Listography: List 67

list 67: 10 childrens' books I love

1. The big hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood

2. Sleepy Bears by Mem Fox

3. The Party by Barbara Reid

4. Where the wild things are by Maurice Sendak

5. Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmen

6. Anything by Dr Seuss

7. Who will tuck me in tonight by Carol Reth

8. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

9. Mixed up Chameleon by Eric Carell

On the Bookshelf

I've been on a reading binge lately...

Read these in the past week:

My favorite was probably book 2. But as a whole I loved them all! Great story (still a weird idea). After I while I was annoyed with Katniss and her silliness. But at the same time that made her more realistic and human. Funny thing while I was reading it I kept thinking of how there were "team"s of women fans for Jacob or Edward (I never thought that way but I know lots of girls and women did), so are there people in two camps about the main male characters in this series?

Have you read this series??

Grandma knows best

This is me and my Grandma Stasiuk.

(Thanks to my brother Sean for taking this shot of us at my mom & dad's.)
She is my mom's mom.
She was a caterer for over 10 years.
She still loves to bake and cook.
She just turned 89.
She lives with my parents.
She had a bakery in her kitchen for about 40 years.
She has five kids, twenty one grandkids, forty five great grandkids and four great great grandkids.
She is very kind and sweet.
She loves with food and hugs.
Every time I find some recipe I think is cool to try, I call Grandma and she says "yep, i've done that before too"
A year ago I started a project that she had dreamed of for years.
And now it's all done and printed.

It's a bunch of recipes she loves.
Lots she's made up.
I've used lots of them even before the book when I phone grandma and say I am doing this for this and I was kind of thinking of something that has these ingredients, does that exist and how to I make it and she always has the answers.
I love having her close and seeing her way more often!
And yes, I think my love of cooking came straight down the generations and hit me square in the face.
I had no chance :)

Listography: List 53

List 53: Favorite Books of 2011

I read 65 books in 2011. I know cause I keep track on Good Reads.

My 10 favorites were (in no particular order)

1. The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin
2. Plate to Pixel: Digital Food Photography and Styling by Helene Dujardin
3. The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis
4. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls,
6. To the Rescue: The Biography of Thomas S. Monson by Heidi S. Swinton
7. The Family Dinner by Laurie David
8. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
9. The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond
10. Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision by David duChemin

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

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!

On the Bookshelf: I read a lot

I found this one facebook and thought it was interesting... so here it is!

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D'urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

14 The Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

19 The Time-Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Graeme

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma - Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgommery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel


52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine St. Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

How about you?
Read many of these?
And if you like to read you should check out goodreads. You can add me as a friend and we can recommend books to each other. I like it! I look at them and then order them to the library!

In the kitchen: Cookbook Review: Small Batch Perserving

Small Batch Preserving
by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard

This is one great book! I have really enjoyed this book on canning!! It covers how to's. It covers jams, jelly's, conserves, relishes and pickles. Lots of recipes that are unusual and totally good!
I've made Pear Raspberry Jam, Peach Pear Jam with Lime and Sweet and Chunky Apple Butter.
I bought the book at chapters for $19.95. If you like canning at all, go and get it!

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!

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!!

On the Bookshelf:

I took this photo a few months ago....so this isn't my beside pile today. But some of them are still there. I pretty much always have a stack of books to read. I loooove reading. My parents are big readers too. That's where I get it from!

On this pile I've already finished:
1. Unfeeling: Book club book. Pretty unsettling but well written. It is about the farm attacks in Africa. I wanted it to end better but since it is based on real events it couldn't. Too much profanity for me.

2. Waiting for Birdy. Soooo funny. Thanks to my SIL Brooke for telling me to read it. Totally absolutely kooky lady. And i loved it for that. I literally laughed out loud quite a bit and even read some parts to Regan.

3. The Five Love Languages: Really enjoyed this one a lot. And I am a lot more conscious of ways that people show me love. Especially my hubby. As soon as Reg has some time off I've told him I think he should read it too.

On this pile I've started: (i normally have a few books on the go)
1. Covenant Hearts: All about marriage. It is really well written and so good.

2. Your money or your life. It's good but the first two chapters were really repetitive. I hate it when a book keeps trying to sell you on their view point. If I bought the book, I probably am already sold on the idea!

3. Because He first loved Us. Wonderful collection of essays on the Savior. Really wonderful moving stuff.

Other books:
1. The Girls: currently reading it for book club. It's about a pair of conjoined twins. Very interesting!

