soakin' it up

beauty from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

Gabers eating fruit snacks from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

snow day

it has snowed almost every day for the past week here in utah. the kids were dying to go play in the snow. Sarah was the only one tough enough to brave the cold with them. i stayed inside and took pictures from the window.

Merry Christmas!

you know james is out of town when

i make a whole video about my day. enjoy.

home alone from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

the awesome tunes are from The Killers

you just know that i’m saying something hilarious

pretty much our goal in life is to not laugh at eachother. we were in the car (of course) and i wanted to take a picture, a cute picture. so i tried to make jamesey laugh. totally didn’t work. but this picture perfectly illustrates what james puts up with on a daily basis.

i've had a request

knowing me, should anyone be surprised that i took pictures of james's incision? i think not. i wasn't going to put them on our blog to spare the people who might not find it as cool as i do. but then yesterday at church i had a request for the pictures. so here they are:

poor little guy. he is so bruised.

and i just had to throw this one in there. this is our makeshift waterproof wrap so james could take a shower. garbage bag, plastic wrap, and medical tape. awesome.

james got the staples taken out this morning so we won't have to waterproof his incision anymore. yeehaw!

saturday afternoon

this is how excited we are to be out of the house.

James has been such great comic relief for me this week. Yesterday I wrapped his bandage up really good in plastic wrap so that he could take a shower, and his bandage still got a little wet. So today he decided it would be better to just take a bath. Luckily, he is a little bit loopy from all the pain meds so he doesn't mind me taking embarassing pictures of him:
He looks way too big for our little tub. I just sat in there and laughed. It was awesome, just what I needed during a week filled with nursing school finals.

my husband is very funny (unintentionally) when on drugs

remember that time when my hubs hurt his knee? well he hurt it pretty bad. he tore his ACL, his meniscus, and chipped his femur. after about a month of waiting, we finally got it fixed. major surgery... total bummer. but of course i brought my camera along so as to document this day:

first time ever that his leg has been hairless:

james did some awesome things while under the influence of heavy-duty drugs. the anesthesiologist came in before surgery to do a femoral nerve block so he gave james some great drugs to make him sleepy. when the guy left i asked james if his arms felt heavy. he told me no, and just to prove it, he started dancing with just his arms and thumbs. it reminded me of Grease. then after the surgery i was helping him get his clothes back on. i gave him his sweatshirt and went to get his shoes. when i turned around this is what i found:

he told me he was just taking a break. he seriously sat there for over a minute. i couldn't pass up the opportunity, so i grabbed my camera, snapped a picture, and helped him finish dressing. i was laughing so hard. the nurses probably thought i was a terrible wife, laughing at my husband when he was just a few hours post-op.

so now we are at home. james is thoroughly drugged up. all is well.

First time in three days...

• that I've put on makeup
• that I've donned a brassiere

Don't judge. That's how I roll.

it's a good thing you are so worth it

I love the eating delicious food part of Thanksgiving. The preparing is a different story. Last year James was at home to clean the turkey and get all the junk out of the inside. (What would I do without a boy around?) This year I didn't get so lucky. I never knew that maneuvering a wet seventeen pound turkey could be so difficult.

I was looking at the beast and telling myself that it will just take a minute, and I could scrub my hands and arms down with antibacterial soap as soon as I was done:

all up in that turkey's business:

Also, do you see that little bump under my eye? I was leaning over in my closet to hang some of my clothes on the lower shelf when my face collided with my vaccuum cleaner handle. I yelled like a man while I clenched my fists and I didn't even cuss (out loud). I laughed at my deep-voice yelling and tight fistedness afterwards.

Happy Thanksgiving!

don't know why i even try

I am a huge nerd.

Today James and I went on a little date. We are limited in what we can do because of James's lack of mobility. We went out to eat and listened to some sweet tunes in the car. As we were driving home listening to Jack Johnson's "Better Together" I bust out with my best robot dance moves. I didn't realize at the time that the robot and a sweet, slow ballad from Jack Johnson don't really mix. I told James that the robot is my "go to" dance move. We decided his is the "head nod" per doctor's orders. When we pulled into our apartment complex I busted out laughing, only then realizing the nerdiness of my choice in dance moves.

