Cohen's 'Big Boy' bed!

The day after his birthday, Jeff and I moved furniture around, and Cohen had his first night in his new bed!! We bought his twin bed before Molly was born, and kept it in her room for our guests to sleep in. Molly's sleeping through the night, so we decided to move her to the crib, and Cohen to his bed! This picture was taken his first night in it! The first night was kinda hard. He cried for awhile, and so I went and layed with him while he fell asleep! It was so sweet! He woke up a few times in the night crying, cause I think he fell off the bed! Now we have a rail up. Overall, he surprisingly is doing GREAT in his bed! The first week, he would fall asleep at the door on the floor, but now he falls asleep in his bed. The only thing that's weird, is that he wakes up and starts crying. We don't know if it's because he doesn't know how to get out of his room, since he can't open doors yet, or what... so hopefully that will pass.

We actually can't believe how well he has adapted to his bed! Now when we say "it's time for bed", he runs up into his room, picks out a book, and sits on his bed!! It's so sweet! I can't believe how much bigger he is to me now! :( my sweet little punky dunks is growing up!

What a wonderful day!

This day actually kinda started out kind of crappy... I've been sick the last few days, but it came on strong this morning. I have NO voice, my throat is sooo sore, and my ears are killing me! It hurts so bad everytime I would swallow, and talk. AWFUL! Jeff had a meeting early this morning, so he was gone by the time we all woke up. I didn't know what I was going to do. Cohen and I were in the kitchen, and I was trying to make him breakfast. He was upset about something... I couldn't calm him down, cause I honestly think he couldn't understand me! It was really hard, so frustrating! So i called and made an appointment with my midwife. I called Jeff, and luckily he was going to be done with his work day earlier than expected, so he was able to come home and watch the kids so I could go to my appointment. long story short... my midwife thinks i have strep throat, I don't. But she sent a sample to be tested, so we won't know til monday. She says it also could be laryngitis... that's what I think it is. either way... sucks. She told me to take sudefed, and advil for now. So that's what I did.....

After Cohen woke up from his nap, Jeff took him to the park, so I could rest. I started feeling so much better! I could actually swallow without cringing, or wanting to cry... and the pressure in my ear was gone! LOVELY! Jeff came home, and made dinner! SO sweet of him! It was fabulous!
After dinner Jeff helped Cohen color a picture to send to his uncle Taylor! Cohen loves stickers! So he had to add stickers to his picture, and also cover Jeff and I with stickers! :) Then we went out front and just hung out. It was so nice out, so we blew bubbles, and played with sidewalk chalk! It was soooo fun! For Cohen's snack before bed, I decided to pop some homemade popcorn, so he could watch it pop! Cohen loves the song, 'popcorn popping', And he knows all the hand motions! After we went through the song once, I got my camera... He didn't do all the motions in the video, but you get the idea, so cute! And please forgive my voice... AGAIN, it's gone!!

My favorite part is when it goes, "...it wasn't really so..." He looks at his finger to make sure it's in pointing position!! :) so cute!

Today went from really crappy, to simply wonderful! Thanks to my amazing husband, and my adorable kids!!

My little princess...

My darling little girl is 3 months old today! I love her so much... more and more everyday! She is growing into such a precious, sweet little thing. And I'm so excited for her new phases! Last week she rolled over for the first time! She's done it quite a few times since... Jeff has yet to see it in person... but I do have it on video! The video is just reeeeaaaallly long... cause i was waiting for quite awhile before she actually rolled! :) otherwise I'd post it for you all! I just can't believe she's already rolling over! And we just started putting her in our Bumbo. Oh, just so cute! We weighed her today, and she ways in at 14 pounds!


She is SUCH a chatter box!! I think we might have another 'Gwen' in the family! My very favorite thing she does right now... it melts my heart everytime.... is while nursing her, she locks eyes with mine, she stops eating, smiles, and then just starts chattering! Like she is just chattin with her mama about her day! OH MY GOSH I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!
This outfit is courtesy of Jeff's Aunt Kris! I thought it was appropriate for her 3 month pictures! I finally got Cohen to hold Molly! He actually LOVES holding her now! But for just a second... then he's bored and onto the next thing! :) Cohen L.O.V.E.S his baby sister. Oh my goodness, he constantly has to know where she is (which can be a bad thing, when she's sleeping!)... and always has to make sure she gets kisses when he wakes up, she wakes up, he goes to bed, she goes to bed, or just whenever he thinks about it.

