McAlister Matters

  Merry Christmas everyone! The kids were very excited for Christmas Sunday. Paul even said thank you in his prayers last night that there was 14 and a half hours until the Christmas program. Kahlan was especially excited to sing in the choir and do a solo singing Star Bright. She did a great job! Paul had his own class program on Friday. He did a good job as the Mexican child. They sang songs from around the world. Rockin Around Christmas 2024 Sarah and I worked for several evenings together with the kids on another 'Christmas jam'. We had Kahlan and Juniper sing some solos and I got to work in a blues part. Hope you enjoy it! Click for pics! Bonus Video!

  The day before we left for California for Thanksgiving week Sarah took the van to the car wash. The attendant there mentioned that the radiator was making a bubbling sound so she took it to a shop. We needed to get the whole water pump replaced so we had to delay our drive out by a day. It was kind of a bummer to lose a day but since being stuck on the road somewhere was a real possibility we considered it a tender mercy. We had to take the southern route since I-80 was closed over the Sierras. We missed McAlister Fest because the drive took 15 hours to drive there but traffic was not bad and the weather was clear. We did make it to Milo's birthday celebration on Sunday. There were a couple pinatas! We went to Berkeley one day and enjoyed some delicious Cheeseboard pizza. We took the kids to a small farm and went for a hike. It was nice to see everyone this time. We had dinner at Julie's. We spent Thanksgiving at Mimi's house and had lots of wonderful food. Sarah and I ma...

  Halloween came and went and it was great! The kids had a trunk or treat night at their school and a costume parade. Penny was Snow White. Paul was Darth Vader. Juni was Ember from Elemental, hence the flames on her head. Kahlan went as the 80s pop singer Belinda Carlisle (a recent family favorite). We did the annual pumpkin carving and the kids made their own original designs. We did some trick-or-treating and they got lots of candy. It was super cold as usual so they had to wear coats. It was a very warm October and is finally getting colder. We were able to go on a fun hike up to Willow Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon with Heather and Sebastian. The fall colors were amazing. We also did a campfire with them in MillCreek Canyon and hiked to the Farmington pond. We harvested our grapes last week. The kids helped quite a bit with de-stemming the grapes. Sarah made close to 100 jars of jelly!  The kids got their school pictures taken. They are all doing well in school and enjoyi...

  Fall is here and we've been enjoying the great weather. We took the kids to Cross-E Ranch this week. It's a big farm where you can see animals and do fun activities like swim in corn kernels. The kids loved watching pig races, rock wall climbing and a corn maze. Of course we all enjoyed the amazing apple cider donuts! We took the kids on a bike ride on the legacy trail yesterday. It was a bit warm but we went almost 6 miles. It was the first time we've all been able to ride our own bikes. Penny road the whole time wearing this fake mustache. It was pretty awesome! She was able to keep up most of the time which is pretty good considering the small bike. Also she still needs help getting on the bike. It was pear season again. We spent a few days canning pears and this delicious pear tart. I made quite a few batches of tomato sauce from roasted vegies. Sarah finished the Pacific Coast Trail virtual race. It was over 2K miles! Now she's working on the Harry Potter medals....

The start of the school year is here. The kids have been loving it. The parents like it too except for the part when we all get colds. Kahlan has been involved with student council and started the youth orchestra doing violin. She's been pretty awesome getting up early to practice piano and violin. Juniper was excited to be put into the DEEP program for gifted learners (like Kahlan). Paul is still a rockstar reader. The kids saved the wearing of their new shoes for the first day. Penny started her online pre-school program last month. She's been doing really well. She loves the number songs. She's also been working really hard on color-by number pictures. She's also getting better riding her skateboard. We said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Musser who are in Spain now serving a service mission . We had all the cousins over last weekend for fast Sunday since we won't be doing it in Farmington anymore. We did our annual back-to-school campfire last Friday. We did it ...

  We're proud of Juniper who decided to be baptized last week. She was very excited and it was a sweet baptism. The kids sang 'Be What I Believe'. Juniper asked Grandma Mormor and Grandma Musser to give the talks. We had donuts and chocolate milk at our house afterwards. We went to Enterprise for a few days to the Terry reunion. It was nice to see great Grandma and Grandpa Terry and hang out at the Terry ranch. We enjoyed delicious Dutch oven potatoes and amazing homemade root beer.  Kahlan turned 11 today! We had a party for her yesterday with her cousins. We set up the pool and splash pad in the backyard. It was 95 degrees. Kahlan wanted cinnamon rolls again and we had ice cream. Sarah and I were busy this week on the bathroom project. We finished all the drywall work and painting. It's starting to look pretty good. We're hoping to finish the floor this week. Sarah had a birthday last month too. 41! She decided she wanted her own skateboard and learn how to ride. ...

  Our trip to California in June started off great. The drive out was smooth and easy. The weather was nice. We enjoyed a week in Turlock going to parks and the kids playing on splash pads and the trampoline. Paul completed at least 20 puzzles. We visited the Modesto temple site one day with Stephanie, Milo and Orion. We visited the office and saw the model for it and met the site missionaries. It's going to look a little like a California mission and has almond blossom and waterfall elements to represent Yosemite. Friday we had a fantastic day at Pinecrest Lake up in the Sierra Nevadas. The weather was perfect and the beach wasn't crowded at all. The kids had a lot of fun. Of course we got giant ice cream cones at the end. The next part wasn't fun. On the way home from the lake our car was totaled after a car tried to cross the highway unexpectedly in front of us. We collided with the other car hard, spinning it around and into the railing. Both of our front airbags deploy...