McLaws Clan

First Day of School

2011-09-16T19:38:00.004-06:00

I know this is late but Katie and Brogan both started school in the last few weeks. Katie is in 2nd grade and Brogan started preschool. How time flies!

The Big Burger

2011-04-05T18:41:00.003-06:00

Tonight, our local McDonalds was having dollar Big Macs. I got one for dinner and saved one for lunch tomorrow. Everyone ate all their dinners. But apparently Brogan needed another snack.

I guess I will be having a salad tomorrow instead.

Family Train Ride

2011-03-05T19:16:00.005-07:00

Today our family took Frontrunner to Salt Lake City. We went to the Church Museum and played in the Children's section. The kids always love playing there. Then we went to lunch and rode home to go to Smith and Edward's. They always have good candy!

See how happy I am now that I got lots of candy! From Katie

Catching up with us!

2009-12-21T16:57:00.013-07:00

Well, once again it is time to catch you up on all the activities we have been doing this past 6 months. We have been so busy and we have fallen behind on our blogging. We have made a goal for the new year to try and stay on top of this so all those out there will enjoy reading our blog.

Below are just some of the pictures of activities we did as a family recently. We don't have pictures for some of the things we did, but as soon as I get them, I will post them as well.

Enjoy!

Katie and Brian at the Airforce Museum

Katie trying out one of the chairs that a pilot uses in the F-16's

Kim and Brogan enjoying the planes

Katie graduated from preschool and is now in Kindergarten

Katie wanted to show of the new deck that her Dad and Grandpa built

We went to Lagoon a lot because Kim won free season passes to Lagoon

Our family on the Merri-go-round at Lagoon

Katie and Nannie on one of the kiddie rides

Brogan and Katie enjoying the train ride with Nannie

As you can see, even Kim got in on the rides. You go girl!!

Katie loved the Tilt-A-Whirl

Kim sewed this car organizer. It fits on the back of your car seat so kids can store stuff in them for car trips, or whatever. Kim has looked at selling these to people. If you are interested in maybe getting one, contact Kim and she will let you know if she can do it, or not.

If you look closely, you can see Katie asleep. Kim and Brian stayed up late watching a movie and we found that Katie wanted to watch as well, but got to tired and fell asleep.

This was another project that Kim did. This was one of the gifts that Katie got for her birthday.

We are making all kind of improvements to our home. We painted our front door chocolate brown. It used to be white and is a big improvement.

Brian got up one day to go answer the phone and found out it was a telemarketer. Well, on the way to the phone, the chair talked back to him and so he kicked it and broke his toe. Ouch!

This is the Newport Coast Villas we stayed at when attending Kim's Grandpa's funeral. This is where we stay, as much as we can, when we go to southern California, especially Disneyland. If you would like the opportunity to stay here, just take us on vacation with you and it will be cheap.

You can't see it that well, but the ocean is in the background. Sorry to make all of you griller's jealous, but this was my view everytime I did some BBQ'ing at Newport Coast Villas.

Another view of Newport Coast Villas

The main pool at Newport Coast Villas with the ocean in the background. They have several pools though. Also, if you look closely at the bottome of the pic, you can see a pool table and chess. The chess pieces are about 2 feet tall.

Well, we just can't get enough of the beach and had to take another picture. This was our 2nd trip to the beach in the past 6 months, with more planned in the near future

This is Kim, Katie, and Brogan at the Disney on Ice, Princess Classic's. Sorry that I don't have pics of the show, but I will post them soon.

Katie loved this tree that was so red. This is outside our neighbor's home and she wanted me to take her picture with it. If you look closely, you will see little white lines, that is snow falling.

Katie made this vampire pumpkin in her Kindergarten class this past Halloween.

This is what it looked like outside our home December 21st. If you look closely, from all the fog we had, the fog stuck to every little branch on the trees. It was beautiful!

This is a close up pic of the wreath on our front door for Christmas.

This is one of our Christmas tree. It has blue and white lights on it with blue and silver items. The tree is 10 feet tall.

These are our stockings hung by the stairs with care.

