Deanna over at Mrs. Jump’s Class posted a fun linky last week. I read her list and thought it was a great idea, so I’m joining in with my own 10 Things I Want to Do This Summer list.

1. Cook a meal EVERY night. I’ve gotten a bit less intentional about this since my bout with poison ivy and 11 days in China. We have a family of 8 though and going out to eat just isn’t an option very often. I LOVE to eat meat and veggies, as does the fam, so I need to COOK!

Here are some fresh apples just cut up ready to sauté in the skillet with a little olive oil and cinnamon. They were so sweet I didn’t even add any sugar!

I’ve tried plans and charts and calendars. Truth be told, if I get to the store and buy the food, I usually get it done. So yeah, getting to the grocery store might help LOL!

Speaking of the apples, they were delicious and none were left of course, much to the Prez’s displeasure since he is always hopeful (if rarely indulged) for a leftover plate for work the next day, which brings me to number dos!

2. Spend quality time EVERY DAY with my main man, AKA The Prez. He is such a hunk of a guy, who loves his family and his wife without condition. More than that, he loves the Lord with all of his heart, and I want to do my part in loving him up and filling his heart with warm fuzzies!

Note to Self: Take more photos of The Prez, by himself and with ME! Maybe that should be a separate thing to do LOL!

3. Read a book from cover to cover in a week! Any book will do. Seriously. I love books, and I actually do read books. Current read is The Trumpet of the Swan, which I happen to be reading aloud.

Thing is, I’m kinda talking about a book that might not be appropriate or enjoyed by the littles around here. I really, really, really want to re-connect with a certain someone around here who loves Narnia, so I *may* try to read those 7 books again. I remember enjoying them in 5th grade. I also have a library in my home, so there is really no excuse!

Besides if my 15-year-old son can read this book below, which he picked up at the library used book sale, for pleasure, surely I can find SOMETHING to read for pleasure! 4. Can vegetables from our garden successfully! It has been YEARS since I canned, but I am determined to do this and do it well! I will be purchasing a new (used if I can find one) canner in the next few weeks hopefully. This garden full of corn is GROWING, and I can just SEE the rows of cans filled with corn for our family to eat all through the winter! 😀 I keep meaning to measure it, but I haven’t gotten that done yet. It is huge though and God has been so good to provide a good mixture of rain and sunshine so far this Spring!

I have a birthday coming up in a few days, and I’ve asked for money from my parents and in-laws, which they are so generous with and have gladly said they would oblige. So, now to find my dream canner for a price I can actually afford! I probably will just go for it and buy the new model as the reviews are rave, but what I wouldn’t give to find an old one too for a great price! A girl can dream, right?!

5. Spend time EVERY DAY intentionally with our six children for the purpose of pure enjoyment. Here we are on Mother’s Day. They gave me my long-anticipated lunch box! I gave them hint after hint and they made sure Daddy helped them deliver! 😉

It really isn’t that hard, but why do I find myself at the end of many days wondering if I actually accomplished this? Can anyone else relate? I have to be the policewoman, referee, principal, and many other hats around here during the day, so I really want to balance it out with some FUN too!

The creek at the bottom of our hill is ALWAYS a hit with all six. Now, if I can just get my game on and actually get IN the water. Have I mentioned it is COLD?! The jumping in … I’m not sure I can go there but oh how they would think I’m ALL THAT!

6. To piggyback the last thing, we need to spend more time with our extended families this summer. I have the best Momma and Momma-in-law in the world, and they want us to all get together on Sunday afternoons more often than say twice a year. I mean, getting together just because not because it is Mother’s Day (though those get-togethers are always fun and the pic shows me with my sis, Momma, sis-in-law and Momma-in-law) or Easter or whatever.

So, I am going to make more of an effort this summer to suggest some days and try to get our three sisters hooked up too. We are all busy with families of our own and one of my sisters-in-law lives several hours away, but we all love it and I know we all have good intentions. So that is a definite priority. More time TOGETHER!

7. Catch-up on BLOGGING (specifically Christmas 2013, February 2014 including our DISNEY trip, birthday posts for the ones I missed from LAST year, and more everyday moments!). Here are a few photo sneak peeks! I really need to just commit to posting maybe one catch-up post a week. If I did that over the next 10 weeks, I think I’d be caught up!

8. Create at least 5 products for my TpT store and go to VEGAS for the TpT Seller’s Conference! I’m not even gonna list my 5 products here as I have so many started and not finished, but I definitely want to collaborate with my 11-year-old son Mo on another writing project like this one, and I want to make some math fact fluency games for our soon-to-be 3rd graders.

9. EXERCISE! Seriously, I do get exercise but not really purposeful exercise. A fellow TpT seller came up with a great idea: 100 MILES (or more or less for your particular stage in life) in 100 DAYS this summer! I’m in!

I am planning to walk around our property and the neighboring property, which is full of hills and beautiful land. I really have no excuse other than not getting up to get this done before The Prez must leave for his workday.

Besides, I scored some new $120 tennies at the Shoe Fun Place on their clearance rack for $30 right before my trip. I did NOT take them to China btw. I don’t recommend taking any shoes there that you don’t want to part with upon your return home. I’m just sayin’.

10. PRAY MORE! Can we ever do this enough? No, we can’t. I do feel like though I’ve gotten out of the habit of intentional and moment-by-moment prayers.

I really feel pricked to pray specifically for our children, and I’m going to be reading this book, Praying Circles Around Your Children. Our small group at church worked through his book, The Circle Maker, and it is applicable and practical and filled with stories of hope and the power of prayer! I plan to download the kindle version and get started today!

How about you? If you’d like to write up your post or share at Deanna’s blog, you can go there to link up, share, and be encouraged by other 10 Things I Want to Do This Summer lists!