7/21-8/24 😃 ☀️ ❤️
Time is flying! And I’m so glad it is because I can’t wait for our new house!
this month's Video
Summer ☀️
We love summer. This day it was hailing! The summer storms are so cool to watch and listen to I’m a big fan and so are the kids.
Sunset walk on my own
The bird who lives in the neighbors house
Found a diplodocus book for coop here that he liked
The garden in the community
Playdate at Shay & Addy's
Addys house is their fav 👌
24th of July
Jake and coop are not fans of fireworks so it was annoying to me we had to do it twice but the 24 wasn’t as bad. Cooper is so sweet to Sadie and Jake now he used to not allow them in his room at all but now he says "it's ok come here I got you you're safe" and when Jake was shaking because he was scared Cooper said "Jake is cold lets get him a blanket" and put it on him lol so cute
Sara and Dave visit and dinner with Brian
impromptu surprise that we enjoyed
Thanksgiving point children's museum with Ryan and Meaghan
It was really fun & Ryan and coop get along so well (only downsides were coop got lost in the jungle gym climbing part and got really scared looking for me and then at the end he ran into the road and scared the crap out of me so I grabbed him and he threw a huge tantrum that lasted the entire ride home. lol typical for a toddler outing.)
"Lets go for a walk!"
Cooper and I go for a walk whenever we can while Kinley is sleeping because you have to be willing to go wherever and do whatever and it's usually sitting on a rock or in a bush for a long time lol just sweating profusely the whole time. So it's not Dallin's thing lol so I go and listen to music and just chill out while following coop and doing what ever he wants to do (even letting him climb things that are risky lol ) and so he loves it. one on one time and total control so he's soooo happy
He was digging in the mud for a long time and then said look how dirty my hand is lets take a picture of it!
He likes to "walk on the bridge" which are these curbing brick things
any time there is a rock he must climb it.
Rico
we babysat rico again and for some reason the kids love him more than our dogs it's the weirdest thing. Jake is not a fan of rico-sadie tolerates him
McKinley thinks he is a girl cat and she will say pretty girl while petting him or say here kitty kitty kitty
Pool Days
We love going to the draper pool!
I was obviously the only one who wanted this picture lol
"Big feelings"
Cooper has been having big feelings lately but he is managing them really well I'd say. This is the biggest and most intense they've ever hit him so far in his life and it's been since the transition out of naps so I think it's sleep deprivation and the change with school and soccer that's the catalyst.
He tries his best and dallin and I are learning (thank you dr. becky) how to handle it and what to do. It's getting better.
I did this section and put all the photos here that were from times before or after an enormous meltdown thinking I'd explain it, but I don't think it's necessary lol
Hike
went hiking with new friends and had a lot of fun!
Chillin'
cooper's fav place still seems to be the basement
they both love sandwiches
he says take a picture of me swimming!!
Scheels with Ryan and Meaghan
we spent like 3.5 hours there and had so much fun! we bowled, shot the guns, played on the slide area, with the toys they have there, and ate lunch and looked at the fish and the kids were in heaven for almost no money spent.
Playdate with Brooks and Becky
went down to orem and met their neighbors while we were there and it was a lot of fun to socialize!
Triple Date
I knew shay already and she invited her neighbors and it turned out to be a really good time!
The dentist
aka toddler torture lol pretty much nothing was accomplished because both just cried and squirmed and wouldn't open their mouths.
TP Dinos
This time they wanted to stay in the books and toys area the whole time. It’s kinda different every time what they want to do. Sometimes it’s the computers and sometimes they just want to run and I chase lol
Nasty Yard Slugs
There’s hundreds of these in the back 🤢
Soccer
It wasn’t his idea to do soccer and I just signed him up so it has been an adjustment for him because he’s never done anything like it. Cooper was against it at first and then was excited and practicing at home a lot
Then on the way to the first practice he fell asleep and woke up soooo cranky
The grass was really long and scratchy on his legs and he didn’t want to separate from me so he cried the entire first practice and didn’t play at all
And I didn’t warn him about what a team cheer is so he put his hand in with everyone and then when they all said something really loud he jumped and looked around like what’s wrong with you people?! lol so ever since that he’s understood it
I was proud that on the second practice he participated and was happy. It was a complete 180, so I think it was all because of the falling asleep in the car thing
In the games he usually starts out shy and then by the second half he’s running after the ball
I thought it was funny that he joined the team cheer for the opposite team on his first game lol
He was so excited for his soccer game and we told him he had to go potty first and then we could go so he did and then was yelling "I'm done! I ready for soccer now I go in the car!" and running out without his pants on lol
he was not a fan of pictures lol he is more of a candid type man.... posing for pictures he finds boring and unnecessary
Photo challenge
I did one with shelly then shayle and then Kim for august
Our cute family
The Bath pics that I think are adorable that will probably embarrass them in the future...