2. They came from below: An easy environmentally based science fiction book I read in three days. (easy, quick read!)

What are YOU reading?

On the Bookshelf: Book Tag

My friend Amy tagged me.

Pick up the nearest book to you, open to page 56, write out the 5th sentence along with the next 2 sentences. THE CLOSEST BOOK, NOT YOUR FAVORITE, OR MOST INTELLECTUAL...

My book is the creative family by Amanda Blake Soule.


"Imaginative living needn't and shouldn't be limited to childhood, and it is our job to tell our children through our actions that their imaginations are something they can use, rely on, and find comfrot in throughout their lives. It is through their strong sense of imagination that they will find solutions to life's puzzles and problems, create art in all its forms, and comfort themselves and those around them. The activities in this chapter are all about imagination in childhood."

I love this book. :) She's a little over the top for me, but so many good things in here. (And lots that my mom did when I was growing up and it never occurred to me that other people didn't do it! (like family art time)

And since a photo is more fun with a picture....
My last bride Steff.

Question and Answer

"BTW, love your watermark on your photos. Is it new or have I just been rather unobservant??"

Nope it's new! And it's pretty new, so you haven't been THAT unobservant. I just decided one day I needed a new one. One that is there, but less distracting. So that's what I've got for now.

"Question: Could you pass on some book titles that are good for getting toddlers to eat healthy and ideas for them? I think you mentioned a long time ago about some excellent books and I'd love to know what they are! Maybe put them on my Christmas wish list! Thanks Rhonda."

Books about feeding Kids that I just love love love.
1. First Meals by Annabella Karmel. This was my first book about feeding kids and I think it is an essential one. It starts from breastfeeding and goes all the way until kids are 5. (And it has some cute cute cute food.)
2. More First Meals by Annabella Karmel. I just got this one from the library and it is really good. It's exactly what it says, more good meals for kids. :)
3.Super Foods for Kids by Straten Van. I really like this one too. It talks a lot more about the science of food and why there are good for kids. I borrowed this one from my friend Kathleen back in Nova Scotia and really liked it. I spotted it at Homesense in their book section for $5. It was a steal! And it has the best minestrone recipe there is!

"Question: My prayer cards aren't printing very good. Help me"
You need to select print to size when you go to print it. It's called something along those lines, fit to page, or just pick 95% and it should fit for sure. (The prayer cards are here.)

"Question: How do you find such great books, and the time to read them?!"
Breastfeeding. That's when I read most of the time. And with Eli around I do that a lot.

"Question: I love that paper on the cover - who makes it?!"
The patterned paper on the cover of my Calaway mini album is from the Scraptivity November 2008 kit. And it is made by We R Memory Keepers, the Nonsense line.


"Question: very fun! How many scrapbooks do you have? I bet lots! You need a cricut! If you don't have one already. I don't even scrapbook and I want one!"
No, I don't have a cricut, but I'd LOVE one. It's one my list of SB tools I want. Along with the Bind-it-all and the Big Bite Crop-a-dile. One day maybe.
As for Scrapbooks, I have 1 6x6 album that is our dating, a set of K&Company 8x8 linen Albums, lots of mini albums that are in a basket on my piano, and then probably 20 full 12x12 albums (at least) maybe more. And I have enough pages finished and stacked to fill 3-4 more. Then a few 8.5x11 albums. Yes, I have a lot of albums. Regan jokes that I need a room just for those. :)

"Question: What happened at Canadian Tire?!"
Last week I posted about my trip to Canadian Tire. I went there are 10:30am with just Eli to have a "load test" done on my battery to see if it was toast. My dad told me the exact thing to say so I would look like I knew what I was talking about. They lost my keys twice, put on new tires (which I didn't order and I had brand new ones on their anyways, they told me I could keep the new ones - but I wanted MINE since I have a 5 year warranty on them), argued with me about it being my van or not (you'd think I would know what my own van would look like) and then finally hooked it up did the test and then had to put in a new battery. 5 hours later. Good thing I have a good baby.


"Question: Did you make the Halloween cake pops? We want pics! :)"

I did make Cake pops, they were totally not that cute. So I didn't take a picture. But they did taste good. I think I need a LOT more practice before I get good at them. And an eatable marker. Trying to make faces on small cake pops with melted chocolate was.... hard!!!

There are more q&a's tomorrow!!

On the Bookshelf: current reads

The current books I have purchased and a lot of which I have started (as it seems I constantly have more than one book on the go at once.....)