Well, I hoped you enjoyed some of our pictures. We have more to come. We have just been very busy these past couple months. We have been to Lake Tahoe, San Diego, 2 months late to Newport Coast, St. George, Katie starting Kindergarten, Brogan and Katie's birthday, Thanksgiving with family in St. George, and now getting ready for Christmas.

We want to wish everyone a safe and wonderful Holiday Season. I hope you can take a moment and reflect on why we celebrate Christmas. It was the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and without him, we wouldn't be here today.

If you would like a Christmas card, please leave us your mailing address.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy Belated Birthday, Katie!

2009-10-15T10:34:00.003-06:00

Katie's 6th Birthday was at the end of September. Time has gotten away, so the post is really late. We had a family party. Instead of a friends party, she is going to the Disney Princesses on Ice in November. She is really excited.

This is the quilt I made for her birthday. I started it way before but finished it just in time. The underside of the blanket matches her pillowcase. She is excited to have a grown up bed.

Happy Birthday, Katie! We love you!

September 7th, 1996.....

2009-09-06T21:57:00.003-06:00

This was the day we started our wonderful lives together.

This was the day that we truly fell in love with each other.

This was the day that I would learn never to say no again, well, most of the time.

This was the day that when I looked at my, I knew that she was not only beautiful outside,

but beautiful also on the inside.

She is an amazing woman. I love her with all my heart.

I just want everyone to know that she is truly an awesome angel that was sent

to me to love, not only myself, but also our family unconditionally.

I just want my wife to know how much I love her.

She has truly stolen my heart and has never given it back.

I LOVE YOU KIM, TODAY, TOMORROW, AND FOR ETERNITY!

As you can see, she has truly made us a happy family

that will last forever.

HAPPY 13TH ANNIVERSARY!

I LOVE YOU NOW AND FOREVER!

Happy Birthday Brogan!

2009-08-28T18:09:00.003-06:00

Brogan came to us 8/26/08

We know that he will be into sports when he gets

older. He loved his first Baseball.

Look at him go. He loved the rainbow chip frosting

more then the cake itself.

Look how happy he is. We love him so much because

he is always smiling and laughing. He hardly cries.

Yes, we are very lucky parents.

Needless to say, He loved the frosting, and some cake.

Happy Birthday Brogan! We love you so much and are happy you chose our family.

Katie's New Hole

2009-08-05T18:04:00.003-06:00

Katie lost her first tooth on Monday. She actually pulled it out when it was really loose. She was really excited to have the tooth fairy come to our house.

Paying it forward

2009-08-05T08:11:00.003-06:00

I thought I would try something here. "The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade gift, or something else, from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch though...Post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift!"

This is an awesome thing in life. We had this happen, not only to us, but we have paid it forward ten fold. You will never have a more awesome feeling then when you are part of a pay it forward ring. Go out and see, I promise you that you will be glad you did.

Update soon......

2009-06-22T10:30:00.002-06:00

Hello one and all. I just wanted to let you know that we are still alive and kicking, well at least the kids kicking us. ha ha ha. Well, we have had a lot of things happen to us as well as going on in our lives these past couple of months. We will be updating with pictures and things over the next couple of days. Be sure to watch for them as we have pictures and things to post.

We look forward to getting back into the routine of updating our blog and letting family and friends enjoy our family adventures.

Ta Ta for now......

Ode To Brogan

2009-04-28T19:56:00.005-06:00

Brogan got his first haircut. He didn't know what was coming!

He was not a happy camper!

This is the final product. It looks cuter with his hair spiked.

Brogan loves his tongue! Especially when we go down the

ice cream isle at the store!

This is the cutest pic ever! Too bad he doesnt have many hats!

Wal-Mart adventure

2009-04-01T21:15:00.002-06:00

This is what we just bought with coupons tonight.

I'm not going to take time and type what coupons we used,

but I'm sure you can figure it out.

2 Ken's salad dressing's

3 Kraft salad dressing's

1 Hannah Montana cereal

1 can Organic fired roasted tomatoes

1 tub of chocolate froasting

2 cans of enchilada green sauce

1 Aveena hand loation

3 Johnson hand loation

3 packages of Danimals crush cup yogurt's

3 different types of Mento's gum

Total: $32.72

Coupon's used: $20.75

PAID OUT OF POCKET: $11.97

Let me tell you, the coupon thing does really work.

