Lemons are Lame but Add Sugar...Ahh Lemonade

"One's life....cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free...Therefore, how can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, 'Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!'... Real faith...is required to endure this necessary but painful developmental process."

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926-2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

I love that our Heavenly Father has restored His church on the earth and just like anciently we have Prophets and Apostles. Elder Maxwell has been one of my favorite apostles he taught with authenticity as he struggled with severe health problems while walking in faith. This quote from him has become a favorite of mine, I think of it when things haven't gone the way I had hoped or even prayed for. This quote was taken from an article he wrote entitled "The Growth Required to Return Home." We lived before we came to earth and we will all live again because Heavenly Father sent His son, our Savior. We can make our individual experiences work for our good if we seek guidance from Him.

Confection Creations

When I had Adrianna a friend from the church made us dinner. For dessert she made these yummy cupcakes.
The drumsticks were made with a spice cake, she put a donut hole on top then frosted it with vanilla icing and then rolled them in crushed cereal. She made the drumstick bone out of melted white chocolate. As you can see in the picture someone took a bite out of one.
The cupcake that I ate was the mashed potato. the mashed potato was made out of a generous amount of icing, then she drizzled the potatoes with caramel sauce and the tab of butter was a lemon Starburst. The peas and carrots were made from lime runts and a cut up orange Starburst.
Then the dessert was a chocolate sprinkle cupcake.

I just thought this was so creative I had to share. What kid (or adult) wouldn't want to sit down to a meal like this. Thanks Mindy!

You Can't Catch Me I'm the Gingerbread Girl

I was driving into Tucson minding my own business when WAMO I see a FLASH from a speed camera. Everyday I pass a speed camera on my way into Benson, but I had never seen a speed camera setup on the way to Tucson, so naturally I was caught off guard and apparently speeding. I have been anticipating my little "present " in the mail for weeks and finally yesterday it came.

Yep that's me! I can tell by the hanging vanilla candle from my rear view mirror :) When Parkin saw the picture he said, "Momma that's you and that's Adrianna's seat." Observant little lad.

The damage: $181.50. I had been clocked at 81 mph. Which isn't so bad when the speed limit is 75 mph, but because I was about to go under a train bridge they reduce the speed limit to 65mph. I don't know why they have the speed reduction, unless trolls are jumping out ( which I guess could get messy).


Here is the silver lining. I know there are some of you who think there shouldn't be any silver lining, your thinking you broke the law and you should be punished. Well Ha! I should have the right to plead my case in front of a cop at the time of said incident (I sorta believe that). Back to the the silver lining, the car is registered in Benjamin's name therefor it is his ticket!


The are are three options on my NOTICE OF VIOLATION

A) "Pay the sanction"
B) "If you were not the driver, you must include an enlarged, Clear copy of your driver license to EXCLUDE yourself as the driver"
C) "Contest responsibility"

Nowhere does it say if your spouse, kid, friend, mother in law, bum at the circle K was driving your vehicle you still have to pay. No, simply it says, if you were not the driver exclude yourself of the ticket. SWEET!.

So because the car is registered in Benjamin's name those darn cameras can only catch him when he is driving my car. We are now going to change the registration on Benjamin's car to my name, covering him if he gets paparazzi taking pictures of him, I mean if the speed cameras catch him. I will just have to be extra careful when I drive his car. I honestly am not that big of a speedier, the last person to get pulled over was Benjamin (sorry for ratting you out) but he was able to talk with the cop and viola no ticket.

So take that Big Brother, you maybe watching me but you can't catch me. There are no friendly foxes offering me a ride in Benson so there!