Listography: List 54

List 54: Things to do this Winter

1. Send Regan snowboarding.
2. Try snowshoeing
3. Do some indoor photography with kids and lights
4. Go on a family drive to Waterton
5. Build a snowman
6. Make Borax snowflakes with the kids
7. Take my photo class

On the Bookshelf: Advent 2011

Since I am not keeping up with posting my books each day, instead I'm gonna list all the ones we have and reuse each year!

1. Snowmen at Christmas
2. Sam's Snowy Day
3. Fluffy's Christmas
4. Follow the Star
5. I spy a Candy Cane
6. Cinderella's Fairy Tale Christmas
7. What star is this?
8. Russell's Christmas Magic
9. Mary Engelbrett's The Night Before Christmas
10. Merry Christmas Little Critter
11. I've seen Santa
12. My First Story of the First Christmas
13. Snowmen at night
14. The First Night
15. Christmas Trolls
16. Father and Son
17. This is the stable
18. The story of christmas
19. Gingerbread Pirates
20. Mr. Finnegan's Giving Chest
21. Christmas Wishes
22. The Polar Express
23. When Jesus Christ was
24. Come and see

Other good ones we've got that go along with the season:
Usborne's Christmas Activities
Usbonre's Preschool Christmas Fun

Listography: List 41

Things i like to wear:

yoga pants.
jeans
shirts that aren't tight on my left over baby belly.
cute earrings.
cute necklaces

10 on Tuesday

1. I am reading "Gift from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindebergh. Such a good book. Easy to read. But such great thoughts in it. A quote from it I really liked..."What a circus act we women perform every day of our lives. It puts the trapeze artist to shame. Look at us. We run a tight rope daily, balancing a pile of books on the head. Baby-carriage, parasol, kitchen chair, still under control. Steady now!"

2. Sometimes I don't do things with my kids outside because it seems like so much work and I worry that it will end up with someone in tears. But today I took the kids sledding with our neighbor anyways.... and guess what all three kids ended up in tears. But it is good we did it anyways. (I need to learn how to not let that put me in a bad mood after though!)


3. I keep putting off getting my kids V-Day stuff ready. It's sad but I'm just not FEELING it this year. LAZY! I'm loving all the free printable online you can find. like this one and this one and this one and this one.


4. Some one stayed in the bathroom after me today while I was fixing my hair (aka putting it in a pony tail) and got into a bit of trouble.


5. I am in charge of the food for a Relief Society Meeting this Thursday night. We are doing a waffle bar with different kinds of waffles (like these and these and these) and lots of fun toppings. That means today and yesterday making many waffles!

6. I have my first wedding of the year coming up this Friday morning and I HOPE it is not freezing out!! It is in Cardston - which means we will be only shooting outside!! Yes she has a cape and yes I will be wearing boots and warm clothes!!

7. A little note to Alden:
I love that you are just you. In any circumstance. When we went to the cub rally tonight, you were so excited. Excited that we were all there to watch; excited that you got to race a car that YOU designed and painted and built; excited to see if you could win! You are one of the youngest boys in cubs right now. And you don't mind at all, you mix right in with all the other boys. When the races got started it was pretty quiet in there. But you cheered. You cheered loud. You cheered for others, your cheered for yourself. Completely unembarrassed like some of the other boys seemed. Instead they did small fist pumps and quietly say "yes". But not you. You are into it. Cheering and happy to be there and to be participating. I hope you stay this way. So just YOU. And no you didn't win all the races. You won one. And that was good enough for you.


8. We booked a trip to Mexico. It's the first week of May. And I am ridiculously excited. I've never been. We are going with our good friends Mark and Jody sans kids. Sooo excited. Haven't figured out what we are actually doing with our kids... but that's a minor detail ;)

9. Regan and I went to the Cardston temple on Saturday afternoon and left the kids at his parents house. A great afternoon.


10. Interesting to note that my readers have gone up (as in over 200 people read this silly thing a day) and yet comments are way down. Interesting!

10 on Tuesday

1. This past weekend Regan and I had a little mini get away in Calgary. We were not there long, went up Friday evening and came home Saturday. Thanks to our friends the McClung's who watched two of our kids and the Smiths who watched the other!

