Kim and Kyle

It's a....

2012-01-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

I went for my first ultrasound today to hopefully find out what the sex of the baby was going to be. They told me I had to drink 32-40 oz. of water and keep it in my bladder for an 1 1/2 before my appointment. Worst experience of my life! By the time I got to my appointment I thought my bladder was going to explode it hurt so bad. When they called me back the nurse let me go to the bathroom. Apparently that rule is only for women who are less than twelve weeks along. Thanks for telling me! At first the baby was curled up into a ball with it's legs above it's head so we couldn't see anything. The nurse had a wait about ten minutes to see if the baby would stretch out. When the nurse came back the baby had moved just enough to get a clear shot. It's a...GIRL!! I knew it was going to be!

Tis' the season of frames

2011-12-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

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!!

2011-12-28T10:33:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

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

Pics of Mike

2011-09-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

Preston and Ciara's Wedding

2011-09-10T08:22:00.001-07:00

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

Summer Project

2011-08-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-06-18T16:25:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-29T21:21:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

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.

Working Hard

2010-11-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

Derek spreading the gospel to Everyone and Everything!

Happenings....

2010-11-08T18:49:00.001-08:00

October sure did fly by pretty quick. A couple of weeks before Halloween, Kyle's sister Jamie had a murder mystery party. It was pretty fun getting dressed up and trying to figure out who was the murderer.

A couple days before Halloween we went to Thriller at Tuachan. It was awesome!

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Kyle's sister in law, well i guess my sister in law too, went through the temple a few nights ago and her and Kyle's brother are getting sealed tomorrow. Here's some pics of the fam.

Back to 1st Grade

2010-10-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a school picture in FOREVER it feels like but we got ours today. I am LOVING teaching. I love my school and EVERYONE there. It's so fun being able to be my nerdy self and the kids think it's funny. It's a lot of hard work and is keeping me really busy. I feel bad for Kyle because he gets the stressed out side of me but he's handling it well. Hopefully there's more fun to come!

Derek Update

2010-10-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

I wish it would rain here. Its been crazy hot every day. This guy got electricuted on our street and died. He was up in a tree cutting branches and he touched the telephone wires. We walked by like 20 minutes later and they were lowering his body from the tree. It was jacked, He was all messed up and toasted. I think i was on the news though. They dont celebrate halloween or anything here. So have a fun one. Wow this week was crazy. Tuesday was just a normal day. We had our District meeting in the morning then went and worked. Wednesday we had entravistas with President Monestel he didnt say much to me. Only basic stuff like, How was your family?, and junk like that. We went with some of the APs around are area and that was about it. Thursday my companion had to go to Managua for training because he is the district leader. So I stayed here with one of our zone leaders. He is from Wyoming so we got to speak some english to eachother. First we went to Santo Tomas which about an hour away from here. He interviewed some people for baptism then we left. After we went to his area and taught a lady that weighs like 500 pds, and is bedridin. I guess she wants to be baptized but cant because of her weight. That was Thursday and Friday. On saturday we went and mowed her lawn with machetes. Thats how they do it here. It was pretty fun. I was sweating like crazy though, it looked like I had just went swimming. Sunday was just a normal sunday. They are sending two more missionaries to our city. Hopefully that helps out the work because right now we are the worst area. It sucks because we work hard, just havent had any success. My companion is probably leaving this next transfer so he is way excited and he doesnt really care about the work here. Over all things are going good.

Love Elder Mclaws

Update on Derek

2010-09-20T15:25:00.000-07:00

For all you family members out there and people who care Derek has been in Nicaragua for a couple of weeks now. Here are a few things he wrote in his last letter. I love reading his letters because it really helps me realize just how lucky we are living where we live and having all the things we have. Here is his email address if any of you want to write him.

