St Augustine & Little Baby Ross

After Thanksgiving, Mom, Coop, & I rode down to visit my sis, Minnette, her newborn, Ross, & her family. Coop did fantastic on the drive down & loved laughing & smiling at his cousins the whole week. It was great to spend time with everyone & enjoy living close to the beach. (that's one of the billion things I miss about living in Charleston) 

Let's see....some of the fun things we did were:

-shopped! finding $7 jeans that rock & fo Toms shoes for $10

-checked the Farmers Market

-walked on the beach

-ate LOADS of delicious food

-threw a Bday party for AveryEllen

-visited the kids at school

-LAUNDRY (always fun right?! ha!)

-walked around downtown St. Augustine

-watched AveryEllen receive an award at School

-made some yummy treats

-sang way too much

-& much much more

Here are some pictures from our adventures!

Drake & Beck LOVE Cooper!

Cooper looking monsterous by his new little cousin Ross.

Coop & Uncle Mateo

The Lusk crew on the way to church.

AveryEllen received an award from her School.
She has character!

At the top of the St Augustine Light House!

Little Baby Ross. Ross Velt Lusk.

Drake always wanted to help & play with Coop.

Me, Coop, & the lighthouse!

Ross cracks me up in this pic!

After our journey to the top!

We had a blast all week long. Coop & I were sad to leave but were very excited to get back home with Kyle & Moose. We'd missed them dearly!

26 years & Thanksgiving

On Nov 21st I turned 26. That's right-26. Crazy. I remember when my sister was this age (she's 12 yrs older than me) so it's weird to think that I'm now this age.... Anywho! I have some pretty rocking friends. They know who they are & I am so grateful to have celebrated my birthday with them & some yummy cake. :) I don't know what I'd do without such amazing friends that make me laugh, listen to my ramblings, & make sure I'm still alive (Coop & I hibernate a lot).

Dad came in town for my Bday weekend. We had a good time. He took us all out for a dual birthday linner (lunch/dinner) since his bday was on the 13th. Kyle made me an amazingly delicious Sunday dinner after we went to see Gladys Knight & the Unified Voices 'revival.' (Btw it was such an awesome experience to hear & see Sis. Knight. She is so inspiring & her music...it's so hard for me to put into words how it made me feel but it was wonderful!!)

My Birthday Cookies!
(excuse the roughness. my actual birthday wasn't the best of days)

Thanksgiving 2011 will go down as the day I ate way more than I should! Wait... that's everyday.... ha! This year for Thanksgiving we went to Hartsville & ate 2 HUGE dinners in the span of 3 hours. It was so incredibly delicious & disgusting. I hope we don't have to experience that again because I'm not the best at saying no to food-especially the comfort food that we don't get much of. We had a great time with family. We did a little Black Friday shopping (it's getting to be a little too intense for my liking). Kyle enjoyed some man time with his Dad & brothers. We saw some friends. Did I mention we ate some food? ;)

Coop loves his Auntie Jen!

Meeting Auntie Caye for the first time.
I'm pretty sure he's in love. :)

We promise he loves you Auntie Jilli!

Happy Thanksgiving!

6 Months Old

Cooper at 6 months

Cooper is 6 months old! I can't believe how big he is getting & SO fast! (I think I post this every month but it's SO true!) Cooper is trying very hard to sit on his own. I have a feeling he would sit much better if he wasn't so worried about watching Moose. :) Coop loves to sit & laugh at Moose while she plays with her chicken. It cracks me up. I've tried to catch it on video but I'm always too late.

For Cooper's special day Kyle & I sang Happy (Half) Birthday to him a few times. :) I wanted to give him a cupcake to celebrate but realized that to give him that ONE cupcake I'd have to make & consume 23 more. As much as I would love to have cupcakes around begging me to eat them-I decided not to make them. Sorry Coop! 