Living Simply With Children by Marie Sherlock
I am excited to start this one. Looks really good to me. And something I want to improve upon. Living Simply.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Which was my Book Club book last month, but I had to return it to the library before I finished it. And now I am way on the bottom of the wait list. So I got it off Amazon (should have done that to begin with but oh well!)

Hello Cupcakes by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
(wait i didn't buy this one I got it from the library last night but I WANT to buy it. It totally rocks!)


One Year to an Organized Life by Regina Leeds
Which I've started reading and I am really enjoying it already. It has monthly goals all set out for you and covers every aspect of your life. I am already thinking of buying it for my momma.

I'm also in the middle of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
Which is totally thought provoking and he has some amazing quotable lines!
What are you reading??

(sorry my pictures are so wonky!)

On the Bookshelf:

But I started a list on the side bar of my blog.
It's my reading list. I read a lot and I've always thought it would be cool to keep a list of the books I've read... but I've never done it. So this year I started one. I'll keep track.

And I'll give you a bit of a book review so to speak of what they are about. oooh I even just thought maybe I'd add in stars like for how good they are. Are you excited??

I'll sum up all my books so far (i've read 4 so far this year)

1. Enchantment by David Spot
I have loved Audrey Hepburn for a long time. Love all of her movies I have seen. ( my two favorites are Sabrina and Funny Face.) Audrey grew up in a home that was a bit void of love. Her father left when she was still very young and her mother was not the lovey dovey motherly type. She was more of a motivator and encourager, enrolling Audrey in ballet and schools that would make more a life for Audrey. She was caught in the war when Hitler invaded and in fact almost died of starvation until the Unicef came in and saved her, her mom and two brothers. It tells all about her whole life. Some things I learned about her.
• Audrey wanted to have lots of kids and stay home and raise them. She suffered 4 miscarriages, all of which took a considerable toll on her mental and physical health. She did have two boys.
• Audrey was loved by everyone who worked with her. She was never demanding but very kind to everyone who worked on the films no matter their jobs.
• Audrey never thought of herself as beautiful or anything special. When receiving her lifetime award she said something to the effect of always thinking of herself as a plain girl with a rather big nose and small chest with no particular talent.
• Audrey raised more money than anyone for Unicef. She was tireless in her efforts to help the children of the world. And thought that since God wouldn't give her a house full of children, he wanted her to save the ones already here.
The book was a little gossipy about Hollywood but the overall telling of Audrey's life and changes was wonderful! 4 out of 5.


2. My life in France by Julia Child
ooh i loved this book. Julia has way of writing that invites you in. It's like you are old friends talking about her memories. Some things I learned about Julia.
• She was tall (same as me) and had big feet (same size as me 12)
• She and her husband Paul never ended up having any kids although they tried for years.
• Julia moved to France after her and Paul were married since Paul worked for the US governent. He promoted the Us culture to the French. He worked all day and she learned the french language and to cook.
• Julia repeatedly recalled her first meal in Rouen of oysters, sole meunière, and fine wine as a culinary revelation. She described the experience once in The New York Times newspaper as "an opening up of the soul and spirit for me".
• Julia introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the American mainstream through her many cookbooks and television programs.
• She was quite funny and could win most people over.
• She and her friends would constantly talk about food and so they called themselves "foodies"
This book made me want to travel to France more than I already did. And I have made 4 french meals since reading it. :) 4 out of 5.


3. Rekindled by Tamera Alexander
I totally picked this book up at the library knowing nothing about it. My dad always used to read westerns (and still does) and I've been known to read a few of his in the past. But this was a love story too. Intriguing! It actually ended up being a christan love story. Which is nice that you don't have to worry about skipping over any nastiness. The main two characters, Kathryn and Larson are ranchers in the Colorado Territory who aren't fairing so well. They have never gotten the baby they so badly wanted, have had to sell more and more of their land since their livestock isn't doing so well. They have a empty marriage. Larson is in an accident while away from home and Kathryn doesn't know what has happened to him. After four months of cold winter she assumes he has died. She realizes how much different she should have treated her husband when he was home. It is a story of finding each other again and seeing what is the best in your spouse. And woven into that is references to the Bible and God's plan for each of us. It's not a typical book I would read, but I ended up quite enjoying it. I'll give it a 3 out of 5.

