First Cavity

Today I had to take Brayden to the dentist to get his first cavity filled. Not only did he have to get his tiny cavity filled, but he had to get sealant put on his back molars, and have 2 teeth pulled. It sounds like alot for 1 dentist visit, but I figured get it all done at once because I might not be able to get him to go back. Brayden does fine going to the dentist for check ups, but he was a little nervous for this visit. I had tried to explain to him what they were going to do, but on the way there he said "mom, my tummy is getting nervous". He did really good though! They numbed him first and then gave him shots on the bottom of both sides of his mouth. Then she decided to numb the bottom middle where they were going to pull the teeth, but she didn't leave the topical numbing stuff on long enough so when she went to give him the shot he could feel it. I was so sad for him, and a little mad at her. But he did great, and was super brave! He did great for everything else. The sealants went really fast, and even the cavity only took a minute, then the dentist pulled the 2 teeth, and we were done 15 minutes tops. The reason the dentist pulled 2 teeth was to make room for his permanent teeth. He doesn't have enough room in his mouth, so the dentist is trying to give more room so they don't come in crooked, we'll see though!

After the teeth were pulled. He hated the numb "fat" feeling. He thought he looked funny. I assured him it just felt that way, but that he still looked normal. The hygentist even got him a mirror to look for himself.

Funny Brayden

Today my in laws stopped by to bring my kids a Valentine. They gave them each a card with $5 in it. I told Brayden not to loose it, so this is what I found when I went upstairs a while later. He had taped the money to his door. I said "Why did you do that?" Brayden replied with "you told me not to loose it, so I taped it to my door so I will know where it is."

Also today Jace had lost this little finger flashlight that Brayden got as a prize for selling cookie dough for a his school's fundraiser. Brayden was so mad, he was yelling at me and Jace, and then went and got a piece of paper and drew this and taped it to his door. I am not sure if you can tell what it is, but it has a picture of Jace with a frowny face, and Brayden with a smiley face and then it says 'NO Jace'. I know not very nice, but pretty funny! Luckily he found the flashlight, but the sign is still up!

Adi-isms(title ripped off from Tara)

So Adi LOVES to color, she colors every single day. She absolutley loves it! We have gone through so many coloring books and crayons. But when she colors she has to have a blank sheet of copy paper and she will color in the coloring book, and then color a strip on the blank paper. She does this everytime she colors and she usually fills up the whole sheet. See pictures below to see what I mean, it is kind of hard to explain, but it cracks me up. I would love to know the logic behind it, or why she has to do it. It is so funny!



This morning before Brayden left for school, I was upstiars getting ready and Brayden was tormenting Adi. She was watching Dora Saves the Mermaids, and it is about this octopus who dumps garbage in the mermaids city. Anyways I hear her crying and then she says "Brayden you are mean like the octopus" She is so funny sometimes!

Congratulations Bean!

My sister got accepted to PA school so I threw her a little party last night. We are so proud of her! We can't wait till she is done with school so now Beanie can be the kids doctor!! I decided to just do fingerfoods, so we had random things for dinner. My grandparents Taggart came and my grams brought her famous rolls, so my mom did a meat and cheese tray to go with it. We had some mini corn dogs, a nugget tray from Chik-fil-a(yummy!), lettuce wraps(yum, yum), artichoke dip, sugar cookies, and a cake! Excellent menu! Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us, Congrats Shalene, we love you!!
Haylee and Kyla came down a little early so Hay and I could do a little Valentine's craft. They turned out cute, and the kids got to play with their one and only cousin, they just LOVE Kyla!!

My kids just love their Bean!


Ky's and Jace were busy working on the computer

Silly Kids

Here are some snapshots I got of the kids doing silly stuff.


I found a dinosaur program on some channel and turned it on for the kids while I was getting dinner ready. I couldn't believe how totally into it all 3 of them were!

Brayden has a BYU beanie and Jace just loves to wear it. He put it on himself and wore it like that for a few hours!

Adi is such a good sister! Jacey woke up from his nap and was still a little tired, so I sat him on the couch while I rotated laundry and when I came back to get him this is what I found. So sweet!

