This is Fawn with another cake or two. These have chocolate fondant. The apples are a cute idea, huh. The cake business has slowed down during the winter. That's good with me because there is so much going on. I need to add some more with news of our trip and Koty's basketball, etc.

Halloween

Janell here. Mark's kids have been off track so they have been taking turns, two at a time, coming down to stay with LeAnne and grandma. Since we have been moving over here, my kids have been able to play with the cousins and they have had a grand time. They have taken over the small cabin by LeAnne's house as their playhouse and have made a rock path in front and a garden spot and more! Hannah and Matt were here for Halloween and the ward trunk or treat. The school also had a trunk or treat so we didn't really go to any houses.

Here is my Claire-bear as a ballerina (love the ballet slipper socks!) In the other picture, Matt as a power ranger, Kirsten as Snow White, Hannah as a pirate, Claire as a ballerina and Jannika as a witch. Fun times!

THE "LIME" CAKE

Fawn here. I finally got the pictures of the "lime" cake so here it is. This is the 4th cake I did that weekend of August 8-9, 2008. Kota helped me cut the blue and green fondant strips. He held the straight edge while I cut with a pizza roller. They are stuck to the cake with piping gel. The limes were already at the reception so I cut them and placed them on there. I wished they had been darker green but the cake turned out great anyway. The bride and groom loved it.

Mom and Dad's 45th Anniversary

Montell and Kathryn Seely - 45 Years Together.

Look at this gorgeous couple. This is where it all began.

Mom and Dad met at a dance at BYU. I guess you could say they swept each other off their feet. They square danced throughout their years together and shared a special waltz every year in the Castle Valley Pageant.

They were married 27 August 1963 in the Idaho Falls Temple. Seven children have blessed their home. We all share special memories of growing up on the family farm in Castle Dale and Orangeville. At this time there are 19 grand children . . .

. . . all because two people fell in love.

Wedding Cakes

This is Fawn. I did 4 cakes this weekend. Crazy huh?! 2 on Fri. 2 on Sat. Here are 3 of them. On the 4th I forgot my camera so the photographer is going to email me the "lime cake." I'll include it next time. This first one was simple. 2 tier buttercream and a few bright flowers was all they wanted. I like this cake stand and I was glad I could use it for a wedding cake.

This next one was fun. Like the marbling effect? The reception was outside on a warm evening so we decided keep the cake in the kitchen until just before, hence the lovely backdrop.

Here's another outside reception. These are gladiolas. They're big so luckily the cake is big. Now, why did I do 4 cakes in one weekend, you ask? Well, I had already committed to 2 when we found out about a Miller Reunion at Wahlsburg (the lake, zip line, water slide, barn, fun) so Tim said he would take the kids and I could do the cakes in peace and quiet. So when 2 more calls came for cakes, I said sure, the more the merrier. Brooke stayed with me but she went to a baby sitter for most of the daytime. Koty also decided to stay home so he helped me with some of the technical aspects of cake decorating.

By the way, Tim ran a half marathon on Saturday morning in Provo Canyon. His relatives who also ran are: Troy, Travis, Traci, and Janae (Trent's wife). Pretty cool, huh.

Trek and Bees

Hi, this is Fawn. My young men went on the trek! Our stake youth went to Wyoming to do the handcart trek at Martin's Cove and Rocky Ridge. This picture was taken as Hunter and Koty were heading out the door at 12:01 Monday morning July 28, 2008. Like their pioneer clothes? (Except Hunter's camo headband.) No levi's allowed. We had Hunter all packed and prepared ahead of time. Then on Sunday Koty announced that he had decided to go. We scrounged up some clothes and gear for him. There were 400 people going. They took 8 buses and other support vehicles. They drove all night. They walked and walked and walked for 3 1/2 days. They made it home on Thursday night. It was a great experience for them. Something they'll remember forever.

THese next 3 photos are from a Salt Lake Bees game. Hunter couldn't go because of a state baseball practice. So we let the others choose a friend to bring along. Grandma kept Brooke for us. Cassidy brought one of her softball mates, Maddie Blauer. Koda brought Kovic Bailey, a good friend from Ephraim. Ridge brought cousin/friend Jace Miller in their Cubs uniforms, of course. We LOVE baseball.