derek.mclaws@myldsmail.net

I just have a standard toilet in our house. Most people have out houses just a hole you squat over. So having a toilet is a pretty good luxary. The food isnt bad. Its pretty plain. Its gallo pinto always and usually an egg or chicken. We had sardines the other day and i didnt like them at all. I sucked them down though. I feel bad because everyone is really poor. I felt bad because one of the sons of the family that cooks for us asked how much my tie cost and i said 15-20 bucks and he went crazy. 1 dollar is 20 pesos. Most people live off of less then what my tie cost. I felt so bad. I try not to tell people what things cost anymore. Dont be surprised if you are watching national geographic and its talking about native people who are crazy, and then you see me walking in the background. because thats how i feel here. I stand out like crazy.Ya its defenetly different here. Im trying to stay motivated and have a good attitude, buts its hard sometimes when you cant say what you want to say, but its getting better. Im starting to understand more and more everyday. The family that cooks for us are really good at helping me out. There son just got back from his mission to Honduras and he knows a little english so that helps. Also I have been reading the BOM in spanish and english. It really helps to see the contrast between how things are said. Over all its getting better. We have 3 families that we are consentrating on. They are the poorest out of all are investigators. One family lives in a runoff area. So there house is always flooded. They have a dirt floor, so its strait mud in there house. They have boards on the ground to walk on but that is it. They have a lot of faith though and they are very humble. The father was at church yesterday, but his wife and kids werent. I guess the kid was sick so she had to stay home. Were going to try to get them all to church next sunday. The other family is pretty poor to. Not as poor but pretty poor. The father and the kids were at church, but not the wife. I dont think she is really into it, but we are going to work on her this week. This other family we have been teaching, is either never there or tells us to come by later, but earlier this week the brother of the wife was there and he had read the whole packet that we left for them, he had a ton of questions and my companion answered them pretty good i think. As we were leaving he said that he thinks that this is the true church. We havent talked to him since because he has work. Were going to try to talk with him this week. They live on top two huge hills. Its wierd you walk up a huge hill and then up another hill. It kinda sucks but its not to bad. I have been expieriencing the buses. They are crazy. We had to go to another city because my companion is a district leader and he had to ask baptismail questions. It was about a three hour bus ride. I had to stand both ways because there were so many people. It was packed i couldnt move. They drive crazy too. Passing cars and stuff like that. I was in one coming back from an appointment, and the bus driver just mowed over a dog. The dogs dont move because i guess cars go around. So this bus driver just plowed it. Busses are pretty crazy. Well anyway everything is going good. Im learning a lot and working hard.

Love Elder Mclaws

Kyle's 25th Birthday!

2010-09-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

This year Kyle wanted to have his family over to our house for his birthday dinner. We ate, played rock band, and hung out. I don't think the flash or something on my camera was working so the pictures are kind of bad. Sorry!

Blowing out the candles

Kyle and "most" his nieces and nephews

Jettster

Tash

Kambrie and Kenzlie

My classroom!

2010-07-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard yet..I got a job teaching 1st grade! I'm really excited, but really overwhelmed with everything that I need to get done. Here are a few pictures of my classroom. I have a lot of work to do so i'll post some pictures when I get done fixing it up!

Back in 2

2010-07-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

Derek is gone for 2 whole years! I don't know if I will be able to survive! We took him the MTC today and basically kicked him to the curb. I was pretty good about not crying until my sister started to cry then I couldn't help crying a little. Kyle and Michael stayed at the temple while we went and dropped him off at the curb. They probably stayed so they wouldn't cry and could still keep their masculinity. Derek wouldn't take a normal picture so basically in every picture he is making the funniest faces.

The Boys

Derek hates hugging and touching so I was trying to make him put his arm around me in the picture and that stubborn kid wasn't having it.

They were both trying to stand on their tiptoes to see who was the tallest

Grandma and Grandpa came out from NY to visit before Derek left

Michael's Graduation!

2010-05-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go?!? It's been five years since I graduated and now my last little brother is graduated (not so little anymore). Time sure does fly!

My cute cousin!

2010-05-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

We watched this cute little guy for a few hours on Saturday. He was asleep when we picked him up and woke up by the time we got home. He had no idea where he was or who we were. He got so mad and wouldn't get out of the car. Kyle brought out his Camaro and suddenly Adam was our best friend!

Happy (late) Mothers Day

2010-05-15T19:01:00.000-07:00

We love our awesome moms!

Kyle's Mom

My Mom

Mandy (step-mom)

This is the present I made for Kyle's mom on Mother's Day! She loved it!

As I was looking for pictures of our moms I found these two pictures from our reception. They are pretty funny!

Projects

2010-05-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

Since I finished school and have a lot more free time I have actually been able to finish a few projects. Here are a few of them and more to come!

This is a sign for the laundry room (duh) when I finished Kyle said "well if you think it's so much fun you can do the laundry all the time!

