the Nutcracker

Mom, Cooper, & I scooted down to Florida the weekend after Bryant & Jilli's wedding. My niece, Avery, was Clara in the St Augustine production on the Nutcracker so we couldn't miss her performance. We had a great visit even if it was hectic & we had some sickness amongst us. It was so fun to watch Cooper play & laugh with his cousins, especially with Drake. We love those kids!

I was able to watch the Nutcracker twice & I was entranced both times. I hadn't seen Avery as a ballerina before & now she's on point. I couldn't help but get teary eyed every time she hit the stage. I was bursting with love & pride for her. (I'm not an emotion Aunt am I?! ha) Avery did outstanding & I wished I could've watched her 100 more times. Special thanks to Keaton & Mom for watching Coop for me.

Here are some pics from our visit.

Schroder

Avery as Clara

Me, Mom, Minnette, & Avery

Spring Break in St Augustine!

After our visit in Charleston, Kyle went home, Cooper & I stayed, & Mom came. Monday (April 2nd) Mom, Cooper, & I headed further south to visit my sister & her family. We stayed until Saturday morning & we had a blast! The first few days were still a bit rough because Cooper was still sick but about the time he felt better & warmed up with everyone-it was time to go. :(

My sister put on a fitness Boot Camp every morning at 6:45. It was so great to get a workout in at the start of the day even if I was a bit sore by the end of the day. :) The kids were on Spring Break so we were able to spend some fun time together! We went to the beach, got some frozen yogurt, played, watched movies, & just enjoyed a relaxing weekend. Special thanks to Mom for watching Coop so I could enjoy some beach time. One day we even went to visit Matthew at work in Palatka. He works for the same company as Kyle. It was fun to see his workplace & see what the small city of Palatka was all about. Now for the millions of pictures we took. :)

Cooper loved Gma reading to him
until he saw me. (story of my life)

Drake was such a good cousin to Cooper. He loved
reading & playing with Coop.

Ross chewing on everything in sight.
He had his first tooth come through right before we left.

I guess Cooper calls this playing?! Drake was such a champ.

Loving the beach.

:)

Eating sand for the first time.

Little Baby Ross

Looking like a cool kid.

Minnette & Ross

Such a cutie.

Ross always wanted to grab Coop but Coop said
no thanks.

Love these two!

the Lusk Fam

AveryEllen & Ross

trying out Ross' walker

A.D.D-ness occuring at the mill

our one (crappy) pic together.

fried shrimp & bacon sandwich.
Don't mind if I do.

 

Cooper & AveryEllen in Big Lots
Love that store!

Getting his morning reading in.

sandy toes

We had fun in the sun with the Lusk Family!

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!

ATL Baby Shower!

Some of my favorite ladies threw a baby shower for little Cooper! The shower was held at our condo & it was lots of fun! It was great being pampered & showing off our place. :) There was some pretty delicious food involved. Cooper of course got lots of great gifts & is so very spoiled! At one point there were 7 pregnant ladies out of like 13 in attendance! (We were told it's in the water here & we believe!!)

Here are some pics of the party:

Nothing like posing by the food before you dig in! :)

Getting ready to open presents!

Mom & Minnette came for the shower too. It was so great to spend time with both of them!

Cooper got hooked up!

A little collage action for you.

Special thanks to Tarin, Mandy & Erin for putting everything together!

Month #1 Completed!

I have been living in ATL for over a month now! This whole moving thing still does not seem real... I guess if I had a job/calling that would help make it real! Kyle & I have done some fun things in our first month here but we are noticing that we have a lot more free time now then we've had in a LONG time. In Mt P we were so consumed with our jobs, church callings, family, friends, & mini vacations that we rarely had time to just be lazy-boy are we getting our fair share of lazy here! Not complaining-just interesting how it all works out. We were praying for more time while we were in Mt P & now we have the time but now in ATL!

So to recap we have:

-Visited the World of Coke

-Explored the largest Aquarium

-Spent some fun times with the Lusks (my sis & her fam)

-Walked around dwntwn Decatur & had some yummy burgers at Farm Burger

-Saw food we'd never imagine existed at a HUGE Farmers Market

-Walked down to the Frosty Caboose for some ice cream on a few too many occasions

-Painted our Bed & our Rocking Chair

-Had some weekend visitors: Mom & Dad

-Joined a weekly Ladies Lunch (that'd be me, not Kyle. hehe)

-Learned the MARTA system!

-Moose has had some fun at a few different dog parks

-Become addicted to NetFlix

-Too many IKEA trips

-Played some fun board games

-Celebrated Kyle's Birthday

-Skyped with Family

-Started sewing an Apron

-Tried to "Shoot the Hootch" & failed miserably

-Made all sorts of food: boiled pnuts, dirt cake, star wars cookies, & more

We have also been able to get a lot of couch time in-I'm sure our butts are imprinted in this thing (yes I'm sitting on it now). It has been fun exploring ATL with Kyle. We have SO much more to see & numerous roads to get lost on. Although it still doesn't seem real-I am glad that we are in ATL. I am grateful for this time Kyle & I have together-this could be a calm before the storm!

