Steed Family Reunion

In the summer we had a big steed get together. One where all my FIL's sibs and their kids stayed together. We were only missing 3 people. Which was pretty good. I shared some nature shots from that trip, but not a lot of people shots. So here are some of those.
This is everybody who came.

Early morning Sadie and some Sunday afternoon games

The inside of the old schoolhouse great grandpa steed taught in and lovely little Melia

Lucy really wanted to try on Uncle Murray's hat and finally got too.

Classic Uncle Nolan

Grandpa and Eli walking down to the original homestead of Grandpa's dad's growing up home

The walk into the homestead

Gavin and Clare

Lucy just love love loves Melia (look at them holding hands) and the barn

See what I mean?

Thanks to Aunt Deb there was lots of fun stuff for the kids to do

Lovely Gab who needs to move closer to home

Derek helping Alli dunk in Waterton lake

Coooool mountain water

Beach treasures

It was so much fun to spend time with each other!
Something I hope we do more often!

Spiritual Sundays

Random

1. First day of grade two for Alden. First day of Kindergarten for Lucy. No it's the not the best shot, but Eli was trying to run into the street, I have a sore ankle still from my fracture and the street was LINED with people who were going to school too. But we did it :)


2.Eli has been sleeping bad again lately and I am tired every day. Yet I stay up to get things done like editing pictures and canning fruit and seeing Regan when he comes home from work.

3. I have eaten a LOT of peaches in the last 4 days. I mean A LOT.

4. My friend Rebecca is having a giveaway on her bog today. And she just moved her whole little family (4 kids) over to a tropical island so her husband could attend medical school. She takes great pictures and is sharing lots of neat things about their new home. Go read it.

5. Last week before school started my lovely friend Heather & her two kiddos came and stayed with us. It was so fun.



6. I bought this book recently and have been making lots of stuff out of it lately. It is SUCH A good book!

7. I can't believe it's September!

A look into my Tuesday

My counter yesterday was full of baking. I have a whole bunch of fruit that needs to be made into stuff. So I made apple pies for the freezer, and two kinds of jam and banana muffins. And I have more to use up... so something else needs to be made tomorrow.


Ah I love it when this kid smiles. It makes my hear sing! I think it will be quite an adjustment around here with just me and him.


This child wears the oddest combination of clothes. Some days I wish she had a sign that said "I DRESS MYSELF". At least today she got all the colors matching (totally something she is still working on!) She was home all day since they only start one day the first week for Kindergarten (which she is quite upset about).


It was quite the day :)

Just look

at the disaster in this room.

I see mess. Lots and lots of mess.
But do you know what they see?
A tent for hiding in. A town where the villagers were escaping from something.
They rig up these crazy play scenes where they take out (it seems) every possible toy.
It doesn't matter if they are Alden's toys or Lucy's toys. Boy or girl toys. Every thing gets mixed into a big story. And tons of things take on new roles. I wish I had taken a picture of the polly pocket dresses. All the polly pockets seemed to have lost their heads and instead of throwing them away, Lucy and Alden have started using doll hair brushes and the people and putting the dressed on those. Alden took apart those little foam hair curlers and was using the foam part as logs. They take random objects that I need for something, like the lid to a bottle in the fridge and make it into a wheel on a new car. Or the tie on Lucy's dress that I can't seem to find was turned into the rope that tied down the villagers. They make up stories and adventures and play for HOURS.

This picture was from a Sunday after noon (hence the church clothes) where they, no joke, played together in Alden's room for 5 hours without any problems or leaving. They just play and play and play together. Alden was upset Sunday night about having to go to school. Because it will mean a dent in his play time. These two are serious about their play.

School will be an adjustment.
Thankfully they both came home happy from school today and loved every minute of it.

10 Years Together

means we needed a trip together. Sans kids. So we went to Whitefish. It was lots of fun. We saw some great views on the way down.

I had my foot in a cast (chipped my ankle on my left foot after tripping over Lucy when I was holding Eli) and just had it off this day... so I wasn't much fun for hiking or walking anywhere very far.... which we had planned on doing while down there. But we still had lots of fun and saw lots of beautiful things.


Went to the "Bearz" in the middle of nowhere close to Whitefish and saw them up close and personal from inside our car.

We went to the beach at night and I took some pictures and Reg took some.

The two of us



Every day we drove past this and I LOVED this and wanted to take a picture. Finally last day we stopped and I did. Such lush trees!

We rode the chair lift up to the top of the mountain in Whitefish. It was totally fun. And we saw lots of pretty sights up there too.



And while we were down there we noticed the sign for a race... so Reg decided to run it :)


Prairie fields and looming skies. While driving home it was just so stinking pretty.

