McKenna

McKenna let me take some pictures of her with my new lens... here are a few of them. She's almost 13!

The year of quilts...

If I were Chinese, 2009 could be called the year of the quilts. Observe:


Bridger's quilt

Alex, Ruby, and Bennett's quilts... that's right...3. As in triplets. Emily told me that making 3 quilts might have given me insight into caring for 3 babies. On a good day. :) They are absolutely darling and I was so lucky to be able to spend some time with darling sleeping babies:)
As a side note, it was wonderful to see you three ladies + Julia, Gabe, Alex, Bennett, and Ruby. We missed you, Jill!

Morgan's Christmas quilt- During the summer I was teaching her how to make a quilt. Halfway through, we needed more fabric, but Joann's was out. The quilt project stopped there. Fast forward to drawing names for siblings. We keep it a secret in my family. Paul and I drew her. She made the announcement that whoever had her, she just wanted her quilt finished. Easy enough. This one was probably my favorite one to make and worked up the quickest and with the fewest mistakes. Probably because rag quilts HIDE all of the mistakes:)


Gabe's quilt. His was the first quilt I actually finished.
See Gabe now.
Probably one of the most darling babies I've ever seen.

I have one more I'm working on, but it definitely won't be finished before 2010.

Happy New Year!

The best ideas...

It seems I get my best ideas for Christmas gifts 3 days before Christmas. It also turns out that those best ideas tend to be very time consuming, crafty ones. Ideas that I'm determined to make come to fruition and will stay up all night every night until Christmas to make sure they do...It seems this is my curse every year.

The run, the quilt, the papers...

This weekend was a busy one! It started off with me finishing my sweet nephew Bridger's quilt to give my sister when they buried him. That was a big project, but I'm so glad I got it done in time!


Then, on Saturday, my mom's swim team sponsored a 5K run called the Fish Out of Water. It was SOOOOOOO cold, but we had fun as a family. Check out our awesome t-shirts. My father in law did the design, and it turned out so cool!


Finally, my little brother McKay signed his letter of intent to swim at BYU next year! We're so proud of him and his hard work. He is one talented swimmer! We're happy that he'll still be close by so we can continue to watch him swim.

I'm sure glad there are only 2 school days this week!

2 years and counting...

Today marks 2 years that Paul and I have been married... I can't believe how quickly time flies!
I spent some time thinking tonight of why it is that Paul is the perfect person for me. This is the conversation that sparked it.
Me:"Paul, did you get me a card for our anniversary?"
Paul:"No...sorry." (before you think Paul is a 'ner-do-well husband, know that we both agreed we didn't want anything for our anniversary)
Me:"Good. Cause I didn't get you one either."

All growing up I considered myself a "sentimental romantic." I loved watching sappy movies and envisioned myself one day finding someone to play out my own Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts-esque fairy tale with. I pictured breakfast in bed, frequent flowers, confessions of undying love on a scoreboard at a baseball game, exotic vacations; the works.

Then I met Paul. And I woke up to the reality of what it means to love someone.

Paul is a wonderful person. I can say this truly and honestly because I've known the guy for well over 16 years. We shared the same undying affection for the Goosebumps series as kids and competed over who could read them faster and acquire the most. We shared the same total dislike for our 4th grade teacher. We rode in the same carpool for 2 years; the most awkward years for a 5th and 6th grade girl. Its amazing he still found me attractive after those years. He and I tried to light a fire on the school playground when we were ten, and when we got tattled on by another member of our carpool, he took the fall. I didn't even get a slap on the wrist. We (botched and flubbed) a project in AP Bio together as lab partners (and still got an A!). We went to Homecoming our Junior year (our one and only date until he came home from a mission) and he blushed when I complimented his awesome calves while rock climbing.

Remembering all of these things about Paul and I as young(er) people solidifies in my head how I now feel about "love". I know that I am not romantic in any way, shape or form. And I'm ok with that. I'm not an expert by any means, but I have figured out that, to me, true love is:

-being in the same room and liking it
-staying up late together studying and doing lesson plans
-still holding hands in the car
-agreeing to support BOTH the University of Utah and BYU
-making the bed
-going grocery shopping at night together
-locking the front door when he leaves for school
-accompanying me to millions of swim meets
-watching a movie in sweats
-going to our favorite 3 restaurants and ordering the same things. every.time.
-starting dinner before I get home
-hanging out with my friends and their husbands
-singing happy birthday in silly voices
-having the same weird taste in music
-watching all 5 seasons of ALIAS (and loving it, mind you)
-supporting family members
-being quick witted
-being predictable
-going to what seems like a hundred years of school
-watching football games in my classroom
-dominating the world in Mad Gab
-being comfortable while unkempt
-laughing at stupid jokes
-canceling reservations on our anniversary to eat at my all time favorite- (sorry Mom; you raised me better but I can't resist) Chuck A'Rama.


There are so many reasons I'm glad that I'm married... and none of them have to do with a quirky love triangle or singing a love song to me in a restaurant while the other guests join in. True love to me is being happy with the every day stuff:) Here's to many more years!

Fish Out of Water 5K & Mile

Next weekend is the first annual Fish Out of Water 5K and Mile, sponsored by the American Fork High School Swim Team. My mom is the coach, and 3 of my own siblings and 2 siblings-in-law swim on the team, so we're really excited to support them and help the team earn money! We'd love to see some of our friends and family there to support the team, too! Click on the picture to see more information about the race. Hope to see you there!

Temple Pictures...

Not a whole lot has happened here at the McAllister house as of late; well, except that we're at a different house! We made the move to Draper at the beginning of October to cut our commutes in half (and let me tell you just how wonderful it is to only have to drive 20 minutes instead of 50!) and are enjoying our new location. Paul is still chugging along in school and I'm enjoying teaching. The most that's changed around here besides our location is the increase in my support for the University of Utah football team. What can I say, I love the color red! I took a giant leap and bought my OWN Utah shirt and wear it with pride! Don't get me wrong... family ties keep my close to BYU- but I'm exercising my dual support-ship.

I've been a little bored lately, so to pass the time, I dragged (drug?) Paul around to take some pictures of the Salt Lake and Mt. Timpanogos temples. It's really amazing to me that we have so many in our valley, but that other Saints travel for days to get to one! So, these are all of the pictures you'll see until Paul and I make the trek up north for this weekend's Utah game against Wyoming. Blackout! Go Utes!