Disneyland!

December is for Disneyland?  What?!  Last weekend we went off to Disney with a favorite family from the Valley.

We just happened to be going to D-land the same time as our old neighbors, so we met up and experienced D-land together.  Truman's best friend is Drew, they've been buds since Kindergarten.  Quinn's best friend is Cooper and they've been bffs since they were 3. 

This picture is of me and my boys.

Don't ask where Rick is.

He showed up 1 1/2 hours later after getting DayQuil for Cole.

Long story.

I thought the boys were the only ones being goofs, I was mistaken.....did you notice my sweater?  I spent half the day with it buttoned like that.  You'd think I would know how to button my sweater correctly by now.  I'm pretty sure it's the boys' fault though.......

 Cooper and Quinn lovin' some honey.  They were initially boycotting splash mountain, that's why they were sitting with the kiddie honey pots. Once the others went on the ride, they grew some chest hair and went on the ride too.

Who took the picture, you may ask? Well, I don't have chest hair and it was too cold to for me to get wet.  Get real.

 I've talked before about how Rick gets in my, "head space".  Point in case.  This is me saying, "Hey, you're in my head space, cock your head to your left, please.

 What would an hour wait at Indiana Jones' be without watching, "Star Wars," on an ipod?!

 Truman and Drew, 'nuff said.

 Cole wasn't feeling great so he took a little rest on the island that used to be Tom Sawyer's, not sure what they call it now.

 Ah, the joy of a fake smile.  He still looks cute.

Truman, Drew and Brady sitting on lots of treasure.



Karen was the only one over 18 to join the tea cups with the younger boys.  That girls is a risk taker!



 

Okay, the best thing about this picture, other than we're almost all in it (except Karen), is that my sweater is buttoned correctly!  Thanks for that.

Thanksgiving with the Tiptons

It's taken a while for me to get these up on my little blog.  There was no cooperation with my computer in my endeavor, so...it took me some time to figure it out.  Some time soon I'll have a computer savvy person come to visit it and he/she will make it all better. 

We had a very fun holiday with the Tiptons, 31 of them in total.  We only were lacking Cherrisse's family who celebrated Texas style in Lubbock.

Tiffany was the hostess this year and she did a wonderful job!  She set a cute table(s).

The preparations went on for hours.

Steven fried a turkey, Cajun style

while Tiffany cooked a traditional one in the oven.

Part of the day consisted of writing three things we were grateful for

and then trying to pick who wrote what.

Tiff even gave an Old Navy gift certificate to the one who

picked the most people.

I lost by one.

Dang.

Here's our

"Thankful for" leaves.

Our great host and hostess.

I don't envy them.

This seems sick and wrong and yet we all do it.

When your belly gets big,

put it to work!

Our cute decor.

 Some of the first to be seated.  Jamie, my-sister-in-law, and me........I was hungry.

Papa, always a crowd pleaser with the kids.

Getting ready for our

Kick-Ball game.

We always play boys against the girls.

It can get ugly.

It was also cold!

Really!

Seriously.

Emily holding the last born Tipton grandchild who just turned one

while preparing for Winston's arrival in January.

The, "Day after Thanksgiving hike"

with the men and kids.

We women are smarter than you think!

 I think the kids had a great time!  After the hike, they went and shot guns and then we hit up Costa Vida for dinner and a movie then more shopping.



20103

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School Picnic

Friday Quinn's elementary school

had a

picnic for all the families.

Like all good parents,

I got our picnic food from

In-N-Out Burger

as directed by my son.

I think all of the parents were there as well as

the

Winter Visitors!

We had a guest on our blanket.

Yes, an ant came to our picnic.

However, I can't see it anywhere in this shot.

Believe me, it's there....somewhere.

Maybe in the shadow?

Here's a view from our spot.

It was such a nice day.

Almost too warm.

Gotta love AZ weather in the Fall/Winter.

Emily's a Winner!

So Emily Zoe won this fashion type of review

from this really cute girl,

who runs a popular blog,

who lives here in the valley.

She ran a contest that Emily entered and was one of five winners!

The blog is:

cardiganempire.blogspot.com

It's super cute, especially if you're

well, of the younger type.

