Anniversary Trip

Grant and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary on Saturday out on the water. I hadn't been out on the boat in a long time and when Grant asked me what I wanted to do I told him that I wanted to spend the day out on the water with my favorite people. So, of course, Grant and the kids were included in there and some of our friends were able to go as well. It was a beautiful day with beautiful seas. We did some scalloping, and even though we didn't hit the perfect spot we were still able to get a few. At one point during the afternoon I just sat back and thanked my Father in Heaven for such wonderful people in my life, such an amazing world that we live in, and the awesome wonder of children. Spending time together with my family and making memories for many years to come is exactly what I needed for my Anniversary. Plus, Grant even caught me a Flounder as a gift - isn't he sweet :)
This was actually Fisher's first time out on the boat and he had a great time. He explored everything that he could explore and was a real trooper. Below is such a sweet picture of him. Even though you can't see his face it reminds me of his wonder as he's trying to pick up his first scallop.

Father and son checking out the seas!

Mother and son hanging out on the boat. (don't mind the marks on my face as I had just taken off my mask)

Coral didn't want to swim much in the ocean, but she did have a great time out on the boat watching every body and "helping" out. Every time I would catch a few scallops I would hand them up to her to put in the bucket - she was really cute about it!

Every time we stopped the boat Miles and Shelbie were out of the boat and in the water. Miles was swimming around so much I wasn't even able to get a picture of him. A couple of times they swam around with me holding my hands searching for shells and scallops - it really melted my heart!

OK, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the kids totally passed out on the way home. Coral was asleep within just a few minutes of leaving the dock. As soon as we got in the car Coral screamed at all of us for talking and told us to be quite so that she could go to sleep and then she promptly went to sleep. It was hilarious and Grant and I were cracking up. Miles and Shelbie held out until we had grabbed some dinner and there tummies were full and then they gave up the ghost and fell asleep. In the morning Miles couldn't even remember if he fell asleep or not. I happily told him that he did and I had the picture to prove it, he thought that was really funny.

Potty Trained!

I would have never thought that my most challenging child yet would have been the easiest to potty train. I really had no intention to potty train Coral until mid August when I got back from a long trip to Utah, but she had other plans. A few weeks ago when I was at Target with all the kids Coral just happen to pass by some Minnie Mouse underwear and she would have nothing else but to get them. I figured that she would need them eventually so I got them with the intention of putting them away for another month. Well, once again Coral had to hold them on the way home and then as soon as we got home she just HAD to put them on. It really only took her about a week to get the hang of it with barely any accidents. We are so proud of her and I hope that she keeps it up while on vacation. I'm sure she won't be perfect, but considering the fact that I rank potty training as one of hte hardest things to do as a parent it hasn't been to bad. Way to go Coral!
Here she is so proud of her Minnie Mouse undies.
(I know I struggle with this girl sometimes, but she truly is a sweet heart and I love her dearly!)

Good Times!

I have taken a few cute/random pictures lately and wanted to share. The first two are of Fisher playing the piano. He love buttons, keys, and things that make noise so it's no surprise that he loves to "play" the piano. He also loves his binky which you can see a little bit in the first picture. In the second one I took his binky out to get a picture of his sweet smile.

The picture Below I took of Fisher with his Grandpa Cooper or "Ponka" a few Sundays ago. I walked in the room and after seeing these two chilling together I had to grab the camera. It almost looks like Fisher is about to fall asleep, so precious!

Here's Fisher exploring the house! He pretty much never crawls anymore and is found trying to pick up the walking pace to almost a run lately, oh dear. You can kindoff tell in the first picture that he's lunging himself forward to me :) It makes me feel so good when he sees me and wants to get to me as fast as he can! How could you not feel special with that face coming towards you!

10 months today!

Well, as I predicted, our little man is walking around the house. Just yesterday he learned how to stand himself up without holding on to anything. These pictures I took last week of him making his way across our living room floor. He's getting pretty good and walking every day more and more. He is even learning how to maneuver around the many toy obstacles on the floor.
Fisher went to the doctors yesterday for a well check up and his stats were:
weight: 20 1/2 lbs (50%)
height: 28 1/4" (50%)
head: 18" (60%)

He continues to be a pure joy in our home and brings smiles to all of our faces all day! His newest silliness is shaking his head back and forth and cracking himself up over and over again! I can't help but laugh at how precious and silly he is. Whenever I take him somewhere everyone comments on what a good and easy going personality he has and they are totally right. We went tubing this last weekend and he loved every part of the trip. He loved the freezing cold springs water, loved smiling at everyone who tubed by, he even feel asleep twice. I love this boy so much and I can't believe that he will be one year old in just two short months.

Lake Alto

I try to visit Lake Alto at least a few times every summer. I love how private it is and how it has a little beach for the kids to play on (and the fact that it's free doesn't hurt). July 1st seemed like the perfect over cast day to go and check it out. The water was the perfect temp. and we all had a good time. I have to say that in the pictures the water looks really brown - ah well, it didn't seem that brown when we were all swimming in it :)

You have to know that I really love my Fisher to post this picture with me looking so ruff with big bags under my eyes - what's up with that!

Fisher has never played in sand before and he loved every minute of it. He kept crawling towards the water and cracking himself up.

Coral, and all the kids for that matter, love their goggles. They are always trying to see fish under the water. Miles tried really hard to catch a fish but since the only tool he really had was a bucket and his hands it didn't really work out.

As soon as I placed Fisher in the stroller to go back to the car he passed out. Oh, I could just eat him up!

Girls Weekend and Cousins

A couple of weekends ago I went on the Annual Cooper Girls Weekend. We went to Orlando, Fl this year and stayed at this nice resort. Despite rude and unaccommodating staff, we managed to have a lot of fun. The main hit of the weekend was their pool area that had it's own lazy river and really fun slide. Shelbie probably went down the slide at least 25 times with the same big grin on her face every time. Normally it would be just girls on the girls weekend but this year we got to bring along 3 baby boys with us, including the newest addition which was just 2 weeks old. I hadn't even met little Jackson Thomas Cooper yet so getting to see him was an added bonus. Most of the weekend Jackson was wearing some of Fishers newborn clothes and that brought back so many sweet memories :)
I didn't get a chance to take very many pictures the whole weekend cause it seemed like I always had my hands full but below are a few that I did manage to get.
Here's Coral hanging out in the car in the parking lot of the hotel waiting until we could get the keys to our room. Below is Shelbie with cousin Hannah hanging out in the back of the car. I have to mention that getting to see their cousins was the real highlight of the whole weekend.

Here's some pictures of Fisher and cousin Benjamen, who is only 2 weeks younger then Fisher, exploring the cabinets in our suites kitchen. Looks like fun boys!

Shelbie just adores babies and she was so happy to get to hold little Jackson! Isn't he such a cutie!

Like I mentioned above Coral and Shelbie loved being with their cousins and all of their cousins were so so good to them. Hannah and Kali Peers came back to Gainesville for a few days after Girls Weekend and we had the pleasure of having them over to our house. Above is all the girls watching a movie while enjoying ring pops.

If you're wondering what Miles was doing the whole weekend worry no more cause he was having the time of his life with his boy cousins. Now his boy cousins on the Cooper side are way older then him, but they were still so good to him. Grant took the boys out scalloping one day and another day Miles got to go to the movies.