Grant's Blessing Day

Grant Gunnar Cooper was blessed by his Daddy on October 10, 2010.





We were so lucky that Grandma and Papa Renshaw could be in town for this special occasion.
They took some pictures of our family before we headed off for church.

I had to include this precious picture of Madison and Papa. LOVE it!

Catching Up...

Life with three has been quite the adjustment. Just so you all know I have not fallen off the face of the earth- although it might seem that way to the blogging world. I've just been a little on the busy side with the cutest three little munchkins ever!

In the beginning of this month Grandma and Papa Renshaw came to town to visit. We went and played all day at the Children's Museum. It was A-mazing! We loved it.








There were so many fun exhibits there. I can definitely say that the Barbie exhibit was Madison's favorite. So CUTE!

While Cory and I went on a date, my parents hooked the kids up with the sweetest looking fort perfect for a popcorn party and a movie!

My mom made THE cutest Halloween quilt for us this year. We put the kids in front of it in their Halloween attire (except for Grant) and it was picture perfect!

Madison and Hyrum can't wait for Halloween!
They were pretty entertained by each other in those silly glasses. Too funny!
And of course I couldn't end a post without a picture update of little Grant. He is simple ADORABLE. Don't you LOVE that smile?! (Picture taken at 2 months.)

Grant Gunnar Cooper

August 15th came and went and I started to think that I would be pregnant forever! (Or so it seems to a pregnant woman who is overdue.) I was very impatient for my little man to get here. I started to think that I was going to be pregnant for the rest of my life. Tuesday (August 17th) morning rolls around and I started having very intense contractions. I had an appointment with my Dr. that morning so I decided I should just go to the scheduled appointment I thought I would only be dilated to a 3 or 4 anyways. I end up taking my mom, who was in town thank goodness, with me to the appointment just IN CASE. My appointment was at 10:00 am and Grant was born at 10:54 am the same morning. Needless to say, my appointment was very brief. I found out that I was dilated to a 7 and needed to go straight to the hospital. I won't go into all the details- although I will say I thought I was going to deliver this baby in the car- and I am SO glad I didn't have to. Once I got to the hospital I was rushed to the delivery room and waited the longest 2-5 minutes of my LIFE for Cory to get there so the Dr. could break my water and this baby could be born! Once Cory arrived and the Dr. broke my water- our baby was born after just a couple of pushes. Grant Gunnar Cooper weighed 8 lbs 3 oz, and was 20 in long. That's a big baby- for me! :)

We are all so excited that Grant has joined our family!

*Grant is now 3 weeks old- but updates will have to come at a later date. I am still trying to adjust with having 3 kids and finding balance every day. But we are loving life! :) *

Utah Trip

WARNING: Picture Overload!!!

Before we made our move to Indiana we took a nice long trip to Utah. It was so nice to be with family and to make special memories with the ones we love. All of these pictures are a bit of the memories that we made while we were there.

Grandpa took us up to the canyons for hot dogs and s'mores. Madison and Hyrum were in heaven up in the beautiful canyons with the running water next to them. It was nice to go up there and relax around the beauties of the earth.
Grandpa helping Hyrum roast his hot dog... which he was too busy playing around to eat. You gotta love little boys! :)

Hyrum eating his s'more... classic!

Madi and Hy LOVE going grocery shopping with Grandma- they always get to ride in these fun shopping carts and then usually got a mini ice cream cone too. BONUS!

One of our favorite simple places to go while we were in Utah was to the "the bridge". It was just a 5 minute walk down the road from my parents place. The bridge had running water in the creek most days. It was so fun to see my kids enjoy the simple things of life as they threw rocks in the water, got to swing on a rope swing, and walk through the creek.

I don't know how this happened- but one day they must have gotten bored. I heard the laundry room door close and then no sound. I thought they had escaped out of the house. I went to the front yard, back yard, and down the street and could not find them. Then one of the neighbor friends that was over that was helping me look for them found them in my mom's dryer! Silly kids!
While we were in Utah we got to play with the coolest boys on the block- our cousins Carter and Oliver! Madison and Hyrum were the best of friends w/ Carter boy by the end of the trip. I wish we lived closer to our fun cousins!

Grandma also had this fun idea of having a birthday party for all of the cousins while we were there. They never get to celebrate their birthdays together so we had a very unbirthday party- the kids got a kick at it! (And got spoiled rotten too... surprise surprise!)

One of Madison's requests while we were in Utah was to go fishing with Grandpa. For some reason she was SOO excited about this! I am going to have to find a picture of her fishing, because she was the one that was most excited about it all, as you can see by Hyrum's face. Haha! :)

This striking couple is my awesome sister Caitlyn with her new husband Andrey. We were privileged to be able to attend their wedding at the Salt Lake temple. It was such a beautiful ceremony. I am so happy for my sister, she couldn't have picked a better man to spend the rest of eternity with. We are all so happy to have Andrey a part of our family. Madison and Hyrum are especially fond of him! ;)

Here are the girls outside the temple. Madison was so happy to be the flower girl in her "princess" dress just like Aunt Cait!
Hyrum and Carter (and Ollie, who wasn't in this picture) looked so adorable in their little outfits. They love their Grandma!
Me and my big pregnant belly with my gorgeous sister!