Some HOME blocks...I hated how all these cute decorations are so expensive so I have been trying to make my own :)

I made these for Natalie's birthday. She took the pictures of her kids (aren't they so freakin cute!) then I edited them and did the "My favorite things" vinyl. I love these! Oh and I have to say thanks to Jamie and Wade because they cut the wood and without the wood this wouldn't of been possible! THANKS guys your the best!

I wanted something cute to countdown Derek's mission so I came up with this idea and was really excited. Actually, the first idea I had consisted of Kyle drilling 700 holes into a piece of wood. He wasn't too thrilled with this idea so I decided to think of something else. These are for my mom (yes mom you won't be getting this 2 weeks before Derek comes home like you thought, I actually finished something on time) I still have to make mine... I still have 2 months right?!?

I really liked this, but I felt like it was missing something. I tried to get creative and pretty much ruined it. I am hoping to make another one that will be much better than this one.

Well that's about it for now. I finished Kyle's mom's mothers day present tonight, but I'll post that tomorrow just in case she looks at this tonight :)

The Pine View Quilt

2010-03-28T18:20:00.000-07:00

Ok so i had to post this because it has taken me sooooooo long to finish it. Probably a little more than two years. I have the habit of starting projects and not finishing them in a timely manner. When I first started college I had all my sweatshirts from playing basketball and soccer in high school just tucked under my bed because they were all just getting worn out and dirty. I didn't want to get rid of them because let's face it, I have a hard time getting rid of anything that halfway resembles a memory. So I decided to make a quilt because then I could still have the memories, but they wouldn't just be old sweatshirts under the bed for the rest of my life. However, I could never find the time to just sit down and finish the dang thing. Kyle finally had to put his foot down and demand that I couldn't start another project until all of my old ones were finished. So without school taking up all of my time I finally finished it and am so excited. It didn't quite turn out as good as I wanted it to, but it was hard and I just wanted to get it done! On to the next project!

Mandy's Baptism

2010-03-27T20:05:00.000-07:00

My step-mom Mandy got baptized Saturday March 27th. It was really fun to be there and experience it with her. In January my dad was gone for three weeks for work and the sister missionaries knocked on her door. She invited them in and started taking the discussions. A few months later she decided she wanted to be baptized. During the baptism Kyle realized that the sister missionary who gave Mandy the discussions was the sister of a missionary companion he had in Argentina. Sorry I don't have any pictures. I am kind of a bad picture taker.

Derek's Mission Call

2010-03-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

My little brother Derek got his mission call. He was called to serve in the Nicaragua Managua mission. He had been getting teased forever about where he would end up going so I was glad that he was going to get to go foreign and Spanish speaking like he wanted. After he read where he was going he had to sit and think about where it actually was. It took us awhile to finally figure out that it is in Central America. It's close to Costa Rica so we now know where our next family vacation will be in 2 years (hopefully). He leaves for the MTC on July 7th, which means he has three months to let it all sink in. It's going to be really weird having him gone for 2 years, but I'm really excited for him. I keep trying to upload the video of him opening it, but it's just not working. Maybe i'll keep trying.

My latest creation

2010-03-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

I had figured out how to make these a few weeks ago so for Tiffany's (sis in-law) birthday I made her one for her and her family. Then I made myself one. I think they are pretty cool!

Dangerous APPS

2010-02-08T10:50:00.000-08:00

My wonderful husband got a call saturday night from what appeared to be the bank, but when he answered it it was really his friend Jake. It's a new app for cell phones called bluff my call. It is really quite clever actually. You can call anyone in your phonebook from your phone, but it shows up on their caller id as anyone you want it to. Well after he learned about this app he downloaded it right away and decided to call his brother pretending to be mall security and telling him that his store got broken in to. His brother was pretty calm about the whole thing and just said "ok i'll call the owner." If pranking one person wasn't enought Kyle had to get someone else. He decided to call his old boss at Foot Locker from Foot Locker's number. This time he pretended to be some guy named Jeffrey and convince Marty that he had broken into the store and was going to steal everything. One problem though....instead of Marty answering the phone, his wife did instead. Kyle (in his disguised voice) starts saying how he has broken into the store, etc. Well she starts freaking out a little and hands the phone to Marty. While Kyle is still pretending to have broken into the store we hear her in the background talking to someone. I look at Kyle and say "she is calling the cops!" And sure enough that is what she had done. She had called the cops and was telling them that someone was breaking into the mall. When Kyle finally came clean and they told the cops that it was just a prank the cops said they were going to have to call kyle. We thought he was going to get in so much trouble, but the cop just had to make sure it was actually a prank. I was so glad that nothing else came of it. To make things worse HE WANTED TO CALL ANOTHER PERSON! This app could be bad...very bad!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-29T07:08:00.001-08:00