It was just so fun to get away. I wish I wasn't a gimp, but it was still fun and Reg was very patient walking me around everywhere :) And he let me go shopping for the kids clothes and school supplies which is a huge present from him in itself. (He HATES shopping!!) It was so much fun and I am so glad we went!

Can't believe school is starting today. Two kids in school for me. CRAZY!!!

Spiritual Sundays

When school starts next week

The ol' blog will be back on schedule and weekly posts Sunday - Thursday.

Since I know you are all just missing me sooooo much in your lives.
hahahahahahahaha
And since a post is no fun without a picture....
here's a few to look at :)



(The Rocky mountains at night. It was pitch black out and I used my tripod to hold still enough to get enough light to take this shot! It was like a 2 minute exposure.)

10 years ago today

I married my best friend.

It's such a cliche thing to say. But I truly did.
We hung out as friends before either one of us realized that we liked each other.
Our relationship is so strong because of the base of a combination of spiritual relationship and a strong friendship.



I've written things about him on here like this and our love story here and our medical school journey. But none of these posts could sum up all of the private moments, the humor and heartache, the first moments of holding a child in our arms, the way the Lord has brought us closer together, the knowing looks to each other, the water fights in the basement apartment, the prayers said together and the the answers to prayers, the callings and service, the date nights at home and out of home, the growth and success of each of us and together. I thought I loved him when we got married. But I love him so much more now. More than I thought I could. And I know that love will continue to grow. As a little girl I always wanted to grow up and be married. To be a mom and be married. I had many thoughts of how it would be. But truly I have it so much better than I had ever thought.

Happy Anniversary Regan.
I love you as much as this room..... ;)

In the kitchen: BBQ Smores

We tried BBQing some smores for an FHE treat. It worked well. The marshmallows soft but not brown. But good.

Alden and Lucy and I enjoyed them. (Reg sometimes skips the treats we have around here. Me not so much.) :)

Surely EVERY summer must include Smores (on more than one occasion.)


So seems blog land has been pretty slow on a lot of blogs. Wondering who's still checking often and what you've all been doing lately. (and eating)

Early Morning Banff

Eli's been on an early morning stretch lately. As in 530-6 am every day. While on vacation last week..... still in it. So I got up with him and we went out on photo walks. (That photo a couple posts down of the lone dirt road was from an early morning in Mountain View)

While out on our drive on one of the early mornings (yep we are still both in our pjs and jackets), we stopped at the lovely Falls. And I asked Eli if we could do a picture together. I set the camera on some drift wood and pressed the timer and ran back to him at the shore. He was laughing so hard. And kept saying "again, again, again". So I took many many of the two of us.

I've realized that I need to be grateful that I get this time in the morning with him. Getting up at 530 - 630 am is not something I would choose to do. But Eli is happy in the morning. He is delightful and energetic and happy to see the sun come up. I am not. And I need to be. It's all in my head. I can imagine that it is good. I can choose to be happy no matter how early we get up. Then I can see the good part of this. The positive. How lucky am I to get one on one time with the third child?!
So instead of being crabby that he got me up on holidays, we went out and spent time together. And it was magical.

Does that mean I am ACHING to get up at 5:45 am? NO. But it does mean that I am working on enjoying the moments we get together if we do have to get up then and sleeping in more if Reg gets up with him :) (you know, lemons into lemonade kind of deal).

And to see some of the mmmmmmaaaaaannnnnnnnnyyyyyyyy pictures I took in banff you can look at some here at rhondasteed.com.

In the kitchen: Cornmeal Pancakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup

This is the time of year for fresh fruit.


Actually that's one of my favorite parts about this time of year. The majority of our diets is fruit and veggies. So it's a whole lot cheaper in the summer. And they taste better too!!

Blueberries are one of my kids favorites. And I got a flat from BC of them. Soooo I was in Blueberry food central. So I've got a yummy recipe to share.



Cornmeal Pancakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
3 Tbsp light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 large eggs, separated
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg in a bowl. Whisk egg yolks with buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla in a large glass measuring cup. Whisk buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture to make a thick batter - take care not to over mix or the pancakes will be dense. In another bowl ship the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Use a rubber spatula to fold the egg whites into the batter.

Heat a large pan over medium heat and cook your pancakes. Keep the cooked ones warm until all are ready. Serve with Blueberry Maple Syrup.

Blueberry Maple Syrup
1 cup blueberries
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp lemon juice

Toss blueberries with maple syrup in a small saucepan. Add the cinnamon stick and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture boils and the blueberries just start to pop, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, discard cinnamon stick, and stir in the butter and lemon juice. Serve warm.