Pure Excitement!

You can tell by the looks on every ones faces in the next couple of pictures that everyone was really EXCITED to see each other. They have all been playing so good together and it is truly a joy to see them so close, even after a year.

Leland, Shelbie, and Claire = "The Three Amigos"
Leland and Shelbie are total 2 Peas in a Pod!
Aunt "T T" giving Miles a big bear hug. She can hardy believe how tall and big he has gotten in a year.
Miles and Evelyn, Best Buds! Miles just surpassed Evelyn this year in height and over the course of the next couple of years we're sure that he will only get bigger and bigger. We know that they will always be friends, but wonder how different they will look like in say high school when Miles looks like a big football player and Evelyn will probably be little and petite.

Yea! We made it to MaMa's & Big Daddy's

After a LONG all day trip on Friday we finally made it to NC to spend some much needed time with MaMa & Big Daddy and soon to be my sister and her 5 kids. I haven't seen my sisters kids in over a year and that is way to long! Both our kids are around the same ages and they get along so well so we are so excited to see them when they arrive tomorrow.
Today we just hung out, ran a few errands, and recouped from the car ride. I did snap a few photos of the kids playing in water buckets in the back yard today. I have to say that I am totally enjoying the NC mountain weather already. This morning at 11 am it was only 78 and completely glorious. Now it did warm up as the day went on but came nothing to feeling like the humid Florida climate that I seem to never really get used to.
The kids are so happy to be here! Miles said yesterday when we got here that he sure hopes that this wasn't a dream and that he would wake up and be back home. Thankfully it's not a dream and we're ready for tons more fun over the course of the next couple weeks.

10 years and counting!

It's amazing how 10 years can go by so fast! On Friday July 24th I had been married to my wonderful, and I mean wonderful, husband for 10 great years and almost 4 kids. When thinking about our 10 year anniversary I was thinking about how Grant and I had known each other ever since we were 16 and 14 years old, but that we had only spent about 30 days together when we got married. We lived in different states and really only communicated by letters and very few visits over the course of 5 years. There's something to said about letters though cause you really try to come up with meaningful things to say about yourself when your writing a letter.
Ok back to my point, which was that once we were married over the course of the years I really didn't feel like I knew him any better, we have just been through more things together. I have learned that I love him no matter what our faults are, and believe me I have many. He is truly my soul mate and totally gets me. Who knows if over the course of the next 10 or 20 or 30 years I will really "know" him any better than I do right now. However, I do KNOW that my love for him will only grow and I can't wait to see what is in store for us over the coming years. I know that things and life will not be perfect but with him by my side that is as perfect as I need life to be.
So, I love you baby and happy anniversary! Thanks for being you and loving me and always being there for me and the kids!
PS - Just to put it out there, I know that I'm pregnant but I'm tearing up right now just thinking about this post. I hope this wasn't to mushy for everyone.

Trip down memory lane.

I have been doing a lot of scanning lately of tons of old photos from growing up. I love looking at the photos and remembering the times that go along with them. I thought I would let everyone in on some of my favorite old photos, enjoy!
It isn't hard to find pictures of my sister Tillia and I together. We were pretty much inseparable growing up and she is still my best friend, I just wish she lived closer. You will notice that up until this first photo she was the taller one. It was some point in late middle school that I caught up and then surpassed her. Sorry sis, we still love you even though you stopped growing :)

Tillia is on the left of both of these pictures and I'm on the right.

Just looking at these pictures reminds me of some of our kids and how they look like us, so fun!

We used to love dressing up and wearing funny wigs. Above is me in all my cuteness.

Tillia, our mom, and I. I don't know why but I've always loved this picture!

Our Tradition Continues!

I was very happy that we were able to keep our tradition and go out scalloping for the 4th of July. The weather turned out great and the seas couldn't have been any calmer! The scallops, however, were not as thick this year as they have been before but that didn't stop us from having fun. Every time the kids go they get better and better at snorkeling. Both Miles and Shelbie had a great eye and could spot the scallops even before I could some times. Miles was able to dive down and get a couple all by himself and we were so proud of him.
Here's the cooler of Scallops right before we started to clean them.