I know Christmas was almost a month ago, but oh well. This year we spent Christmas eve at Kyle's parents house and then spent Christmas day with my family. Kyle and I weren't going to get anything for each other this year because we figured we would rather spend the money on our house, but Kyle decided not to follow the rules and got me laser hair removal. I tried to be mad at him for not following the rules, but I just couldn't! I was so excited! At my mom's house my brothers got these blow up punching gloves that were really fun. They fought each other hard for probably 20 minutes. Then when my aunt and I tried we fought for probably 10 seconds before we were dying from laughter. Here is the video of us trying to fight (we weren't very impressive.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M6RYwnDpLc

A Quick Update

2009-12-01T06:39:00.001-08:00

Well the house is finally finished and we are trying to get moved in all while finishing up the semester. Things are a little crazy to say the least. We love the house and are so excited to finally be in. THe first thing I had to do was get a Christmas tree and put it up...Kyle was not so excited. I also made him buy lights to put on the house this weekend. He sent me this e-mail begging for some kind of break (to bad our neighbors don't have any lights on their house.)

Student Teaching

2009-10-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

Just an update about student teaching....I'm loving it so far except for yesterday.... they were terrible, and of course I was getting observed three days before Halloween when the kids are at their craziest. Let's just say I wanted to crawl into bed after that lesson and never get out. Unfortunately I had to get up and start the day all over again and I started wondering why I would want to do this to myself the rest of my life, but then I gave them a pre-test today and after reading their answers I remembered why.
They got this picture and had to write what it means:

Here are some of the answers they put:
1. bathroom spot
2. for old people
3. people with whill chairs are going to go on a cross walk
4. parking if you have a sign
5. wheel chair parking
6. poking (parking) It took me awhile to get that he just spelled this one wrong. I really thought he put poking.

Finally....the house begins!

2009-09-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

Our house finally started getting built. It is such a distraction waiting for it to get done, but we are way excited and hopefully it will be done in a few months.

Our Backyard

Kyle's Brithday

2009-09-17T15:39:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday was Kyle's birthday. It wasn't too exciting because he had to work and go to school all day, but hopefully he still had a good one. I gave him two pairs of Jordan shoes that he has been wanting forever. We got a baby pair of them this summer so I just had to get him the big pair. I don't know why I fuel his obsession with shoes that just sit in the boxes in his closet, but I know how happy he is when he gets a new pair so I just had to.

Go Pine View!

2009-08-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Last night was my little brother Mike's first football game with the Pine View Panthers. It is his senior year and he is so excited to finally be playing. The whole time we were in Hawaii he kept saying how much he wanted to go home so football could start. Talk about a crazy kid. During the opening minutes of the game the quarterback threw the ball directly to Mike who was wide open. I swear the ball hung in the air for 20 min and the whole time I was praying catch the ball, please catch the ball. He did and then ran it up the field for the first touchdown of the season! I was so excited for him! He made some some other good catches and some good stops on defense as well. This is the picture that was in the paper of him this morning.

Oh so lucky!

2009-08-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

So I've never really thought of myself as lucky. In fact the very opposite. If I speed I always get pulled over, when I play keno in casino restaurants just for fun....I never win, and not to mention that just doing normal daily activities usually ends with me getting hurt. However, after what happened yesterday I'm starting to think that maybe I'm not that unlucky after all. After work I decided to go to Wal-mart and do the grocery shopping. So I get all the groceries, pay, and unload the groceries into my car. After returning the shopping cart I got in my car and drove away. Little did I know I left my purse sitting in the cart. Well the next day I go looking for my purse and it and it is nowhere to be found. After I looked in our house and cars and it wasn't there I started panicking. I knew Kyle was going to be so mad because he is always telling me to keep track of my purse because I do admit I don't pay that much attention to it. As I started thinking of where I had it last I could only think of Wal-Mart so I figured what the heck I'll call and see if someone turned it in. As I waited for the lady to look I thought there is no way it is there. For one, I can't be stupid enough to have left it in the cart and second, there is no way someone would turn it in if they found it. When the lady got back on the phone she said "ya it's here come get it." I about fainted when she told me it was there and couldn't believe that someone actually turned it in. When I told Kyle all he said was "that's my wife" like I do stuff like this all the time :)