4. Mozart's Sister by Nancy Moser
I just finished this one tonight. Another total random library pick. It is a historical fiction based on letters that were written between members of the Mozart family. Wolfgang Mozart (who I am pretty sure you've all heard of!) had an older sister, Nannerl, who was also an amazing musician. They travel Europe doing concerts for quite a few years. Playing duets and solos. Nannerl did not have the same opportunities as Wolfgang (or Wolfie as she called him) because she was a woman. And women were not allowed to be paid performers.
This book tells, from Nannerl's perspective, about her growing up and life with (and without) Wolfgang. It is an easy read (i read it in 2 days) with lots of references to music and even talks a lot about what Europe was like back in this time period. I'd give it 3 out of 5.


As for my next books.... i've already started
Einstein Never Used Flash Cards and
Away from Her by Alice Murno.

What are you reading?

Monday Seven

1. Thankful that things went pretty good at a FREEZING cold wedding in Banff that I shot with my brother Sean. It was COLD. But fun.

2. Thankful for good books. Finished reading Julia Child's biography. And loved it. She was quite the lady. She was really tall (and actually had the same size feet as me...12). She and her hubby Paul were both in the Army and that's how they met. They got transferred to Paris when Paul was working for the American government and he was busy all day and that is where she fell in love with food. And decided to learn to cook it. She always wanted kids but they never ended up ever getting pregnant. Her famous book about French cooking took her over 15 years to write. And was first WAY longer.

3. Thankful that it was warmer today. Seriously too cold lately.

4. Thankful for the library. Love to get books and so do my kiddos.

5. Thankful for a healthy baby as seen in the ultrasound. I had my 20 week one and the lady couldn't see the spine fully so she wanted me to come back (annoying) but then Regan could come to the next one. So both kiddos came too. And in the waiting room Lucy kept saying, "well where is the ultrasound?" over and over. Then in the room she looked at the screen and says "I don't see a baby" Alden replies "it looks like a dragon." :) Lucy kept asking for the rest of the day where the ultrasound was. It was funny. She'd pronounce it like ULTRAsound. heehee

6. Thankful for the sweet deal on a little piano we got this weekend. It needs a bit of tune up. But so excited that we have it in our home. Regan plays and so do I. And since Alden has been in music classes for 2 years now, he is learning a lot. Now we can transfer that to the piano. So cool.

7. Thankful to be feeling a lot better lately. I am more forgetful (if that is possible!) but feeling less sick.

And here are two fav photos from the last posted shoot on my photo blog.

On the Bookshelf: Exciting day

Yep. You read that right.
Donald Trump sent me mail.
Pretty exciting isn't it??
Are you jealous??


We're real tight!
Me and Donald hanging out.

the past few days.... i've been read this book.


and this book.....


and now I'm onto this one.


lots of thanks to my friend Emily to lending them to me.... although I'm not sure Regan would thank you. :)

Sunday Seven

1. I am thankful we were able to drive down south this weekend and attend the Temple. Always wonderful to go. Regan and I attended weekly when we were dating, he proposed to me here, and we were married here so it is always special to go back.

2. I am thankful that wonderful grandma and grandpa steed watched the kids while we went. And that Lucy didn't cry when we left. I told her we were going and that she was going to stay and have fun with grandma. She said "Okay mom. love you." and started following grandma around (who was on the phone) saying "Grandma, where is my fun?"

3. I am thankful for a good reliable vehicle. So glad we have a van. Love that I can load it up and still have lots of room.

4. I am thankful for libraries and books. I just finished reading this book.

5. And because of that book I am SUPER DUPER thankful that I was born in Canada.

6. I am thankful for comedic genius.


7. And thankful that tomorrow is a special day around our house.

On the Bookshelf:

i saw a list that made me wonder.....
if I could remember myself.
it's a list of books i've read.....
but I don't know if I could remember all the books I have read.
I read a lot.
A lot of kids books.
A lot of recipe books.
A lot of parenting books.
I love historical fiction and religious books.
Some times where the reading is a mininum.

And I have spurts of more reading.
Especially when I was pregnant with Alden.
No kids to tend, we were living across the country in a city where I didn't know anyone.
I read a LOT during the last month of my pregnancy.

Currently I am reading...
(i like to have a few on the go... depending on my mood)
1. The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier

(it's pretty good so far... but a few words that I am blacking out with my marker.)

2. Pay it Forward

3. Overindulgence and Your children


Instead now, how about I list the books I want.....

1. Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows(the new one)
2. Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper
3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
4. Clean & Simple: Scrapbooking: The Sequel by Cathy Zielske
5. Collage Discovery Workshop by Claudine Hellmuth
6. Alphabetica by Lynne Perella
7. Encyclopedia of An Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Any books you are on the hunt for??