2. We went out friday night with our good friends the Chutes to this amazing Italian place. Our bill was surprisingly expensive (which often seems to happen when we get together) but that might of had to do with the fact that we had two appys, main courses and dessert. Both Regan and I had stomach aches when we left! It was SO GOOD. GO there if you get the chance. The old Italian chef even came out and talked with us during our meal. It is a family run restaurant and so amazing!

3. On Saturday I laid in bed and got up and ate and then went back to bed while Regan was off doing the RAS interviews (which is why we were there.) It was AWESOME. So sad how much sleep is something I look so forward too! Anyways, for lunch I got to meet up with HeatherM and Mary at the coup which was completely different but so good too! It was so fun and so good to see them both!


4. I got new dishes like a week ago at the thrift store. They are white and have scalloped edges. And every time I open my cupboards and see them they make me excited. Sad but true.

5.Eli is getting ridiculously funny. Listening to him talk (which he is constantly doing lately). I took this little video of him the other day while the two of us were just having a little morning snack. It's so HIM right now.


6. This is my new favorite song. If I had music on my photo blog I'd put it up there. But I don't. It just makes me happy.

7. Today I am shooting head shots at a dentist office for their website. I'm a little nervous. It's a bit out of my regular shooting. Hopefully it all goes good.

8. I am tired of winter. Yep. officially done already and it's not even V-Day yet.

9. I am taking a picture of all of us every month. At the end of the year I'll have 12 family pictures. This one: Everybody in their pus. ISO hiked really high. Holes in dads socks. Alden posing his current favorite book. Lucy with today's craft. Eli trying to escape. Perfectly us.


10. I have been scrapbooking a lot more in the past while. Winter is a slow season for photography which equals time for scrapbooking. Tomorrow I'll share some pages I've made lately!

6 things I am bad at

(or as positive Reg would say I'm working to improve upon)
Someone wanted a list of things I'm bad at. :)
So here you go.

1. Returning books to the library on time. Let's just say that I just paid off all the family library cards and it was more than $100 and less than $300. Ouch. Thank goodness for our recent tax return. (I'm helping the library. I'm helping the library. I'm helping the library. I'm helping the library. I'm helping the library)

2. Patience. Really. I am not that patient some days. Too little sleep equals crabby mommy. I wish I could just fake it and just be happy. But I have never ever been good at that. People usually can tell how I feel quite easily. Also something I wish I could change.

3. Keeping up with the laundry. I really just need to learn to do at least one load a day. Not just wash it - but actually wash it and dry it and fold it and put it away. While I should be doing laundry, I am crafting something instead.

4. Playing with my kids. I am really not one of those mom's who will lay on the floor and play cars. Or pretend play house. That's not me. I actually used to be racked with guilt on the whole thing - but I've talked to my mom a LOT about it. And she was never like that either. She always says that's why she had multiple kids. To play with each other. :)

5. Guilt. I have a good friend who once told me she didn't understand motherhood guilt. I am racked with it. Should I be doing that, should I have done that, and on and on. It is a terrible thing that I have tried to change. Just let it be. I am constantly reading parenting books and talking to my mom about it.

6. Often I feel like fitting in. When I was a kid I didn't fit in. I got teased. And I still remember coming home from school crying. I am constantly worried about what other people think of me. It's a terrible way to live. But it is how I live. Worried about how to fit in better with my SILs, with the women in my ward, etc. I have been placed in many situations where I am the one saying I don't want my kids to do that. Or that isn't okay and I've never wanted to stand out. I just want to be me and be okay with that and not worry about what others think of it.

I've got lots more but I like to keep the ol' blog a bit more positive. :)
Besides, who likes to see others' dirty laundry? Not me!
And speaking of cleaning supplies.....
here's a picture from my photo class for last weeks assignment. (something that was translucent.)

The last two weeks

have been absolutely packed. And this last weekend I had so many things going on I just plain old didn't blog. It's the first time I've missed a few days in a while. I always post Sunday - Thursday with Friday and Saturday off. Don't know if you've noticed or not. BUT that's been my posting. Just to show you a little list of all the things we've had going on in the past two weeks.