It looks like Coop is talking here but he's not.
Recently he just decided to keep his mouth
open a lot. I guess to see if anything yummy
will jump in.

haha

Moose kept jumping up on the couch during our photo session.

I wasn't going to get Cooper anything for his half birthday but that quickly changed when we met up with our friend Erin & her kids Finn & Livy. We went to Carters & Target so I had to splurge a little. :) Cooper came home with some cute little doggie shoes & a fun stacking toy he can sit on his own with (& enjoy playing with later).

Coop wearing his cute little slippers &
enjoying his new toy.

I love watching Cooper watch Moose.

All in all I think Cooper enjoyed his day. :) He didn't realize that he'd be going to the doctor 2 days later for his shots. eek!

Eating Big Boy Food

well kinda. :) On Halloween night Kyle & I decided we were going to introduce Coop to some 'real' food. No no we didn't give him a fried chicken leg.....yet! haha jk We decided to start Coop off on some Carrots mushy baby food style. It was so fun to watch him try & figure out how to use his tongue & mouth to swallow the mush. He probably would've 'eaten' the whole container of food but we figured we'd start him off slow. He seemed to really enjoy it so since then we've given him some baby food each night as part of his dinner. He's only had carrots & peas so far. (We made sure he had to same food for a few days to make sure he didn't have any reactions) Tonight we may give him some fruit!

trying to figure out what this is all about.

Coop kept sticking his tongue out.
It was funny.

All done eating & covered in carrots!
He was so happy & cute!

I'm glad Poppa, Grandma, & Jenni were here to share this fun 'milestone' with us. Coop is surround by some pretty awesome family.

There Was a Tiger In Town...

Enjoying our Marta ride a little too much!

On Sunday afternoon I took the Marta down to the air port to pick up my dear friend Jenni! (aka Tiger) I had a cupcake ready for her when she got to our place. That night Kyle grilled a yummy dinner for us & we just sat around chatting. Well some of us were chatting... :)

:)

Jenni meeting Cooper.
(Moose is a blur because she was SO
excited to have Jenni here!)

Monday was chill. Jenni & I enjoyed a delicious lunch at Chickfila followed by some fun in World Market & WalMart. That night Marc & Pat came over for dinner. Kyle & I cooked breakfast for dinner. :) We all kept forgetting it was Halloween!

Tuesday we worked our booties off! Jenni, Coop, & I toured & hiked Stone Mountain. It was so fun to get a work out while spending time with Jenni & enjoying the outdoors. Cooper loved being in the back pack & seeing all the scenery. It's such a beautiful trail up to the top-especially with all the colorful leaves. Once at the top we were able to see all over Georgia! I am seriously proud of not only going up but also down the mountain. Coop & Jenni kept me going! :) 

On our way to the TOP!

It was a bit windy.

We did it Coop! We did it!!

planking it at 1,700 feet up!

Don't ask...

Coop was exhausted after the hike.

Jenni laying back & enjoying the view at the
bottom of the mntn.

Wednesday came too soon. It was the day that Jenni had to head back home to Vegas. We didn't do a lot-mainly just enjoyed our little bit of time left together by chatting & laughing. We did meet up with Kyle, Marc, & Pat at the Varsity for lunch. Then we headed to the Temple to enjoy it's beauty. Before we knew it-Jenni had to head to the air port. Sad day. 

Coop & Moose didn't want Tiger to go.

I am SO very glad that Jenni came to visit & meet Cooper. We loved having her here! She's such an amazing person & I've been so blessed to have her as a friend over the years. THANK YOU for all the goodtimes! 

Tiger & Lemon 4 Life!

Cooper's 1st Halloween!

I'm sure Cooper will remember Halloween 2011 for forever! haha NOT! Oh well, at least Kyle & I will remember it & Coop can look back on the pics one day. :) I'm sure next year he'll get a  good candy stash that Kyle & I can sneak into. :)

The Tuesday before Halloween my friend Tarin hosted a baby group Halloween party. It was fun to get Coop dressed up & to go see all the cute little kids. I didn't get any pics of Coop that day. Bummer.