Super Bowl & Snow Fun

Sunday we had a little Super Bowl party at our house. BJ invited a few of his friends over to watch the game. I had ordered a 4ft sandwich, but they messed up and gave us a 6ft sandwich instead, so we have subs coming out our ears! We had tons of food and a good time. The kids enjoyed the donuts that one of his friends brought. Jace loved them, but hated his fingers getting sticky, so he would just plant his face into the donut instead, it was so funny to watch!!


Monday afternoon Brayden and his friends decided to play outside in the snow. I went out for about 30 seconds and was freezing. I don't know how they did it, but they were out there for close to 2 hours just running around playing and trying to build a snow tunnel. They had shovels and various other tools and are starting to make progress, so we'll see if they make it back out to finish it up.

My Thoughts

I have been thinking alot the past week about the passing of President Hinckley, and getting a new prophet and I wanted to write my thoughts down, so that my kids can know how I felt. Brayden knew who President Hinckley was, whenever he saw his picture or heard his voice he would get so excited and say "that's President Hinckley!" He looked forward to conference time, or "church on tv" as Brayden calls it because he knew he would get to see and hear President Hinckley. I doubt he listened much to his talks, but when he heard his voice he would stop and get that excited look on his face because he knew that was President Hinckley, and I know he had a great love for him! Adi was just starting to know who he was. The other night while watching the news they were talking and showing pictures of President Hinckley and she said "that's President Hinckley, I don't want him to die." Brayden quickly told her that he already died, but that it was ok because he was with his wife and parents and it was better. I am so grateful for President Hinckly and for the love he had for all of us. He truly loved everyone, no matter their race, religion, whatever he loved everyone. You could tell he had a great love for us by the way he spoke and what he taught and stood for and the gentleness about him. I know that he helped to strengthen my testimony so much through the challenges he gave and just by his words in general conferences. He made me want to be such a better person. As I watched his funeral on tv I got emotional thinking of the reunion he had with others who had passed before him. And how pleased our father in heaven was because of the marvelous work he had done here on earth. I was around 13 or so when President Hinckley was ordained as the prophet, but at that age I probably really didn't care too much because I don't remember a thing about it. This time I felt so overwhelmed when they announced the new prophet and his counselors. The way they go about doing it in the Salt Lake temple is so amazing and wonderful to me. My kids will probably remember President Monson more so than President Hinckley, and what a wonderful prophet President Monson will be, but I wanted them to know how I felt about this experience and to let them know what a wonderful man and prophet President Hinckley was and to tell them to always follow the prophet and listen to the teachings they give, because as the primary song says "follow the prohet, don't go astray, follow the prophet, he knows the way!"

Updates

Not alot has been going on at our hosue. The weather pretty much keeps me at home. I HATE driving in snowy, or even wet weather, so I pretty much don't go out unless I absolutely have to. I did get to go on a filedtrip with Adisyn's preschool. We went to the library. It was a lot of fun. Luckily I didn't have Jace so I was able to enjoy Adi and the other kids. It was short, only 45 minutes, but really cute and the kids had a good time. I forgot my camera so I took this one with my phone, but as we were taking the tour this is what I saw infront of me. She is something else!! This is her friend Easton, she LOVES him!!


Jace is getting so fun, he is a handful, but so much fun! He absolutley love "burlow"(that is what Jace calls Brayden) Brayden is rarely home,or if he is he is hardley ever alone but he is so good to most the time let Jace play with him and his friends, and Jace just can't get enough of him! Brayden is a good big brother he recognizes that Jace loves him and wants to play with him, so when he comes home after being with his friends all day he is so cute with Jace. Here they are just playing before bedtime.

Just a note incase I forget to write it down Jace says "ay" for yes. We have no idea where he got it from and are not sure if he thinks he's a pirate or what? It took me awhile to catch on to what he was saying, because he kind of says Adi like that, but we finally figured that is how he says yes. Too funny! He also yesterday came up to me with his 2 hands made into fists and said "wanna bite?" and started punching my legs. All I could do was laugh, he is so crazy!!

Adisyn's 4!!

