Elder McLaughlan is HOME!

This past weekend we spent celebrating...Aaron's little brother Jordan is home from his mission! :)

We picked him up from the SLC airport late Friday night and partied until late Sunday night. Our little family was so worn out that we slept in until 10 a.m. Sunday morning and almost missed Jordan's home coming!

It is so nice to have him back home. He sure has grown up! He has become a handsome young man...ladies he is single! But I am sure that won't last long! :)

Here are some pictures from the airport:

Austin and Jakson coloring a poster for Jordan

Keagan and KarLee waiting (and Mindee)

The proud Parents

first time Jordan saw Mylee...he was overwhelmed with two at once!

Austin was a little over 6 months when Jordan left.

The McLaughlan Family (minus Chelsee)

Mylee and Daddy

I wanted to post a couple of OLD pictures from when Aaron came home from his mission:

Many of you might not know but Aaron and I were high school sweethearts and we kept in contact when he went on a mission. I surprised him at the airport when he came home-

his face was priceless, he was so shocked.

Aaron and I October 2004 - 3 weeks later we were engaged

And we were married in December :)

We are Still Here...

I promise we are still around...just busy as can be!!!

I love summer! So many things to do with the family! But I feel guilty for being gone every weekend and missing church for the past 2 months. We need to get better about this!

As you can tell I am REALLY behind on my bloggin! And the longer I neglect it the more pictures I take and the more I don't want to sit down and do it.

So here is a HUGE post of what has been going on the past month or so, plus a few things I haven't blogged about yet!

Enjoy!

OK this picture has a story:

You know the wall (in Utah) you pass on the interstate around Brigham City

that has all of the Return Missionary names on it?

Well we went down last weekend to go write Jordan's (Aaron's brother) name.

Well it didn't work out how we planned (and Jan even contacted the city).

The picture is of the guy that stopped us...it's a long story

and I don't feel like blogging about it right now

but this guy was a total jerk to us and the cop even tried to talk him into letting us do it.

We also went down to Hill AFB for my nephew Blake's baptism

and Khloee's birthday party. The picture below I had to post...

It is of my cute little nephew Kyler enjoy a big cupcake while

relaxing in Khloee's wagon - he is so much like his daddy (loves his sweets)

After the party my sister and I took Mylee and Khloee to get their ears pierced

The picture above is of Mylee getting ready. I felt so mean but she looks to cute!

The following pictures are from an afternoon of playing in the Sprinklers:

Austin is a good big brother when he wants to be
Mylee LOVES the water...a lot more than Austin does

After many crying attempts with his cousins this summer

Austin will FINALLY play in water!

Mylee, Brady, & Austin

Brady (Aaron's cousin) came to Blackfoot to spend the summer. Austin LOVED IT!

He liked hanging out with Brady, and Brady was really good with Austin and Mylee.

He left a couple of weeks ago and Austin misses him.

This picture was taken the day he left.

Mylee and KarLee hanging out at Grandpa Earl's house in Utah a few weekends ago

I know we should just move to Utah- we are there enough!

I had the opportunity of watching this cute little girl again.

Khloee came to stay with me for about a week while her family

went to a funeral in Illinois (Blake and Cade's mother past away)

And I was lucky enough to get to spend her birthday with her

we got her her own cake!

Here is what happens when your baby gets a hold of a scripture marking pencil

if the pencil gets wet it acts like a marker!!

Mylee and Daddy playing with legos after church one Sunday.

Austin LOVES to color!

Two days before Mylee turned 10=months-old she took her first steps

She was walking right after she turned 10 months

but now she prefers to crawl, it is much faster I guess!

Here is my silly little boy with his first camera,

it was so dang cute! He would tell me to say "Cheese"

OH and another thing I never blogged about that is a HUGE deal

Austin has been official potty trained for a while now

notice the cute little undies, he looks so cute in them!! :)

I am very proud of him!

I tried at the first of the summer and he did well for a few days

but I got peed on twice and I quit (I think if I would have held out longer

he would of had it down). I gave him a month rest and started again and he

did so well! We only had a few accidents (once he got locked outside

and the other I think he was to busy playing with his friends he just waited to long).

But I do still make him sleep in a diaper...but he is usually dry in the morning

so I don't think I will do that much longer!

Who said it's harder to potty train a boy!

:)

My little boy is a big boy now!

Well I guess that catched you up on what's been going on with the Mc's...Oh wait Aaron and I we both playing softball (Aaron did mens and I did womens). My team took 3rd (should have been second or first). But we start our co-ed team on Monday (if they get enough players) I am so excited. Austin ask me everyday if I am playing be-ball (how he says baseball). It's cute, he loves the game maybe even more than golf now! :)

Which surprising enough Aaron has cut his golf game in half this year! Maybe because we are so darn busy!

4th of July Weekend

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend...our little family did.

We left Saturday morning to Utah to hand out with my sister and her husband. Of course Aaron and Steve went golfing! So my sister, Cyndee, and I took the girls and went to Park City for some shopping! :) That night we had a BBQ and went and watched the fireworks. We had an amazing view (up on the hill Air force Base hill) we could see about 5 different cities firework shows!

The next morning Aaron, Mylee, and I headed to Bear Lake to go camp with Aaron's family. Austin was already there with Aaron's parents. We spent the day playing in the water (which was a little cold, but fun). Aaron and I took the jet skis out for a minute and ended up in the water! :)

I didn't take many pictures this weekend but I did take some of the kids playing at the beach:

Austin and Jakson playing in the sand

Aaron and Mylee playing in the water
Mylee LOVED the water!

