Riverton & Vernal

?Did yOu know?

-Vernal, Utah is an actual town in Utah.
-And it has a dinosaur museum

-I'm a wonderful planner but not exactly the best executor at this stage in life.
-I'm in the process of sending birthday gifts to those folks in my family and friends :)-sorry so late.  Hey I'm even many months late on a wedding gift!  (Sorry again)

-It usually takes 3 days to get shipments/cards from Utah to South Carolina.

-15% of US divorces are due to video games (Wow-Seth and I never guessed that.  We were guessing cheaters, lack of communication, or children).

-Fish oil is suppose to cure everything and Seth and I are trying it out to see if it works :).
-When chickens move it supposedly takes a few weeks before they start roosting again; therefore, Earlene hasn't produced anything for her parents yet.

Hope the above information was somewhat useful for your own life, and not just boring facts.


This past weekend Seth and I visited Riverton, Utah with our dinner date buddies The Hansen's.  They both are from Riverton, so we tagged along with them for a family visit.  Our time visiting was filled with yummy food that consisted of German Pancakes (which are to age for!), Homemade Ice Cream, Homemade Salsa, Dutchoven Lasagna, Homemade Dinner Rolls, and Yummy Haystacks.  We were fed WELL! :).  That's really all that matters for us Cook's.  We shot skeets, watched Contagion on IMAX indulged in a $6.75 popcorn (which we later realized that we were all digging our hands into this same tub of popcorn while watching a movie about germs hopping from one host to the next-killing just about everyone), witnessed Clemson dominate the last few minutes against Florida State, and played Phase 10 :).  

My rather attractive flame shooting man.

Seth, Caleb, and Caleb's family went shooting while Nichole and I hung out in the car chatting.  We both had to shoot at least one round of course.

Nichole shooting-with Caleb and his Dad as the backup supporters.

The Hansen's Brand Spanking New Cabinets that Nichole's dad made.

I'm sure you are wondering about the picture above of these random cabinets that you see.  Let me tell you the story.  First off-both Seth and my's favorite room in our little 750 sq ft apt is the kitchen.  It's where basically everything good happens.  Upon entering The Hansen's newly built kitchen, both Seth and I pushed the meeting of our host into the back of our minds and gawked at the beautiful kitchen and the glorious cabinets.  I mean literally both of us and literally gawked and again literally forgot about meeting Caleb's parents :).  The cabinets were so lovely and the detail of the cabinets around the stove were just perfect.  Oh, I wish you could have seen them in person rather then through this measly picture.  There were even two ovens in this kitchen-I just don't think it could have gotten any better.  There was a spice rack simply designed for spices-WOW.  I mean I could go on for hours and hours about it.  We've decided that we are okay with buying an already built home and adding on a kitchen that we would design.  We've also already determined that Nichole's father will be flown to wherever our house is and make our cabinets for us.  :)-End of story.

This is the view that Nichole and I saw while watching our men shoot skeets. 

Moving along to this past Tuesday.  Seth scheduled a few interviews for some ranchers that reside in Vernal, Utah.  Lucky enough I was able to go with him-we've only spent one night apart since our marriage and we aren't ready for a second :)-those are my words not Seth's.  From what I understood he slept just fine the night we were apart.  If I recall correctly he stated, 'I didn't realize you were even gone' as well as the statement that 'I had the whole bed to myself'.  Later after my huffing and puffing episode he stated that I was direly missed :).

Anywho-back to Vernal.  So, the interviews went well and we had all day Wednesday to do what we wanted before we headed back to Logan.  We went to a dinosaur museum-which was actually quite interesting.  Here are a few pictures.

Seth's favorite moment was seeing T-Rex.  He talked about him the whole time while in the museum.  Finally, on the way out you see T-Rex and my man got a little giddy I'll have to say.

Seth discovering some type of fossil-:).


After the dinosaur museum we made our way up to Flaming Gorge Dam and on over to Red Canyon.  It was a beautiful drive with the leaves changing colors.

Seth reading about the Flaming Gorge Dam and me a strong pose because the dam has to be strong-not sure where I was going with that.

A view off the Flaming Gorge Bridge.

This a view from the Red Canyon overlook.  Very very pretty area.

Some sand hills?