* Soccer Pictures for Alden
* Dad and Alden date - went to the movie
* Dad and Lucy date - went to Wendy's
* I went out to dinner with my SIL
* Regan started Internal Medicine - which has been fairly busy. I've heard it's one of the worst but it hasn't been ridiculous yet. Just busy.
* Alden has had 4 Soccer Games (two of which got canceled from bad weather and then reschedule on this past Saturday)
* Regan went out of town both the last two weekends - one in Calgary for teaching days and one in Vancouver for the ALARM course (something about delivering babies)
* Mother's day Celebrations for both Lucy and Alden in one day (thank goodness grandma could come and be with Eli during) and I watched someone's kid that morning so she could go to her mother's day celebrations
* Had my parents over on mother's day, a couple over on friday night and a family on a Sunday night for dinner
* Reg and I went out to dinner with my inlaws
* Regan met with the Stake President
* Regan got called and set apart as the new Elder's Quorum president in our ward yesterday
* went to a movie night with a couple girls where we just chatted, ate and played games instead of watching a movie
* did 4 different photo shoots - one pregnancy (with two girls), one engagement, one new baby and one grad one
* went to the temple with some of my family to remember Kelly since it was her birthday this past Saturday
* hosted a craft night at my house (which was tons of fun!)
* attended a birthday party in Raymond and had to miss another one since they were at the same time
* had my online chat with my photo instructor for my class
* worked on my assignment for my photo class
Plus just plain ol' regular cleaning the house and meals and laundry and all that.

Phew. I'm glad this week has a lot less going on! And even a long weekend coming up! :) Hopefully Regan will get some of it off so we can enjoy relaxing!!

What have you been up to?
And did you miss my posts.... hahahahaha

22 Things I've Learned as a Mother

Stacy Julian suggested making a list like this.
And since I've had a busy day and wasn't able to make my last giveaway item, I thought I'd play along.

1. You can make breakfast food for supper and it's okay.
2. Nothing combines pain, love and power more than the birth process.
3. Potty training is crappy
4. There aren't many things a good snuggle won't help
5. Sometimes crying IS the only thing you can do
6. It's easy to make new friends. Just go introduce yourself
7. Everybody feels better with a good nights sleep
8. Some times it just doesn't matter
9. The perfect ending to a day is a bath and a good book before bed
10. Trust those you love
11. The meal always tastes better when it's a picnic
12. Nature is amazing
13. Art is part of everyday life
14. Because I said so is NOT a satisfying answer
15. Blowing bubbles in your milk is fun
16. Having friends over makes the day better
17. It doesn't matter how good your voice is, just sing along
18. God loves us more than we realize
19. Boys think farts and poo are funny. No matter their age.
20. Never say your kids won't do this or that cause they probably will
21. Spanking doesn't make anyone feel good
22. Love never divides, it only multiples

Wanna play along??
AND welcome to all the new followers :) Lots of pressure now for good posts eh??? :)

10 Things that Make Me Happy

The lovely and very funny Kristi listed this tag yesterday. Since I've had a long weekend (watching my 6 nieces and nephews (ages 13 to 16 months) plus my own kids (which made it like having 9 kids , two of which were 18 month old twins) without much help from Reg since he was on Call and doing CARMS in interviews in Calgary) I though it'd be GOOD for me to do this post! :)

1. Regan makes me very happy. I am so grateful for him. Thankful that he can see what I need and will do things to help me. Our inside jokes, the looks that pass between us when something funny happens or something shocking. He makes my heart sing.


2. My kiddos.


The goofy things they do and say. Seeing them lovingly interact with each other. When they want to snuggle with me and talk with me. Love Love the three of them so much!

3. Oh how i love to take pictures. Photography is such a love of mine! Of my own kids.


Of newborns.

And other newborns.

Of families (I don't normally shoot big groups as it is HARD! but this one was fun!! In a cool barn!)


4. I love to scrapbook! I think it makes me happier because it gets me to see the lovely things in my life. To think about my blessings and the good things. And it's just plain old fun to play with paper and glue and scissors and glitter and stamps.



5. oh i love blogs!! So fun to have people come to mine. So fun to connect with others on theirs! Love that you can become a follower and then easily scroll through your list to whatever catches your eye. Love that I've gotten a few new followers lately and lots of visits from all over the place! (I got average 125 per day week! crazy eh??)