they like turning off the lights and doing a cosmic bath
I got a weird eye thing where it was swollen but it went away after a day or so
the "butt-flies"(as McKinley calls them)
went to the butterfly museum
livin' our best life
Fat Cats
they looooove doing the arcade games
"Take my picture"
Cooper loves to randomly ask me to take his picture now it's very cute
Sweet Sadie
She loves cuddling me now. even under the covers in bed
regular life stuff
dinner I made, coop's new pjs from Grama,
she likes to dramatically pretend to fall and then say "help! I hurt! help me!" and then jump up and say "I'm okay!" lol Cooper loves acting out scenes with Dinos so they're always on every surface around the house no matter how much I put them away
painting
dallin falls asleep at the weirdest times lol
the sleep photos we always have
She loves to read books in her crib. Faves right now are the eye book by dr guess and this cars book
she has been having a hard time falling asleep and will sometimes be awake and we go in there like4 or 5 times and she's crying and it takes 2 hours before she's out. I'm not sure why its' happening now
The seedless grapes club 😂
dallin got a vasectomy and it cracked me up that the pamphlet said this
they say recovery is like 3 days and his has been like 2.5 weeks so that's annoying. my mom babysat while him and I went and then after she and I took the kids to schools and that was fun
Anniversary!
Dallin is the biggest sweetheart in the whole world. I have said a million times but I will say it again- marrying him was the best decision I ever made and I'm so lucky. Anyways our plan all along was to do a Europe trip on the 10 year anniversary but we bought a house instead (which is another amazing anniversary present). So dallin surprised me by taking me back to where we got married for a candlelit dinner and it was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me I think. I was blown away! I had no idea - he did a very good job keeping it a secret. We didn't take as many pictures after the sun went down but it was beautiful. I was brought back to our wedding day because so much of it hasn't changed. We walked around inside to see what it looks like now before we left and it was so weird to feel like it was eons of time and also a blink of an eye ago when we were there getting married. We both were really emotional. We both decided it would be amazing if our kids get married there one day.
After we had so many flowers and candles from the gazebo we put them around the kitchen sink and enjoyed them for another week or so. My mom also got us flowers and that was so nice of her they were just like my bouquet when I got married.
the kids liked playing with the tea lights in the basement with the lights turned off lol they are surprisingly bright and really long battery life
Back to school!
Cooper was adamant about going to his old school and seeing his old friends and teacher and was not excited about the idea of a new school. On the way to "meet the teacher" night he fell asleep in the car. every time that happens he wakes up cranky so he cried the entire time at "meet the teacher" and it was hard for me to hold it together (I did thankfully) because I felt so bad for him. he was saying "I scared my teacher, my new school, my soccer, I. no want new school I want coopers school, I want coopers friends I scared new friends, I no want new house I want coopers house, I don't want mommy leave me here I want to stay with mommy"
He calmed down a little (like a tiny bit) when I told him he could take pictures of the classroom and look around at the toys. Playing at the play kitchen helped him to calm down too because it was familiar
his teacher was so nice about it and we had to go back a few days later because they do a "before school pre-test" kind of thing. Luckily his time to do that was in the morning so he didn't fall asleep and was totally happy the whole time we were there. I think it was good for him because he became more familiar with his teacher and classroom without having to leave me yet. it allowed him to associate a positive experience with that room/building instead of remembering it as the place where he had a meltdown before.
I got really into reading and watching all the stuff dr becky has about back to school and followed all her tips and it helped me feel more prepared.