Will post more when we go out again.

Happy Days!

2009-03-24T21:19:00.004-06:00

Brogan was sick last week with RSV. Luckily, it wasn't bad enough to be hospitalized. Now he has completely recovered and is not contagious. It was tough to stay inside the house all week and not enjoy the beautiful sun outside. But this week, we still can't go outside because of the cold.

Brogan loved having a cold washcloth on his head.

Brogan loves his new bouncy chair. He jumps and sways and drools alot!
And occasionally, he falls asleep.
Katie really loves her little brother!

Brian in the News

2009-02-12T18:03:00.004-07:00

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

See if you can spot him, Twice.

My Little Buckeyes!

2009-02-01T19:06:00.003-07:00

Thank you to the Kings for the Ohio State apparel. My boys

are appropriately decked out now!

New Years in California

2009-01-15T19:56:00.007-07:00

This year for Christmas, we spent it at home. Brian had to work the next day. But right after he got off work, we headed down to St. George. We spent a few days with both families. Then we went on a fun trip down to Newport Beach, California. We spent three relaxing days at a Marriott resort, Newport Coast Villas. Here are some of our pictures that told the story.

Katie enjoyed the balcony at the resort. You can almost see the ocean in the background.

Unfortunately, this was the view every morning.

Brian, Laura, and Aryn entered the Iron Chef Contest at the resort. The secret ingredient was water chestnuts. Brian made an Asian Salad. It won 1st place for taste! Go Brian!

Laura and Aryn made a fabulous Alfredo Chicken with vegetables over noodles. We all had a great time participating in the contest.

Our two family pictures at the COLD beach.

While Brian was taking a tour of our resort, Newport Coast Villas, Katie, Brogan, my brother Jon and I walked around Fashion Island. It was a huge outdoor mall. This tree was 150 feet tall. It was awesome to see up close.

Katie loved the Carousel. She went on it twice. Once with me and another time with Brian.

We got the priviledge of seeing my grandfather. He is 94 years old. My uncle arranged the get-together. It was really fun. All of the men put on fake mustaches and berets and took a picture together. Then we went out to dinner that evening. What fun memories we create!

Brogan was the cutest and happiest kid the whole trip. I am really lucky that he is a good traveler.

This is our family picture. But we didnt send out any christmas cards this year. Sorry!

Season 7 Biggest Losers

2008-12-17T18:13:00.005-07:00

These are Brian's cousins who will be on Season 7 next month

Please, cheer them on for the big prize.

We are behind you 100% guys and wish you all the best.

Blaine Cotter & Dane Patterson

Being Comforted

2008-12-15T21:16:00.002-07:00

As you can see, Brian is being comforted by a pink bunny, while he was sick.

Brian was sick with a head cold on Thanksgiving weekend.

This was the only way he was going to get comfort besides his family.

Awe, ain't that just cute, a grown man still sleeping with a pink stuffed bunny.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T07:02:00.000-06:00

We just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!

I hope that everyone was able to get enough sweets yesterday.

Parents with babies, I hope you were able to get yourself some candy too.

Brian - Santa Clause, Katie - A Bride

Brogan - Baby's First Halloween outfit

Brogan's Blessing

2008-10-24T21:43:00.000-06:00

We blessed Brogan on October 12th. We had a lot of family members that came. Below you will see their pictures. We did have one family member that was not present, but we forgive her. Stacy, Marc Tharp's wife, was giving birth to their third daughter, Mae Tharp, that morning. We appreciated everyone that made the trip, especially with the weather that hit us early that morning.

Our beautiful family: Kim, Brogan, Brian, & Katie

This is Kim's family: Jon, Katie, Aryn, Marc, Adam, Dominique, Emily, Dale, Luke, Dori Ann

Kim, Brogan, Brian, Lydia

(Not Pictured, but came to the blessing: Jared, Laura, Sam, and Aryn)

This is Brian's Parent's: Evan & Vivian Brown

This is Brian's Parent's: Jerry & Teresa McLaws

This is Katie standing outside Sunday morning before Brogan's blessing.

You can just see how much snow we received.

This is what it looked like in our backyard.

Just take a look at how much of the snow is on the car's.

