Tis' the season of frames

Here are just a few pictures of some frames I made for some friends and for Kyle's brother and sister in law for Christmas. I am pretty much addicted to making these frames.

Telling Families

I got pregnant in September, but I wanted to wait until Christmas to tell everyone so it could be their "Christmas present." We made some frames and were going to put an ultrasound picture in the frame with a poem that i've had forever. We didn't get the ultrasound picture in time though so I just put the poem inside the frames. It actually worked a lot better than my original plan. Here are the frames and the poem.



I do not have a face to see,
or put inside a frame

I do not have soft cheeks to kiss;
I don’t yet have a name.

You can’t hold my tiny hands,
nor whisper in my ear.
It’s still too soon to sing a song,
or cuddle me so near.

But all will change come May 30th
when they say I’m due.
I’m your new grandson or granddaughter;
I can’t wait till I meet you.

All I ask between now and then
is your patience while I grow.
I promise I’ll be worth the wait,
because of all the love we’ll know.

So as your waiting patiently,
please pray lots of prayers for me.
I cannot wait to be a part
of this wonderful family.

Here is a picture of the frame with the poem inside.

Baby Time!!

We just told our families for Christmas that we are expecting a baby around May 30th. Everyone was really excited and mad at us that we kept it a secret for almost 4 months. I am now at 17 1/2 weeks and I feel so huge already! I've been really sick for most of the time. The nausea hardly ever goes away. We should be able to find out what we are having in a couple of weeks when I go for my ultrasound.

More pics of Mike

Sorry my blog has turned into Derek and Michael's mission blog! Here are some more pictures of Mike.

Pics of Mike

Preston and Ciara's Wedding

This is my favorite frame so far! I had a hard time giving it away!

Summer Project

These really did take me most of the summer to finish. They were supposed to be my birthday present for me from Kyle. It ended up being one of the most frustrating things I have even done. In the end it was worth it because they turned out so good! I want to make more...we'll see!



Pretend there are pictures in these!

Michael Update

Michael made is safely to Argentina. Feel free to read all about it!

As for argentina there is a lot that goes on every day. okay the plane ride was about 10 hours and that sucked. Argentina is pretty freakin ghetto. Dogs are everywhere. The first day i saw like 100 or so but after a while you just stop caring because there are so many. I pretty much love alfaores and what not. My comp is a native from santa cruz argentina. He speaks little english so we speak spanish all day every day. Its pretty cold down here. In the morning it sucks taking a shower because the room isnt heated and the hot water only lasts for about 5 minutes but its all good because i have a routine donw. I get all wet. Soap up and then rinse. THe only bad part is soaping up because its pretty freezing. Our pesion is pretty dirty. Spiders-spiderwebs ever wehre. No big deal though. Everything looks like its from the eighties. milk comes in bags so that makes things difficult sometimes. THings from america are way expensive. Did i mention dogs. The tolet is a toeltet no boday but mabey ill get one another transfer. however the toelet is pretty gross. WE have bikes so i love to cruise around and pop a weely once in a while. As for things i am glad i brought. WEre my mud boots!!!!!!!!!!! So needed and my fatty sleeping bag. Oh and those water juice mixtures! one of those a day makes it awesome. As for our members they are really good to us. They feed us mostly good. I had cow stomach the other day that was a little rougha to handle but i did. It doesnt taste bad its just incredible hard to eat. Havnt gotten robbed yet. probably because i am huge here. THe spanish is hard at fist but over time you become immune to it and things get a lot better. I am in a city called city bell maybe kyle knows where thats at. Its really good. it doesnt have fields or farm land so it makes things better. People drive pretty crazy here. for the first couple of days i thought i was going to get hit on my bike and fly into these gross ditches with trash and all sorts of stuff but that slowly faded. I had a person try reaching into my pocket on friday but i slapped it away and kept walking so it wasnt to big of a deal. This week has been pretty hectic and i cant really remember all of it but i feel that this will suffice. Ï hope all is well and remember i love you
love elder mclaws

Last Few Pictures

Here are a few last pictures from our trip to Pennsylvania. We went to a ward party and I was able to try out my zoom lens. I LOVE it! I just stood on the shore and was able to take pictures of the kids playing in the river without actually having to get into the water. We also went to Hershey Chocolate World and Hershey Park. I only took a few pictures because I was busy having fun.

