She's a mover!

Kate has taken a little longer than my other kids to decide to crawl. But in the past week or so she has really taken off with a little army crawl (she doesn't even try to "real" crawl). She is all over the place and picks up every speck she finds and puts it in her mouth. She almost went down the stairs today because I kindof forgot that she could move so fast. I really need to watch her every second. She is such a cutie pie and I just can't get enough of her!

Reunion, Birthday Boys and school

Last week we had the McAllister family reunion. Each year we go to a wonderful cabin up Mt. Pleasant canyon and have a fun time being together for a few days. Richard and I were in charge of it this year and so here are some of the highlights.

This is Kates first time on a swing- she loved it!

Cousins playing a fun familiy bingo game

Tie dyeing t-shirts! I think the adults actually enjoyed this activity more than the kids!

Grandpa trying out the wood burning tools. Each person in the family burned their name on a wood plaque that we later hung at the lambing shed.

Uncle Steve in the canoe and cousins piled on the paddle boat.

Drying out our beautiful creations on the swing set.

Richard found this little guy (I don't know how he spotted him) on a dirt road. Isn't he the cutest little horny toad you've ever seen?

All the kids loved riding in the mule. Landon and Daniel especially loved their rides with Richard where he let them drive all by themselves. I rode with them while Daniel drove and I was actually impressed with his capabilities. He came to a dead end and just put in in reverse, backed up and turned right around like he'd been driving all his life. He was very fast, though.

Jack gave each of the mommies (Lori, Emily, Kathryn and me) a driving lesson on this lovely tractor. It was kindof crazy to drive, but I got to knock down a tree and it was like breaking a toothpick in half. Power!

Here's a bunch of us at the lambing shed ready to hang our plaque.

Richard made himself a sweet t-shirt. My favorite part was his bum highlights. It just kindof makes you want to grab 'em!

Maybe we'll have to be hippies for Halloween this year!

The whole group!

We had our annual pinata as well to celebrate Landon and Daniel's birthday.

Their cousin Caden also celebrated his birthday at the cabin. Sixteen years old! What a cute boy!

Last Thursday was the first day of school! It has been nice to have a few hours of a little less crazy at our house.

Daniel has been busy with his High School Musical and has done a great job. He's been so cute to watch! Tonight is his last show and its been a lot of time and driving, but I think he has really enjoyed the experience.

No, no, no, noooo!

Guess what's worse than chapstick left in a pocket and run through the washer and dryer? Purple nail polish.

Whaaa?

We are headed to our family reunion tomorrow for a few days and we are "in charge" of it. One of the things I really want to do is tie dye t-shirts. We experimented with it last week and I think it will be really fun. I just googled "how to tie dye a shirt" and one of the ideas was this. "If you don't have any dye, you can use the ink from a pen. Take the pen apart and put it in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Then cut open the pen, empty it into a bucket of hot water and stir. THIS CAN BE EXTREMELY MESSY. " Duh! Hello!? RIT dye costs $1.66 at Walmart. Why on earth would you purposely take apart a pen and dump the ink out of it. Oh my gosh. We'll post pictures of our fun times when we get back!

P.S. We went to Seven Peaks yesterday for the boys birthday "fun day" and had a great time. Uncle Jon came with us and really helped out- thanks Jon! I forgot my camera. Boo hoo!

Coloring Contest Cake

A few weeks back I took my kids to Maggie Moos for a treat, which is WAY overpriced but so delicious. They had a little coloring contest going on so we took some home and brought them back once the kids had done their best. The winner would recieve a free ice cream cake! A few nights ago Daniel got a call from Maggie Moos and so I gave him the phone. He was so thrilled to find out that he had won! So last night we went to go claim his prize. We purchased $14 worth of ice cream creations and then got to the register to pick out his special cake. I told the girl Daniels name and she said, "Oh, wait...he won 2nd place , so he just gets a free kids size ice cream." Well, we came expecting the cake and Daniel said the lady on the phone told him he won a cake and she even said 6 inch. I know the girl at the counter probably shouldn't have given us the cake for free (even the little 6 inch costs $19.95!!) but she did because she felt sorry about the misunderstanding, and trust me, Daniel probably would have been in tears if he didn't get his cake! So, thanks Maggie Moos, for the free cake! And good job Daniel, for coloring your best!