Yesterday was Adi's birthday. I can't believe she is already 4, she is growing up so fast and becoming such a big independent girl. We kind of made the whole weekend a celebration for her and partied Saturday and Sunday. I was planning to have a birthday party for her on Sunday, but since it was suppose to snow my parents weren't sure if they would be able to come, and since it was ok Saturday afternoon they came down Saturday instead to celebrate. Saturday night we went to Cobblestone Cafe for dinner and then back to our house for presents and cake. Since my parents were here we let her open some of her presents Saturday. She got a Sleeping Beauty castle, sleeping bag, gigantic coloring book, dress, scarf, and the singing Sharpay from High School Musical 2.


We lit the candles on her cake, but didn't cut the cake till her actual birthday. Julianne made the darling cake and Adi absolutely loved it! Thanks Julianne!! When I got the cake out she asked if she could hold the barbie's hand.

Since she got a sleeping bag the kids wanted to have a sleepover downstairs so I set up their giraffe tent for them and they slept down in the living room. No Jace is not alseep, I wish!

Sunday was her actual birthday and because of the weather no one came except my sister. It turned out ok because we just hung out and had a quite little party with us which was fun! We let her open the rest of her presents and she got Barbie Island princess dress for her, muscial carriage and horse for the barbies, snow white crown, lip gloss, Belle doll, coloring book and crayons. I'd say she made out quite well. It isn't a bad thing to have a birthday right after Christmas because everything is on sale!! Thanks to everyone who came and for all the presents, she had a great day! We are so glad you are a part of our family Adi. We love you so much!!

Sledding, Christmas #2 & Temple Square

Friday BJ took the kids sledding. We were all going to go, but Jace was alseep when it was time to go, so I stayed home with him. BJ said it was a good thing we didn't go because it was so cold he didn't think Jace would have lasted. I was surprised they lasted as long as they did(2hours). I asked BJ to take the camera and get some.
pictures, but he would not so this is the only one I got of the sledding(thanks Beej!)


This is Jace enjoying my cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory while the kids were sledding

Saturday my inlaws came over so we could have our Christmas with them. We always do Christmas with them a few days after and it has become a fun and highly looked forward to tradition on our house. I always do a lunch or dinner and we eat, open presents and hang out. We all got spoiled as usual and had a good time being together. Adi got a darling trunk with princess dress up clothes, Brayden got a fun dinosaur board game, and Jace got some mega blocks along with various other things. Thanks guys for coming and for all the presents!

After our second Christmas with the John's we went to Temple Square to see the lights. We decided to ride trax in, and the kids thought that was just wonderful. They all did good on the trip in and got a little crazy on the way back, but we had a very good time! We met my mom, dad, Kevin, Shalene, & Jef at the Training Table and then all rode trax over to Temple Square. It was very cold and snowing so we walked kind of fast, but had a good time and didn't miss our tradition of seeing the lights this year!

Christmas & the day after!

Christmas morning was alot of fun this year! They were all so happy with everything they got and had fun opening everything and playing with it all. We didn't have to be anywhere till 1ish or so so the kids were able to play with their new toys for awhile. We went to my grandma Graves house first and had lunch and opened presents. Brayden got walkie talkies and thought that was pretty cool, Adi got a princess jewelry box with bracelets and necklaces (couldn't have been more perfect for her), and Jace got a little turtle toy thing. After grandma Graves we went to my moms house to let the kids unwind a little before we did Christmas their with my brothers and sisters. Jed and Maegen got Guitar Hero III and brought that over so we played that for a while till everyone got there. Lets just say BJ is hilarious when playing that game and just may get it for our anniversay! We had a fun time present opening with them. My sweet sister ,Shalene, made all the nieces and nephews blankets. Brayden's made me cry because it has dinosaurs on it that she hand stitched on. She crocheted all of them, but he loves dinosaurs and for her to take all that time sewing that really made me happy.(pictures of the blankets later) She is so good to my kids and they just love their Bean so much!! The day after Christmas we had a Taggart family party and it was so much fun! The kids have so much fun with their cousins, they all get along so good and just ran around playing for about 2 hours! I would have to say it was a good Christmas.(Forgot my camera so no pics)

Christmas Eve

This year we didn't do our traditional Christmas Eve trip to Temple Square to see the lights because of the weather, we had to postpone the trip till Saturday. So instead our little family just stayed home and had pizza and watched Elf. The kids got their jammies and loved them, especially Jace! He got Ratatouille ones and absolutely loves them! He loves that movie and kept pointing to his jammies and saying "touille".
Bathed & ready for pizza!

