McAlister Matters

  We celebrated Kahlan's eighth birthday this week. We went swimming at the Rec Center as a family for her birthday. We also had a small party at our house and had some of the Musser family over. Kahlan received a new pair of scriptures, a CTR necklace and some great arts and crafting gifts. What an amazing girl Kahlan is! She's a top reader in her class and an excellent student. She practices typing and playing the piano every day and is learning to swim. She is wonderfully imaginative and produces an endless supply of homemade crafts which she uses for entertainment. Kahlan inspires her younger siblings, especially Juniper. She is kind and loves having visitors over and sometimes cries when they have to leave. Kahlan has a big heart and we love her! We finally got our new patio awning just before Kahlan's birthday and we are super happy with it! It feels like a whole new room was added to our house to enjoy. We also found a cool table with benches to put outside. We can&#

  We got back from our California trip this week. We drove out on the 24th of June. We stayed in a cabin in Truckee for 3 nights. We saw my sisters Heather, Julie and Stephanie and their families there. We were only going to stay for 2 nights but got an extra night free because of an internet modem issue. It was a comfy cabin (called the Comfy Cabin) and was surrounded by big pine trees. The kids had fun playing out back where there were lots of large pinecones on the ground. We celebrated Sarah's birthday there and had cake and ice cream cones. We played lots of Dominion with Sarah's new set. The kids made cool pinwheels that Julie brought. My aunt Leslie from Utah also visited us here since she happened to be staying in a cabin nearby.  We went to Donner Lake for a picnic and then let the kids play by the shore for a bit. Heather took the older kids for a short ride on a paddle board. The next day we tried to visit Lake Tahoe but failed because it was too crowded and we didn&