I talked about it a lot with him and I also wrote this story and showed him the pics so that he could be prepared. So here's the story.... ⬇️
Cooper's Back to School Story
Once an upon a time there was a kid named Cooper and he was getting a new school. (I put his name on the picture because he has been learning the letters and sounds of his name lately.) He went to back to school night with his mom at the new school.
He saw his new classroom. He was very scared.
but then he played at the play kitchen and it made him feel better.
His teacher is named miss heather, she was very nice to Cooper and said it's ok to be scared, some kids cry and some don't but everyone ends up having fun at preschool.
A few days later it was time to try again, so he went in the car with his mommy back to the school.
He had so much fun before he knew it school was over and mommy came back in the red car and picked him up because mommy always comes back. And Cooper gave her big hugs and they were happy.
Of course McKinley wanted one too lol
It only took him 3 days to become fully used to the new school. The second day he was saying he didn't want to but still walked in, and then by day 4 he was excited and happy the whole time going in and calls it his school and his friends and stuff. I don't get much information out of him because a lot of the time he ignores my questions. But one time I asked what happened and he said "I go in, I miss my mommy, I play the dinosaurs, I play the kitchen, I fun with my friends, I play the playground outside, I sit the rug, then mommy comes back!" and I said "Oh ok what happens when you sit on the rug?" thinking he would say they read a book or whatever, and he said "I try my best to hold really still." lol 😂 so accurate for a 4 year old to say.
I am soooooo excited
And Miss heather asked him some questions and talked to him. She said Cooper is so smart and fun to play with. Cooper didn't feel scared of his classroom or teacher anymore.
The next few days Cooper and his mom got ready for school so he got a haircut and packed his backpack
Then it was time to go to school and he rode in the car very excited!
Before he went in to the school his mom gave him a high five, fist bump, kiss
Then she drove away and Cooper went in and played with his new friends at school. They did art projects and played on the rug
The end.
He really liked that story the few days leading up to school and had me read it several times to him. He is high gold for his personality type so he dislikes uncertainty and likes order. So he liked the visual and the narration because he helped him know what to expect and see the light at the end of the tunnel of this big scary thing.
the big day!
First day of school picture!
Of course McKinley wanted one too lol
He was very excited all morning and then as we waited for the doors to open up that first day he was getting more and more scared. So the separation was very tearful day one for him.
After school the first day
After school they said he did great and the tears only lasted a couple minutes and he was so happy and said he had fun at school.
We told him as a first day of school celebration we'd go to get a "pink donut" (idk why but that's his favorite) after school so we went to a donut shop.
More Graffs move to Utah!
ben Jamie Evelyn and Liam moved to eagle mountain! this was us playing at their house
And this was them playing at ours! They all got along so well and were so cute playing together
The 🏠 !!!!
We went through once when it was framed and were amazed. And then after that we went back for a meeting with the builder to check everything before they sheet rock.
this is the basement
Mckinley had to wake up early from her nap to come with us to the meeting with builder and she was definitely perturbed by that but she handled it very well. No crying or fits at all actually and I was very impressed by that
our realtor came with us too
its all going to be so amazing and its hard for me to not think about it lol I'm trying to put it out of my mind so that time will just move faster and then we get to move in.
We decided that we want it to be a big reveal like they do on hgtv at the end when the house is done so that we are more excited instead of seeing it every day and then when it's done nothing is a surprise. As adults you don't really get surprises anymore so why not?! lol so we are going to challenge ourselves to not go back at all until it is completely done! it's going to be incredible
Trying to work out again after a hiatus
I started again when school started and it has been so nice to have that break from children again in the day to focus on myself.
I read a summary of the 5am club and liked the concept of spending some time on your physical health and some time on your mental or "sharpen the saw" kind of thing. I was already doing that before but I kind of recommitted to it and it's going really well. I think for me it is very helpful with my overall happiness.
And my fitness is getting better as well because when I'm working out I'm less likely to eat poorly I've noticed.
Dallin's business trip to New Orleans
Dallin had fun on his trip. He said it was soooo hot and humid but still a very interesting experience to learn about the history/culture of the city and stuff. And he likes interacting with his coworkers and stuff. He also had a lot of fun golfing and says he wants to do that more.
That's it for now see you next time!