Making Root Beer

Jacie

Janzie

Janzie and Jacie on the frog ride

Janzie and Jamin

Kyle and I

It started pouring rain while we there but we weren't about to leave after paying so much money. We were drenched and still riding roller coasters in the rain. After it stopped raining we changed into our swimming suits and went to the water park.

Pennsylvania Trip

We are in Pennsylvania to visit Kyle's oldest sister Taralie for 10 days before school starts. I have never met their kids before and have only seen his sister and and her husband a few times so it is fun being able to hang out with them. Kyle's parents came a few days before us. We drove through Amish country and saw them on their horses and buggies. I'm kind of jealous of their simple lifestyle, but at the same time couldn't imagine living the way they do.

All of us

Milking a cow (harder than it looks)

Janzie and Jacie



Jamin hugging his friend

Jaylie and Jamin

We went to D.C. and saw a few monuments and museums. We got there kind of late so almost everything was closed and driving around was a nightmare.

The Smithsonian Natural History Museum

I am so glad dinosaurs don't exist anymore. They were so HUGE!

Janzie and Jacie! Love these girls!

The Washington Monument with Jaylie, Jamin, Janzie and Jacie.

The Capital Building with Jaylie and Janzie (excuse my hair...the wind was blowing)


The Washington Monument again from the other side with Jaylie and Jamin. They are redoing the reflection pool so it wasn't there which was sad but oh well what can you do.

The Lincoln Memorial. I don't know why Kyle thinks he can make these kind of faces in our pictures, but that's why I love him!

On the way back to Pennsylvania we stopped at the D.C. Temple which was AMAZING. So pretty!!

Back in 2 (continued)

I feel like I was just posting pictures from when we dropped Derek off at the MTC and now it's Mike's turn. I miss him so much already and it's only been a few days. Hopefully the time goes by fast just like it has with Derek who has already been out for a year.







After we dropped Mike off I stayed with my mom and we took my grandma to the zoo. We also took my cute little cousins who LOVED looking at all the animals (and the cotton candy).

Michael's Farewell

Today was Michael's farewell. We are taking him to the MTC on Wednesday. I didn't take any pictures, but Kyle took these of my dad on his phone. My dad went to change after church and came out with orange shorts and a royal blue shirt (Florida Gator colors) after many laughs and teasing from everyone he went back into the room and changed into an orange shirt. After we teased him some more he went and got his "hat that matched." No joke he thought he looked cool. Then to make it worse we found a picture of him and 3 of his friends all wearing these ridiculous outfits while golfing.
Come on dad.......Really?!?!

Last Hoorah

Well my first year of teaching is over. The year went by really fast! I get to do it all over again in 3rd grade next year which is already stressing me out, but i'm trying to put it in the back of my mind and just enjoy these next few months I have off. I have big plans to get a lot of projects finished so hopefully the months don't go by too fast. Michael is getting ready to leave in a few weeks so for his birthday we all went down to Mesquite and ate at Katherine's and then went bowling. It got a little competitive especially when my dad starting putting money on the line. It was fun to reminisce about all the fun times my family used to have bowling all night. From 11 p.m. until 7 a.m. every weekend you could find us at the Virgin River bowling alley.

He wouldn't smile so I had to help him out a little bit


Winning Team!


Pops (professional bowler got 7 strikes in a row!!!)


Nikki and Chad


Mike and Kylee (we will be kidnapping her and locking her in our house for two years until Michael gets back)

Michael's Mission Call

Mike opened his mission call back in January (or maybe February) so many of you already know the news, but here is a post for those of you who don't know yet.

Buenos Aires Argentina South. He leaves June 15th....not sure why he decided to use a gigantic knife to open it, but whatever.