6. FOOD! I love food! I love cooking it. I love eating it. I love reading about it! I love serving it. Oh how i love to FEED other people!! I got to make a meal for a new mom last week and it was awesome! :)


I'm hosting a baby shower this week and I am SO Excited to make all the food for it! I am having a milk and cookies theme. :) I'll take lots of pictures and let you see!

7. Exercise makes me happy. It really does improve my moods! Since Dec 28th I have worked out every other day at least until this babysitting weekend. But tomorrow I'll be back on it! I do swimming on Mondays, Yoga on Wednesdays and the treadmill on Fridays and Saturdays. I wanted to LOOK like I've been exercising (Reg says I do) but I am feeling better. All the way around. It's good.

8. ooh i've been enjoying the crafts lately too!!! I feel so PLEASED when I do one! I'll have to show you the new key hanger I made last week (with Jen and her drill's help!)



9. Good Friends. I have some that I miss a lot. Who I wished lived closer to me. I love that we can email and call and read each others' blogs. But I am blessed to have met new and refound some great people here in Lethbridge.

10. Books. I love a good book! I just finished two this past weekend. Two completely different styles. One about Batman and Superman meeting each other :) And one a historical fiction from 1895. Both good!

Lovely links

Some sites I have been a LOVING lately....

IF you do photography and have ever used a texture before.... check out the great Shadow House Creations where Jerry puts up a new texture almost every day. Love Love Love them!!

GREAT food site called Wicked Good Dinner where I won a big prize. It's coming in the mail (had some border issues) shortly and I am SO excited!! She has another give away right now!! Great recipes on there!

One of my very favorite new blogs. Knock Off Wood where she shows you plans to build awesome things for your home. I am GOING to learn to make some of these things. I Mean it!!

A sweet online sewing club/ blog called Presser Foot that posts a pattern for something CUTE each month and then you can follow along and make one too. I plan on making the bag from this month. Just haven't gotten around to it yet!!

Any sites or blogs you love lately?

And here is a photo I put on my 365 blog a few days ago of two people I love

On the Bookshelf: Books Read in 2009

A few friends have been listing all the books they read in the last year on their blogs. I have been using goodreads to keep track. I *think* this is them all.

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. One True Thing: A Novel by Anna Quindlen
3. Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
4. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
5. Unfeeling: A Novel by Ian Holding
6. Waiting for Birdy by Catherine Newman
7. Night by Elie Wiesel
8. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
9. They Came From Below by Blake Nelson
10. The Girls by Lori Lansens
11. The Birth House by Ami McKay
12. Covenant Hearts by Bruce C. Hafen
13. Shelter Me by Juliette Fay
14. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
15. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
16. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
17. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
18. Hungry Monkey by Matthew Amster-Burton
19. The Tsarina's Daughter by Carolly Erickson
20. Love and Logic Magic: When Kids Leave You Speechless by Jim Fay
21. Helicopters, Drill Sergeants and Consultants by Jim Fay
22. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
23. Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
24. Felt Jewelry by Teresa Searle
26. Well Preserved by Mary Anne Dragan
27. Well Preserved: Small Batch Preserving by Mary Anne Dragan
28. Return to Sullivan's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank
29. Stuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's (Really) Making America Fat by Hank Cardello
30. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James
31. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
32. Wave of Terror by Theodore Odrache
33. The Curse of the Good Girl: by Rachel Simmons
34. God Wants a Powerful People by Sheri L. Dew
35. The Weight of a Mustard Seed: An Iraqi General's Moral Journey by Wendell Steavenson
36. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

And I am in the middle of these three.
Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
No One Can Take Your Place by Sheri L. Dew

My favorites??
1. Hungry Monkey by Matthew Amster-Burton - a funny and inspiring read about a food critic/chef stay at home dad and how he introduces his daughter to food. I wish I would have read it before I had Alden. There is a lot of stuff I would have done differently with feeding my kids! And a lot of great recipes to boot! My kind of book!

2. Stuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's (Really) Making America Fat by Hank Cardello - completely interesting and amazing. Stuff I had no idea about and it has made me more aware of where extra fat and unhealthy stuff comes into our home and mouths!

3. Waiting for Birdy by Catherine Newman This lady is a kooky-kook! Which makes her fun to read about.

4. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka - a great historical fiction!! Love Love loved it! Sad but so good.

