McAlister Matters

Kahlan loves Minecraft of course, so we've enjoyed many hours playing together in it. She wanted to share some of her creations so I recorded her giving a virtual tour. She's quite a talented designer/builder!  It's been many Blursdays since Penny was born. It's fun to be at home with the kids. We've done home church. Home haircuts. We planted the garden and an apricot tree. We had a picnic with the Mussers. Gone on many walks. Played dozens of games. Completed many art projects. Got out the slip 'n slide yesterday.  Penny has slept through most of it!   More pics

Paul turned 2 this weekend as we also celebrated Easter! It's still COVID-19 lockdown madness so we just had cake and ice cream at home with the kids. He was able to open a few gifts as well as an Easter basket. Grandma and Grandpa Musser stopped by Friday night to drop off some eggs for the kids to find. The kids had fun finding them in our backyard this year. We love Paul. He's a tender little guy who is very helpful and sweet. He loves his new little sister Penny and has tried feeding her by pouring his milk on her! He loves playing with his older sisters and wants to participate in all the fun. He loves to share with you the animal or car that is on his shirt. Paul loves reading books especially about cars, trucks and trains. If he really likes a book, he will say 'again' after you finish reading it to start over. This can repeat indefinitely. He loves Lego's and is becoming a master builder with his magnet tiles. Paul is such a good sport when Penn...

We're so excited to have Penelope Rosemary McAlister join the family this week! She surprised us and came 19 days early on March 25! It was the middle of the night again when Sarah's water broke. We called Sarah's mom to come over and we started packing up for the hospital. We got to LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City around 3:30 am. It was snowing. The labor and delivery was pretty smooth and was similar to the other kids. She was born at 3:45 pm and we left the next day. Penny was a healthy 7 lb 3 oz. The nurses commented on how cute and calm she was. She arrived at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic so the hospital seemed empty with few visitors and a lot of social distancing. We felt two aftershocks to the big 5.7 earthquake from last week while in the hospital. They were only 3.0 shocks but we felt the hospital building move. The kids were super excited of course and were waiting at the front window when we drove up with Penny. She's been a good eater and i...

It was time for the annual Musser family activites. This time it was a little early because Sarah's brother Jared and family were visiting from New Hampshire for two weeks. So we got together with everyone quite a few times and did some fun stuff... One Saturday we set up the VR at her parent's church along with a bounce house and games. It was a fun afternoon. I even got to set up the green screen I got for my birthday! I recorded everyone trying out Beat Saber We went on a tour at Mrs. Cavanaugh's chocolate factory near Bountiful and got to try out some ice cream and chocolates. This was where little Davy announced to our tour group that he was allergic to wolves (as apposed to nuts :-) We also went to the interactive aquarium in Layton. The kids had a ton of fun here and there was a lot for them to touch and see including fish, reptiles and birds. I think petting the trout and sturgeon was the favorite for the kids. I liked having all the parakeets lan...

The family got a Valve Index VR kit last Christmas and it's been so much fun! Beat Saber is just a blast and even Kahlan is able play it. Not much else is new I guess... Here we are being awesome in our PJs More Pics

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! This year we are staying in Bountiful Utah. All the kids are excited for Christmas and counting the days. We're expecting some snow! This was a great year for our family. We've been able to spend a lot of time together and have enjoyed some vacations in Moab and Disneyland. A new baby girl will join our family in April 2020! This year Kahlan stepped up to the 1st grade. She's an excellent student and loves her teacher. Her class put on an excellent Christmas program and Kahlan memorized several songs in other languages. She continues to practice the piano and is making great progress. Kahlan loves organizing activities and art projects. She's also an excellent reader, singer and big sister.  Juniper is now 3 and a half! She's really enjoyed attending a neighborhood pre-school 2 days a week. Juni takes care of her little brother Paul and a dozen or so baby dolls. She loves games and can kick anyone's trash...

We made our annual holiday visit to California for Thanksgiving this year. We flew with the 3 1/2 kids! It was an adventure but we survived the airports. 🙀 Our first trip was to McAlister Fest on Saturday at Tahiea's in Fresno. It was fun to see everyone and all the kids. We had a huge Thanksgiving feast with ham and smoked turkey! Our next trip was to a big cabin in Twain Heart. This was where we got to play games and hang out a little bit with everyone. The cabin was very comfortable and the drive there was gorgeous. The next trip was to Calaveras Big Trees state park. It turned out to be a freezing and windy day but we braved the trail with all the kids. The tree giants were not impressed by us. Our next trip was to Columbia, the old gold mining town near Twain Heart. It was another cold day but we had fun going into a few shops and got our picture taken old west style. After these adventures we were all sick with colds and had to take it easy for a few days i...