a full house

Last week we hosted my sister Leslie and her family from Texas, my sister Julianne and her Toni from the UK, and my parents from Utah. My sisters and I hadn't been together at the same time in longer than I could remember. It was so fun.

There were crossword puzzles to solve, Words with Friends to play, and future vacations to plan. The kids mostly kept themselves busy in the basement.

My sisters both married exceptional men who make for really fun uncles for my kids. We were so glad they could both come, and we had such a fun time with them.

The Parker women reunited!

And the men, too!

Last year, Julianne and Toni were living in Ethiopia to do research for their PHDs at Oxford. While they were in Africa, Toni and a friend started Run Africa, a UK company specializing in running themed travel in Eastern Africa. It gives runners of all levels the chance to train with some of the fastest athletes in the world, in some of the most beautiful landscapes. It sounds really special. Are you a runner? Is this something you'd be interested in? Check out their page for more info.

My dad has magical sleep powers.

Toni and Oliver share a birthday. So there were presents to open and candles to blow out and cakes to eat.

Why do we all live so far away from each other? Oh, it's so hard. They've only been gone a day, but we miss them like crazy already.