Priceless right?!

Cohen's 2nd Birthday!

My sweet little punky dunks is 2 years old. I love him so much, and I had so much fun celebrating with him! I know he really didn't know it was his birthday, or what that means... but it was just such a fun day! I taught him to say "2", when I ask him how old he is. And he holds up two fingers! So cute! Allison and Nick stayed with us an extra two days... so they were able to be here on his birthday! It was awesome having them here! That morning, Jeff Nick, and our cousin Grant went golfing, so Allie, Cohen, Molly and I went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. Cohen LOVES the farm!

Last year on his birthday, I went a little overboard for his party, which I totally think that's fine for moms to go overboard on their child's first birthday... HOWEVER... I did not plan well. I did everything ON his birthday. So we didn't really do anything fun, except his party. So my goal this year was to have everything done ahead of time, so I could actually enjoy this day with him! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! It was SUCH a fun day!! And I was so calm, and happy! Which if you know me, I'm usually on edge with those type of things....

Anyhoo... So here we are at the farm, just chasing Cohen around! He was so cute riding the pony!

While we were waiting for the last few people to arrive at his party, Cohen couldn't wait any longer. He went right for his presents! It was so much fun watching him open his presents! And i have never seen so much Toy Story, in my life! He was in 7th heaven!! He got some really nice gifts! (thank you everyone!)

Here he is with his cake! He didn't blow out the candles like he did the night before... he was a little more occupied with the Toy Story gummies on the cake! :) He won't eat cake or ice cream either... so he just ate the gummies!

For Cohen's big present from us, he got a water table! He loves playing outside, and with water... so it was perfect! He loves it. We also got Buzz Lightyear glider things, for the boys to fly around!

Here are the boys beating the heck out of the pinata! Cohen didn't really understand... but he enjoyed the part when the boys busted it open!

The aftermath!

I'm just so glad this day turned out so well! We had so much fun with Cohen, and it was day when we truly gave him, and did whatever he wanted! :) I'm so thankful to everyone that called him, and shared this day with him! I couldn't have asked for a better day!!!

Elder Tay Tay Bugs

Well, the time has come... My baby brother is out serving our church for two years! I can't believe it. I can't believe that my BABY brother is gone! What a little cutie he is too! I had such a nice time with him before he left too! Just perfect!

The night before he left, we wanted to do something fun. We didn't want to just sit around the house staring at each other (cause that's usually all we do anyways :) ). So we decided that all of us would go to Target and buy something for Taylor to take with him. But it had to be small and/or flat, so it would fit in his jam packed suit cases! So off we went... 'WE' being my dad, Jeff, Nick, Allie, Taylor, and myself. Tracey was in bed, and my mom stayed home tending to my cute kids! :)

When we got home, it was time to share what we got for Taylor! My mom had the idea of one by one giving our gift to him, and sharing one piece of advice. It was actually very cute, and fun! Allie bought him a miniature bowling set (the pieces were the size of like half of your pinkie!), Nick got him a fingerboard, I got him a miniature thumb wrestling device thing (kinda hard to explain, yet very cool!), Jeff got him a checkers & tic-tac-toe game, and my dad got him some nice pens. It was very fun, and just so nice to have that special evening with everyone! And I'm really glad my mom wrote down all the advice everyone gave.

Now on to Wednesday, July 28th! Taylor decided to go to Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast. But before that, we went to the MTC to take pictures. Cause we knew it would be too crowded when we actually dropped him off. So we first took pictures.... then we went to breakfast.

Just sitting in the rocking chairs outside the restaurant.


