Beach 2013-Rest of July

Today has been pretty humorous for me.  I told Seth to drive my car today b/c I didn't have any plans that I would need to drive, so he did.  After he wrote me a very lovely note and posted it in the bathroom.  Note had a little mishap in it "Thanks for all you don't".  Wow, but hey it's the thought that counts right?  I decided to walk to the library to send some recipes, look for jobs, update the blog, etc.  I walked halfway there before realizing that I left the recipes. Darn.  I turn around-get home-it starts to drizzle.  Shucks.  Well the truck is here.  No better time to learn to drive it than by sheer force right?  I told myself "Erika, if you can reverse this car and get it parked straight in the driveway you can do it"  I did it.  I ran inside to get my bag and off I left in Seth's truck.  Seth's truck which is a stick and lacks power steering :).  Whew, watch out Camden!  Moving along, I drove pretty perfectly until I got mixed up in the gears in the middle of the road and was struggling for about 1 minute and 30 seconds to figure out which gear I'm in.  Thankfully there were no cars around to witness the mishap.  I made it into the parking lot and took a picture for Seth to see.  I was totally bragging about how awesome I was.  I locked the truck and started walking into the library until I realized--Oh no!  I left the recipes-AGAIN!  I turn around to get back into the truck and go home to get them only to remember Seth has just recently changed the locks on his truck-bummer.

I refuse to walk home and have to change clothes again due to the ridiculous amount of humidity in the air to get the key that unlocks the truck.  Oh yea, with a huge bookbag attached to my back!

....Oh Zach....

:)

"Zach, want to do me a favor?  I'll make you a turkey sandwich with chips and a coke and even some cake.  Want to come pick me up from the library on your lunch break?"

Whoop--Zach has been a lifesaver lately!  The day has gotten better. 

Now, to the blog post.  Warning:  This thing will be totally overloaded with totally awesome pictures!

My phone takes great photos!  I've basically stopped using my camera and only use the phone.  I'm totally a picture fanatic.  Everyday-all the time-pictures are what I do.

Seth and I at Chase & Kristin's wedding, my man is a total stud.

I totally made this kid nervous this morning.  He was about to leave and I had a little sad moment and said, "Seth, we are old.  We are about to be 27.  We will be 30 before you know it."  Seth yells back, "WHHHHHHAAAAT????  Are we really 26?  Dang, 25 flew by...... Wait, Erika we can't be 26.  Calculate it."  Whew!  After calculating it I realized we are only 25, Oh how wonderful!  Walking out the door Seth says, "Don't scare me like that again.  I thought I'd lost a whole year somehow."

My family goes to the beach every year in July.  It is each of our favorite week of the year and always fun to get the family together.  It was even more fun this year b/c we had a baby in our house and a new baby in the Beach house.  The weather was PERFECT!  Other than the skin poisoning I got, the beach was awesome!  One of the best yet :).

The pictures will all be out of order, but you'll catch the drift.

Seth & I on beach.

On the beach almost at sunset.

Cute little family.

Catherine & Mackay.

This little guy loves his Pop and Pop loves this little guy.

The beach would wear Mackay out.  Eason keeping him in the shade while he got a little uneven tan :).

Seth and Eason.

We thought we were going to take family pics this night which is why they have matching shirts on.

Leaving the beach.  We loved spending a whole week with this little guy.

Dad on the bull

Thrown off the bull.

At the first of the week Dad said he wanted to ride the bull on the corner.  One night we went for a walk on the pier and to watch him ride the bull.  He did pretty good!  He was whooped afterwards though :).

The fam's men before their annual golf outing.

Pretty

Cara & her new addition Henley.

Now, let me throw out that I got a big floppy hat about three years ago.  I got made fun of for my big floppy hat, but I still sported it for 2 more years.  This year it was all out of sorts.  I wore it once, but I need a new one.  So, I wore a regular baseball cap and Cara and my Mom wore the floppy hats that they previously had joked on.

Me with Henley.

Henley and Mackay checking each other out.

Sunset on the inlet.

My Krispy Kreme man.

My phone camera is awesome like I've previously stated, but some folks don't know quite what they are doing with it.  This is courtesy of my madre.

They got pictures made on the beach.  Cute Cute Family.

You had me, mom, dad, Addy, and Seth making faces, screaming, whistling, and jumping around trying to get Mackay to look and smile. 

Sweet boy.

You never know how much you can love a kid until you have a nephew (or niece).  I can't even begin to imagine what that love would be like when they are your own!

I absolutely adore that face, those eyes, that smile.

He is getting BIG!

Fav little guy.

He loved the beach, the water, the sand.

Mackay is in the if I see it and get my hand on it I'm going to put it in my mouth stage in life.  As soon as I sat him in the sand he put his hand in the sand and it went straight to his mouth.  I'm stopping him, but he doesn't give up too easily.

Asleep after a stroll with Gammaw.

Nanny and Henley

Olivia and Brian with his homemade table contraption

Windy Day.

Mackay and his daddio.

I think my man is hot.

Auntie and Uncle love.

Seth loves to just prop Mackay up like this.  I've heard it's a 'Bob' thing.