5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer - best light read I've read all year. Easy and quick to read but still so good!

6. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah - You should read this. I have it. I'll lend it to you! Amazing book. Can't believe the life this boy had!!

18 Months

At 18 months Eli.....
* is now attending nursery! (YIPPEE!!!!) Although he may have cried most of his first week as we excepted!
* is still not a consistent sleeper. Sometime he sleeps through the night and then we'll go a week without it. This morning he was up at 6am for the day.
* has a nap each day. Also not really consistent. Most days he goes down around 1230-1 and sleeps til I wake him to go get kids
* loves his mom. He only wants me to put him to bed. He only wants me to hold him. He only wants me to sit in the bathroom while he has a bath.

* is a little daredevil. Stands on chairs and rocks them back and forth til they almost fall over. Loves to climb on top of anything possible - the stove, the piano, the back of chairs and couches, the table, etc

* FINALLY has a few toys he will play with. Hallelujah!!!
* Boxes to make towers, an insanely noisy popping mower and a few cars
* loves to be outside. If you can't get him to be happy - take him outside!
* LOVES all electronic things. Phones, cell phones, computers, iPods, etc
* knows how to scroll with his finger on dad's iPhone
* favorite foods: black olives, granola bars, chicken noodle soup, spaghetti
* drinks a LOT of milk!!
* only has 2 words. Mom and dada. (he has said "nana" and knock knock but only a few times.)
* uses some sign language. For milk, all done, please, thank you, down, more
* loves to have his picture taken and then see it on the camera
* LOVES to gibber gabber on the phone. a LOT.
* likes reading books - but only certain ones.
* loves to follow the older two around and play where they are
* has a bit of a hard time being reverent in church. (hates being trapped in the bench)
* waves with both hands going opposite directions for bye
* loves to dog pile anyone who lays on the floor - especially Alden and mom
* will climb onto the table and dump out anything left there (good motivation to clean up the table after dinner
* loves to help unload the dishwasher!
* doesn't really like other people besides mom and dad. Does okay with grandma's if we aren't around.
* goes to play every Wednesday morning at the Wilde's house with Lucy and now gets excited to do it (although it took a few months to get used to it)
* likes to draw on anything if he has a pen.... the wall, library books, dressers, etc
* has the sweetest little belly laugh
* points to everything. It's a quick point and pull back to show directions, noises he hears, food he wants, etc
* is very aware of crying. Often watching the person crying very closely
* gives hugs (to crying kids) by leaning in with just his head
* if you stop him from doing something or take something away he shouldn't have then he will lay on the floor and hit his head on the floor just hard enough to make a loud sound and then start crying. Sometimes then he'll run to his room or he'll come running for a hug from momma
* thinks peek-a-boo is the funniest thing ever
* is not a good long distance traveler but loves to drive around in the car (as long as we are going somewhere fun)
* is a fun little energetic boy who keeps us on our toes