Hawaii-Internationl Marketplace

2009-08-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

Our hotel was across the street from the international marketplace so we were there almost every night seeing what else we could buy. People line the streets with their little businesses and try to sell things. There were these guys that brought these very colorful birds and would take pictures for people holding the birds. Guys would also spray paint themselves and stand completely still until you put money in their buckets. Then they would spring to life and do some crazy gesture or dance. The first day we were there Michael found this statue and Kyle got a picture of him. It's pretty funny.

Hawaii-Pearl Harbor

2009-08-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

On the last day before we had to be at the airport we went to the Pearl Harbor cemetary and the USS Arizona monument. There's a different feeling at Pearl Harbor and it is insane seeing the battleships sunk under water, how big they were, and how it all happened.

Hawaii-Helicopter Tour

2009-08-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

We went on a Helicopter tour around the island and saw a lot of cool things. There have been so many movies and TV shows shot on Oahu it was interesting to see where they all were filmed. We saw where Jurassic Park was filmed, The TV show LOST, the house where Mr. Miagi lived in Karate Kid, Blush Crush, 50 First Dates, etc. Seeing Pearl Harbor from high up was also way cool and the fields after fields of Pineapple growing at the Dole Plantation was crazy. It rained a lot of the time and the wind was very unsettling, but we made it out alive.

Hawaii-Sharks

2009-08-04T21:56:00.001-07:00

Yes, we were going to get in a cage and swim with the sharks. We were all so excited, but then when we got out there the water was a little rough and the guides were nervous about it so we weren't able to do it. We tried to reschedule, but they were booked for the duration of our vacation. When we first got out there was saw a ton of sharks swimming around the boat and I was freaking out. Then as we got talking to the guides they said that they actually swim with them some times without the cage because the cage breaks and they have to get in and fix it. They also gave us some other information that many people are misinformed about and then I started to calm down. It was still fun to see the sharks, but I can't wait until I can get into a cage and swim with them!

Hawaii-Scuba Diving

2009-08-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

Scuba diving was probably my favorite thing just because I couldn't go the last time we went to Hawaii and didn't think I was going to be able to do it this time, but my ears decided to cooperate and we got to see some turtles and other fish. There were these weird little creatures that we would flick and purple stuff would come squirting out of them.

Hawaii-Waterfalls

2009-08-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

So I found this ad in one of the Hawaiian tourist books for a secret waterfall tour and thought it would be way fun. We hiked to two waterfalls and were able to swim in the second one and jump off a 30 ft cliff into the water. The other people that went on the hike with us clearly had never jumped off something that high into water beofre so Derek and Michael (used to jumping off cliffs at powell and sand hollow) went first to show everyone that they weren't going to die. After we all went the other families decided they would go to, however they weren't very good at landing and smacked the water pretty hard.

Hawaii-Laie Temple

2009-08-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

While we were waiting for the show to start at the PCC we decided to go over to the temple and check it out. It was closed for renovation so Kyle and I couldn't go in it,, which we were way bummed about, but we decided to still put it on our list. The temple doesn't look that good because of the renovations, but Derek and Michael were being super funny and doing the funniest faces in the pictures.

Hawaii-PCC

2009-08-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Kyle's favorite thing was the Polynesian Culture Center. We were there all day learning about the different Polynesian Cultures. At Samoa I made the mistake of grabbing some coconuts that the guide was handing out to people (apparently we missed this show last time) and then learned I had to go on stage and do a dance that they taught you. Let's just say I was the only one over the age of 8 and was very embarrassed. Later that night we went to a Luau and then a show called "The Breath of Life." It was amazing!

Hawaii-Dole Plantation

2009-08-04T21:18:00.001-07:00

Of course we had to visit the Dole Plantation and get pineapple ice cream. We tried to do the maze, but it was hot, confusing, and to get your card stamped at each checkpoint you had to wait in a long line of people so we found one checkpoint and decided to call it quits.

Hawaii-Pali Lookout

2009-08-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

We went to Pali lookout where a war or something forced armies to retreat off the cliff (didn't really pay attention) Anyways, it was a sweet view.

Hawai-Hanauma Bay

2009-08-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

We went snorkeling at Hanauma and saw tons of fish and weird looking things.