Em got to meet the stylist at

Anthropology,

the best store ever,

for her style session.

This is one of the outfits that was picked out for her.

Can't hardly see that 29+ week baby there.

I kind of invited myself to go and watch.

Is that weird?

My rationalization is that Pei Wei is right by

so it was an obvious choice!

Two birds with one stone.

I love multi-tasking!

Fukuoka, Japan!!

Although I'm a little late in posting the news,

we're still really excited!

On Friday, October 22, 2010

R. Cole Tipton got his mission call

after waiting for

three weeks and one day to

FUKUOKA, JAPAN

That was a long time to wait.

But, it was worth it!

Who would have thought another Tipton was going

Asian?

Not me!

I should have known.

Does this look like your typical missionary?

He didn't shave the whole time he waited for his papers.

Was it some form of protest?

Was it some form of hunger strike, except the shaving kind?

No, I'm most definite that it's just being lazy.

Pretty sure that's it.

Cole had the family meet down at the hospital 'cause

I was workin'.

My co-workers watched the scene on the surveillance cameras in triage.

A guy walked buy, obviously of the same religion, and said,

"Kind of a weird place to open your mission call."

Yep.  It was a weird place, but we still had lots of fun.

Once again, the computer's being dumb and I can't load any more photos.

I will get revenge.

Don't worry!

Country Club

Trying to find a place for my dad to live in that's safe, secure and will give him three hot meals a day.

No, not prison.

Just a little country clubish home with other older fellas like him.

This is an adventure in every sense of the word.

Can you say, "extended family"?

Timothy

The other day I went out for a little shopping.

Of course I went to my favorite store

DILLARDS!

They were having a sale upon a sale.

Take an extra 40% off of the lowest sale price.

That kind of sales talk just screams my name.

After purchasing a lovely

Ralph Lauren shirt dress for myself,

I decided to go to the mens' section.

Timothy was there. (That's what his name tag said.)

"Nice to see you again. It's been a long time," he said

as he reached his hand out toward mine to shake.

"Nice to see you too," I said.

Should I be embarrassed that the salesman at

Dillards recognizes me?

"How was your summer?" He said.

"Oh, um, too long. It still feels like summer here."

He let me continue on browsing. I found a shirt for Rick and took it up to his counter to purchase.

"I like your hair," said Timothy, "It's very pretty."

I told him, "Thanks" and went on my way.

I know I shop at that Dillards fairly frequently but, come on, I didn't think I went there enough to be missed.

However, I'm a sucker for a compliment, wherever I have to get one.

An unfortunate event.

Cole was leaving for school Friday morning.

He's studying film

at

Scottsdale Community College.

His transportation happens to also be his

first car.

It's a 1997 Mercury Tracer.

It's purple too,

Barney purple.

As Cole was walking out the front door he said,

"My horn honks randomly so I have to unhook the battery."

"What?"  I said, falling off my chair while I laughed my head off.
(I mean, I really laughed and laughed hard.
I'm still laughing as I write this.)
"Well, when I'm driving and the horn goes off,  I just hit the horn and it stops.

I can't do that when I'm in the house or at school so I have to unhook the battery."
Then he left out the door shaking his head to the sounds of my laughter.

Why is it I find his unfortunate event so completely

hilarious!?

Could it be that it's as it should be?

I mean, he's an 18 year old boy with an old, purple car.

A boy who has given me more trouble than my dog Ted.

(That's saying a lot!)

I think it's one of those Universe things.

This.is.payback.

He's the Man!

On Monday Quinn visited with

Dr. Bodensteiner

of Saint Joseph's Hospital

He's quite the doctor.

I know I've talked about him before but this time I have a picture of him too.

He's the one who diagnosed Quinn.

He's been following Quinn for the last 5 years now.

He's a good man.

I felt a little silly asking for a picture.

But hey, it's my job to take pictures for posterity, right?

This is what he does when he's feeling pain in his shoulder.

Even in his sleep.

Just an everyday bra

On Monday I went to Victoria's Secret to

buy a new bra.

It had been some time since I performed this task.

