Tabs Christmas Day fun

the pretty tree and all the left over wrapping paper

a great blanket that keeps me nice and toasty warm (I don't even care that I look like a porpoise, which was what my lovely fam called me the rest of the day)
my dad and I testing out my camera and the cool tripod he got me


Sam and Karl
brother Guy

Mom trying not to close her eyes and smile at the same time...not too shabby.

doesn't that look fun? Thats my sister's basement (and Karls art studio) all decorated for Christmas. And you can see all the people that were over for dinner. It was great fun having more people at our usually small family dinner.

Karl painted that great picture of Mt. Hood.

And there are all the people eating (and notice Karl drawing attention to his picture. Sheesh, no shame, huh). :)

Well, thats my wonderful Christmas day. Thanks for checkin' it out.

Have a fabulously fun and safe New Years!

Tabs

WAAAY TOO LONG!

Sorry everyone. I've been busy, gone (cruise), busy (christmas and shopping), and sick and tired. Fun times for me. It is now time for me to post something new...well, it's been that time for a long time but I'm finally actually doing it.

As you all know, I went on a cruise last week. It was ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!!! Cruises are the way to go for vacation and so worth every penny. I hardly have any pictures with me because I didn't have a camera and am now waiting (very, very patiently) for Marilee to mail them ALL to me (there are a million and half, let me tell you). I will show you the few that I took with my little phone camera (sorry if they aren't the best quality).

That was fun to come back to every night after dinner. :) Now thats talent!

And here is a picture of one of my favorite presents.

I'll be back very soon with pictures from my fam's christmas. Hope you all had a great Christmas and please have a fabulous fun but safe New Years! Love you all!

Tabs

CHECK THESE OUT!!!! PLEASE, PLEASE!!!! THEY ARE WONDERFUL!!!

HONESTLY, if you go the Vitalicious website and order anything from them you will thank me later. They are so good and still good for you! How could you ask for anything better than that!I get the chocolate vitatops (why get anything else, hello...chocolate) and then put peanut butter on top and eat it for breakfast, it's like eating dessert for breakfast...SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! And I am so fired up about them at this very moment because apparently they are about to come out with a new one, the chocolate and peanut butter vitatop. I think I'm in heaven!

So, check out the website and place an order, trust me on this. I'M SERIOUS PEOPLE!! Their products are made with quality ingredients and taste like it. Some people are turned off because they think they will taste all healthy and gross but they do not! I CANNOT stress this enough. These are so good, even just by themselves. And they have a lot of different flavors such as blueberry, apple, cranberry, they have cakes, muffin mixes, brownies, all sorts of yummy stuff for everyone's preferences. They even have recipes, they are just getting better and better, I love it!!

AND, you can actually get them at some Safeways in their refridgerated health section. So, now you don't have an excuse not to try them.

After you taste them please let me know, and if you have ever tried these please, PLEASE leave a comment telling us all what you thought of them (about how good they are!). The more people try them and love them the more likely they are to sell them in the stores.

You will be in love, trust me! :)

Tabs

Sorry if this is a bit disjointed but I was just so excited and had to post immediately. :)

One of the McAllister's christmas traditions... (this is kind of long, sorry)

Well, today is the first day of Christmas!! MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! My holiday is off to a great start since I found a great little surprise in my car bright and early this morning before I even went to the gym...my annual chocolate filled Advent Calendar! I was getting a little worried last night, it being Nov. 30th and no calendar was in sight. I'm not sure why I worried, my dad is great and so on top of things like this. And then snuck over and put it in my car so it would be the first thing I did this morning. Oh, ya just gotta love traditions and good dads!


My calendar in the car this morning

Door number one (I had ready eaten the chocolate by the time I took the picture, sorry I couldn't wait)

The advent calendar, isn't it pretty, with the old fashioned Santa

My dad even went all the way to Trader Joe's to get this years calendar, how fun!

A happy girl!
















Ever since I can remember I have had an advent calendar to help count down the days until

christmas. My grandma made a felt christmas tree with little pockets at the bottom that were filled with felt ornaments to decorate the tree and whatever little gifts (coins, candy, etc...) my parents put in them. When we realized most of the ornaments were missing my dad decided to buy the calendars that are filled with chocolate for me to open (what child will refuse that?). One year, I believe it was the first year we lived in Germany for our second tour, I had an advent calender that was probably about 3 1/2 ft high and filled with toys...let me tell you, that was a fun christmas season. :) Here are some pictures of other advent calendars:

Now we can't forget the advent wreath as well. My dad has always had one at his church during the christmas season and it was so much fun when I was younger to get to light the candle or candles during the service. Sadly, not all churchs have advent wreaths anymore (and some denominations don't even teach their people about it, I had some friends who had never even heard of it before!). They are a great way families to take a moment each sunday and come together and remember a part of the christmas story.