Poor Coral started to get a little to much sun so we put one of our adult swim shirts on her. She looked so funny but didn't seem to mind to much. For the rest of the trip we started to call her"E.T." She is really a good sport!

Shelbie and Coral hanging out on the front of the boat while we were anchored up and searching for scallops. They were so cute sitting there just looking out on the water.

Ok, there's a short and some what sad story that goes along with these two pictures.

One of the couple that we invited on the boat with us wanted to give pole spearfishing a try so we told him to look for a mullet fish cause you can eat those. Well he did a good job spearing a fish but it didn't turn out to be a mullet. It was actually a fish that you really don't want to eat, but sad to say he was good and injured and wasn't going to survive. This gave Grant an idea to let the kids try out there spearfishing skills on the all ready dying fish. I know this sounds really cruel but the kids were so excited to get to spear the fish on there own, mostly, and hopefully we were able to put him out of his misery a little quicker. So, the picture above and below is Miles and Shelbie spearing their first fish. Sorry little fishy you sacrificed your life for our children's entertainment and spearfishing enjoyment!

Some Extra Girls Weekend pictures

I wanted to post a few extra pictures from Girls Weekend that came from cameras other than mine.
Below is all the adult girls: Lana Dahle, Lori Potter, Sharon Cooper, Lesa Peers, Stacie Cooper, and Alison Cooper

Samantha, Bella, and Shelbie enjoy there special treat of donuts for breakfast.

A precious moment captured of our Coral Ann and her big blue eyes.

Shelbie, Hannah, and Kalli showing us there new backpacks that they got downtown St. Augustine at where we all call "The Purse Store".

Here's Coral running away with Aunt Alison's diet coke that she knew that she shouldn't have, hench the running away part. Sorry again Aunt Alison at my lax parenting skills and letting her steal the end of your coke.

Some Extra Family Reunion pictures

These are just a couple extra pictures from our family reunion that I just got from other family members cameras. I couldn't resist posting them.
These two of Coral are my definite favorites. She loved looking at the fish through the glass at the Key West Eco Discovery Center. A special thanks to Aunt Lesa for capturing the moment!

Above is me in my 7 1/2 month pregnant glory. I posted this per some of your requests to see me, so there you go.

Shelbie's favorite part of the Key West Aquarium was getting to touch the little animals, especially the starfish!

Miles showing how happy he is to be taking a late night boat ride.

2 little fish!

this past Wednesday and Thursday was the annual Cooper "Girls Weekend". This year since we just had a reunion we decided to cut it a little shorter and just go for one night and one and a half days. It is always nice to get a way with just the girls and hang out. I was late for the festivities due to Shelbie's dance recital so when we arrived we met up with everyone on the beach. This is where the title to my post comes into play. Shelbie and Coral had the best time on the beach and ran around with smiles on there faces the whole time (expect when I tried to take pictures of course). Both of them just swam around like little fish in the swallow part of the water and it was so cute to watch Coral because she would copy and do everything that Shelbie was doing.
I didn't get any more pictures from the girls trip cause at the beach I guess some water got on my camera and it totally doesn't work anymore. This is not a good scenario, me with no camera. I'm going to have to solve this problem very soon!
I have to offer a special thanks to all the Cooper girls for a fun getaway. It was so sweet of everyone to throw me and and Lana (my sister in law who is also pregnant and having a boy) a little baby shower with some really cute and useful and fun gifts. So So FUN!

Ballet Recital

The day finally came for Shelbie's first ballet recital. She was so excited and so cute on stage. She was actually a little shy at first but we were still so proud of her and it brought back so many memories of when I was little. Below are a few of the best pictures that we got. The lighting wasn't that good so our camera didn't get the best pictures.
As a side note Shelbie now tells us that when she grows up she wants to be a mom and a ballet teacher. It's fun to see her get so excited about something and really enjoy it. I have to say that Miles also was really proud of Shelbie and before the recital he kept saying, "Shelbie, I can't wait to go to your show!"