So cute

Mylee loves her daddy!

Austin - not playing in the water!

Our baby Girl is 9-months-old

8-months-old

I can't believe it! Last week our little Mylee turned 9-months-old!

I took her in today for her 9-month checkup and here are her stats:

Length= 26 inches which is in percentile 5
Weight= 15 pounds which is below percentile 5

Still tiny. Doctor doesn't seem to worried because she is growing but just at a slower rate. If she drops below her progress line, at all next checkup, he said they will have to run some test, but if she stays steady she will be fine...I'm not to worried because I think she is going through a growth spurt right now - she is eating a lot! :)

Here are some other things about Mylee:
-Still doesn't sleep through the night - usually wakes up 2 or 3 times.
-says "dada" all the time, no mama yet :(
-Can hold her balance while standing (without holding onto anything)
-crawls on all fours
-Still wearing 3-6 month clothes
-Still in size 1-2 size diapers
-Loves to eat what everyone else is eating
-Still only take a 4 oz. bottle at a feeding
-Loves to watch Toy Story 2 with Austin (I know I am horrible, I let her)
-No teeth yet
-Doesn't laugh much, except at Austin
-Is VERY tickleish (that's the only way I can get her to laugh)
-Is a very content baby.
-Still takes 2 (1/2-1hr) naps a day
-Has found her voice - likes to scream
-She likes to crawl up to me and climb all over me (but gives me a big hug while she does it).

We are really bless to have such a sweet baby girl! She has been such a wonderful addition to our family. I can't get over her beautiful blue eyes...which she got from her daddy (she looks so much like him). I can already tell she is going to be a daddy's girl.
Here are some pictures from the past couple months:

Daddy's girl

doesn't like the grass much - she trys to keep both legs up when she sits on it.

Asleep in her playstation...I know it's gross (after I saw the pictures I cleaned it really good) We have to feed her in this or her bumbo chair because she is to small for a high chair.

her 7-month collage

A little side note: While I waited for the doctore to come in (only 30 minutes) I measured Austin...fully dressed he weight: 31 lbs. 6 oz. and he is about 38 1/2 inches tall - he is such a big kid!!! If I did it right that puts him Length = above percentile 95 Weight = between percentile 50 and 75. I sure hope he stays tall! :)

Mylee & Khloee - Best Friends

I had the chance to watch my cute little niece, Khloee this weekend while her parents went camping (after out last attempt to camp, I don't blame them for not wanting to take her). I was so excited to have her the whole weekend...than Aaron told me he was leaving for Montana and I would be all alone with the babies and a 2-year-old. I was still excited but a little nervous, until Jan (my wonderful mother-in-law) told me she was wanted to take Austin for the weekend while they went to a baseball tournment. I figured Austin would love to watch baseball all weekend and be with his grandparents so I said yes!

So it was going to be an all girl's weekend (I had my sister's dog Spice, too). :)

We had so much fun! It was so cute watching the girls play together. I had to run to the store Friday night and everyone thought they were twins...and I got a lot of, "oh cute!" comments!

Saturday night we painted toenails and watched Twilight (well the girls fell asleep and it was just Austin and I - he came home early).

Here are some pictures:

Khloee & Mylee playing outside

Thought this was so cute

They crawl the same
Getting into trouble together while I try to edit pictures

Khloee - who wouldn't love a face like that! :)

Playing in a bubble bath

I think Khloee likes her picture taken

As you can tell from the pictures the girls LOVE playing together! I am glad my sister trusted me with Khloee and I would take her again in a heartbeat! :) I just wish they lived closer to us (Utah isn't far but it's far enough I can't see this little sweetie everyday).

Thanks Cyndee for letting Mylee play with Khloee all weekend!! We miss her already!

Swimming Time

My sister and her baby came of from Utah this week to spend some time with me and the kids (which I was very happy about since Aaron ended up leaving for Montana for a week).

We decided to set up Austin's baby pool from last year and let the kids play...well they didn't seem to interested in the baby pool and the setup process took longer than the actually play time! :)

Mylee

Khloee & Austin

Khloee

This is Mylee's new way to crawl....on all four!

We ended up taking the kiddos to Ross Park Pool the next day - forgot my camera so there isn't any pictures. We went with our sister-in-law, Danielle and her boys too. We had a lot of fun with them (it's a good thing Danielle brought her sister Sarah along...we were pretty outnumbered by the kids) :)

Take Me Out To The Ball Game...

Monday was the Idaho Falls Chukars opening game and Aaron's parents have season tickets so they were nice enough to let us tag along! Even though the Chukars lost we still had fun and enjoyed the fireworks after the game!

Austin enjoyed being with his Grandparents and Mylee loved all the food! :) (it's amazing how more relaxed you are with your second kid...I would have never let Austin try all of this food before he was 1).

Austin & Grandpa

Mylee slept through the start of the game...so cute!

I think this little girl will have daddy wrapped around her finger! :)

Austin & Aaron


Mylee and Grandma

The Chukar mascot, Austin, and Aaron

(Austin wouldn't stop talking about the bird so Aaron took him to see it and he was scared)

If you can't tell Mylee is eating cotton candy with Grandma!