Simple Joys: A Bucket List

This Bucket List had its beginning in high school. It’s been edited once in college and once more in motherhood to add new, changing priorities.

1. Marry my best friend.
2. Be adored by a child.
3. Teach a child to walk.
4. Join a sorority in college.
5. Graduate college.
6. Visit Israel and walk the same paths as Jesus.
7. Go horse back riding through the mountains.
8. Give a speech about something I feel passionate about.
9. Write a letter to an old friend when it would be so much easier to call or text.
10. Learn how to make sourdough bread from scratch.
11. Be mostly dependent on a home garden for our produce instead of the grocery store.
12. Attend a country music award show.
13. Discover and change my worst personality trait.
14. Be an “honored guest” at an event.
15. Write a book.
16. Write a children’s book series.
17. Be a bridesmaid in someone’s wedding.
18. Get a tattoo.
19. Learn canning and pickling.
20. Homeschool my children.
21. Learn to play an instrument.
22. Pay off all debt besides our mortgage.
23. Try my luck out in a Cash Grab machine.
24. Go to the hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque.
25. Adopt a child.
26. Move out of state.
27. Attend a writing conference.
28. Write a New York Times Best-Selling book.
29. Learn photography and fill my home with family pictures.
30. Renew my wedding vows.
31. Make it to at least 1 high school or college reunion.
32. Learn calligraphy.
33. Take a kickboxing class.
34. Make a coffee table photo book of Savannah to share with guests.
35. Become fluent in Spanish.
36. Invest in beautiful stationary and be known as a letter writer/card giver.
37. See all my children saved.
38. Travel solo.
39. Keep a recipe box as an heirloom.
40. Have a bonfire pit in the backyard and friends over regularly to sit by it.
41. Own a cow.
42. Milk a cow.
43. Take intimate pregnancy or nursing pictures to remember the beauty of motherhood.
44. Get a Master’s Degree.
45. Plan and carry out a home renovation or remodel.
46. Raise children alongside friends that are like family.
47. Host a small group weekly within our home.
48. Raise my children with less “things” and more “experiences.”
49. Travel internationally with my children.
50. Form a cross-country friendship… a modern day pen pal.
51. Learn a few line dances.
52. Host an annual “adult sleepover” with Mom friends in a hotel.
53. Rent an RV for a roadtrip vacation.
54. Learn watercolor with watercolor workbooks.
55. Make my own salad dressings.
56. Live by a limited social media schedule.
57. Volunteer somewhere with my children alongside me.
58. Wake up before the rest of the household for a daily exercise routine.
59. Turn my yard into a field of wildflowers.
60. Live on a farm.
61. Live somewhere with an unobstructed view of the mountains.
62. Go on a mission trip.
63. Paint a “Miracle In Motion” ceiling tile for the UF Shands Cardiac ICU where Savannah stayed.
64. Get a wildflower tattoo.
65. Have Gram’s wedding photos custom framed.
66. Learn to make my own lattes with more natural ingredients.
67. See the Northern Lights.
68. Go Dog-Sledding.
69. Have an unnatural hair color for a while- maybe lavender?
70. Pierce my nose.
71. See a white Christmas.
72. Adopt a signature fashion piece or style.
73. Help someone financially start up their lifelong dream.
74. Learn self defense.
75. Inspire someone to “choose life” for their baby.
76. Become foster parents.
77. Zipline through the rain forest.
78. Put my hands in wet cement.
79. Take regular camping trips with friends.
80. Join, or start, a homeschool co-op.
81. Own a Jeep Wrangler with a Life Is Good tire cover.
82. See Alcatraz in California.
83. Create a beautiful, functional “cottage” home that tells our story and bears artifacts from the places we’ve been more so than being “styled.”
84. Have a personal office/library one day. Maybe a very vintage, feminine wildflower theme since the rest of my house is more rustic for Justin.
85. Build a treehouse.
86. Pray with someone to receive Jesus.
87. Love a friend’s child and have a relationship with them as close as with my own child.
88. With a group of friends- thrift outfits for one another and wear them out to dinner.
89. Prioritize forming and holding onto close friendships throughout adulthood, even when family life gets busy.
90. Get my concealed weapon’s permit.
91. Take a writing retreat by myself.
92. Complete Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps to Financial Freedom.
93. Receive the gift of speaking in tongues.
94. Receive a vision from God.
95. Take Savannah to Disney World.
96. Take Savannah on an out-of-state vacation.
97. Refinish a “side of the road treasure” for our home.
98. Visit the family parks in Australia.
99. Own a piece of angel art from Deann Hebert.
100. Learn to dry and press florals to create art.
101. Learn to use power tools and do my own DIY home and garden projects.