Saturday is when we celebrated Halloween. Our ward had a little carnival type party with a trunk or treat. I made cupcakes for the event & we dress Coop up in his little dragon costume (thanks grandma Pat!) & headed to the church. I loved having my lil dragon even if he wasn't so excited by the festivities. We had a good BBQ dinner & walked around to watch some of the other kids enjoy their treats. We headed home before the trunk or treat portion began. Coop wasn't having the best of times & I'm sure was quite overwhelmed.

Grandma Pat hooked Coop up with some fun
Halloween clothes. She MADE this shirt!

Our little family at the Trunk or Treat

I had the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" in my
head for a few days. :)

Hope yall had a Spooky Halloween!

3rd Annual Ensign Family Camp Out

This year we all met up in Plum Branch, SC again to enjoy a night of camping. Each year the number of campers has grown. It's great to have so much of the family together!

Cooper did as he had at our last little camp out- he wanted to be held & cuddled by me the entire time. I feel really bad for all the family that had to endure listening to Coop cry. I hope it didn't put too much of a damper on their trip. 

The camp food was so yummy! There's just something about camping that makes food that much more delicious! For dinner Kyle made frito/chili pie. I had 2 helpings & wanted like 5 more! :) For dessert Jen provided some HUGE marshmallows for old school smores & a pinterest creations-Smores Cones! Both hit the spot! For breakfast we had bacon, eggs, & pancakes. :) I love food! ha!

The evolution of Camping Coop with someone other than me holding him... 

He's initially ok.

Starting to realize something's not right...

& then the explosion when he sees me.

Love my boys.

All snuggled up & warm.

Coop fell asleep while I was holding him.

Silly pic with all the fam.

Kyle made a "sherpa bed" for Moose.
I think she likes it!

I felt like I didn't get to spend a whole lot of quality time with the family due to Cooper-such is the life of a mom (I'm learning). Fortunately Marc ALWAYS had his camera at the ready so he got some good pics.

Due to the craziness of this last camp out. Kyle & I have decided that Cooper is on a 1 year camping probation. Sorry Coop but it's for the best. One day you'll enjoy Father/Son camp outs but you'll have to wait.

Grandpa, Apples, & bears-OH MY!

This past Friday my dad, Grandpa, came to visit for the weekend. It was nice having him here & getting an update on life in our hometown. Cooper has been kinda funny with different people holding him but he didn't usually mind it when Grandpa held him. I think Cooper liked the silly noises Grandpa made so that Coop would smile.

Gamecock fans thru & thru

Saturday morning we all got up & headed to Ellijay, GA for the GA Apple Festival. It was a great day to get out & see what the festival had to offer. We walked around for an hour or so. There were tons of booths with crafts (birdhouses, wood toys, etc) & then there was the food: Fried apple pies, fried banana pudding, foot long corn dogs, fried onions, bratwurst, fried oreos, fried sneakers, & more! For 'brunch' Kyle & I shared a fried apple pie & foot long corndog while Dad had a chili dog. We ended up buying a 'peck' of Pink Lady apples since it was THE Apple festival & all. I'm glad we went but I doubt we will return-I've seen enough fried food & 'interesting' north ga people for a while. (no offense north ga but you do have some 'interesting' people in your mountains....)

Coop wasn't too interested in the festivities.

Not even when there was a yellow jacket
that kept landing on him.

We stopped by Costco & Cooper is probably scarred for life. He'll forgive us one day.... hopefully.

Coop didn't enjoy the BIG cuddly bear.

Saturday night Kyle cooked up some of the apples & made Apple Sauce! Kyle is a great cook but I have to admit I was pretty skeptical about the whole thing but it turned out delicious! I don't think Kyle anticipated Dad & I eating the rest of the batch that night!