McAlister Matters

I completed the Mueller Trail Half Marathon  on Saturday the 10th. It was fun but tough! 13.1 miles with a brutal 2000 foot climb up a mountain trail. I spent a lot of the Summer training and was happy to finish in under 3 hours. It was the longest and hardest run I've done. It was great having the kids and Sarah at the finish line cheering me on. Also a donut. It was a good learning experience for me. I've been running consistently for 30+ years but never really trained intentionally. I had to learn about building strength and endurance. I learned about running gear like shoes. It takes a lot of work to get your body conditioned for longer runs, especially at my age. I learned about the importance of running form and nutrition. I had always thought that shorter people have a disadvantage in long distance running. I discovered that is false, in fact, it doesn't matter much. I'm not sure I'll run more races yet but I am slightly marathon curious. Last weekend we spen...

  This Fall has been filled with soccer games. Paul and Penny are both playing so we've had 2 games a week to attend. At the start of each game we all get a bag of popcorn to eat. It's a fun treat for the games. Both Paul and Penny have been having a good time playing. We've enjoyed a couple campfires this Fall. We went to Mueller Park in Bountiful this time because it was close. It's always a treat to roast some dogs and marshmallows with the kids.  We went on a family hike in North Salt Lake called the Wild Rose trail. It was an easy 2 mile hike with nice views of the valley. Sarah put together a video and learned some new video editing skills. Check out our hike video I did another round of Daddy Dates with the kids. I went bike riding with Paul, Juniper and Kahlan. Kahlan and I rode all the way to Elephant rock which is a pretty demanding mountain biking trail. She had a couple of falls but was a real trooper. Sarah and I also did a bike ride up City Creek Canyon, ...

  The end of Summer came and school started on Thursday last week. We have Penny starting 1st, Paul starting 3rd, Juniper starting 5th and Kahlan starting 8th grade!  We went to back to school night at Tolman Elementary and met their new teachers. The girls all got new haircuts for the new year. Although I believe this Summer was really enjoyable for them all, they are very happy to be back at school with their friends.  Sarah and I were able to go on a backpacking adventure this year. The kids stayed at Sarah's parents house for a few nights. We went up to the High Uintas to hike up to Red Castle Lake. It was quite a long way to hike in, about 11 miles.  The first day was tough but the trail was pretty and took us thru forests and meadows. We saw 1 moose on the way up, some horses and lots of cows. It took us about 9 hours to finally get to a campsite at the lower lake. We got rained on pretty hard a few times in the afternoon and had to get out our trusty ponchos. ...

  Kahlan turned 13! We had a small party with the cousins over and she made some cute ears for everyone to wear. She wanted cinnamon rolls and ice cream sandwiches. Kahlan is awesome! She's clever, funny, creative, a great big sister and a hard worker. She's had a daily babysitting job this summer taking care of two kids each morning. She was so excited to turn 13 so she could ride in the front seat in the car and watch PG-13 movies.   It's been a very hot Summer. Sarah and I are planning to do a backpacking adventure this month. We've done a few tough hikes and bike rides to get in shape. Last weekend we did a 12-mile mountain bike trail. It was rough. I'm also starting to train to do a half-marathon in October. The kids have been enjoying their Summer and have been busy playing with friends, reading, swimming and growing mustaches. Click for pics!  

  There's been a lot going on since June. Kahlan and Sarah went to girls camp. I did another round of daddy-daughter/son dates. And Juniper turned 10! She had a party with a dozen of her friends over and they played games in the backyard. Juni made watermelon pizza for the party. Paul and Juniper also attended a day camp up at Camp Tracy for a day. They had fun shooting BB-guns and rock climbing.  We made our semi-annual road trek to California 2 weeks ago and stayed over until the 4th of July. It was a pleasant trip overall. We spent two nights up in Arnold after we arrived in a super nice big cabin. The California cousins were there. We spent a day at White Pines lake near Arnold. The kids played on the shore in the water and had a good time. Poor Juni had a fever that day. We ate tacos and had a BBQ at the cabin and watched some of the World Cup. The kids had fun playing hide-n-go-seek.  We spent an afternoon at the Big Trees state park and saw the giant Sequoias. It w...

  The end of the school year came pretty fast. We finished all the concerts and art shows and field trips. Now the kids are home starting their Summer vacation. They have their daily morning routine of workbooks, typing, piano practice, etc. The kids have been doing lots of art and doing their own research on subjects for their Summer journals.  It's always fun to hang out with this guy! Paul and I went to a Fathers and Sons camp for our stake a few weeks ago. The night was a little chilly but we had a good time. Paul has been studying the presidents of the United States. One day last week he memorized them all while the other kids were at the store.  On Memorial day weekend we hiked up the same canyon we did last year by the Bountiful temple. This time we made the whole loop up around the temple. The kids were troopers for the 2 hour hike.  On Memorial day we took the kids to the Hogle Zoo in SLC. Juniper was really interested in going for her birthday so we thought...

  We're so proud of Paul for deciding to be baptized last week. It was a great event. All the Utah cousins came and Grandpa Bob and Mormor were there. Ingrid gave the talk on baptism and my dad gave the talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Paul was excited and we had a little get together afterwards and celebrated Paul's birthday too. After the baptism we went to the Desert Star Theater with my Dad and Ingrid. The play was called the Princess Bride but was actually a sequel, super silly and fun. We all loved it. The school year is winding down for the kids. This weekend we did a little birding. On Saturday we took the kids to the Salt Lake wildlife preserve in Layton. We spotted 5 new birds! Click for pics!