Defended & All :)

A little over two weeks ago-Seth successfully defended his thesis!  He was very very nervous and very very cute :).  He practiced several times before his defense, and lucky me got to listen through each of them.

One of his practicing moments.

Setting everything up for his defense.

Looking over his slides & asking me how they look.

In all the commotion of things, I didn't get a picture of him before or after his defense in his so cute tie & slacks.  I didn't even get a picture of us. :( We were both pretty nervous that morning--and were rushing about.  Him nervous to speak in front of everyone for forty minutes and get questions thrown at him, and me nervous for him.  I attempted to make him a yummy breakfast of raspberry pancakes that neither of us could eat.

Although, Seth wasn't expecting many people to come to his defense, he had a pretty good turnout of about 12 people.  As many of you know he did beyond well--better than either of us could have imagined.  I was a very proud   Wife of Graduate Student (WOGS-made up my own acronym).  He spoke very well, was totally knowledgeable, answered questions without any difficulty, and just looked darn good throughout the whole process.  

I could brag about him for days on end, but that would embarrass him and I don't want to do that.  I will say this though:  his adviser/professor for this project bragged on him during his introduction and afterwards, and I heard several of the professors that came to the defense how much work went into this Master's thesis and they haven't seen anything like this from a Master's student.  

While hearing these statements from other academic folks-I totally sat in my seat with my legs crossed smiling and saying in my head--'That's my Man :)'!!

This is all totally true-but Seth doesn't like to hear such things about himself-so let's keep this hush hush :).

This is Seth the afternoon of his defense-look at him totally relaxed and enjoying being outside :).

Well I'll end this little gushy session of how great Seth is by just simply saying--He did it!  He worked so hard for the past two years and has finally successfully defended his work and will soon publish two articles and submit his final thesis :).

Whoop Whoop!!!!

Moving along to other things....

The other day Seth & I went on a little hike.  It was beautiful and we saw several snakes during our hike.

Logan Canyon view.

On our little hike, we saw 3 snakes-----Yikes!!

A view from our snack location.

Pretty.

Seth & I.

Last weekend, Seth and I went to Bear Lake with some friends of ours and their youngins'.  We went for raspberry days, but it was pretty packed and looked very crafty-so we rode on by to settle in at a picnic area for lunch and then to a beachy area to hang out.  We had a great time!

Miranda & Eva at our picnic spot.

Bear Lake-So Beautiful!

Eva figuring the water out.

The Pate family-Michael, Miranda, Madilynn, Elizabeth, Eva.

Well that about wraps up what's been going on with us.  Have a great weekend folks :).

The Cook's :).

July SC Trip 2012

Seth has a pretty big day tomorrow :).  He's a little nervous, but I'm totally pumped for him and know he will do GREAT!  Thankfully I'm able to go and watch his defense, so I'll definitely try to get a few photos of the Master at work.  But before we get to all that, let me show you some pictures of our fabulous July SC Vacation!!

We started off the trip at Seth's parents and ventured over to Camden to see his grandparents and some family members.

Man how big this little fella has gotten!  He was running around, riding his little battery powered jeep, and totally ganking the tomatoes here :).  Such a little cute guy with the best blue eyes in the world!

Seth and I have figured that after looking at some of the grandkid gene pool in both of our families, there's no doubt we are going to have good looking youngin's! :).

Lovely flowers fresh from the Garden.

Seth and his Momma at HoField Farms.

I like this picture a lot.  Love the u-pick sign, sunflowers in the back, and the farm tool.

After our brief visit with Seth's family, we headed down to the beach with my family for a week.  Our beach week is pretty sacred with my family, and we always look forward going and spending a week together.

Carsyn helping Aunt Olivia with Making Cotton Candy.

We have lots of July birthdays in our family, so every year at the beach we have one big birthday party for everyone.  :)  Carsyn is one of our July birthday babies.

Most of the fam on the beach.

Eason & Britt

Olivia & Brian.

Mom & Dad

Audrey & I.  She is a HOOOOOOT!  We definitely enjoyed having her around during our evening chit chat sessions :).

Sneaking in a picture with Daddy.

My Bro & Cuz-o Olivia.

 Addy B with her mom on the left (she's her mom's mini me!) and her auntie Olivia on the right.

