McAlister Matters

  Penny counted down the days for a whole week and finally turned 4 on Monday! She was excited to get a daily vitamin now like the other kids and play PBS kids on the computer. The cousins came over on Monday for a birthday party. Penny wanted a strawberry cake with orange frosting. For her birthday lunch we took her out to her favorite restaurant Penny Anne's Cafe in Bountiful. We enjoy the breakfast there. They have things like 'Penny Puffs' and 'Heavenly Hotcakes' that we love.  Penny is always fun to play with. She is the master of the game Zen Battle. Somehow she almost always wins. She still loves her llama stuffy who is a constant companion. Penny loves puzzles and can do 100 piece puzzles on her own. She is also very good at Dot-to-Dot and coloring. Penny is great at riding a bike and scooter. She has the cutest laugh. Penny has a funny sense of humor. Lately she likes to ask 'Remember that time when... something funny happened...'. She exclaims ...

We made the big road trip to California for Christmas this year and stayed until New Years. We opened Santa's presents the day before we left. The drive was good. We encountered some fog but only had one incident of vomiting. We enjoyed t-shirt weather in Turlock which was a nice change. We played some 90's dance music in the car and the kids loved the ' Everybody Dance Now ' song especially Penny 😆 We took the kids ice skating in Turlock. Heather and Stephanie came too. It was Penny's first time and she wanted to do it all by herself of course. She got the hang of it pretty fast. All the kids had a good time. It was so nice to be able to stay with Grandpa Bob and Mormor. We enjoyed crêpes, French toast and pancake breakfasts. The kids spent hours on the trampoline and time at local parks. I had to work for two of the days. We also got to spend time at Devon and Mimi's house. Granma Mimi got a new kitten! We went with Stephanie's family and aunt Emily to th...

  Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year! We are getting ready to head out to California for Christmas and New Years. Santa is coming early to our house today after the kids get out of school so it is an exciting day. Luckily we have connections to Santa to arrange this kind of thing! The kids got to even see Santa at the ward Christmas party. Juni made a special letter and bracelet for him. Do You Hear What I Hear 2023 Sarah and I finished another Christmas song this year. It's becoming a little tradition now. Hope you enjoy it! Some of our other jams are on our  music jams page . We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving in Utah with Sarah's family. Congratulations to Dave and Brenda Musser on their senior mission call to Spain! We are excited for them. The kids have all had a dozen colds each since Halloween. Paul had a fun Christmas-Around-The-World kindergarten program yesterday. Hope everyone is well! Click for pics

  The kids had a fun Halloween this week. Penny was a little Elsa. Paul went as the transformer Bumble Bee. Juni was a Minecraft llama rider and Kahlan was Velma from Scoobie Doo. Paul still has his arm wrapped for his broken collar bone. There was a costume parade at the school and Paul's class had a program for the parents. We took the kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. It was a chilly night in the low 40's. Everyone was cold and ready for bed by the end. We exceeded our candy quota but we let the kids pick out their favorites for the next week. When we stopped by our neighbor Kayleigh's house she was super excited to see Kahlan as Velma and had us come inside to show us the Mystery Machine she had once made. So we had to get a photo. Click for Halloween Pics  

  Paul took a fall at school last week and broke his collar bone. It should heal up in a few weeks the doctors say. He's been a trooper and doing pretty good with it. It's a good thing he's all done with soccer now. Penny can now ride her bike like a champ. She isn't quite big enough to get on by herself. She says to just 'help me up and give me a push'. So that's what we do and off she goes. All the kids are doing good in school and are getting ready for Halloween. Sarah made 38 jars of grape jelly on Saturday. She's also been doing a lot of crochet lately and has made Christmas gifts for the whole family. The kids have been helping us de-stem the grapes. The juice is so good! Sarah and I recently went on a very enjoyable bike ride up City Creek Canyon. The Fall colors were amazing! I went on a overnight campout with the deacons recently also.  Click for more pics!

It's been a busy and rewarding summer full of excitement. One of the big highlights was the backpacking adventure Sarah and I went on last month. We went up into the High Uintas Wilderness for 3 days. It was a tough challenge. There were bugs and some rough hiking terrain but we conquered it! Our meals were great and the location was gorgeous.        You can watch our 30-minute self-filmed backpacking experience in the fashion of Alone . It was fun to make together for the kids and features some music Sarah and I created together too. The kids and grown-ups :-) were excited for school to start. We have a 5th grader, a 2nd grader and a kindergartener. The kids are all loving their teachers. Paul is doing all-day kindergarten which is great because everyone is on the same schedule and Sarah doesn't have to walk to the school 3 times a day. Paul also started soccer. He's on team Turquoise. The team was desperate for a coach so I became the coach. I don't know what I'm...

  Juniper finally got her wish to go to a llama farm. It actually turned out to be a fun day. The llama farm we found was at the Hare Krishna temple down in Spanish Fork. We decided to have it be a Musser family party so all the cousins came along. It was fun to have a big group. The lady that built the temple was our host. First she showed us their rescued macaws and Japanese Koi fish. One of the macaws was especially talkative and would often say 'Hello' and 'Hare Krishna'. Next we visited the female llamas and fed them carrots and apple slices. Some were shy but others were anxious for the treats. Then we visited the male llamas and the kids were able to brush them. Then a few male llamas had leashes put on so the kids could lead them around a bit. We took them outside the pen and to another part of the property where some small Indian cows were kept (the Holy Cows). We got to then hang out with the llamas and take pictures till we were done. We visited inside the Ha...