Jammies and stockings!


This is how I found them when I went in to check on them before I went to bed. Brayden gets so mad at her when she lays by him after he goes to sleep, but without fail she does it every single night!!

December 23

So I thought I would try and start a new tradition this year with the kids and on the 23 of December we would let them sleep downstairs under the Christmas tree. Well about 20 minutes of me telling them repeatedly to lay down and stop touching each other BJ finally came out of the computer room and said "and why did you think this was a good idea?" Yeah they are probably a little too young still. We ended up putting Jace in his crib, and about 11:30 after watching 2 movies they were all asleep. Oh well I think they had fun and hopefully made some memories, and we'll try again next year!



I have been working on a few projects and finally finished them both last night. I have Jed and Maegan this year for Christmas and had no idea what to get them, but with the help from Julianne(making the frame), Lynette( the vinyl), and Lowe's(cutting the glass) I was able to make this. I really like the way it turned out and then on Saturday a thought came to me to get black and white pics of them and put them behind it. Anyways I got my hands on a few pics of them from their wedding and blew them up and this is how it turned out. I think it looks good, and I hope they like it!

Christmas Sing

Wednesday was Brayden's school's Christmas Sing. It was so cute!! They have each grade sing 2 songs and it was so fun! The kindergartens sang Jingle Bells and Mele Kalikikmaka. They had actions for melekalikimaka and it was just so cute. Adi had school so she wasn't able to come but BJ didn't have to go to work till late that day so he was able to come and watch(I think he wished he had been to work). Jace was so good he got a little restless in between grades, but was so good. I videoed the performance so I didn't get any pictures during it that turned out, but got one after of him still in his hula skirt(that they made themselves) and necklace. Good job Bray!!

Graves family Christmas Party

I had a family Christmas party at our house on Saturday. It was alot of fun and I am so glad everyone was able to come. We started by making gingerbread houses. Adi and I went to Roberts one morning last week and all their Christmas stuff was 50% off and so I ended up getting the houses for $3.00!! I was so happy with that because they are usually $10 and when you are buying 5 it makes you feel real happy to get them for $3! Anyways, we had alot of fun decorating them and even more fun trying to get them to stand. Of course BJ, Jed,& Kevin didn't help, but sat in the downstairs and watched football, they missed out! Mine and the kids fell over like 3 times and the final time one of the sides shattered so we combined with my mom to complete ours. I had to make more frosting and the second batch didn't turn out as stiff as the first. Luckily we used the first batch to put our house up so ours stayed, but poor Maegan decided to use Elmer's glue and it ate away at the gingerbread and so her house just wouldn't stay. It was pretty funny! Everyone else got theirs to finally stay. Then we ate dinner, we had soup in bread bowls. Yum! Thanks to everyone for bringing stuff and coming down, we had a good time!!
Jed & Maegen

Haylee & Adam hard at work on their house!

Shalene & Jef

The batteries in my camera died and Brayden was the picture taker so no pics of us with our house.

Where does he get this?

Ok so my friend heard this conversation the other day while driving carpool(hope you don't mind I copied this from you Emily, but I have to keep record of it)it is just too funny!

Brayden: Graham really loves McKenzie. He wanted to send her a note...with hearts all over it!
Carson: I didn't see it?
Brayden: We need to break them up.
Carson: How do we make a break up?
Brayden: I don't know, we need to have a plan.
Carson: We could tell them to love their moms (or something like this, I was driving)
Brayden: No that won't be a break up. We need to make them fight, that will make a break up.
Carson: YEAH! Make them mad at each other.
Brayden: We could sent them a note that is mean and that will make them fight and then they will break up. What is your idea Nathan?
Nathan:(seemingly totally confused at the whole discussion), I think we should do what you said, I could write the letter.
Brayden and Carson: Yeah now they are going to break up!

Seriously, though where does he get this stuff from. BJ says because I watch too many soap operas(whatever) and I say from uncles going through too many girlfriends!! Too funny!!