Hetotally loves to have his picture taken!

Carsyn & Addison

It was again a Great Week and it always flys by way to fast for our liking!  Already looking forward to next year :)!

After our beach trip Seth and I went to stay with his parents and see his siblings.  Luckily for us his hometown was having a BBQ festival, and lucky for us one of his best friend's dad was competing in the festival.  We had great BBQ all weekend!  Man o Man did we eat some supppper good meat.

We got to hang out with some of Seth's great buds and I also ran into one of my awesome old Roomies :).

Seth with Tanna and Jay.

My old roomie Julianne.  Due to this friendship-I am now married to Seth :).

Excuse the big eyes and humidity going on here.

Julianne, me, and Catherine!

After the BBQ festival Seth's family and I all went to the lake with Karla's family.  It was a great day and we all had such a wonderful time on the lake!  We went skiing-some having better luck than others, tubing, and had an all out Southern meal fixed by Mrs. Cynthia and Emily!!!!  It was just beyond yummy.

Seth & Zach playing cornhole.

Such a beautiful view.

Karla, Emily, and Trevor.

The Cook kiddo's with their significant others.

The Cook's :).

Man o Man is the Troupster growing up!

It was so good to see everyone and our trip went by to to fast!  Looking forward to when we'll see all these folks again!  Thanks families for making our trip so much fun :).

I'll surely update again after my man has completed his defense :)!  Whoop Whoop.

The Cook's :).

Post Vacation.

Seth and I have been home from South Carolina for a little over a week.  I tell you we may miss the people in SC, but we sure don't miss that humidity!  When you are living in it, and it's all you know-you don't know any better (you poor Southern folks). Since living in Utah (where there isn't much humidity) Seth and I have gotten spoiled.  It is hot in Utah, but not the miserable-humid-sweat stricken hot that is in SC.

Anywho-we had a lovely time in South Carolina visiting our families!

I'm not quite ready to blog about that trip, but I will give you a little update with us.  Last Saturday, Seth and I wanted to go to Porcupine Reservoir and see what it entailed.  It was a beautiful area with many rocks and much mud :). 

Our View.

As I said it was muddy, and difficult to walk around in.

We went with our neighbors and their nieces.  It was nice to get outside-enjoy some sunshine-and stick my feet in some cool water.

Our Porcupine Group :).

While Seth and I were on vacation another set of neighbor's looked after our plants for us, so we decided to have a little din din for them to express our appreciation.  We were looking for something a little different and fun, and recalled our LA friends making grilled pizza at different times.  I thought that would be perfect and for some odd reason I always like to do new things when we have folks over.  It makes Seth a little nervous, but thus far everything's turned out great!  Anywho-it was fun to create our own pizzas and man it tasted superb.  

Seth preparing his pizza dough.

Jaron tossing his dough in the air and hitting it on the ceiling several times :).

Jaron & Hanna patting their pizzas out for grilling.

Putting toppings on their pizzas.

I didn't get a picture of our pizza's once completed :(, but I'll tell you they were soo yummy-and we will be preparing them again at some point.

For dessert, we had one of my favorites (and not so one of Seth's favorites):  Peach Delight!  My mom use to make it and Eason and I use to down that joker in about 2 days.  I love it, but haven't made it before because Seth doesn't enjoy it.  We had fresh peaches and Seth okayed me making this for our dessert last night and will I ever be so thankful!  Now, I just have to force myself to not down it in 2 days :).


In just under two weeks Seth will be defending his thesis!  He is currently preparing for his defense, and we are both looking forward to the day he can relax and have all this behind him.

Reading the paper.  He's such a cute one.

Seth & I have recently purchased a 'coat rack' that is pictured below.  We found it at the farmer's market, and although Seth could make it-we decided it'd just be easier for everyone if we bought this one.  Later in life when my man has more time we will be more crafty :).

I love this little baby because it is made out of wood palettes-totally uneven-different tints, and the hangers are made out of bent, decorative utensils.

Our front entrance.  Please excuse the extra plants around-we are 'plant sitting' for one of our friend's that is in China.

Well that about wraps up this update.  We've had a great week thusfar, and are looking forward to the weekend!

Showing off our cute little flower vase, with flowers picked on the way home from church, and our Cook Picture!

The Cook's :).

Our 'silly' faces.