On our way back to Logan, we passed these geologic structures that we haven't seen before.  They reminded us of Egypt/pyramids/desert.  They were interesting and had strange blue colored areas throughout them.  Took a picture and thought I'd share.


Lastly, I want to share Seth and our first day of our acquaintance with fish oil pills.  Seth wasn't to excited that I made this request-but the sweet man he is he decided to take these fish oil pills daily upon my request.  Opening the bottle and taking the first wift wasn't very encouraging-what else would it smell like other than fish?  ICK.  

This picture is before the pill was swallowed-as you can see he has the fish oil pill in his left hand and is giving me a 'is this what you really want me to do' look.

This is the pill upon being swallowed.  He didn't enjoy it at this time and still hasn't enjoyed swallowing this pill that smells like fish.


Seth and I are both sooooo glad it is finally the weekend.  We've had a couple of long weeks and not much sleep throughout them.  Sleeping in will be wonderful!  Hope everyone has a great first weekend of October :).

The Cook's :)

New Addition :).

Well everyone-it has been a little bit since we've last chatted.  Seth and I have had a few changes around this here place.  First off we are both excited and honored to present to you the new addition to our little Cook family.... 

This here is Earlene.  Yes--I said Earlene.

We have become very proud owners of this very lovely chicken-who we decided to call Earlene Cook.  After throwing around a few names-my mother actually helped us come up with Earlene.  Seth wanted to name it Lanier (which can't happen because we are going to name one of our future children this-so Lanier was out.  I mean what would we tell our Lanier child?  You were named after our first chicken?)  I wanted to name it Earl (which also couldn't happen because Seth said the chicken was a girl).  We presented the situation to my parents and out popped Earlene and we both knew right at that moment that would be the name of our first chicken. :).


I'm sure some of you are wondering how in the world did these kids obtain a desire for a chicken.  I'll tell you the story.


Our friend Morey moved into a new house and decided he wanted to buy some chickens-he was lucky enough to have an area that would be perfect for housing chickens.  Morey needed Seth for manual labor-his brain-his tools-and his truck, so we were brought into the chicken dealings.  While they were picking up the last batch of the chickens, Morey told Seth to pick out his own chicken.  Seth calls his lovely wife (ME) to confer with regarding this decision-because in reality this is our first chicken and he thought it best to consult me--what a sweet sweet man :).  Anywho he gave me a few options, and I determined he should get the prettiest one.  And that placed Earlene into the picture!  Now Earlene isn't expected to produce loads of eggs-(she is just around the coupe because she is pretty)-she is a medium laying hen, so we'll see how well she produces.  

Figuring out how and what the chicken coupe plans would be.

Here is a picture of Morey rounding up the chickens to show them their new roosting area.


Seth and Morey decided after the smoked chicken was such a great hit-we should smoke some ribs.  YYYUUUUMMMM.  These guys did such a great job and these ribs were just delicious.  

After wishing I had taken a picture of the chicken-I decided I would just have to let Morey think that Seth had 'one of those weird kinda wife's that took pictures of food' and he didn't seem to care.  As you can see one end got a little toasted-but let me share that this did not affect the tenderness and flavor of that rib. So good!

Our warm summer days are rapidly converting to chilly/cold winter days.  Usually in the summer we don't have to check the weather forecast because it is always sunny, but recently we've had to start checking because of chilly days and rain.  My bones are telling me that Seth and I will soon be encountering our second year of snow filled days.  When it rains or is cloudy I predict there will soon be a snow fall-or snow tipped mountains.  UGH!  We are already putting on long sleeve outfits for around our apartment and wishing we could justify turning the heat on at night and in the mornings :).


Because these warm days will soon be scarce we decided to go to a day camping site and roast hot dogs and make smores with our dinner date buddies-The Hansen's.  After strategically planning everything we could possibly imagine for hot dogs and smores (except chili) we loaded up and headed up Logan canyon.  It was fun, but next time we plan to bring more firewood, kindle, and lawn chairs so we can stay a little longer.

Caleb and Nichole Hansen-These are our dinner date buddies :).

The fellas getting the fire going.



Seth roasting a hot dog.

Me roasting our marshmellows.


Seth decided since we don't do this very often and because he likes smores-he would make and eat 8 of them.  Finally, after about his 5th smore we were all shocked that he could find a place to fit anymore.