Pageant

(This is Janell.) The kids have had a fun time participating in the Pageant this year. Hannah and Jannika were Cora and Bessie for Kyle and me as Joe and Tilda. Jon was a pioneer and a great squaredancer. Brenda brought Matthew and Luke down for 2 nights to be pioneers and Nephites and Luke was also our Little Joey one night. Kirsten was Little Joey the other night we performed. Hannah and Jannika loved going to the pioneer village and collecting horseshoe rings and rope etc. They play so well together. The kids all had a great time exploring at the site just like we used when we were little. LeAnne has helped us out so much especially by watching the baby while we do our parts.

News from LeAnne

So, the above graphic is a map of the route we walked for the Days of '47 Parade yesterday, July 24, 2008. Dad and I got up at 3:30 that morning, and drove out of the yard at 4:30. Mark met us at the line-up area on West Temple at 7:30. We had previously arranged for Steve Beagley (Kyle's dad) to take our rawhide handcart to the line-up area, since he had a truck and we were in a car. Steve then rode with Lee and Pam Jeffs in the covered wagon they had hauled up to be the Castle Valley Pageant entry. Dad and Mark and I pulled our handcart with several other handcarts in the Sons of Utah Pioneers entry. By 8:30, our handcart was ready to go, but Mark and I needed to hook up with a shuttle driver so that we could leave our cars at Liberty Park (the parade terminus) and still get back to the starting point to walk with the handcart. We never did find that guy. We simply decided that Mark should leave his truck at Liberty Park and I would bring him back to West Temple and leave my car parked there, then he would bring Dad and me back to it after the parade. Well, the traffic was so congested, that by the time we maneuvered to the park, we had only five minutes until the parade would start. And the SUP handcarts were to be entry number 5. So we hightailed it north on State Street. We got to about 300 South by 9:05 and knew that the parade had already begun. So we parked the car and walked up the parade route until we met up with Dad and the handcart and then fell right into step with him. It was a little adventure for Mark and me. And we all had a nice time walking and waving. We saw a few people we knew---Enid Cox, the Woolseys from Castle Dale, our cousins Deon and Ross Pincock. After the parade and our nice rest in the park at the end, we went to Mark's house for noodle casserole and ice water. We talked about the plans for the trek after the pageant. Then Dad and I loaded up and headed for home. It was a pretty good trip.

Fawn, you asked about the author I mentioned, Dick Francis. I don't know that much about him, really, except that he is a former steeplechase jockey who got injured and then tried his hand at writing fiction. He has written over 40 mystery novels, and they all center around the horse-racing world and various things connected to it. His protagonist is always a guy in his mid-thirties, but they are not all the same character. Sometimes the protagonist is a steeplechase jockey and sometimes a veterinarian or a horse-trainer or even a photographer or painter of horse portraits or caterer at the racetrack. The mystery is always interesting, and the romance is very low-key. The protagonist usually becomes a hero by saving the day or getting out of a tight jam or something like that. I really recommend his books as a light read that engages the mind and makes your brain work. I'm not even that much of a horse person, let alone a racing person, but I've really enjoyed the 15 or so of his books that I've read so far.

Heading to pageant practice for now. When is everyone planning to attend?

The Beagley's Summer So Far...

Every summer of our marriage has had its joys, adjustments, happy moments and challenges. This one is proving to be no different. Above is a photo shoot that I did of the girls in early May. Below is a pic of Claire in the hospital about a week later. You all know about our scary experience when she stopped breathing and in the few seconds when I didn't know if she was going to be taken away from us, I was so grateful that I had taken these cute pictures of my girls. After Claire's incident, she was life flighted to Primary Children's where we spent 3 days and they did countless tests to see what was wrong with her. They figured out that it was probably reflux and she is on some medication for it. She has been a fussier baby than my others and we don't know if it is still the reflux that is making her that way or if it is colic or ??? I said to mom the other day, "parenthood is the biggest guessing game you will ever play!" I have also had a pretty emotional time getting used to having 3 kids and with Claire's added fussiness. I just hope she can grow out of it and be a happier baby.

This picture, of course, is at the blessing luncheon. Thanks to those of you who were able to attend. It was a very nice day.
This is a cake that I did last weekend for Kyle's step-sister's wedding.