We were so lucky to have our WHOLE family together for Caitlyn's wedding. We had to capture this moment by taking a picture. I love my family!!




**Thank you Caitlyn and Hilary for helping me w/ this post- I stole all your pictures! :) **

FOR-EV-ER.

OK- I know it's been a LONG time since my last post. But I have excuses, if anyone will take them. The month of May was spent packing up our house. In the end of May the kids and I flew out to Utah to visit my parents while my sweet husband packed up our belongings into a truck and drove to Indiana. The kids and I definitely got the better end of the deal! :) Cory joined us in Utah later in June and we were able to witness my beautiful sister being married in the Salt Lake temple. We then flew back to Indiana to find what was now our new home. We are enjoying Indiana thus far. I feel like I'm still trying to get everything settled and situated here. There is just too much to do when you move- no fun. Especially when all I feel like doing these days is being lazy. I am now 35 weeks pregnant and am on the countdown for this baby to join our family! :)

*Sorry this post is boring since there are no pictures involved. My camera is broken and needs to be replaced- so my source of pictures is limited. I'll try to post some pictures this next week of our Utah trip- but I'm making no promises.

Picture Update...

Miss Madison is doing wonderful! She is soaking up all that she learns at school. We are entering the fun stage of "bad words". She is constantly making sure that everyone around her is keeping their mouth clean at school, play, and at home. Madison is very proud of this "museum" she made at school about herself.

This is how I found Hyrum when I checked to see if he was taking a nap. I found him in his "prince gear" (His helmet is his hat, gardening gloves are his prince gloves, plastic golf club his sword, and he is wearing his prince boots too!)
(This is how Daddy found him one night AFTER he had gone to bed. He got up to go potty- and he was in his full uniform. This time he told us he was dressed up as a baseball catcher. Catcher's helmet (bike helmet)- check, catcher's vest (cowboy vest)- check, shin guards (cowboy boots)- check, baseball glove- check (it was on the counter)!
Hyrum is constantly keeping me on my toes. He has become the most active little boy I know in the past month. He has the imagination of... well, a boy! He is always fighting bad guys, playing baseball w/ "shmalls", and being a prince and rescuing sleeping beauty. He is hilarious!


Coop just keeps on being the wonderful fun loving daddy that he is. (One of the kids took this picture of him.) He is always making us laugh and we love him so much! :)

I am officially entering my third trimester and definitely feeling pregnant! I am feeling great but am having a hard time getting any sleep these days. Too bad I won't be able to rest up before our little bundle of joy comes!

I love to see the Temple...

We have lived in Florida for nearly 3 years now and we have never taken the kids to go visit the Temple. This weekend we told them we had a special surprise for them and took them to the Orlando Temple. We had so much fun walking around the Temple grounds enjoying the beautiful flowers, weather, greenery, and water fountains! :) It was a good opportunity to teach Madison and Hyrum, once again, the importance of temples and the happy feeling we get when we are at the Temple. We are so grateful that there is a temple close enough to be able to make a family trip! It was a wonderful day!

The water fountains were a BIG hit with the kids.

Mommy and the kiddos.

Madison and Hyrum in front of the Temple.


The kids enjoyed walking on the grass trying to find the "holy" lizards- since we were at the Temple. Such a fun day to remember!

Easter

Our family had a wonderful time enjoying General Conference and Easter on the same weekend! We decided to do most of our Easter traditions in the morning so we could focus the rest of the day on the true meaning of Easter.

We had a very relaxed morning and decided to get ready and dressed up for the occassion before hunting for our baskets. Madison and Hyrum, of course, HAD to wear their boots! :)


It didn't take Hyrum very long to find his basket. And boy, was he excited about his very own bubble gum eggs! :)

We made Madison's basket a little harder to find, but she was very diligent and she found it. Yay!

Hyrum trying to figure out how to spin his toy top.

I don't think Madison could be any more excited about her Princess coloring book. It was right up her ally!

Madison and Hyrum then went out to find all the Easter eggs that were waiting for them. They were so cute helping each other find eggs.

Checking out the goods...


Traditional egg fight we had to end our perfect Easter!

Pizza My Heart

Friday nights are always pizza nights around our house. The Friday before Valentine's Day we decided to make a heart shaped pizza to celebrate the occasion. The kids always have a lot of fun helping me decorate the pizza with toppings. Madison and Hyrum were being particularly goofy this night and I was so glad I got to catch it all on camera. They are so much fun!





After the pizza came out of the oven we used heart shape cookie cutters for our pizza slices. We loved it!


And I sure do LOVE my kids!!