A BIG Birthday Day!

Stella's cousins Hannah and Claire both had their birthday parties on the same day and they were both super fun!  We started out at Hannah's waterslide party and those kids couldn't get enough of it.  Eating cake and opening presents was a bother when they just wanted to slide!

Stella went on it a thousand times and got me soaked.

Then we were off to Claire's adventure party at her Grandma Wiscombe's house.  She got to ride the 4-wheeler with George . . .

Ride the zip line . . .

Ride this thing . . .

And go swimming . . .

You'd think she would have been exhausted, right?  There is nothing besides barfing sickness that gets this girl tired.  I'm not even kidding.  Not even a little bit.

I almost just titled this post "Morons"

Some of the family members decided to freeze their patooties off by getting into the pool before we took Miles to the airport. Stella thought it was pretty cold and this was about how far she got in until I bribed her with $1 to go all the way under. She didn't want that, so I let that offer expire and offered her 75 cents and an ice cream cone. That one expired too. She ended up with 50 cents and an ice cream cone.

Brynnie was just happy as could be jumping in to Uncle Miles and swimming over to get that octopus. Seriously, the squeals outnumbered the shivers.

Hannah only went this far a couple of times, but mostly just walked around the outside of the pool with Stella and a golf club.

Lindsay decided to be fair and jump in. This was only after she totally SHOVED Natalie in. I really wish she would have warned me that she was going to push her because it was HILARIOUS!

Stella's upset because "Uncle Ian is the meanest uncle in the world!" He pulled her in. She was clearly upset.

Not sure why Miss T is upset.

She was pretty happy to be swimming with her daddy most of the time.

Hanny is always exclaiming, "He sure is a Malcolm!"

Miss Tatem wanted to see him, but not hold him. He looks offended.

Lake Pleasant w/ Anderson Family

We went to Lake Pleasant with Grandma & Grandpa Anderson, Miles, Lindsay & Keith, Hannah, Brynnie, Ian & Nat and Tatem the afternoon of October 8, 2011 as a fun family activity to further celebrate Grandpa's birthday. Keith borrowed his parents boat and we ate lunch really fast and started in on jumping in the water and tubing.

Elliot was first in.

Brave little Hannah was second as she jumped to Uncle Elliot.

Ian jumped in and Tatem followed.

After a lot of peer pressure, Stella finally decided to jump in, but wanted immediately to get back out (she's the only one of the kids that cried . . . I would have too, open water freaks me out).

And Uncle Miles made an awesome splash.

Brynnie-Boo didn't jump in, but she's super cute.

And then Uncle Miles and Uncle Ian started on the tube. Dorks.

All you could see throughout their 3-part ride was their white teeth.

Miles and Ian were on so long that they needed a break.

. . . then Ian got booted off. Twice.

Aunt Nat hopped on the tube with Miles and in my opinion, Uncle Keith (driver) was very kind.

(Elliot trying to help me fit those giant nursing boobs into a tiny life jacket)

Because then I got on the tube with Elliot and Keith whipped us around the lake like rag dolls. Seriously, my ENTIRE body was sore that night and days afterwards.

Stella thought it was pretty funny that my head was about to detach from my body during the ride.

The girls snuggled and ate all of the snacks. Well, Tatem would eat the cream out of the Oreo and then throw the cookies to the fishies.

My neck already hurt.

Miles and I sat in the back of the boat and looked and laughed at all the pictures on the cameras. Don't we look old? I guess it could be the amount of wind being whipped in our faces . . .

Brynlee was totally asleep with those sunglasses on. I love her.

Grandpa was there too, but I just got a picture of Grandma's amazing hair.

Malcolm slept the entire time. He didn't wake up. Not even a little bit. And he slept all night too.

We had so much fun and wish that we could have stayed longer, but you can't tube after dark. We got home super late and just threw the kids into bed . . . we had another busy day planned!

They're Back!

We were so happy that Aunt Lindsay called on Saturday morning after our return from California to invite us to go swimming at her house! HER HOUSE . . . that means THEY ARE BACK FROM INDIANA!! We are sooooo happy! Sure it's nice that Lindsay and Keith are around, but YAHOO for HANNAH and BRYNLEE!! We love them.

They love television.

We also loved swimming, but didn't get any pictures of it. I could have taken a picture of the skin that was ripped off my neck as a result of having 3 adorable girls latched onto me in the pool as we did "Motor Boat, Motor Boat" a hundred times before I felt like I was going to give birth. "Again, Again, Again!" was all Brynlee would say. I love it.

I love my belly.

The girls also love a fun bath and Justin Beiber's music video. I love it when Brynlee raps with Ludacris.

I LOVE THESE GIRLS! Welcome back!

Random

I've been camera-less for WEEKS! I'm shriveling up as we speak. Luckily, Elliot is coming home with with my precious camera tonight, so I'll be able to post some clear pictures for a change. My SLR has been on the fritz for months, but I've been borrowing my cousin's camera since then for photo shoots. I also had my point & shoot until I dropped it when I was trying to take a picture of Stella's cute hairdo . . . I ALWAYS have it strapped around my wrist . . . not that day. Now it has erectile dysfunction. So here are some pictures I've taken with my phone lately.

The Young Women in our ward had a fund raiser for Girls Camp and asked if they could use my chocolate chip cookie recipe. My cookies are pretty good, but the recipe is NOT a secret and really should be called McAllister-istic Cookies instead of Dibble-icious because the recipe is my grandmother's. It also makes a butt-load of cookies, which was good for the $15 container of cookie dough people got from it. I think one family ordered 6 . . . at least I won't have to make cookies for anyone in the ward for a long time since they probably all have cookie dough poisoning and some serious gas.

Elliot got this electro-stimulator machine for his leg/foot after he got his cast off. You can see how swollen he was and though the e-stim feels good, I think our whole family is allergic to adhesive and now he has perfectly square-shaped rashes on his ankle. I'll give it a go after I'm not pregnant.

Little Hannah-Banana turned 4-years-old in May and was the cutest little goggle-wearing new bike rider I've ever seen! I love her!

You can't see a darn thing in this picture, but it was such a momentous occasion that I have to share. Stella climbed to the top of the rope at gymnastics! It may have been a little clearer, but I was so excited that I moved when I took the picture. You can sort of see her little black figure just a little left of the very middle of the picture. The girl has some serious muscles.

And speaking of the girl . . . this never happens. We were all ready for church and Stella came out of her room and fell asleep on the couch. This only happens when she's very, very sick. Even when she's just normally sick (which is never), she still jumps around like a crazy person because she doesn't know she's just supposed to rest. So when she actually falls asleep during waking hours, we stay home from church.

I love her. And I'm really going to love having my camera back.