Last of the catch up journal posts. Just ignore the date this was posted. :)

4-15-2012                                   Coop and Nana at Boone Hall Plantation

Coop and I are trying to adjust to it being just us in the house again. Sometimes it is so quiet. Mckenzie left 2 weeks ago and the same day she left Andrew’s mom came for a week and a half over Easter. We all headed down to Charleston for Easter weekend and it was wonderful! Debby booked rooms at the Francis Marion hotel right in the heart of down town so we were able to just walk out of our door and be right in the middle of it all. We spent a day at Boone Hall plantation, which was so neat to see. Then other days we spent wandering around and looking at all the beautiful houses. We took a carriage tour which was really neat. And man oh man did we eat, eat, eat some amazing food. I don’t know if I have ever eaten so much delicious food in one weekend. We found a sea food place called R.B.’s in Mount Pleasant that was to die for. We ate there one evening for dinner and then went back the very next day for lunch. Cooper was great the whole time. He loved all of the restaurants and inhaled a lot of grits. He is truly a southern boy. He also loved being carried around the whole time and being out on the town all day. It was definitely his kind of trip.

Now we are back home and just doing our thang. Coop is scoot/crawling all over the place. He loves playing with his toys and mama. And he takes a great nap every morning while I do hair. We couldn’t ask for a better baby. 

6-9-2012

We (Andrew, Cooper and I) all just got back from Cooper’s first camping trip. He Absolutely loved it! I will admit I was a little bit nervous just due to the fact that Cooper has only been sleeping through the night (11 hrs straight) for about a month and a half now. But he did great. We went to a place called Bandits Roost in Wilkesboro NC with a few families from our ward. (Evans and Theodosis’) We had a great little secluded loop with everyone and just ate and talked around the fire. As far as Coop’s sleeping arrangements, I set up his pack-n-play crib in the back of our x-Terra, closed it up, cracked the windows a tad, and turned on the sound machine on my phone and he was good to go. It worked awesome! When he woke up the next day he was so happy to see that he was still outside. The boy loves loves loves being outdoors. We then had breakfast and went on a great hike with him in a pack on Andrew’s back. It went so well and he loved it so much that I can’t wait to take him again. I would bet he becomes a life long lover of camping. Some other developments lately are that he is on the very verge of walking. Could be any day now. He just cruises all along the furniture. He spends most of his play time playing with trucks right now. He can’t get enough of them. He pushes them all over the place while doing very good truck and car sounds. I knew that boys a lot of the time just came with built in sound effects and a natural love of cars and balls but wow! I haven’t had to teach him at all, he is just a natural driver. He is starting to say a few words. I would have to say that mama was his first! Yay! Then Dada followed in a close second. He also does monkey, dog and kitty noises. And waves and says bye bye. Oh he also says ball, bird and for any vehicle does a good purring raspberry. He is such a smart little guy. Very determined but oh soooo sweet. He loves to snuggle. It makes me so happy. He presses his face against yours and does this soft cooing while he is snuggling . It is so cute. I can’t believe how much joy a little person can bring. I love him more than I could ever explain. I jut look at his cute little chubby face and my heart melts. I can’t imagine how heavenly father feels with billions and billions of children. He must be one happy guy.

6-18-12

Yesterday was Father’s Day. Andrew’s first to be exact. Andrew is the best Dad. Cooper looooves his "dada" He gets so excited anytime Andrew walks in the room. We went to church (which Cooper was semi- good at for the first time this month) then after had our friends Regan and Lindsay over for dinner. Cooper loves playing with their little baby Carter. Then after they left we Skyped my family who was all over at Briana and Dave’s having a Father’s Day dinner. It was so funny. Andrew just followed Coop around with the I-pad for an hour and they all just oohhed, ahhed, and laughed at every little thing he did. Bri had hooked it up to their tv so it was just like they were watching Coop tv. Sooo cute! I wish so badly that we could live closer to family. 

Coop eating avacado.... or bathing in it.

Coop found his best friend lives in the oven and the dishwasher. Poor lonely boy. Hee..Hee.. So cute!

I found Cooper digging in my plant. Neither Andrew nor I had shown him what the shovel was for, smarty pants. So outside we went where he was allowed to use it. 

                                                                                                                                                                                  7-1-2012

Cooper is one!! He and I spent part of the last week and his birthday at girls camp. We weren’t supposed to go but the Young women’s president who was supposed to go got the flu last minute. So Coop and I were off. It was quite the adventure camping with a baby all by myself but we made it through. And he can now say that he spent his first birthday with 97 girls. He and I slept in the back of the X-Terra again. He wasn’t quite walking yet so I just had him in the front pack for as long as he’d let me during the days. I even left him with a pregnant leader while I went white water rafting with the girls. It was fun. He loved playing in the river and dirt. He was such a trooper. The Sunday before we had Regan, Lindsay, and Carter and our friend Forrest over for Japanese food and his early birthday party. We gave him part of a cupcake and boy did he love it. It was all over his little chubby face. I know you can't tell by the picture but really... he did love it I promise. He started taking steps yesterday and is so close to walking now. He gets so excited and proud of himself when he does. It’s so cute. Two weekends ago we went up to Boone to our friend Bonnie and her new husband Jonathan’s house to do Cooper’s one year portraits. They turned out beautiful! I really am so lucky to have such an awesome photographer for a friend. She and I trade hair for pics. I don’t know what I’ll do if we move because there is no way that I will be able to afford such awesome pictures. All of our future children will wonder why in the heck Cooper had such great childhood photos and they have sears…

Coop and  Mom at girls camp on his Birthday!