So long in fact that the sales lady asked,

"What kind of bra are you looking for?"

To which my obvious reply was,

"A good one."

"So, you just need an everyday bra then," she replied?

"Yeah, I guess, just an every day bra."

Um I didn't know there was anything different.

Now I know.

I mean, I guess I've always known

but in my small, efficient world,

a zebra striped, sexy bra costing

a bundle just doesn't serve my needs.

Maybe someday I'll require more than

an everyday bra.

Who knows?

The Eagle Court of Honor

On September 11th, 2010

we finally had Cole's

Eagle Court of Honor

It took some doin' talking Cole into holding one in the first place.

But we have ways of persuasion

and finally he submitted allowing us to

go forward with the ceremony.

It was very nice.

A lot of family and friends came.

Cole had two mentor pins to give out.

One went to Eric Eaves,

who couldn't be there but we accepted the invitation on his behalf.

The other mentor pin went to his sister,

Emily Zoe

for keeping him on the right track and for putting up with him

when he was a ding bat.

She was surprised.

Surprised because she didn't even know

the significance of receiving a mentor pin

and she was surprised Cole acknowledged her hard work

to keep him from a life of crime.

Cole gave me the

mom pin

for the Eagle.

Dad got one too.

Rick presented Cole with the

Eagle pin and

Cole presented me with a dozen roses,

'cause I'm the mom of an Eagle now.

Only two more kids to go.

No sweat!

I figured it out.

Not until yesterday did I ever get the experience of watching a swim meet.

It was pure torture!

Picture this,

108 degrees,

a beautiful sparkling blue pool

that I couldn't touch.

I wanted to drink it!

I wanted to dunk my head and swim all over in it!

At one point, I thought to myself,

"They're not using this lane.

I can just put my feet in a dangle for a little bit."

It was probably the only time in my life that I wished

I wore a bikini to my son's dive meet!

Seriously.

This Guy!

Truman is running for

Freshman

Assembly Director.

For those of you uneducated souls, its

the new title for the old title of

Spirit Director.

Frankly, if

MY SON

is going to be a Spirit Director,

I'd much rather the title be

Assembly Director!

Wouldn't you?!

He's running against

two girls whose moms are, well

uber

 moms.

I mean uber in every sense of the word.

Emily came over Sunday night to help launch his campaign.

Truman's campaign posters say

"Who has two thumbs and will be the best Assembly Director?

This Guy!"

Then we put googly eyes on his eyes on the posters.

(Got it?)

It's priceless.

Thanks Emily Zoe.

Today is my birthday!

This is my kindergarten picture.

I barely tuned 5 when this was taken.

I wore my

Flower girl

dress for the pictures.

As you may gather from the colors of the dress,

the wedding colors were

brown & yellow.

That's the '70s for you!

Ahhh, I loved it so!

I also had some

Buster Brown

shoes to go with.

They were shiny and brown and tan.

I.Loved.them.too!

"What's that toothless smile?"

You may ask.

Well, my teeth were rotten down to the nubbins from being put to bed with a

bottle of apple juice nightly as a baby.

(Don't try that one at home!)

They stayed that way until I started loosing my teeth in

First Grade!

Don't think that wasn't attractive.

Journey

Yes.  This is a barf bag.

The exact type you'd get on an airplane

should the turbulence be too much for ones stomach.

I didn't get a lot of turbulence on this particular flight to

San Francisco,

but I did get to ride with the entire band

JOURNEY

back when I was 16 years old!

Talk about a thrill!

The band was in

First Class.

I wasn't.

I knew this would be a once in lifetime opportunity so,

I walked up to

First Class with my

barf bag and asked

Steve Perry

for his autograph.

He said, "Do you have a pen, sweetheart?"

"Ahh," I looked around to the band members and asked,

"Can I borrow a pen?"

One of the members handed me one.

I got my autograph.

See it here?

It says,

Journey, Steve Perry.

Not only did I get to fly with them

but they also went to the

baggage claim and waited for their luggage.

I was thrilled!

I had been to their concert in

Phoenix

the night before where it was sold out for

three performances.

Now here I was waiting with them at the

luggage carousel.

How lucky can a girl get?