Oh yeah, and we are home and in our pajamas and it is 6:38 pm. Does that make us (me) even nerdier?

baiosdfaqwen**rkljvh! are there no competent hairdressers in midland?? i went in for a trim and i specifically told the lady, "i don't want any length cut off, just a trim". i've learned through experience that in midland you have to be very specific about what you want. so how the crap did my hair turn out like this:

just kidding, it's not that short. but i could've fooled you.

the best thing about monday nights

i get to hang out with the hubs and fall asleep on the couch while he watches the jazz lose another game

the best thing about monday mornings

after James leaves for work at 5:15 am, I get to rock out to the amazing new Weezer album while I finish getting ready for clinicals. It's an early start to the day, and nothing makes it better than rocking out to some great tunes in the bathroom, singing into my toothbrush/microphone.

i promise, we are all adults

me with my favorite workout buds.

me (ladybug), kristen (firefly), and steph (bumble bee)

poor little guy

last night was basketball night for James. he plays on a city league team and he loves it. last night was his second game of the season. i was studying/watching tv (i know, bad combo) when he got home so when he walked in i didn't look at him. i just said in my silliest, most mary-ish voice: hey little guy! he said: um, my dear, i hurt myself. then i look over and notice his gait. holy crap he is really hurt! i help him get to the couch and assess the damage. he was in the middle of playing when his knee literally came out and went back in. youch! he said he felt a pop, which is never good. i immediately elevated it, iced it, and gave him 800 milligrams of ibuprofen. am i in nursing school or what?

today i had clinicals all day. i felt bad that i couldn't baby him and grant him his every whim. luckily i was forced to leave early. but that story is for another post. this is about my little guy. his knee is more swollen and painful for him today. we made an appointment with a specialist for next week. he has been on the couch all day, icing and elevating. good boy. i bought him a cane. i know, that's a funny mental picture. don't worry i took an actual picture and put it at the end of this post. he looks like a pimp.

poor little lamb:

so swollen:

sir "wobbles-a-lot" the pimp:

baseball, body pillow, and blankets. what else could a guy want?

i have a new black friend

My friend and I go everywhere together. My friend is so new and we have already been through so much together. We have gone to school on a Friday (I know... ludacris) and assessed many a pregnant woman. I love my new friend. I hear things so clearly through it. Thanks to the awesomest, funniest, and best looking parents ever for sending your grown-up daughter her newest friend.

This is the maximum amount of excited-ness that I can muster at seven in the morning. I was woken up by my phone ringing. Not my cell phone, my home phone. I thought to myself, "surely it's a telemarketer, I'm not going to answer". But then I remembered that today I have clinicals and maybe by the grace of the universe my instructor was calling to cancel. I ran to the phone. He is really sick, bummer. I don't have clinicals, yee haw!

quote of the day

"My teeth look shorter today." -yours truly

my baby sissy

Is my baby sister already 16 years old? Where has the time gone? Sarah went to her first formal highschool dance yesterday with her boyfriend Tanner. I made sure that my Mom took pictures so that I could document it.

oh how cute:

now it's Sarah's turn:

she couldn't figure it out, so my Dad stepped in:

breast cancer walk

Happy Bird Day!

Well, it's Mary Anne McAllister's birthday again and she is a happy and healthy 23 year old. We went on a Birthday Date yesterday and got her some new pants at the mall. The movie that she choose was less than desirable, meaning that two out of the last three years she has picked a really crappy movie to see on her day. Dan in Real Life was the only winner a few years ago. Here are a few of the mandatory pictures of the date that we had:

Here she is all excited about her newly tinted car windows

Is it just me, or does Mary take over 50% of her photos in her car?

Just a thought.

To my girl, I love you and hope that you have the best birthday ever.

-JAMES

there's no use hiding it

i know that everyone loves it when i am home alone and do crazy things. yesterday i was home alone, and extremely bored. i decided to send my family a little sunday afternoon pick-me-up. my sissy decided it would be awesome to put it on her blog. soooo, if you wanna see it, then scoot on over to her blog.

you see what I have to deal with? all those books go in my back-pack on a daily basis. I should be studying from those pages. I think I'll try it my way instead:

it's not working.