Hawaii-Sandy Beach

2009-08-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Hawaii was so awesome and way fun! I really didn't want to leave and usually after long vacations I can't wait to come home. I'll post everything we did in seperate posts because we did so much. We went to a beach called Sandy Beach. We found it the last time we went to Hawaii and had to go back. The waves break really close to the shore and if you are in the right spot they completely take you out and roll you up the beach. It is way fun, but really dangerous. Just as we got there the lifeguard made an announcement telling everyone that this beach is not safe and has a high percentage of broken backs and necks. It was comforting to hear. All of us got rolled at least once and that was enough. It hurts pretty bad and my sister and I almost lost our swimming suits. Here's some pics of the waves. Since Kyle has never been to this beach he was all for getting in the waves, but Derek and Michael knew better than to get too close.

Draper

2009-07-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went up to Draper to be at my half sister's sealing to her husband and little boy in the Draper Temple. We went up a few hours before the sealing and went to the mall. We were actually surprised when we left that mall without spending a single dollar. After the sealing we went to another mall and this time spent way too much money, but we just kept seeing all this stuff we wanted to have for our Hawaii trip coming up. Then we ate at P.F. Chang's because we both had never been. It was really good. The Draper Temple was so pretty tucked away in the hills. There were huge houses surrounding the temple (most of them for sale), but the view was incredible. We tried to get a good picture of us in front the temple, but the wind was blowing, the sun was right behind us, and we had no one to take the picture for us. Luckily Rachael (half sister) and Brandon came out and finally took a good picture for us. One more Temple down on our goal to attend as many temples as we can.

My Birthday!

2009-07-02T16:15:00.000-07:00

June 30th was my birthday and it was so much fun. Kyle brought me flowers to work and then later in the day we had a big family get together with mine and Kyle's family at my dad's house. Mandy loves to throw parties and goes above and beyond what is expected. All the kids swam and had so much fun going down the water slide (even though they were cut up and bleeding by the time they were done). We had two pinatas for the kids to hit, but none of the kids were able to break the first pinata so I had to step in and take care of it. They were completely full of candy and the kids had sackfuls that were comparable to Halloween Trick-or-Treating. The younger kids didn't get as much candy as the older kids because they didn't understand why candy was falling from the sky, but they still got quite a bit. There was tons of food and snow cones (which everyone loves) and Kyle threw me into the pool like he said he was going to. Kyle got me sunglasses and shoes that were I love and Natalie and Jamie (Kyle's sisters) got me a picture frame and a really cute plant decoration for our house. I also got money from Kyle and his parents that I will be forced to spend because I never spend money on myself (so they say). I wish I would have gotten more pictures, but here is a few of the nieces and nephews.

Wedding and Reception

2009-06-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Critical Swine Flu prevention tip: DON'T DO THIS!

2009-05-22T16:09:00.001-07:00

Old School

2009-05-16T08:23:00.001-07:00

Since Kyle was so fed up with our internet he decided to cancel it before making arrangements with another internet company, so we haven't had internet for a couple weeks, but will be getting it soon (hopefully). I've been using my dads computer at work to get the blog started and was looking through the pictures he has on it and found some old ones of us up at Jacob's lake where we have the McLaws family reunion every other year. Michael looks so little and i'm sure Gina will appreciate the picture she took of herself being shown to the world. Last year I took Kyle to his first McLaws reunion and i'm surprised he decided to marry me after meeting my family. My dad has 5 brothers and they spent the day asking Kyle to bear his testimony and then harassing him because he wouldn't. Then, if you know my uncle Mike and my brothers you know that when putting those three close to eachother something crazy will surely happen. This particular year Mike brought his paintball gun and the day ended with my dad's yukon being splattered with paint and Kyle and my brother running down the road screaming, I swear like girls, as my uncle shot at them. It was pretty funny. I think Kyle must have liked it though because a few months later he decided to let his brother and dad shoot at him with paintball guns while he ran across the backyard.

Finally!

2009-05-14T13:58:00.001-07:00

Well I FINALLY got this thing going. I started it probably last summer when Kyle and I got engaged, but haven't really touched it because of the craziness with the wedding, holidays, and school. Since I have some what of a break until school starts again I just had to get it up and going. Here are some pictures of the wedding (once I figure out how to put pictures on this haha) for those of you who haven't seen them yet.