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.

Sakura!

I want to go to there.  I found this picture on Pinterest a while ago and thought it was beautiful and Pinteresting!  In Japan they call these blossoms Sakura which means cherry blossom.  Some even name their girls Sakura.   We couldn't do that here though, name a girl Cherry Blossom, that is.  That would be weird.

What?!

Where have I been?  I dunno.  Life has been full lately and because of that, my life has been missing from this blog for a few months now.  One of the reasons for the absence is that we welcomed home Elder R. Cole Tipton on August 31st after serving an honorable mission in Fukuoka, Japan!   

Here is most of the welcoming crew, with Em Zoe behind her camera.  I lifted this photo from her blog.  Thanks Em.

 My how Winston has grown.  Here's what he looked like when Cole left:

From a brown haired peanut to a blond tornado!

Our banner!  We are top notch, only the finest at Casa De Tipton.

 Elder R. Cole Tipton, fresh off the plane from Fukuoka, Japan, after traveling 24 hours straight.

 Brothers reunited.

 Sister and brother reunited.

 Re-meeting Winston.

 A tired missionary.

 My four kiddos.

Cole traveled home with Elder Gregory who happens to be from Gilbert.  They were companions for 6 weeks about a year ago.  He was one of Cole's favorite companions.

Welcome home Coleyman!