There's More!

Here are even more pictures from our trip. Like I said earlier, if you're not related to these kids, you may not find these posts so compelling. We just really like looking at them.

My man at work, and Mabel's first consultation with a dentist. She was so good!

Oliver was good, too. What cute little teeth they have!

My grammy and grampy with just a fraction of their great-grandchildren. Love you guys!

Parker found a mini etch-a-sketch in the playroom.

Here, Pa is obliging, and trying to make Batman on it.

Speaking of Batman, we brought costumes to California, too. Parker shared his Batman getup with Jack, who immediately upon donning said costume, lowered his voice at least an octave and would stand with his hands on his hips. Silly boys!

More Photos!

Here are some more vacation photos. This is turning out to be like one of those old slide shows everyone always dreads in movies. But hey, after my computer fiasco this week, I want these pictures somewhere else besides my computer and my house!

Audrey and Mabel on their way down the Huntington Beach pier for breakfast at Ruby's! Nothin' beats that cinnamon roll french toast!

Neal and Parker at the end of the pier.

Our little Audrey loves the beach. We have pictures of her in this exact position from the time she was walking. She could splash in the waves for hours.

A view of the surfers from the pier

The best Bramma ever with Oliver and Parker!

Sweet little Maxwell David, Matt and Katie's baby, hugging his Pa at the park

Mabel, Annie and Audrey playing at the park . . .

and the silly boys, Parker and Jack.

Hmmmm . . .

I just received a collect call from an inmate in the local County Jail. I don't know why, but this is the second time this has happened since we've lived here. Now Neal wasn't home, so for a second I think maybe they wrongfully locked him up for something; maybe he got in an accident on his way home, who knows? Of course, I don't accept the call, but I do wonder if the person is really trying to call our home or if it's a wrong number. Neal is the Elders' Quorum President, and we do have a small bit of that "element" in our ward, but I don't think they'd call him. Would they? I guess I'll never know!

The Mission

Here are some shots from the beautiful mission at San Juan Capistrano, about 4 miles from my parents' house. It was originally built in 1776 by Father Junipero Serra. It's much larger than I remembered from my 3rd grade field trip there. It was amazing, and a beautiful day!

Steph swishing down a beautiful corridor

An incredible bougainvillea tree attached to this lovely ruined archway

Audrey at a pretty fountain. She was completely entranced by all the butterflies in the gardens.

An old bell near the cathedral

Me and my girl with the ruined cathedral in the background. It was destroyed in an earthquake in the early 1800s.

Neal and Parker in the bright sun, in front of the cathedral

Disneyland

Okay folks, now there are a lot of pictures in this post, just to warn you. These are mostly only interesting if you are related to these cute kids, but if you insist, you can keep scrolling down. Enjoy! These are all from our fun day at Disneyland!

My sweet boy on the carousel . . .

and my silly Audrey on the horse right next to him.

Audrey and Neal waiting for the parade to start

Um, how brave are my kids? They went on the Matterhorn; this is them in line. Even i'm scared of that abominable snowman with the red eyes! Audrey loves rollercoasters, later she went on Big Thunder Mountain and the kiddie one in Toon Town. Maybe next time she'll brave Space Mountain!

Audrey and sweet Oliver C. on the Casey Jr. train

Mabel and Annie, across the wild animal cage!

Parker and his main man, Jack on the train, too!

This was by far Parker's favorite ride, the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. You get to shoot laser guns at targets all through the ride. Neal liked it, too.

Parker pooped out before the parade started, but we woke him up. Audrey said he would be sad if he missed the acrobats on the Pinocchio float. She's always looking out for him. BTW, that is a Buzz Lightyear laser arm communicator strapped to his arm. You should have seen him try to wipe his nose in his sleep with that thing on his arm!
We had a great time, thanks once again mom and dad. What memories we made!

Happy Father's Day Baby!

Happy Father's day baby! You're the best; our kids are so lucky to have such a silly daddy, and I'm so lucky to have found my perfect match. How blessed I am to have found a man to provide for us and to lead our family into a very bright and happy future. Life has been so good to me.

Besides the wonderful compliments listed above, this is what my perfect match of a husband got himself for Father's Day: a gas-powered leaf blower. It will make his life SO much easier. Forget sweeping all those grass clippings off the sidewalk and driveway with a broom! This will cut down lawn-mowing time by at least 45 minutes.