This week we are back into the busy mode-but that is okay because we are doing it together :).


We'll keep you updated on Earlene's status and her egg producing capabilities!  Hope you all have a wonderful week!


PS-Go Tigers!  What a great game, and oh how it makes us miss all our families and friends-SC is such a wonderful place to be in the fall!


PPS-I have to brag about how wonderful my man is-I have gotten to where I love love love having flowers in our home.  Usually I have to throw little hints around for flowers (Seth always gets those hints and will bring me flowers-he is so good).  But last week I just came home to two beautiful daises and was just tickled to death :).

And of course the card just raved about how wonderful of a wife I am :)-Kidding about that part but it was a nice card too.

The Cook's :).

We're still Alive!

What a way to start a post huh?  This is one of the very sweet sunrises Seth and I were able to see while staying at our friend's home.

I'm not sure where this month has gotten away too, but it sure is getting isn't it?

Seth is a busy bee-pleasantly waking up with me bright and early in the morning and working straight until bedtime (with a few breaks throughout the day).  He's got a lot to fit in and his time frame is slowly dwindling.  But I tell you he is one cute worker-I definitely adore my man if you hadn't noticed.

This past weekend-Seth and I grilled out with a few of our friends.  These folks just purchased a smoker and decided to ask a Southern man how to smoke some chicken.  Seth, of course, calls one of the only 'Champion' smokers that we know-Ronnie Bishop-to get big time advice.  Ronnie gave Seth a bunch of knowledge, and I tell you what-that chicken was scrumptious.    Everyone raved about how yummy it was and Seth was a happy fella.  Seth said he hasn't felt that good since his first loaf of French Bread turned out perfect :).  I had my camera with plans to snag a photo of the finished product, but I ended up getting nervous and not pulling the camera out.  I didn't want Seth to be 'that guy with the werido wife who takes pictures of food'-even though in reality I am that wife.

We also had Seth's departmental ENVS get to know everyone dinner last weekend.  Interesting enough all the grads that knew each other from the previous year hung out, and all the newby's hung out amongst themselves-there was hardly any intermingling. The ENVS department is considered at USU to be the least social department-I find that funny.  To be sure I fit the role as a natural resource wife I had to plan my ENVS dinner outfit-My goal was to not be immediately pegged as an outsider.  Of course, I had to take pictures of our outfits.

I would have to say I totally look like an ENVS major as does Seth.  I wasn't discovered until someone asked me which professor I was studying under-then I had to identify myself as the kid in the blue's wife :).  Score!

Finally our farmer's market is beginning to have produce available.  Seth and I had finally stopped going because it was just selling crafty things.  We don't budget for crafty things-we budget for yummy delicious ingredients so we can eat yummy delicious meals.  Above is a photograph of some of our produce we bought and the new family member (the 10" cast iron pan).  Since we celebrated our first anniversary big time (I'm sure you noticed I brought our anniversary into yet another blog-I apologize)-we decided that we wouldn't buy each other our own gift.  We came up with the idea to buy one gift that would benefit us both-and one that we have been wanting.  That 10 incher won the prize :)-Now we can cook Seth's moms Apple Pancake in one pan.

~September Shoutouts~

-My good Daddy was born this month to a 40 year old Momma and 17 year older brother.  He was a pleasant surprise.  So thankful for that man and what a Wonderful Daddy he's been.

-Eason~That crazy bro of mine was born this month too.  Not sure why my parents decided to have a second child-when they already had a perfect one to begin with :).  Happy Birthday Bro-hate I've missed the past two.

-My parent's will celebrate their 27th year of marriage this month.

Us Sineath's-We a good looking family huh?  :).

-Lastly, one of my forever best buds Laurie R. Dyches will celebrate her very young birthday during the month of September. 

 Why, yes that is Lady Antebellum that Laurie and I are old pals with :).

I don't have much else to update ya'll on.  We've been too swamped to find time to be adventurous.  I just wanted to update everyone a little on what's been going on, so you didn't think we had fallen off the face of the planet.

The unbearded man-This was during a cold camping trip we took in SC one weekend while we were dating.  Isn't he just adorable with a beard as well as without?  Why, yes I think he just is!

The Cook's :).