Sorry these are out of order. This is Jannika's birthday cake from her luau party. I can't believe my little girl is 5 and getting ready to go to Kindergarten next month. She is very excited. She had some dental surgery on Tuesday in Provo. They put her out and even had to pull one of her teeth. She is playing Bessie in the pageant with Hannah as Cora (and we are Joe and Tilda again). Thanks to LeAnne for all her help with my kids during the surgery, at the pageant site and just in general. We love you!

There are more things that I want to write about but this will have to do for now! For more updates you can also check my other blog http://www.kyleandjanell.blogspot.com/

MILLER NEWS OF JULY 2008

I hope this is going to work. It's such an excellent idea. I hope the kids will all put things on too. This time I wanted to just choose a few pics to share from the past few months.
Dakota is a sophomore in this picture. He's 4th from the right counting Coach Hugentobler. He was on the Manti High School basketball team. This year they won the 2A state championship so this was an assembly to recognize the team. It was so great watching Kota and the other boys play and work as a team. Hunter and Cassidy also played on BB teams. They love it.
The next shot is little Brooke. This is how she learned all her colors. She would play with the play doh and match objects to each color. She turned 2 in April.
Next we have a photo of Tim and Brooke in the sky ride at Lagoon. We had a great day there with some cousins and friends.
The next pic is Hunter's winning baseball team. He's 3rd from the right on the front row. They took first at Ephraim Lions Tournament. Then they went on to take third place in the state tournament in Spanish Fork just this past week. They were an excellent team and very fun to watch. Hunter plays 2nd base and pitches and sometimes outfield. Koty also played baseball for the Manti Templars. He plays shortstop. Cassidy played for an accelerated team and a city team. She pitches and plays 2nd base. Ridge played coach pitch this year. He mostly played shortstop.
Next we have Cassidy and Brooke on the 4-wheeler. We went camping a couple weeks ago and the main camping activities were 4-wheeling and motorcycle riding (not to mention fishing, shooting guns, drinking pop, and eating junk food). We actually camped at the spot where Tim proposed to me in 1991. There's also a tree with our names carved on it from the year we met at snow college in 1987. Anyway, it was fun to get away for a couple days.
This last picture was taken in February for Ridge's baptism. We had a fun day with lots of Seely and Miller cousins helping us celebrate. We all clean up pretty well, don't you think?
Love, Fawn

Checking in

Hello. This is LeAnne. This is my first blog post. How hip am I? Today I'm visiting at Janell's house, and we have spent the morning setting up this blog. What a great benefit it will be to have our family updates all in one place and easy to access together! So here's a little update on me. I'm helping Dad and Mom get ready for the pageant. I won't be playing Millie this year, but I'll be helping Janell and Brenda with their kids behind the scenes. Also, a friend of mine from Orem is bringing her ward's youth group to see the pageant and camp overnight and have a little tour of the Castle Dale Cemetery to see the graves of the REAL people in the pageant. No news in the social column, but the work area is going fine. I occasionally temp at Joane's office in Price and also for Carolyn Jorgensen at Castle Dale City. And the typing at home is going along as per normal. My friend Ellen Smith Hadfield is living in Castle Dale, as you may know, and her family got asked to play Wink and Anna in the pageant! She was very excited and attributes it to the fact that they are living in the red brick house where Wink and Anna lived. More likely it's because they are an energetic young couple with four little boys the right ages for the parts! Ellen and I go yard saling together occasionally. And we trade Jane Austen movies. Here's a little movie review . . . "Finding Jane" was very good but not exactly realistic. "Miss Austen Regrets" was also very good and a lot more likely to have been what really happened. And here's a book review . . . "Straight" is my favorite Dick Francis novel so far. I've read about 15 of his 30 + novels. The others are also good to greater and lesser degrees. I'd like to read ALL of his books eventually. Okay, that's enough yammering for today. I'm looking forward to reading what you all have to say!

Welcome!

This is Janell. Welcome to wonderful world of blogging! I must admit that I am an addict but you don't have to be to enjoy an occasional foray into the Seely Seasons blog. Please feel free to post an update or just a picture and leave a comment on others' posts. Don't feel like you can only post if you have something BIG to talk about. We want to see even just a picture of your latest project or ballgame! I hope that this can be an easy and fun way to stay connected with each other. Enjoy!