Life goes on, people grow up, we get older every day.

Amazing, isn't it, how time flys?  I can't believe it's been almost two years since I've last posted. Much has changed in my family's lives over the past two years. Emily had another sweet baby boy named, Tommy. He's as blonde as ever with crystal blue eyes, just like his big brother.  Steven and Emily moved to Allen, Texas, this past August. Steven got a new position with Ernst and Young after recieving his Master's of Accountancy. Cole moved to Brooklyn, New York, to follow his girlfriend, Victoria. He has a job cooking for an upscale Japanese resturant in Manhatten. He seems to really enjoy it! After a year hiatus, Cole is working to get back into college.  Truman left for a two-year mission in Bogota, Colombia, on November 4, 2014. Currently, he's still in the in the Missionary Training Center, learning Spanish and Gospel lessons.  Quinn is in 8th grade and really enjoys his big circle of friends and football!  My 80 year old mom, Bama, lives with us.  She moved back in last July after being placed on Hospice. Shea's been living with pulmonary hypertention for several years Although having Mom live with us has its daily challenges; with issues of house arrest (she cannot be left alone) to pain control, we are blessed to have her in our home.

Who does this?

The other day I came home from work and saw yet another permanent ink had been penned on one of my cook books.  As you can tell, there are three different colors, signifying three different times my husband wrote on my cook book.  The first time Rick wrote on the book was a few years ago when he found a pizza dough recipe in the book.  So he wrote, "PIZZA" on the spine.  About a year or two later, he wrote, "short PIZZAdough recipe."  Most recently, he wrote the specific page number, "p. 259" so as not to be any confusion about what and where!

Who does that?  When I inquired about the writing, Rick said, "I kept having to find it once I was in the book so I wrote the page number down.  You don't use the book anyway."  I guess he hasn't heard about sticky notes.......I think I know what I'm getting him for Valentine's Day.

This is a test.

Things I know about Christmas.

• I know that I don't like pretzels but pair pretzels with chocolate and/or caramel and you have a winner.  I can't stop eating that kind of concoction.  
• I know I hate flashing Christmas lights wherever they are, on a Christmas tree or outside on a house or bush.  I hate them.  There is no reason for them to flash.  Nope, none at all.
• I know I don't like it when it's cold outside and yet it doesn't feel like Christmas without some kind of weather other than really warm, like we've been experiencing this year.
• I know I feel pretty darn lucky that I happened upon "Rudolph" tonight while channel surfing and my family and I got to watch it from the very beginning.  Seriously, made my holiday.
• I know how hateful and hard it was to get our Christmas cards done last year and how easy breasy it was this year.  Thank goodness for small miracles.
• I know don't like it when the single strand of lights on the house is all cattywhampus.  I love big, old fashioned lights for the outside of our house as perfectly straight as possible.  This year we switched to all white lights on the house.  I love them.
• I know it's exhausting to decorate my home for Christmas but I love to see the enthusiasm of my youngest get into the Christmas decorating spirit when he takes it upon himself to cut out snowflakes to add to the decor because, "There just aren't enough decorations!"
• I know I love my family and the reason we celebrate Christmas.  I am far beyond blessed.

Family pictures

We had family pictures taken for the first time in a couple of years due to Cole being on his mission.  It was a nice morning full of the same Tipton/Hale tricks and moves to make a photo session memorable.

Winston was adorable and smiled while, in most of the pictures, he held onto a Smartie that I had given him as a bribe.  He never ate it.

 Smartie in hand.

 Steven with his Mini-Me on his shoulders.

 Oh, just a few of the poses...there are more like these.  Lots more.

 What a cute kid.

 We love Yoga, apparently.

 My only daughter.  Such a beauty.

 Quinn had a tongue/smile issue.....don't know what happened.

The other day Rick, Truman, Quinn and I were driving home from some event and a conversation about puberty ensued.  I guess the kids in his 6th grade class were talking about it and how bad it can be when Truman offered;

"Puberty was pretty good to me."

"Why?" Quinn asked.

"Have you seen me?"  Truman replied.  That sums it up.

Christmas 2012 is on its way!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

After much grief and pain, our 2012 Christmas cards are done.  This just may be the hardest part of Christmas!

A band of coyote.

Late last night or early this morning, (I say it that way because it was 2:30 a.m., so whichever way you're going, it's either really late or really early) I laid in bed suffering from insomnia and I heard a band of coyote howling outside my window.  They could have been miles away, but with the beautiful weather we've been sleeping with our windows open, giving us an up close and personal experience of the wildlife sounds that go on at night.

We live on the outskirts of town and although having coyote cavorting in the middle of the night is not an everyday experience, it does happen from time to time.  Lately we've been getting a lot more wildlife visits than normal due to the earth movers a couple of miles down the road preparing the land for a new housing development.  There are stories of  rattlesnakes, scorpions, hyenas, field mice, etc., making themselves comfortable in our little neighborhoods.

My own son and two of  his friends chose to play with a rattlesnake a few weeks back that they found in a nearby greenbelt.  I cannot confirm nor deny if the snake was alive before or after these boys met Mr. Rattle.

There's no head because the boys removed it....somehow.  Sometimes I wonder what happens with the thought process of 16 year old boys when real live danger if facing them.  This was definitely a, "Let's play with it!" mentality.  Scary!

Did you know if there was a group of rattlesnake, it would be called a rhumba of rattlesnakes.  Who knew?  I do because I looked it up.  I can keep going:

If you have a group of......

Pony:  A string of ponies
Tiger:  An ambush of tigers
Toads:  A knot of toads
Owl:  A parliament of owls
Monkey:  A troop of monkeys
Raven:  An unkindness of ravens
Gnu:  An implausibility of gnus - Use that one in a sentence.
Cow:  A kine of cows (twelve cows are a flink)
Emu:  A mob of emus

Okay, I'll stop.  I find this fascinating, obviously.  Trust me on this one, there are more of these... a lot more.