I'm sorry this got so stinkin long but I was having fun remembering. :) If you don't have your own advent calender to open then I suggest checking this site every day and finding out interesting facts about how other countries celebrate Christmas: Interactive World Advent Calendar (sorry, these don't come with chocolate)...it's quite interesting.

Tabs

Very interesting story

Check this out.

A 4-Year-Old Power Ranger Scares Away Thieves.

(click on the picture to go watch the video of the kid being interviewed...such a cutie)

A young hero saved the day by using his skills as a Power Ranger.

When armed men held 4-year-old Stevie's family at gunpoint last week in Durham, N.C., the young boy hurriedly transformed into a "Power Ranger" and sprang into action.

While his family was being robbed, Stevie managed to sneak away and put on his "Red Ranger" costume. He soon returned to battle the thieves.

Although the thieves still managed to steal credit cards, money and a cell phone, Stevie's mother said she believes her son spooked the robbers, who ran away.

Durham police said several robberies occurred over the Thanksgiving weekend and in some instances guns were pointed at children. No serious injuries were reported in any of the robberies.
Copyright © 2006 wcco.com, All Rights Reserved.

Visitors

We had a few visitors in our office today...

Ryan and Michelle's little baby girl Lorelai

Trina and Ashland Moffat playin around with little Jack Gentry

Trina giving Ashland a lesson on satsuma's (she loved them and kept asking for more)

Michelle and Ashland (who is eating her satsuma and trying to say smile at the same time)


As you can see, fun was had by all. :)

The Big 6-0!

Well, this year was my mom's big 60th birthday so we planned a little surprise party for her. My dad whisked her away to the beach for a few days while we got the house ready for the big party. Lots of family and friends were able to make it and I think my mom was genuinely surprised. We had more than enough food and two FABULOUS cakes made by my sister's baker friend.

my mom walking around hugging everyone after we yelled surprise (sorry I didn't get a better picture but my dumb little camera isn't fast enough for that kind of stuff)

Here is my mom blowing out the candles after we sang her a "wonderful" rendition of Happy Birthday.

Birthday cake #1: A chocolate layer cake with chocolate ganache as the filling (yum!)

Birthday cake #2: A pumpkin layer cake with a cream cheese filling...decadent and oh so so so yummy! So good we had the same cake again on Thanksgiving. :)

Here are my parents with The Smith's. My dad and Tim went to Gresham High School together years ago and so Tim knew my parents before they were married. We got to hear some fun stories at the party (ones our parents had not shared with us before, shame on them)

These sweet, sweet folks are the Dick and Rita Owens. They were in Japan with my folks back in the 70's and had a hand in bringing them to Christ. They also had some great stories to share, as you can imagine.

Here is Lori and Karl Kaiser. Karl, as you all know, is my brother-in-law and Lori is his sister. Lori and my mom actually share a birthday, how fun!

A few of my friends even dropped by to wish my mom happy birthday. Here is Rachel (who also brought little Grant and her parents along)

And here is Holli, my dear friend from my old job before I worked at the church. This girl is great and I am so thankful for her friendship and that the Lord placed her at the E company to help to make the not so great job a little bit brighter.


Well, there ya go. It was a fun time had by all. AND, I have to add: I LOVE YOU MOM!!! YOU ARE WONDERFUL!!! This has all probably been more than you really cared to see and read but it was fun to reminisce anyway.

Tabs

Pictures of snow in Boring

These are from my camera so I'm sorry for their quality. :)But HOW FUN that is snowed...didn't stick, but it did snow. Loved it!!

There is Bob hiding from Lenny and Ryan's snowballs.

my footprints in the snow the flakes comin' down, huge and fluffy
more snow (and it's sticking...but only for about 30 minutes, it's pretty much gone now)
And me, in the snow. Look at that, it's just white behind the trees, craziness! :)

My wonderful, healthy city!!

A survey done by Self Magazine (I know, very technical) to find the 100 most healthy places in the US for women to live.

Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA
Population: 2,053,800
Ranking: 32 out of 100

The goods:
+Above-average exercise rates
+ Scored in the top 10 for healthy eating habits
+Among the five lowest allergy rates on the list

The not so goods:
– Above-average suicide rate
– 77 fewer days of sunshine than average
– 46 percent fewer hospital beds per capita than average


This just proves my point, that Portland is one of the best places to live, for any and everyone. And not that you need anymore reasons besides the one above (and the fact that I live here) but here are some pictures to show those of you that don't live here just how beautiful a place Oregon is:

The number 1 place for women to live, you ask? Good question, but I don't know. I didn't have time check out all the cities so I'll let you check it out and get back to me. :)