Sibling and in-law pic.

Sineath clan.

Sunrise.

I've always wanted to see the sunrise at the beach.  I've never seen it before.  For years I've told Seth that I wanted to do it.  The alarm would go off, but we would both groan and not want to get out of bed so early.  This year I was determined.  We both woke up before the alarm and went out.  It was a bit cloudy but we still got to witness the sunrise over the beach.  It was beautiful.  I took a picture of Seth and I and it is in the best interest of everyone if that picture remains unshown and preferably if deleted :).

He totally loves me.

He is WHITE!  He didn't get his skin from his auntie for sure.

The Saturday we were to leave the beach we had a wedding in Murrell's Inlet to attend.  We met up with Jay and went to the beach.  Again, all these pictures are out of order.

Will, Seth, and Jay.

We played a frisbee trash game.  Loads of fun!

The girls at Chase & Kristin's wedding.

Jay & I.

They wanted to hold hands?

Seth, Jay, and I.

Again, they wanted their picture like this? 

They have missed each other so, and are so excited to be back together again.

Michelle & Will

The Clemson Roomies Reunited.

After the beach and the wedding Seth and I did life for a bit.  Then we got invited to go tubing down Black Creek.  A lady that Seth somewhat works with owns the land and has put it in an easement using PeeDee.

Prior to our tubing, I was informed by Seth's uncle Robert how many snakes we could potentially encounter and how scared I should me.  I was seeing snakes everywhere!  Jay went with us and he didn't help much by explaining to me how much water moccasins love to chase after humans and will attack without any provoking. Thanks guys :).

Due to my upbringing and since water intimidates me a tad, I requested a life jacket.

Yes, I wore it.

Yes, I was the only one who wore a life jacket.

Yes, I'm okay with that.

After we tubed we ended up at this place-ate watermelon and hung out for a bit.

Mosquitoes were a bit ridiculous at this place.  I sprayed bug spray like crazy and ended up with a deet race I guess on my legs.  The mosquitoes didn't really find me appealing after that.  Seth got eaten up by mosquitoes through his shirt.

Very relaxing and pretty. 

Most of the folks jumped off a rope from a tree into the water.  Again, due to my upbringing this wasn't happening :).  I'm not too adventurous.

Jay's picture taking skills

Not very good.

Car pick since Jay's was so blurry :).

Pre-tubing pic.

A picture of all the tubes.

I got another batch of poison ivy.  I'm blaming it on this trip.  My second batch since we've been back in the South.  It sucks.  It itches so bad and you can't scratch it.  Yuck!

When you stay at home you get bored.  You clean a lot.

When you don't yet have many friends in the place you live, you cook a lot.

I've been on a cooking, storing, canning frenzy lately.

Blueberry Lemon Cake.

Blackberries

Making Jam.

Blackberry Jam.

Pizza.  Seth's favorite meal.

This past weekend Seth and I stayed in Florence with Jay for the Florence Live after Five event.  The music was pretty bad.  But overall the evening was fun.

The band, Jay & Steph, Seth and I, and the other band at Apple Annie's

Jay

They were tired of my picture taking by the end of the evening.

My Levi keeping days are basically over.  Here are some pics of the cutie eating and hanging out with me.

He loved his rice cereal.

He also loved this bib.

He thinks I'm hilarious!  He always laughs at my jokes :).

The other evening Zach called us for a spontaneous skeet shooting at the farm.

I'm glad I picked him :).

The sunset was so pretty!

Zach shooting.

Sorry for the long post, but thanks for sticking it out.

I want an ice cream maker :). Just FYI to all those folks that love me.

Have a great week.

The Cook's :)

We are total shag dancers.

Quick Update

So, what's the latest you ask? Well, by golly let me get to updating ya'll then :)!

I believe I'm about a month behind, so please bare with me and hold your horses while we catch up.

We are now 'new to us' car owners.  We got rid of my car since it needed a new $7,500 motor. Due to the fact that even with a new motor the car wouldn't be worth as much as the motor, so it was time to say adios to the Lincoln.  Seth searched online for a sale by owner car, and we ended up with an 07 Malibu.  We are both pretty content with the purchase, and would feel even better if the Lincoln was still up and running and no purchase was necessary :).  

A picture of our new beaut.

Before we found this gem, Seth was actually looking very interested in some hideous older cars and even at mini-vans.  Ick!

A few weeks ago we ventured down to Columbia to check out the zoo.  I very much enjoy the zoo and all the animals around. 

Seth and I on a big chair in the gardens at the zoo.

My favorite animal at the zoo is the elephant.

Elephant.

I like to watch them walk and their feet flatten out.  I enjoy watching them eat and flap their ears.

The giraffe got super close wanting some food.

The four of us at the zoo.

Karla and Zach eating Mexican in Camden.  Yum.

During this past month I've attempted canning.  Canning intimidates me, so I went for the easiest thing to can--Jam.  Seth and I eat the hound out of PB & J's and we love us some biscuits.  We definitely go through jam. 

Getting everything ready for Strawberry Jam.

The final product. 

The jam turned out great!  It was pretty easy to do, but man did it take an unlawful amount of sugar!