FIRST Week in ATL

So I have officially survived my first week in Atlanta! Monday brought the reality that Kyle had to go to work while I stayed here & looked at the crazy mess of boxes, dishes, & just STUFF everywhere. I started off in the kitchen, taking the advice of my friend MinDee. I am proud to say that I unpacked, organized & then even re organized the kitchen that day! :) I even ventured out to the Post Office & enjoyed some yummy ChickFilA for lunch! That night my bro in law, Matthew, came into town with my nephews, Keaton & Beck. It was so fun to have them around!

We couldn't believe that Beck really fell asleep like this!

Beck put one of our boxes to good use.

Guitar Hero time! Keaton rocking the vocals while Jade & Beck jam the guitar & bass!

The boys left Tuesday evening so it was back to reality for me come Wednesday morning! I had to get to unpacking & organizing. Slowly but surely things started to come together. Thursday I met Kyle downtown for lunch! I am SO proud of myself because I rode the MARTA all by myself! Kyle & I had gone downtown on Sunday to check out Olympic Park so that gave me an idea of what to expect. Once I made it (it's about a 20 min ride) it was frustrating trying to find Kyle! There were people EVERYWHERE walking around-knowing where they're going of course- & a plethora of HIGH rise buildings towering over me. Needless to say I was pretty intimidated even though I tried REALLY hard not to show it. Anywho! Lunch was super yummy & it was great to get out of the house & see Kyle.

The whole Lusk crew came to town Thursday night. Matthew was doing some training at GP so Minnette & the kids joined in so we could all hang out. After dinner at a pizza place we walked to the Winston Hotel which used to be the TALLEST hotel in the world but now I think it is the tallest in the western hemisphere?! Idk. At the top there this a revolving restaurant & an area where you can look down on Atlanta.

Beck keeping us entertained while we wait for dinner.

Minnette snapped this pic on her phone of us at the top of the Westin

I know this one is dark but I wanted to get a pic of Kyle & 'his' building! Go GP!

Turner Field! The Braves were playing!

Friday Kyle headed off to work & I met back up with the Lusk crew. First we headed to the Georgia Aquarium. It was fun to be there with the kids but it was SOOO crowded & I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be since it's the WORLD'S LARGEST AQUARIUM. I'd definitely go back to give it one more try-just not during the weekend!

(thanks again Minnette for the pic!)

Minnette, Beck & Drake taking a CLOSE look at the penguins.

Hello Penguins!

Avery & I at the 3D movie Deepo Under the Sea.

(We couldn't decide if it was 4D or not-either way: no so great)

After the Aquarium we charged up on granola bars & headed straight to World of Coke! It was also a pretty crowded place BUT it was pretty interesting! We were able to see a lot of old Coke products, learn about how Coca-Cola came about, see Coca-Cola being made, watch a FUN 4D Movie, & try coke products from ALL over the WORLD! Did you know that for the first 70ish years of Coke's exsistence they NEVER branched out from original Coca-Cola? When they finally did branch out, they invented Diet Coca-Cola. Pretty neat huh? Here are some pics!

Waiting to go inside!

Santa is that really you?!

Keaton immediately could name the model of this OLD truck! :)

VegitaBeta Soda is where it's at! It's from Japan & Oh so yummy!

After trying soda from ALL over the world & getting sugar belly to the max. You get to leave with your own little bottle of Coke!

Friday night Kyle & I went on a date! :) We went to the movies & gorged ourselves on pop corn, twizzlers, & sour patch kids! Saturday we ran to Ikea. Oh how I love that place! I wish I could buy everything! After Ikea we decided to check out Georgia's LARGEST Farmers Market. (note to self: do NOT go to any place that attracts LOADS of ppl on a weekend. i.e. aquarium, world of coke, farmers market, etc!) It was HUGE! There was SO much food & endless varieties! There were fish heads, blue crabs, organic milk, cake, cheese of all kinds, breads galore, any kind of veggie you could imagine, fruit I'd never heard of, & more! It's fun to see how diverse ATL is. I feel like I'm growing out of the small town roots!

I took a picture of this to PROVE to Kyle that they are BUGGIES not CARTS! We've been fighting this battle ever since we met. I have officially won but to not cause any contention I will continue to call them carts for my husbands sake! ;)

Had to take a pic of the blue crabs for my brother, Bryant.

Kyle shucking some yummy corn for us!

This was a CrAzY piece of fruit! I can't remember the name but it was wild looking & expensive!

(sorry I forgot to rotate the pic!)