32 things at 32

Since it's my birthday thought I'd share some things about myself....
1. I hate socks in bed. (Regan tries to sneak in with them.) I just can't stand socks in bed. Can't explain it, just HATE it.
2. I love avocados. I'd eat one every day if I could.
3. I am not a morning person. I wish I was. But I'm NOT.
4. I always shower in the dark in the morning (see #3)
5. I have been on a crafting kick lately. Made 3 things for my home and other crafts too.
6. I have a hard fast rule I've always lived by. No Christmas until after my birthday. December 1st starts Christmas. But this year I broke down and started listening to Christmas music the beginning of this week. And I even decorated a bit already.
7. I am taking cheer leading pictures for the University Cheer leading team tonight. Totally new experience for me. We'll see how it goes!
8. I'd love to book some more weddings to shoot with my brother Sean. I always have so much fun with him when we do them.
9. I love games. One of my very favorites is Bunko.
10. I have an insanely messy van. Like I'm always trying to open and close it fast so no one sees how messy it is. It's embarrassing!
11. I love cooking for people.
12. I even love cooking for big groups. I've always wanted to try my hand at catering for some big event.
13. I dream about my one day kitchen. White bead board cupboards. Full standing freezer next to a full standing fridge. (it is a dream!)
14. I have three sister in laws that live far away. And I wish all of them lived closer.
15. I don't see my family as much as I thought I would when we moved to Southern Alberta.
16. I "follow" a lot of blogs. Seriously. Lots. But you can just check one screen to see all the updates and it cuts out a lot of time.
17. I love the tv show Lie to Me and the Mentalist.
18. My new favorite thing is to rent movies on iTunes and watch them on my computer. Then I never get late fees.
19. Speaking of late fees I am horrible at getting back books to the library on time.
20. I really have a hard time buying pants. Either they come down way to low (and don't cover my baby leftovers) or they are way to short and are floods. It's a big problem.
21. A couple posts back I posted a list of questions where I said my favorite color was orange. It's not. I missed that question when I copied and pasted it. My real favorite color is green. Martha Stewart green.
22. I am going to sew Lucy a dress for Christmas. I already have the fabric and the pattern.
23. I am making mostly homemade presents this year. And I am SUPER excited about the one I found to make for my SIL....... :)
24. I am already stressed thinking about what to buy Reg for Christmas. He is absolutely the hardest person to buy stuff for. He wants nothing.
25. One of my favorite heroes is Nelson Mandella. I think he is an amazing man. I loved his autobiography.
26. I want a Cricut.
27. Our printer is on the fritz and it kinda drives me batty.
28. I love having blog followers. I know lots of people look at my blog (i have a counter thing that shows a map and the numbers and where the look, etc) and I think it'd be ever cooler to have lots of followers on there. But at the same time that'd be a little nerve wracking.... what if I write lame stuff. (like #19)
29. We watched Transformers 2 last night. It was like an ad for Megan Fox and a car commercial. And seriously if you were running in the dessert from a huge Decepticon WHY would you be holding has while you ran? That's gonna speed you up for sure....
30. I often worry that I am not worthy of the amazing life I have. Someone day someone is gonna realize I snuck in here and kick me out.
31. I love love love love love Micheal Buble's music. A lot.
32. Sometimes when people ask how old I am, my first response is still to say I am twenty five and...... I'm NOT

Random Bits

Today I am so very very grateful for all those who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom we enjoy. We watched the CBC ceremony today. And I cried. I am so grateful to live in such a wonderful place. Thankful to those who fought, those who gave their lives, and those who are left behind mourning the loss.

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Tanya and Colin asked Have you made them with whole wheat flour? Yes. But only do it half and half whole wheat. They don't rise well with full ww flour.

M and J Smith Family asked Where did you get your rolling pin donut cutter combo? My mom originally got it when we owned the cracker barrel cafe, a small time cafe in Hill Spring. I am pretty sure she got it from a Restaurant/ Bakery supply store. If you live in the big city (like you do Jodi) I am sure there are lots of those kinds of stores to choose from!

Mindy asked What's your baking challenge? I am making every recipe in the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook in one year. You can read more about it in this post.
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I read over this Nei Nei post. (If you don't read Nei Nei, turn your life around and start doing it!) It has been on my mind for the past few days. It is a beautiful post. Heart wrenching but also uplifting at the same time.

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And a photo from the latest photo blog post.


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Something I've been thinking about a lot lately.
I like to create.
It's a big part of me.
I grew up with it. And now my kids are too. I think just today Alden and Lucy both made about 5-6 different drawings. When we empty a box or container the first thing Alden says is "I know let's make a craft."
It is a big part of me.
I'm doing what I love in a life I love.
When I don't find time to do things that are creative I have a harder time being happy. A harder time focusing on my blessings. And playing with my kids.
That's why I like baking, cooking, scrapbooking, painting, quilting, drawing, writing, graphic design, card making, sewing, and lots of other things.
All of these things are creative to me.

President Uchtdorf (who gave the talk) said, “The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.” He then went on to quote President Brigham Young who stated, “Progress, and improve upon and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. In the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the Spirit of Christ.” (General Relief Society Conference, Oct. 2008).

In the kitchen: Banana Bread

I was gonna post the last well, week. But life got busy!! Which made me think of something some one said to me yesterday.
"how to you do everything Rhonda?"
Oh I soooo do not do everything!!
Lots of things I get done happen at night or during nap time. Both are highly important to me!
I've got a mile long to do list. And many things I wish to do.
But well I don't.