Katie was so anxious to go play in the snow.

You can see it is almost to her knees.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!

2008-09-29T10:49:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!

Katie turns 5 today. I can't believe that 5 years has already passed. She is our angel and our sweetheart. She is always willing to help out around the house and a really big help to her mother while she takes care of her new baby brother, Brogan. She just started Preschool and enjoyed a day with cupcakes there today. She loves to ride her bike around the neighborhood and say "HI" to any and all strangers. She is a very big people person. She loves to play Mario Cart with her Dad & Mom. She actually is really good at it. She loves the computer and is learning new things every day on the computer. We just recently went to Applebee's for a date night as a family, and she asked for the corndog kids meal. We got it for her and ever since, she has wanted to go back to Applebee's to get the corndog. She doesn't want one out of our freezer. As you can tell, her smile is contagious. She is our bundle of joy.

WE LOVE YOU KATIE!

(This pictures is when we were feeding the ducks at a park just down from our home)

We are going to celebrate her birthday tonight as family, but tomorrow is the big test when there are girls in the neighborhood who want to come celebrate her birthday. She wanted a Disney Princess party and that is what she will be getting. We will post pictures once it has happened.

Our Baby Boy has come

2008-08-27T07:51:00.000-06:00

As some of you know, we had a suprise arrive at 5:09 a.m. on 8/26/08

We do not have a name picked out, but hopefully by the end of today we will.

Here are some of the stats on our new arrival of our baby boy.

Brogan Lee McLaws

Born: 8/26/08

Arrival: 5:09 a.m.

Length: 19 inches

Weight: 6 lbs. 11 oz.

Description: Black curly hair, Blue eyes, and an angel

He slept most of the day and so we hardly heard him cry

He doesn't have the vocals that Katie had when she was born,

so I think it will be a little easier to deal with at 2:00 a.m.

Katie is extremly happy about having a baby brother now. When we

asked her on a name, which isn't chosen yet, she said either "Sister" or "Baby Brother".

I know she doesn't look to excited, but she was. She loves him a ton already.

I just wanted to post some pictures, some of them not to great, but this is all

we took that day as we were both tired and Kim didn't want her picture

taken. I will be adding on more Pictures later this week or next along with the

long anticipated update as to what has been going on. I just thought you would

all forgive me for not keeping my word since we had something a lot more

important to attend too. Hope you all enjoy these pictures and I'm off

to the hospital again.

Dad, Katie, and new baby brother

Katie loving her baby brother

Our new son napping

We think this was his first smile, but might be he was trying to pass gas.

Our new little Angel.

(No, not of the basball team Anehiem Angels)

Watch for update.........

2008-08-20T21:06:00.001-06:00

I just wanted everyone to know that I'm not trying to ignore our blog, we have just had a ton of stuff happen to us recently and will be giving everyone an update. It will be a long blog post, so watch for it sometime between now and Sunday, August 24th, 2008. Well, have to run, but get ready for a fun and crazy blog coming your way.

San Diego May 2008

2008-06-24T20:26:00.000-06:00

This was our weekend getaway to San Diego.

Here we are at the beach in North San Diego. Katie just didn't want her fee to get wet.

Don't we look like a cute couple?

We look tired because it was a long 6 hour drive to San Diego.

Next, we went to Seaport Village.
Katie wanted to be a princess with Mom.

We enjoyed a break next to the ocean at Seaport Village.

Katie and her cousin Kayleen

The next day we went to Sea World.
This was the whole family and crew by the Shamu exhibit.
Do Katie and I look like a couple of cute penguins or what?

Us getting ready to watch Shamu's "Believe".
Katie was with Grandma

Katie and one of the many whales.
Below, you will see a lot of pictures of our day in Sea World, Enjoy!

Now, most of the pictures above were supplied by my sister, Brandi.
This is a picture of her family. Are they cute or what?

We went to the temple the next day to see my cousin get married.

You may not see us, but we were sunburned bad from the day before.

I hope that you enjoyed our little getaway to San Diego.

Look forward to future post's of our next trips we have planned before our son arrives.

Mother's Weekend at Hogle Zoo

2008-06-14T08:53:00.000-06:00

This is our first update in so long. Well, we have done several things the past month and so I wanted to get you caught up. This was a day trip we took to the Hogle Zoo on May 10th. Kim's family came up so we all went to the zoo and the kids loved it.