Happy Father's Day to you, too, Dad! I wish I could post a good father-y picture of you, too, but, alas, the darn compeetah. You're the ultimate everything a dad/grandpa could be and I love you!

Endodontist in paradise?

People ask us all the time where we want to end up after we're finally done with school. We always say, "we're not sure, although we can easily list off the places we don't want to end up."

In Neal's line of work, we can pretty much choose wherever we want to go, but once we go somewhere, we're pretty much married to that place for at least 30 years. It completely depends on what kind of practice Neal decides to pursue and what sort of opportunities present themselves in the fall/winter of 2007/2008. He might open his own practice or go in as an associate with another. He could always buy an already-established practice, or work for a while with an option to buy the practice out.

So, we talk about it; we like Texas, but maybe not this part of Texas, we have a possible opportunity in Connecticut with a friend of ours, another possibility in Merced, CA, we want to live somewhere where there are enough members of the LDS church so that our kids aren't the only ones, we don't love cold weather, but I can't stand the heat, etc., etc.

Well, last night Dr. Horn discovered that Hawaii will now license him without requiring a separate exam. (Some snooty states like California require their own licensure exam, while the one Neal took, the WREB, works in about 15 states.) Since he took his licensure exam after February 2004, his scores are valid over there in paradise. So, in true Neal fashion, he got online and started searching. He showed me public school statistics, median household income amounts, and crime rates. And then he started looking at real estate. Never mind that we aren't done here in Texas until this time in 2008, let's just look at what we might one day be able to afford in the rainbow state.

Here's a lot he found for us on the Big Island, 43 acres, 10 miles from Waimea, with views of Mauna Kea and Maui. It's already fenced forAudrey's horses' grazing pleasure, and, as the listing states, "your closest neighbor is a distant image." Oh, and here's a shot of Oprah's new house on Maui.

I'm thinkin' we could build ourselves a little something like this. It's fun to dream, isn't it? Funny thing is, Neal is completely serious about us moving to Hawaii. He loves all things tropical: fruits, plants, animals, weather. There are so many reasons not to live there, of course:

• we're very white
• so are our kids
• it's in the middle of the ocean
• it's really really really expensive
• I'm not sure the locals would like us, I've heard bad stories
  
• I don't think Hawaii is the most ideal place to raise children
• Would it really still be paradise if you lived there all the time?
• If you live in Hawaii, where do you go on a tropical vacation?
  

But it's Hawaii, I mean, who doesn't love Hawaii? But do I want to live in paradise? Neal keeps asking me to consider it, and to tell you the truth, it's not something I ever even thought was possible. Now I guess we'll be thinking about it. The sensible side of me reminds Neal that we could always retire there!

Surely we'd have lots of visitors, namely my brothers of the surfing disposition, which would be great, obviously. We could eat pineapple, drink smoothies and laze at the beach our whole lives, our freckles would eternally multiply, and Neal could have his own little tropical zoo/nursery heaven.

Anyway, he's working on me, good thing I don't have to decide right now. I'll think about it tomorrow. :)

Oh, and Mom, Hawaii is just as far from you as Connecticut. We could build you and Dad a little bungalow over a hillside from us; you could look right out at Maui.

In other news, the computer dude is coming on Tuesday to have a look. All I can say is, for $90 an hour, he better know what he's doing.

Computer Problems

Our computer is not happy to see us since we've been home. It won't even boot up really, and I am very very afraid that something serious has happened. We left it unplugged while we were gone, in case there was a thunderstorm power surge, which is common here, so it's safe from that, but what is the matter with it? I am really worried about all of my family history files and my recipe storage program, not to mention the pictures and documents. Here's hoping for a solution, soon.

Alas, I am unable to post any pictures of our fabulous trip. We had so much fun with cousins and friends, and of course, Brama and Pa. Their new house has such a peaceful feeling, with ocean breezes coming up the valleys right into the family room, and a view to soothe your mind. The kids loved the new playroom and the "book room." We spent a great day at Disneyland, in all of its happiness. A trip to the old mission at San Juan Capistrano, three visits to Ruby's, a nice visit with my fun grandparents, a pedicure with my sis, and a skip in the Pacific rounded out the trip. Hopefully pictures are soon to come. Thank heavens we can at least get on the internet via Neal's laptop!

Unfortunately, Neal and I are both very computer illiterate, and so we are trying the old unplug, reboot, let it rest for a while tricks, but they're not working. Dad, where are you? We may be calling.

