Orange County Visit

Arriving in California was exciting for a couple of reasons: we were reunited with Neal, and we all got to meet baby Benjamin Weis! We arrived at Matthew and Katie's house, dropped our things off in our respective rooms, and then made our way over to Lincoln and Mimi's to see the cute people over there. What a wonderful reunion, in the true sense of the word.

Ben was, of course, surrounded at all times by adoring faces and fingers which had the itch to squish chubbiness. He didn't seem to mind. What a precious little guy!

It had been around five years since I had seen my dear friend, Amy, so we were able to get together for a bit with her sister and mom. What lovely ladies! I wish we lived closer together so we could be daily friends.

Of course, there was lots of outdoor fun to be had in the Parkers' backyard and in their neighborhood parks.

Audrey and Elliot on the way to the park.

Silly Dane and Toni.

Huggie time at the park.

Popsicles on the porch.

Ruby's was a must.

One day, we all went to Orange to see Grammy. She was recovering from a fall and celebrating a birthday, so we descended upon her. It was quite the crowd in her house, so the kids spilled out onto the back porch.

Oh, Orange County. There's nowhere like it.

I stole some of these pictures from Steph. Thanks, Steph!

Utah, Part Courts

Well, the Courts arrived, and just like with everything else fun, the fun about triples when you add cousins to the mix. We had a lot of fun with Mabel, Oliver, Stella and Elliot. We introduced them to the zip line that we found down by the stream, hiked some more, visited BYU, etc., etc.

Once we realized the house up the road with the pretty lawn was vacant for the week, we took advantage of the soft grass, rope swing and basketball court a few times.

On Sunday, we visited Temple Square and attended Music and the Spoken Word at the Conference Center. We strolled around the visitors' centers and the Tabernacle, and attended Sacrament Meeting at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. What a perfect Sunday!

Then it was back to Sundance for more outside time. All of the Courts and Horns live in a rather warm place, so being outdoors in the summer is such a treat for us!

More fun on the bench!

The lovely Nielson family came up for dinner one night. They are friends with Mike and Steph from years ago and met Mom and Dad during the Romney campaigns. The kids are delightful and we had a wonderful evening.

We had a nice visit at BYU. It's always fun to see the old sites and show the kids where important things in my and Neal's life happened. Next, it was off to California! We stopped in St. George for dinner and a walk around the pretty temple there.

Utah, Part One

The kids and I had such a lovely time visiting family and friends in Utah. We had two stretches of time up there; one before our California trip and one after. When we arrived, it was just us and Bama and Pa. We had to wait patiently for a few days until Stephanie's family arrived.

The "base," or the main part of the resort, is so full of memories for all of us Parkers and our spouses. It always makes me so happy to be there, and this bench plays an important part in our visits.

Time in Sundance equals hikes. We always see lots of natural beauty on our quiet walks through the mountains.

One day, we rode the lift!

And proceeded to follow my mom all over the place, as we usually do. She knows the mountain trails (real and forged by her) better than anyone else!

Our dear babysitter, Jordan, was married to a wonderful young man in the Mount Timpanogos temple. What a pleasure it was for us to be able to see her there!

As luck would have it, cousin Meredith was finishing her mission the same week we were in Utah. She served in the SLC South mission and we were able to meet up with her, and other Horns who love her, at the mission office.

She was a tremendous missionary, and we are so proud of her!

Audrey and Charlotte, who are now about the same size!

Aunt Zilla Visit

We had a nice visit with Aunt Zilla at her home in Arlington. We wanted to wish her a happy 96th birthday! She is Neal's Great Aunt, the sister of his paternal grandmother, and a lifelong Texan. :) What a wonderful lady.

We recorded some of our conversation and put it on YouTube. You can watch it here.