Here is a cougar we saw enjoying the warm sun.

Here we are riding the trunk of an elephant as a family

Katie and Dad in front of a waterfall (even though you can't see it)

Katie and the rare white alligator. Look out Katie!

From left to right: Lydia, Emily, and Katie

These are Katie's cousins. They are enjoying the Safari exhibit.

Katie and the Turkey's. Sometimes she can be a "Turkey" herself.

Katie and Mom loving the Giraffe exhibit

Kim's family on the Zoo Train. Katie was begging us to take her on this all day long.

You can see how happy she is.

Well, Katie was tired from all that walking and needed a break.

Boy, was she thirsty!
What a fun day at the zoo with Kim's family!

Front row: Katie, Kim, Lydia, Dori, Emily, Stacy

Back Row: Brian, Paul, Dale, Marc, Aryn, Adam, Domonique, Luke (in stroller)

Well, some of you are wondering why we are all wearing the same shirt's, well, this was the day before Mother's Day and so if we bought a shirt for $7, we got in free to the zoo. The normal tickets were $8. Plus, with the shirts, the mother's got a free 5 - 10 min. massage, everyone got free ice cream, there were crafts and kid's could get their face painted. It was a fun day. As you can tell, it was getting warm and we were ready to head back home to rest.

Thanks Mom's!!!!!!!!!

My little cowgirl!

2008-05-04T08:32:00.000-06:00

I came home from work on Thursday and saw Katie looking like a little cowgirl, minus the cowboy hat. She kept saying, "Daddy, look, my pink boot's". It just warms my heart every time I come home from work and she screams saying, "Daddy, your home. I missed you today". When I saw her this day, I had to take a picture and post it on here. My daughter is getting so big and wanted to show you how much I'm so proud of her.

Trip to St. George

2008-04-23T20:01:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone, just wanted to tell you about a recent trip we had to St. George, UT. As you can tell, it was a warm day and so we took Katie to a park in downtown St. George where they had a water fountain and a little stream bed where kids could just run and get wet.

Now, don't get me wrong, but I did have a lot of fun with Kim and Katie on this trip. Not only did we go play in the water, we also went to the park with Brandi and Bridgette and their young ones. Katie had fun playing with them. Now, one of the biggest reason's for this trip, was for the opening of the first In-N-Out Burger in Utah. I didn't get pictures of myself at the opening, but I was the first in line. I had camped out from 4 a.m. till it opened. I was invited as a special guest to be the first customer at the In-N-Out's open house private party. I then was honored on TV as the first customer "officially" when it was open to the public. Once I get the video from In-N-Out, I will post it on here, so stay tuned. Here are some pictures of the Grand Opening.

Easter 2008

2008-04-05T22:05:00.000-06:00

Don't my princess's look beautiful? They just make me happy all the time. As you can see, Easter and warm weather brings out the best smiles to warm any heart.

Disneyland November 2006

2008-04-05T17:52:00.000-06:00

Well, I decided it is time to put some other trips we have done over the past year on here. This was a week long trip we took to Southern California. We thought it would be a great time for Katie's first visit to Disneyland as well as a long enough wait for Kim and I to revisit Disneyland.

We enjoyed Disneyland for 3 full days as well as our daughter. We did ride a lot more of the smaller rides since our daughter was not tall enough yet. I tell you, I forgot about all the small kiddie rides there are in Disneyland. She was tired by the 3rd day, but this was only the beginning of our trip down.

Now that we have had our fun at Disneyland, we decided to get our sore feet wet on the beach at Newport Coast Villas. Katie kept saying that she didn't want to take a bath. She does like water. She thought Nemo would come up to her and say "Hi Katie".

I too joined in with my wife and little princess. We went down to the beach that was below our timeshare we were staying at, Marriott's Newport Coast Villas. This is a company I work for so the traveling is great.

Our Home January 2007

2008-03-31T22:01:00.000-06:00

Well, this is Katie and boy is she freezing. She loves the snow and really enjoyed being outside with Dad shoveling and playing in the snow. You can see how deep this first dumping was.