The whole past week I was gonna do some more baking and other stuff but it was busy.
Last week's evenings went like this.
Monday - Regan was on call. Solo with the kids.
Tuesday night - As soon as Reg got home I was off to YW. And got home at 8:45 or so. Then did my blog post :)
Wednesday Night I went to a Love and Logic Parenting seminar. Which was good and interesting. Some stuff I really liked, other bits felt a bit.... um degrading to kids. And not at all in line with Gospel teaching. So some good. Some not.
Thursday Family Home Evening Kit Group I am in met together.
Friday Reg was on call again and We went out to dinner with some of my family to Boston Pizza and then I had my niece sleep over so I could go out to a girls night.
Saturday night I went to a dinner and RS broadcast.

Needless to say it was busy :)

Anyway, my point in sharing all this was..... that sometimes life runs away. And I'm not always on top of things. In fact more the opposite most of the time! But I've been asked by people how i get all this stuff done.

I don't watch TV much. As in haven't seen anything for over a week or more. And if I do watch I like to do something while I do. Like make invitations or cards or fold laundry or whatever.

I try and do things while my kids play around me. If they want to be in the backyard, I fold laundry down stairs or read a book in the backyard or make phone calls or whatever I can down there. If they are happy on the deck I load the dishwasher or edit a few pictures. Eli makes all this harder. HE is a lot more high maintenance than either one of my first kids were. (And despite what some people say I do not agree that he is normal. He spent from 3:45 pm to 7pm crying on and off the whole stinking time. And that's a good day lately. That's not normal) I'm still getting used to accomplishing as much as I like to with him around. Perhaps God is teaching me to sit down and enjoy my kids.

Each night I write down my to do list for the next day. I have all kinds of to do lists. To do lists for house projects. Sewing tutorial to do lists. Blog post idea lists. I am a list kinda girl. I love a good list pad :)

I have a crazy calender with all my dates an deadlines and all that written all over it. It is kind of looking crazy for September. crazy fun :) I've started highlighting Regan's on call days too. So I can see at a glance all those when I am planning or scheduling things. I should have taken a picture of it but I didn't know I was even posting about this til I sat down and started to write and now it's too dark out. :)

I think it's funny that women are so comparison driven. The fact is everybody's life is sooo different. And I don't think it's even able to compare vague things like what you get done in a day. It's my opinion that more people get more done than they think, that everyone wastes more time than they realize AND that most people are not as busy as they think they are.

Just a few of my somethings that need to be done....
1. Logos for my brothers' company (need to finish the final draft)
2. a blog header for a friend
3. Preparations for Lucy's B-Day party on Friday
4. a few photo shoots that should have been edited already (right Christine??)
5. bills paid (did that tonight)
6. prep for having a bunch of girls from church over tomorrow night to make hair pretties (which means making my house is kind of clean hahahaha)
7. laundry (did 4 loads today - but still more to do...)
8. Type out a few recipes that I've been asked for by a few people.
9. Actually finish my photography blog photo shoot give away (which I posted about entirely tooo long ago eeekkkk!)
10. Scrapbook. It feels like it has been entirely too long since I did that! (a week or so)

The thing I've been thinking about is a quote I heard the other night at the RS broadcast. Which basically said that a wise person knows how to distinguish between the things that need to be done and the things that don't and then leave some things undone by eliminating the non essentials. Now it sounded much prettier when they said it, but you get my point!

This is an insanely long rambly post.
If you actually read my thoughts then let me hear what you think! :)
And I'll get back to editing those pictures....
And since no post is fun without photos...
here are some of the current editing crop.






And here is the banana bread recipe that was asked for from the last post.

Banana Nut Bread
from Martha Stewart Baking Handbook
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups veggie oil
2 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3)
1 cup coconut
1 cup walnuts, pecans (or chocolate chips)
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. Coat two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, and oil on medium low until combined. Beat in the flour mixture. Add the vanilla, banana, coconut, nuts (or chocolate!) and buttermilk. Beat just to combine.

Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely. Bread can be kept at room temperature, wrapped well in plastic for up to 1 week or frozen up to 3 months.

Now I am off to bed to rest my foot (i'm currently suffering from Plantar Fasciitis which my handy hubby doctor diagnosed for me but there isn't so much you can do for it except stretch your calves and roll your foot on a frozen bottle of ice (which I am doing right as I type this) and be in pain.)

