No this isn't an advertisement for Sonic Drive Inn...

This is a picture of my daughter, going to drive on her own with her very recently acquired drivers license, to her job at Sonic. Oh the gray hair is coming quickly...

Funniest part is she now has her license before her 24 year old brother! She thinks it funny. Now when he comes to visit she says, she can drive him around to do things. ;) Silly girl.

This is where you hope and pray that your child survives the early driving years as you did. Mostly unscathed, lessons learned not to harshly or dramatically. And mostly you pray they walk in that door each and everyday whole and happy.

Sod Party

Before...

Saturday morning family and friends came over to help us lay some sod in our backyard. It is so amazing to watch the transformation of dirt to green in just a couple of hours. What is it about a green lawn that just makes you feel good? Most of our yard is desert landscaping but this small square. I love it, Lloyd loves it, Tig loves it, the dogs love it! All around its a good thing ;)

After...

Here is a few pics of the work crew having some breakfast before work begins. I have to say thanks to everyone that helped... Devin, Morgan, Ashley, Forrest, Shayla, Josh, David, Britni, Grandpa Pruet, Tigone (the official grass tester) and of course Lloyd. What a great bunch. Thanks guys!

Finally more than a couple of almonds...

My small but wonderful almond harvest :)


We have lived in this house for more than 13 years now. In all those years I have planted (and replanted) fruit and nut trees in the hope of actually being able to harvest and eat what the trees produce. Can I just say, yeah right! It may sound silly to be excited over 4 dozen little almonds, but that is the most any tree has produced that is edible.

It is like UGHHHH... Every year I have this nice orange tree that produce the best "lemons". Pomegranate bushes that, this year cracked and dried up by August, and a lemon tree that still has not produced one lemon! I have had horses and dogs eat my trees several times and have had to start from scratch again. So those cute little almonds are very exciting...

Almonds bring back some great childhood memories for me. In our back yard we had these two big beautiful almond trees. I remember as a kid going out in the fall and picking the almonds up off the ground, shelling them and eating them right there. It is funny, but I love raw almonds. No salt, not roasted or candied. Just plain straight from the tree raw almonds.

For those that haven't seen almonds from a tree this is what they look like:



First they have a fuzzy outer shell that when ripe opens up.



the hard inner shell is what
you see in the grocery store
when you buy them in the shell.



after you crack open that shell
you have the yummy almond.


Hopefully someday, I'll have more than a few dozen almonds. Who knows maybe I'll actually get pecans, peaches, apples, pears, apricots and whatever else I get planted :)

Never leave a Tigger alone with a cake :)

Today was a Tiggy day. I love when Tiggy comes over. She is such a little ray of sunshine! She can always make me smile. I like to do things with her. She likes to help switch laundry, fold clothes, play with the dogs, whatever, she likes to help me.

Well, today she decided to help me out with a practice cake I was making. In the kitchen she'll pull one of the chairs up to the center island and help me with what I'm doing. So, today as I had been working with fondant, I gave her some and some Halloween cookie cutters to work with.




(What? I just helping ;P Aunt Jan)


I covered the cake and had to go the other room for a minute. I had moved the actual cake over by the stove area and went to do my thing. When I figure out it is really quite, (very unusual ;) I go to investigate. Tig had moved her chair from the island to the cake and was helping me finish it by "squishing it". She was so very proud of her self. Actually, I think she was trying to eat it, cause every time I mentioned lunch she told me she wanted yummy cake. She didn't like when I told her no, not till after lunch and the cake was done.



Nice crimping technique,


I also like all the cute little finger
marks all over.


I think this might be all the new rage :). Thank goodness it was a "just for fun/practice cake". It probably would not be as funny if it were actually for something! Just gotta love those babies.

I think I remember her mom doing something similar but with a cowboy hat! She was just fixing it for her head... :)

Latest Cake

One of Ashley's best friend from elementary
school likes to come over and make things
with me. She likes the cake decorating and
candy making. She is willing to help me
out if I need an extra hand. So this weekend
while her Mom was out of town she wanted
to make her a birthday cake. She had an
idea of colors and the polka-dots so this is
what we created this weekend. It is a lemon
cake with a lemon curd filling, glazed with a
lemon curd/icing glaze. The fondant is Satin
Ice (vanilla with lemon added to it.)

Happy Birthday Laura! Hope you enjoy
your cake!

All that family

Just a little family love...

Happy Birthday Morgan!

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!


One of my favorite pictures
of my Morgan :)


Don't you just wish we were in primary right about now. We could sing about a dozen different Happy Birthday Songs to Morgan! My niece Morgan is the big 28 today! Happy Birthday Morgan! Good thing you all can't here me singing huh?


I love all my nieces and nephews. Morgan and I have a weird bond however. She was born when I was 12, lived next door to us for several years. I took her everywhere with me when ever I could! She went to ball games, friends houses, she and Dom came and stayed with me at college for a couple weeks, vacations, the list goes on and on. She has spent so much time with me that some people thought she was mine... I'm sure it's the curly blond hair and blue eyes :).

Since it's her birthday, I made her a cake (of course). Blackberry flavor with blackberry frosting! Yum Yum!

So we are off to celebrate Morgan at her house!

20 years...

October 1, 1988




September 6, 2008

My how 20 years just flies by! Today, Lloyd and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. It seems like I've always known him and that we've been married forever! And I mean that in a GOOD WAY! Honest Cupcake :)...

Just think of all the things that you've done in the last 20 years. I know for us, there has been a lot of ups and downs. Happiness and sorrow. Adventures and everyday life. Health and sickness. Family, kids, church, work, etc., it has been a very full 20 years.

Last weekend we decided to take a little trip to one of our favorite get-a-ways and went fly fishing and leaf peeping. It was so much fun. Thanks to Dad and Jerri for letting us stay at their house and fish their pond! As a bonus we were able to see them, both my sisters and my stepbrother Doug and his family. It was great!

Here's a few pics of our fun weekend.

All I can say is... Lloyd...

Leaf Peeping trip up Cedar mountain.

It was gorgeous up their!

Just pretend we're standing by

each other :)

I love the fall and all the vibrant

colors! It is my favorite time of

year!

Visiting my sister Lynne.

Taking a tour of her not

yet finished home.

(Note: Tonya's is finished, but

I didn't get any pictures!)

Lloyd fishing,

One of his catches,

that got-a-way :),

Another nice rainbow!

Me fishing,

The two that went home.

Normally it is just catch

and release, unless they

get injured. These two

decided to swallow my

hook!

Here's to another great 20 years!