Blogger Break

Dr. Horn has some precious time off this week; we're off to California to see his in-laws! :) I'll be back to blogging when I return. Hope to see some of you soon!

Harvest Time

Here is some of our bounteous harvest from our little garden. Yummy! Our onions are so sweet, you could eat them raw, if you wanted to. We like them grilled.

Watch Ya Cah Go

Each and every morning, if the kids are awake when Neal leaves for work, they have to "watch his cah go." As soon as Neal sits down to put on his shoes, Parker begins jumping in place, saying, "I wanna watch ya cah go, I wanna watch ya cah go!" Neal gets in the car, while pajama-clad, gamenent dote*-toting Parker goes onto the front walkway, stands and waits for Neal to back up, and waves him all the way around the corner. Then the kids run to get the newspaper (which we receive despite our pleas to the Chronicle to quit delivering it!!!).

Not only do they watch Neal leave each morning, but anytime we have guests leave our home, we must all walk them out and "watch their cah go." Ah, the simple pleasures of a kids' routine life.

Waiting for Neal to back out. They know just where to stand to keep safe, don't worry. They don't move.

Waving goodbye as he passes by them.

Watching him back out, if you look closely, you can see him waving back.

* You can refer back to the entry on 27 March to read more about Parker's precious "gamenent dotes."

Tire Resolution

The sequence of events. This is how exciting my life is these days. Sigh.

Before, yikes, flat as a pancake!

During. It's just so much easier when kids want to help, isn't it?

Yet another chance for Parker to use his superhero powers. Here he is lowering the car. He thought that was SO cool.

After. Thanks baby! Root canals all day, and tire changing at night. What a lucky guy! Tomorrow we're off to the tire shop, oh yay!

Tire Drama

I had some drama this morning; I had gone to pick up Audrey's friend for a playdate, and as I was putting the girls in the car, I noticed my back left tire was quite low. I quickly pictured in my mind how many quarters I had in my wallet, and very, very slowly drove to the gas station. I pulled up to the air pump, all ready to put in my 2 quarters, when I noticed that the pump needs THREE quarters. So, I had to get all three kids out of the car just to run into the convenience store to exchange 2 dimes and a nickel for a quarter, load them back into the car, and proceed to pump up the tire. In a skirt. And I'm 6 months pregnant. It was really a pleasant sight, I'm sure.

I made it the 5 miles home with the hazards on, only to find my tire almost back to where it was by the time I pulled into the garage. Oh, fun for Neal when he gets home! His car had a flat last week after he drove through a perfectly-placed pile of nails on the way to work. Good thing my boy is so handy.

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who commented on our naming crisis. I think we've tentatively settled on Miles Jefferson Horn for a boy. The girl name is still being mulled over, but your input has been so valuable! Thank you for your votes.

Puttin' it to the people . . .

Ok, Neal and I really need some help here. As you may know, I am pregnant, due in 10-12 weeks, and we don't know the gender of the baby. It's been really fun wondering, polling the kids, and discussing the dreams we've had about what the baby might be. So far, I've had 3 boy dreams and one girl dream. Neal's had one boy dream. Not that that means anything, but hey, you never know! Everything is going along very well, better than my other two pregnancies, so we're feeling very blessed and happy.

Here's the problem: we have no idea what we're naming this kid! I know, we still have a little while, but I don't see it getting any easier, so I've decided to put it to a vote. There are plenty of names that I like, which Neal doesn't, and a handful he suggested that I don't like. Below are the lists of prospective names upon which we both agree, but from among which we can't decide.

Boy:

Harrison Fielding Horn (Harris and Fielding are both family names)

Miles Jefferson Horn (Myles is a family name on the Parker side, Jefferson on the Horn side)

others we like: Adam, Matthew, Elliott

Girl:

Lily Genevieve Horn (Genevieve, Neal's grandmother's name)

Evangeline Rose Horn (E. as in the Longfellow poem, Neal's always liked it, Rose, from our Scottish clan name) nicknames: Evie, Eva

Charlotte Rose Horn (Charlotte, Neal's sister)

others we like: Cleo

Feel free to suggest any other combinations of the above names. We're stuck, and getting tired of thinking about it! If you don't usually comment, please do! Just "register" as anonymous and sign your name, so we know what you think. We really need opinions, honest ones, not just biased ones. For example, if your name is listed above, ahem, don't just vote for that one because you think it would be fun to have a namesake. :) I'm going to leave this post up for a while to get the maximum number of opinions. Thanks!!