Today I am

worrying about how much the van is going to cost to get fixed.

exhausted from another night of bad sleep by Eli.

pondering my talk topic for an upcoming talk in church

watching more kids.

designing logos for my brothers' business

wanting to spend time scrapbooking

wishing the house I liked hadn't sold yet

waiting for monday when we find out where we are moving too for residency

sick and tired of cold weather


editing photos from this shoot.



what about you... what are you up to?

we've been busy.....

spending time together.


enjoying the mountains in Banff







celebrated birthdays
including grandma's (who turned 86)

spending time with cousins and aunts and uncles on both sides of the family

Someone is crawling now and since he's crawling apparently thinks that he can climb on stuff too...


visited with grandma & grandpa davis


and grandma & grandpa steed

enjoying just having regan around.

It was a great vacation and now he is on to Surgery.
Which is supposed to be bad for not being home.
But we'll see how it goes. :)

I've got quite a few ideas for upcoming blog ideas. Even some give away's on both my photo blog AND my regular blog. so stay tuned!

Monday Seven

1. Thankful that I got to spend time with my good friends Sarah and Heather on Friday. We ate and baked and chatted. And it was marvelous.

2. Thankful I can attend an information car seat class to erase the 6 tickets that the "kind" peace officer (he called himself kind) gave me on Friday. Yep. 6. Three for Lucy's seat, two for Eli's and one for Alden's. (If I had to pay for them all it would be over $600)

3. Thankful for good health.

4. Thankful for eternal families. Especially in times of loss. My heart aches for Dyane and John.

5. Thankful for a good husband who is in Saskatoon right now doing interviews for CARMS (residency). He's working hard for our family.

6. Thankful to be done editing photos and be able to pop them in the mail to the bride and groom.


7. Thankful for these three.

6 Months

at 6 months Eli:
• goes to bed at 8pm and sleeps between 8- 11 hours feeds then goes back to sleep until 830am
• has two naps a day for about 1.5-2 hours
• has recently realized how COOL his dad is and lights up when he comes home
• is a tummy and side sleeper
• no longer sucks his thumb at all
• loves to chew on books and sometimes look at the pictures
• has had some serious blow outs (gross)
• never looks at the person holding him, but wants to see every thing else
• gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth
• rolls onto his stomach the minute you lay him on his back
• laughs at Alden a lot
• loves his jolly jumper
• has started trying to pick things up with his pincher grasp, but doesn't quite have it down yet
• has started solid foods including rice, barely, wheat and oat cereals, corn, strawberries, apples, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, carrots, potatoes, bananas, chicken, zucchini, parsnips, orange, grape, onions(in his chicken I made him).. i think that's it so far....

• is insanely grabby! Getting this little hands on anything close to him, the computer, food on your plate, his dish of food, anything on the floor
• lets anyone hold him still
• pivots while laying on his stomach to get to things
• loves seeing himself in the mirror
• sits up completely on his own
• recently realized the bath is the COOLEST thing ever and loves to splash the water around and suck on the wash cloth
• eats crackers
• has the WORST gag reflex I have EVER seen!!!! I mean EVER. He gags when you kiss him on the cheek, he gags when he's talking, really always doing it. But he rarely throws up strangely enough
• loves to suck on his toes when he is barefoot

• is so very easy going. I am constantly amazed how easy to get along with he is and I hope that is his personality as he gets older too (I guess that's how Regan was as a kid)
• is just such a wonderful little baby who really makes my days so good and making mommyhood so very rewarding

Happy New Year!!!

Everyone says it, but I can't believe it's 2009!! Crazy!
I have been putting off updating since it seems like there is so much to post, I don't know where to start!
Christmas was good.
Loved
....seeing family.
... taking pictures at a wedding

...enjoying the hot tub and Wii
... spending lots of time with Regan and my kiddos
...going out to dinner with old friends from high school & laughing and enjoying each other
...giving gifts I made to people i love
...feeling the spirit of Christmas
..receiving Christmas cards from all over
...visiting with my mom and dad
... seeing how the three little cousin babies are growing and changing
....sledding

... gingerbread houses with grandma davis


..attending the temple

...enjoying being out of the city