FaMiLY nIghT @ tHE pOoL!

Being the end of February, we were all starting to get a little cabin fever. Not to mention, #1 had started giving us some serious attitude and there was not much by way of harmony in the McAllister home.
Solution: Family night at the pool, of course!
Why we don't visit the city pool more often is beyond me. It's a perfect temperature and has two separate pools...one with a very shallow beach-like entrance and it's own little slide, the other deeper, larger pool with a big slide and diving board. Not to mention, on Monday nights it's only $1 per person for two whole hours of chlorine filled euphoria!
I think #4 was a fish in her first life because there is no where on earth she is happier than in a swimming pool!

Hubby has quite an affinity with a diving board. He really should have been an Olympic diver. Here's a shot of him doing a very boring dive.

A blurry shot of #1 doing a cannon ball.

Another blurry shot of #2 doing a 360 off the board.

All smiles, all night long.

#1 and 2, with #1's miraculous return to normalcy.

Daddy with #3 and 4.

And last, but not least, a little video of the boys going off the diving board...including #3's first time. Be patient...it takes him half an hour to finally shuffle to the end of the board! (and if you listen closely, you can hear #4 whimpering beside me)

Sluffing at Thanksgiving Point

While Hubby and the rest of his football staff headed to Vegas for their annual coaching clinic (or so I'm told!), the kids and I decided to take a mini-vacation of our own. Since Fridays are only half-days at our elementary school, we left Thursday night and headed to my parents house in order to be able to take full advantage of the day on Friday.
We did several things, including lunch with Grandma at the kids' favorite...IHOP; but the highlight was the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. The kids thoroughly enjoyed walking through the exhibits, playing in the water and digging for bones. We even got to see a 3D movie about Ocean Life. It was a great (and educational) way to sluff school!

I think this will be the look we go for with school pictures next year.

3D glasses flatter everyone, wouldn't you say?

My family of flies.

The boys right before the were swallowed up by a giant shark, of which #4 wanted NOTHING to do with.

Again you'll notice #4's absence. While she eventually warmed up to the exhibits and quit trembling, she still refused to pose with anything with teeth.

#2 running from the bronze doggie.

#3 going for a "TKO"

Digging in the sand was probably their favorite part of the day. I had a hard time prying them from this exhibit. They made dams, rivers, islands and caves, just to knock them all down again.

#4 really enjoyed the exhibits BEHIND glass safety cages.

This was one of the first pictures of the day. Can you just see #4 trembling in fear?

Still trembling, though trying to be brave.

All in all, it was a great way to play hooky. I can't wait till we can do it again!

Harlem Globetrotters

Way back when, on our 13th Anniversary, we took the kids to the Harlem Globetrotters. We were excited to have them come to our local events center and had to take advantage of the fun opportunity. All of the kids' friends (or a great deal of them, anyway) were there and since it wasn't very crowded, they were able to move seats and sit together. Here we have Yates (far end on the left), his brother Rowdee, their sister Hayzen, #4, Brodee, #2 and #3.
Is there any wonder why I love this man?

#1 and his friend Kycen decided to use their own money and buy tickets on the floor. They were hoping to get pulled into the show, although they had no such luck. Taylor, Kycen's brother sitting to the right of #1 did get pulled onto the court.

Happy Birth Day Noah!

I had the privilege of working yesterday and assisting with Kristen's C-Section. How great is that? Little David Noah was born at 7:26 in the morning and weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces. Josh couldn't be any prouder of his "man cub".

Kristen did awesome...that girl has got tremendous pain tolerance. She was up and at 'em in no time.
Hubby and I had to laugh because at different times, unbeknownst to each other, we both mentioned how much little Noah looked like our boys when they were born; particularly #3. Which isn't a surprise since he looks just like my dad and a whole lot like Josh when he was born. Aren't families awesome??

Congrats on becoming a family of four you guys! I am one PROUD and HAPPY aunt!
Stay tuned for more pics with the whole family!

a giRLy PoST!

After a year of regrowing #4's hair, we decided it was finally time to get an official "Catch Up" haircut and try to blend in all the damage done by #3 last winter. #4's primary teacher just happens to do hair so we made an appointment to see Kami at the salon.

She was so excited to be a "BIG GIRL" and get a REAL "hairtut".

And she couldn't be happier with the results. We spent the next two days posing and showing off the AWESOME new do!

Later that week #4 got to perform at half-time of the boys basketball game with the mini-cheerleaders. Every year the high school cheerleaders put on a week long clinic teaching the girls cheers and a short dance to perform at a game. Given #4's performance history, I wasn't sure she would do it but she surprised us all!

Give the girl a set of pom-poms and she goes crazy.

In spite of all the drama and tears, there are days when we just LOVE having a little girl!
Love ya Sis!

Some of our favorite people

Some of our favorite people came to stay for the weekend. It was one of those rare weekends where I don't work and it just so happened they had a wrestling tournament in Richfield. With some 'not-so-hard-twisting-of-the-arms' we convinced them to stay with us.

#4 and Emmry are only 5 days apart and two peas in a pod. They had a blast playing together and putting on their own version of "Bad Girl Rock Concerts" for us.

I wish these two could get together more often. They had a blast!

These two had a blast, too! We tried to play "Bad Girl Rock Stars" like our girls but we weren't nearly as Baaad.

The boys had just as much fun. Sumer's oldest, Austin, was busy wrestling all weekend but Braycen and Gage spent all their free time with us. #1 and 2 loved it. Here's Braycen dunking the ball while the two posers do their thang.

#4 wasn't in the best mood by the end of the long playdate and wasn't about to smile for our final photo-op. Typical.

Thanks Sum and RL for staying! We had a GREAT time and wish we could see more of you guys!
Check out some video below. The first is of the "band" and the second is #4's Drill Team moves. We've seen one too many half-time shows!

Bad Backs and League Champs

A couple of months ago, Grandpa McAllister woke up and couldn't get out of bed. Turns out he'd ruptured a disc. Everyone who's seen Grandpa knows he hasn't been able to walk standing upright or without the use of a crutch. When pain pills and rest didn't help, he decided to take action. Friday night he had surgery, hoping and praying he'd wake up without the constant pain in his legs. At first, the pain was worse than when he'd gone in and he was pretty discouraged thinking he'd gone through all of that for nothing.
We headed to Cedar City for our Friday Family Date Night to see him. We had dinner at our favorite place to eat in Cedar...the original Pizza/Pasta Factory. Yum! (Disclaimer: Brad's is probably the true favorite but I wasn't in the mood for burgers!) Then we drove around showing the kids the various apartments we lived in while we were there and the college their dad graduated from. They were all soooo impressed! Those were some good times...
We arrived at the hospital just as Grandpa was wheeled to his room.

A few hours and several doses of Morphine later, a light at the end of the tunnel appears! The pain in Grandpa's leg is nearly gone and the pain from the incision site in his back is dull and manageable.

This was Grandpa's first surgery and he's thinking he just might like the attention and ice chip service. We left him in pretty good spirits and got a phone call this morning to let us know he's on his way home! The doctor told him to plan on a couple of days in the hospital MINIMUM but since he was doing so well he got early discharge papers. We love you Grandpa - HAPPY HEELING!

The morning was #1's last regular season Jr. Jazz Basketball game. His team has had a great season and with their win today were crowned League Champs! WaHOo! The tournament starts next week and we get a bye the first day. Hopefully the time off won't hurt us! Congrats, guys!

"The Nets"

Some various shots from the game today. #1 wears #31 and is the Point Guard.

Final score of the final regular season game. It wasn't the highest scoring game of the year!