The way things work at the MTC now, is only one car can actually drive in and drop off your missionary. But, seeing as we had seven people, and Taylor... we couldn't all fit in one car. So our plan was to take two cars, park one of them, have most of us walk in, and meet the other car in there. Well that's not really how it happened. Jeff, Nick, Allie and myself were in our car, while my mom, dad, Tracey and Taylor were in the other. We go park our car, and my dad waits to drive in, until we are actually on the MTC grounds. We walk in, and a lady stops us. She says that's as far as we were allowed to go! PLAN RUINED. My dad drives up, and we tell them that we can't go any further... so he drives off. We just figured he was going to drive around and park, so that Taylor could say goodbye. Well quite a few minutes passed, and there wasn't any sign of them. Jeff, Nick, Allie, and I are patiently waiting. I was just watching all the missionaries standing around, waiting for the next new missionary to arrive, so they could greet them. I couldn't help buy get a little overwhelmed that my little brother was going to be doing that! All of a sudden I look across the parking lot, and here comes my cute little brother running towards us!! This tall boy in a suit, with a big smile on his face, sprinting across the parking lot to tell us goodbye.

I LOST IT.........

I started bawling. Taylor gave me a big hug, and it was so tight, like he truly meant it! I told him I loved him very much. He then hugged Allie, Taylor is now crying, I look at Nick, and he's crying. Allie tells him he loves him. I look at Jeff, and he's crying. Taylor then hugs Nick, then Jeff. no words are being said. Taylor than stands there, and gives us his "Taylor" smile, waves, turns around and sprints off... while of course, jumping over the flower beds! :)

It was the most perfect goodbye I could have ever asked for! I had my thoughts of how that 'drop off' was going to go... and it wasn't anything like what I imaged... it was SO MUCH BETTER. I am sooooo thankful I have those last moments to cherish and remember.

Taylor started a blog for my mom to update while he's gone. I'll post a link on here when she writes about what happened that day from their side!

I love these pictures, and I love my brother. I am so thankful he has chose to serve a mission. The people in Costa Rica are truly lucky to be getting such a fun kid! I know He was chosen to serve in Costa Rica, Heavenly Father wouldn't have had it any other way! I'm so proud of what a neat kid Taylor is. I'm so excited to hear all about his adventures!

...oregon family comes for a visit...

I am so behind on my blog... So this is from when my family came a week and half ago. Monday morning (July 28th), Cohen, Molly and I picked Taylor up from the airport. Everyone was coming into town, cause this was the week we were taking Taylor... my baby brother, to the MTC! I still can't believe it! Anyway, his flight came in at 9 am, and everyone else were driving here that evening... So we had time to spend with just Tay Tay. We headed over to Temple square for a little bit. It was so cute watching Cohen run around and Taylor chase him! Taylor was really tired, so we had an early lunch at NYPD pizza (Jeff met us there), and then we headed home for naps. Cohen and Taylor took naps, while I got dinner ready for that evening. Around 7, my mom, Tracey, Allison and Nick finally arrived! It was so nice, and sooo fun having everyone here! pictures from Temple Square. They found a tractor to look at... notice Cohen holding onto Taylor's ears in the lower right corner! :)


We decided to have a Graham family birthday party for Cohen, since everyone would be here... So Tuesday night was Cohen's "pre" birthday! It was so fun having everyone here for it! He was so much fun opening presents!

I made Cohen an ice cream cake, with Buzz Lightyear on top! He LOVES Toy Story! Cohen for some reason, doesn't really like cake and ice cream... so he didn't eat ANY! he just organized the cupcakes, and played with the toothpick flags that were in them! It was very entertaining for us to watch! AND, I was soooo shocked, he blew out his own candles!!! It was sooo cute! He also learned to say "two" when we ask him how old he is... and he holds up two fingers! I need to get a video of it!

After his birthday dinner and desert, we spent the evening outside. It was so nice out, and it was just so fun relaxing and hanging out together.

Since it was Taylor's last night, we had to get pictures with him! So everyone got their one on one pics! What a cute little brother I have!

