotes are insightful but more on the ills of ingratitude so I added a third quote that is a bit more on the positive side and describes well the blessings of living a grateful life.

“Comparatively, we are so much quicker to return favors and to pay our debts to mortals — and we should be responsive and grateful. But what of Him who gave us mortal life itself, who will erelong give us all immortality, and who proffers to the faithful the greatest gift of all, eternal life? We are poor bookkeepers, indeed!”
- Neal A. Maxwell, General Conference, October 1988

“Our society is afflicted by a spirit of thoughtless arrogance unbecoming those who have been so magnificently blessed. How grateful we should be for the bounties we enjoy. Absence of gratitude is the mark of the narrow, uneducated mind. It bespeaks a lack of knowledge and the ignorance of self-sufficiency. It expresses itself in ugly egotism and frequently in wanton mischief. We have seen our beaches, our parks, our forests littered with ugly refuse by those who evidently have no appreciation for their beauty.”
- Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, August 1988

"Mercies and blessings come in different forms--sometimes as hard things. Yet the Lord said, 'Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things' (D&C 59:7). All things means just that: good things, difficult things--not just some things. He has commanded us to be grateful because He knows being grateful will make us happy. This is another evidence of His love."
- Elaine S. Dalton, General Conference, April 2007

List 45: Things I've lost or broken

My first thought was hearts. hahahahah But that's not true at all. So.....

1. I've broken almost all of my toes at one time or another.

2. Lots of glass in picture frames.

3. A few weeks ago I was cooking with a pyrex dish (which aren't supposed to shatter) and I put it into the sink and it shattered in the sink.

4. I used to have a cool ring that was given to me as a gift. Who knows when or where I lost it.

hmmm I'm having trouble remembering anything else!

And here is (that I missed too):

List 38: People I'd love to meet:

1. Jesus Christ

2. President Thomas S Monson

3. Jesh de Rox

4. Becky Higgins

5. Tara Whitney


And here is another Foto Friday picture to make up for one I missed a while ago...
Week 29: Flower

In the Kitchen: Pumpkin Muffins & On the Bookshelf

This recipe comes from a great cookbook all about baking from Sarabeth Levine called "Sarabeth's Bakery", From my Hands to Yours."

It is a great cookbook that I want to buy now that I've made a few things out of it. A few recipes that have caught my eye already (besides the pumpkin muffins!) Pains au Chocolat, Chocolate Babka, Banana Streusel Muffins, Maple Muffins, Rosemary Focaccia, Mrs. Stein's Chocolate Cake and Lemon Raspberry Cake.

Now on to the muffins! Here's a snapshot of one in yesterday's morning sunlight coming into my kitchen.


3 2/3 cup pastry flour, sifted
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature, beaten
One 15- ounce can solid pack pumpkin (which is almost 2 cups)
1 cup seedless raisins
1/4 cup hulled unsalted sunflower seeds

Preheat over to 400. Brush insides of 12 muffin cups with softened butter, then brush the tops.
Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and salt together in a medium bowl. Beat the butter in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating, scraping the sides often until the mixture is very light in color and texture, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in eggs. Reduce the mixer speed to low, Beat in pumpkin, the mixture may look curdled. In thirds, beat in the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, and mix until smooth. Add the raisins. Increase the speed to high and beat until the batter has a slight sheen, about 15 seconds longer.
Fill muffin tins. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds.
Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 375 and continue baking until tops of muffins are golden brown and a wire cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Note: I shortened the writing (since I'm lazy and a slow typer) the the basics. And using lots of softened butter on the pans gave a nice crispy outside to the muffins!

10 on Tuesday

1. Sweet weather lately!

2. I did a photo session of Alden (finally!) for his birthday. We tried an indoor studio session for something new and fun. My favorite from the day....

You can see the rest over here.

3. This little man slept last night SO GOOD. He's had a few great nights lately. And I am soooooooooo thankful!


4. I have a yawn picture of everyone of my kids now :)


5. Being true Raymond-ites, we've put our kids in sports :) Here's Alden playing basketball.


6. oh how i looove when my babies start cooing to me :)


7. Oliver is 7 weeks old now. Crazy!


8. i've been thinking lately about how sometimes the last kids in the family get less pictures taken of them than the beginning ones (right Brooke?).... and I don't think that's the case at our house.... since most of this post is pictures of Oliver :)

9. Yes I am nerdy. But this picture just seemed like he was yelling at me.... something along these lines...




10. I made some yummy pumpkin muffins today. I'll share the recipe tomorrow. Tasty!

and

11. How are YOU all out there... WHO are all you out there?

Spiritual Sundays

Our beloved prophet Gordon B. Hinckley has promised: “If you have any doubt about the wisdom, the divinity of observing the Sabbath Day, … stay home and gather your family about you, teach them the gospel, enjoy yourselves together on the Sabbath Day, come to your meetings, participate. You will know that the principle of the Sabbath is a true principle which brings with it great blessings.” 17

Foto Friday

This week's was hard! I apparently don't have very smokey candles!

and i am trying to make up the ones i missed... so a few weeks back was doorway.So here is the doorway to our new house!