Zach and Seth.  We took this picture b/c of the cars in the background.  They are Zach and Karla's cars.  Seth and I were borrowing Zach's car during this time.  Man, do they have nice cars :)!

During this past month Seth and I went to visit Emily and Trevor in NC.  Emily and I mosied around shops in Durham while Trevor and Seth played golf.  We then went to a rock quarry to swim and out to a local place for din din.  Trevor and Seth are two of the most competitive fellas I know.  So, EVERYTHING is a competition of some sort for them.  Golf, Swim Races, PingPong!

Trevor was the pingpong champ.

Emily, Seth and Trevor swimming.

I'm a strange one when it comes to bodies of water.  I prefer to not get wet, especially in the ocean or lake.  I'm not sure the reasoning behind it, but I just don't really enjoy getting into these types of water.  So, I was the loser who didn't participate in swimming.

Seth was by far the swimming champ.  Trevor swam completely off course, swimming back towards the bank rather than out towards the finish line :).

Emily and Trevor at their local joint that serves fries fried in duck fat.

The duck fat fried fries.

The group after playing pingpong.

Seth and Emily.

Seth trying Emily's juice.

Emily has a pretty rad juicer and she has talked about the juices that she makes.  I asked if she could make us something to try out.  It was a completely awkward green color and the smell was horrendous.  I like to try new things, but I always make Seth try it first and then give me an over run of what to expect.  He wasn't very thrilled about trying this before me though.  He made an awful pouty face and attempted the juice.  The face expressed enough for me to expect not to like it.  It tried said juice and it is not something I really care to try again :).

Such an awful pic, but Seth and I have been attempting to play tennis for fun and exercising purposes.  We both wore our Utah State shirts one day and I had to get a picture.

Boy, do we miss that place.

Well this was all pre-beach pictures.  At the beach we spent a week with our wonderful family, and a FULL WEEK with my sweet nephew.  So, due to the sweet nephew part, I have TONS of pictures to go through and sort before putting that blog post up!  

Hope all is well with all our folks :).

The Cook's :)--With our favorite--Elephant!

Joanna & Greenwood Family Visit!

Seth and I visited family this past weekend.  Lots of fun!  These next two weekends we plan to take it easy, and then stay busy for the next month or so!  Whew :)!

Friday evening we stayed with my folks and got to see that sweet Nephew of mine.

He is just getting so big and just stays so cute.

Boy let me tell you how this little guy takes after his daddy and Pops.  These Sineath men like to fight sleep for some reason.  When Mom and I are sleepy we do the logical thing and go to sleep, but not these guys.  Poor Mackay is following in their footsteps and at such a young age.  This kid fights sleep like no other kid I have EVER seen.  It is ridiculous.  

Ridiculous.

But when he isn't fighting sleep he is the happiest, most smiling toothless grinning, drooling, squealing, cooing, and trying to walk baby!

They both like to grin at each other :).

Mackay and Seth.  For some reason Seth likes to hold little man like this a lot!

Excuse the crazy hair, but he's just sweet with his pretty blue eyes.

Mom and Mackay

I don't know what we did before as a family, but it seems now that he's around we all just giggle and our attention is placed all on him!  He's growing up so so fast and I'm so thankful I'm around to see it.  I can't wait to spend a week at the beach with him (during the day of course, I'm not up for night duty!).

He's getting to be such a big guy!

I think he's telling Auntie E he loves her :).

Saturday we got up and headed out to Lake Greenwood to celebrate Zach's 21st birthday!

Zach drove us all around on the boat and navigated the tubers and skiers.  He did awesome.

Cook brothers.

It appears a large black snake slithered by some of the woman.  Once it slithered through their feet, Karla's grandfather announced the snake and the ladies jumped up and on top of tables and things :).  If I was there I'd probably have screamed, but seeing as I was coming down after all the commotion I was fine with the situation.

 We played tether ball.  

I lost every game.

I mean like every game was lost by me.

Karla about to show us all how it's done with skiing.

It was such a beautiful spot on such a beautiful day!

I think he's pretty smart and hot....

I mean how couldn't he be?  He married this :).  Kidding.

Mrs. Cynthia skiing like a pro!

The birthday fella and the newly engaged folks and the future Mr. and Mrs. Cook :). How fun!

Karla riding in the boat.

 Professional skier is what this kid is. :).  

He didn't want to stand more upright than this.  He fell a few times.  He drank almost half the lake with all his falls combined.  He has bruises today and is sore.


This was perky Seth before his skiing adventure.  He was not this upbeat afterwards.  He was whooped!

The Cook Fam--minus Trevor and Emily.

These pictures are from when we first moved back and I've forgotten about them.

After church.

Karla and I attempted to jump.  My timing was obviously off and hers was more correct!  

We are still currently in the market for a home.  We must be pretty dang picky, but it's taking a while!  I'm about to be actively seeking a job-:(.  I want a job, but I sure don't like the whole looking and interviewing process!  And it also appears I am definitely going back to school in the fall, so wish me luck!  Seth and I will soon be heading to the beach to spend a week with family, Mackay, and a new Baird Baby :).

Hope you all have a great rest of your week!

The Cook's :)