Taylor needed a hair trim.. so Allie and I went to work with the trimmers! Funny story seeing that pic of Nick and Molly.... after we took Taylor to the MTC, Nick, Allie, Tracey and I went to my in-laws to pick up Cohen and molly. We were playing pool and hanging out in their basement while they slept. After a while, I asked Nick to go check on Molly.

Nick: No

Me: what? why???

Nick: I don't know how!

Me: seriously?? just go see if she's crying!

A little bit later, Nick comes downstairs and doesn't say anything. A few minutes later, I asked Nick:

Me: did you check on molly?

Nick: yeah .... she was awake, and screaming.

Me: what?!!? seriously???

Nick: yeah, she's screaming her head off!

Me: why didn't you get her?!?!

Nick: I didn't want her to think I was her dad!

ha ha!! Oh wow....

Oh, i guess I didn't mention that my dad flew in tuesday afternoon! Oh we just had so much fun!!

After the MTC, we were killing time before I had to go pick up Cohen and Molly, and before my mom had to take my dad back to the airport, so we hung out at Thanksgiving Point. We got ice cream, and walked around the stores there. Sorry for anyone who actually likes shopping there, but the funnest part of those shops, was playing "guess how much this costs"!! :) Some of the stuff there was priced INSANE! But, Tracey found this great find, and bought it for Molly!! SOOOOOOO CUTE!! we just had to have a fashion show that night! Cute little angel!
I just feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, fun and supportive family!! I know you came for Taylor, but thank you for staying with us, and spoiling my kids with love and attention!!!

what am i gonna do with you, kid?!

Okay, so this post will sound a little silly coming from my last post about the L.O.V.E. I have for Cohen. I just needed to get my frustration out...

Monday I get a call from Jenny (Jeff's sister), asking if we wanted to go to the Sweet's candy factory in SLC! Well I had JUST seen a show on Food Network where they showed that factory, So I was all in! We had just enough people to be in our own tour group.. this was going to be so fun! Heidi and her three kids, Heidi's sis-in-law and her three kids, Jenny and her three kids, and myself with my two kids take off! When we get there, they inform us that we can't take in any 'outside' strollers, no bags, no bottles, no nothin! I honestly thought they were going to make us go in naked, that's how little you could have on!! I didn't know what i was going to do. I knew that Cohen is a handful, so how was I supposed to juggle holding Molly, and chase around Cohen?! So Jenny offered to carry Molly (what a sweetie!). I take everything back to the car, and they offered me an umbrella stroller for Cohen. It was finally our turn for the tour. We enter a room, where they (I'm assuming) explain the tour, give us instructions, and we watch a video. Well first things first, we have to wear blue hair nets! Instantly my heart started racing, I KNEW Cohen wouldn't wear that! So the lady comes by, and tries to talk up this net, making it appealing to Cohen (very sweet), but Cohen would NOT have any of it. Instantly he started screaming. LOUD. Inside i was freaking out. what the HECK was I going to do!? I took him out of the stroller, put him on my lap, and was trying to get this stupid net thing on his head! NOPE. The worker went and got candy to try to bribe him. NOPE. I felt tears building up... finally it broke... I was so frustrated. SOOOOO frustrated. If only he knew what he was going to miss out on, just cause he didn't want to wear some stupid hair NET! So, we left. Jenny helped me carry Molly out, and I put Cohen in his car seat. I cried most of the way home, other than that, there was silence. No music, no dvd player, no talking. NOTHING. I was so frustrated. Obviously I can't be mad at Cohen... he didn't do anything wrong. He is just so stubborn. Seriously... If you think your kid is stubborn, I HIGHLY doubt it. In fact... out of curiosity I looked up the definition of Stubborn....

1 a (1) : unreasonably or perversely unyielding
b : suggestive or typical of a strong stubborn nature
2 : performed or carried on in an unyielding, obstinate, or persistent manner
3 : difficult to handle, manage, or treat

They need a picture of Cohen next to this definition.

Okay, yes, I'm a little frustrated with him... this isn't the first time, and it won't be the last. I love this kid with every ounce of my being. He tests parts of me I didn't know I had! And I guess I'm thankful for that! I just wish that if I want to take him on a candy tour, he'd do it, and be excited about it!!