Fourth of July

Well it has been awhile since our last post, but to recap a bit...

The Masons left on Tuesday mid-day. On Monday we visited Shealy's for BBQ and also went antiquing. On Tuesday I went back to work and Terrie and Gma Char cleaned up the house as well as cut and froze all the left over peaches we didn't get to. It was so great to spend time with them. It...1) made us realize how lucky we are to have such great family, and 2) made us realize that it stinks to be so far away from them.

Last week I began conducting interviews to fill a vacancy in our section at work. Aaron joked that I shouldn't be nervous - it was the interviewees who should be. All in all, the first few went well and it has been a good experience.

It was a short work week, as I had Friday off. On Friday, Aaron, Kendall and I went shopping at the mall. Aaron surprised me by letting me spend some of his extra work money buying new work clothes. It was great!

Friday night we had the Weidners over for dinner and got to generally catch up with them.

On Saturday morning, Mrs. Page, Kendall and I went to the Peach Festival in Gilbert. We enjoyed the music and sun while walking around to each of the vendors. I picked up a few things for Kendall. Mrs. Page and I dropped Kendall off at home and went to El Chico for a ladies lunch.

After resting up a bit, we headed over to Mrs. Michael's for the fireworks on the lake. Here is Kendall playing with her new friend, Riley. The fireworks on the Lake were great and so was the dinner and time with friends.

Today we all enjoyed a great day just lounging around home. Kendall seems to be eating a bit more lately, so Aaron and I picked up some rice cereal and decided to try it out this weekend.

She did pretty well with it - although it was honestly only a few bites. We'll probably continue to try it from time to time.

A taste of the south

So this morning we all just hung around the house and visited. We left around noon to head to the Lake Murray Dam. We found a great park with lake/beach access. There was tons of people out grilling and swimming.

After that we headed to the Old Mill where we grabbed some lunch at the Crab Shack.

We were seated right next to the Jazz Musician that they have for Sunday brunch and Kendall loved the music.

There were lots of turtles and fish in the lake next to the restaurant.

After lunch we headed back home to just hang out some more. Aunt Terrie and I headed out to the store to pick up some items for the Low Country Boil, which Uncle John and Aunt Terrie cooked (along with some of Aunt Terrie's home made bread). It was very yummy. We had Grits pie for dessert and played some Quiddler.
Tomorrow we will head to Shealy's for some more country cooking. We may also try to hit up the local quilt shop and maybe a blowfish baseball game. So far we are having a great time just visiting...and eating!

BBQ - Mason Style

The Masons arrived in SC on Friday. We ate at Fatz Cafe and checked Gma and Gpa into their hotel before settling down to some Quiddler with Terrie and John. We woke up this morning and headed into Columbia to visit the State Farmer's Market where we picked up a bunch of great produce. We got a bushel of peaches for cobbler, peppers, corn and zucchini to go with our steaks....from the Happy Butcher of course. The best part it will all be cooked on the new gas grill purchased as a late Father's Day present from Maeve, Gma Rose/Gpa Bob, and Aunt Erin.
Here is Gma and Gpa sampling the peaches at the Farmer's Market.

Here is the new grill being unloaded and the Happy Butcher steaks/burgers.
Here is Kendall and Gma after enjoying some treats from Krispy Kreme.

Who says men can't multi-task?

Not sure what is on tap for tomorrow other than it is suppose to be another hot day.

Growing like a weed.

Well, we said goodbye to Grandpa Great and Aunt Teri on Monday and Kendall had her next Doctor's visit today. Grammie and Daddy took her this morning and afterwards went to the post office, grocery store, and barber. Here is the update. She is now....

15 lbs. 6 oz. (90%)

26 inches long (95%)

16 inch head (50%)So, we have an oaf with a pea brain. Just kidding...we love her!

And...she rolled over! Twice in fact. She is really starting to talk a lot more (mostly in the evenings) and also grabbing and laughing.

Grammie will babysit tomorrow while Aaron and I are at work. Then we'll attend our weekly trivia competition.

Happy Father's Day

Gpa Wayne and Linda arrived on Wednesday night for a visit. So...Aaron and I headed out to trivia with our coworkers and friends while Grammie and Grandpa Great babysat. We almost won a gift card, coming in 4th place.

On Thursday after work we attempted to make it to the first Blowfish game this summer. But alas, just as we arrived it started to rain. So, instead we headed to Mellow Mushroom for some dinner. Fortunately we are able to redeem the tickets for another night.

Here is Kendall enjoying her first lemon.

Friday day while I worked, Grammie, Grandpa Great and Aaron went back to Charlotte to pick up Aunt Teri. Friday night we ate at the Baja Grill - a new place we hadn't yet tried, but where we had a coupon. It was pretty good.

Here is Kendall watching TV while sucking her thumb. As you can see, she is very close to rolling over on her own. In fact, she supposedly did roll over on her own while I was at work on Wednesday. I have yet to see it myself.

Saturday was the big BBQ at our house. Our friends Brooks and Brandi came from Spartanburg to spend the night. We played redneck horse shoes and generally enjoyed our friend's company.


I made some cute cupcakes for Father's Day...it is suppose to look like a lawn mower (made of coconut grass, Hersey nuggets, mm's, and black licorice). I got the idea out of Family Fun magazine. I made a separate cake for Aaron with the left batter.

Sunday we woke up and made a big Father's Day breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, and waffles.

Here is Daddy enjoying some quiet time with Kendall this morning while he fed her.

Happy 4 month Birthday to Kendall today...and, Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there. We love you all.

White Wedding

Well, tis' the season for weddings I guess. This was my first week back to work - which went fairly well (although really busy). I left Thursday after work with a coworker to head to DE for a former coworker/friend's wedding. While she and her husband live in SC, she is originally from DE and planning to move back there shortly. We drove half way on Thursday, stopping to spend the night in Rocky Mount, NC. We then got up on Friday and drove the rest of the way into DE, arriving about 3 p.m. We checked into the hotel and rested a bit, before heading to the wedding on Friday at 6 p.m. The couple got married at the Brantwyn Estates (part of the DuPont Country Club). It was very pretty.

Despite the traffic in/around DC - we did get to see the Washington Memorial...well, from the car. We also went through the tunnel (as you can see on the GPS).

Here we are at the reception. We had a lot of fun dancing the night away.
We spent the night in DE on Friday and after a breakfast with the bride's family, we headed back to SC...leaving around 10:30 a.m. Despite our best efforts to drive around the traffic - we still wound up hitting several delays due to construction and just more traffic. We spend 9 hours driving and 10 hours total to arrive back in SC at about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

While I was away in DE, Aaron and Kendall had their own wedding to attend - that of a coworker of Aaron's. They were married on Saturday night in Columbia. I was able to catch the very end of the reception.

Here they are heading off to start their life together.

Here is Kendall in her dress for the wedding. Apparently, Daddy and Kendall danced the night away too, but no-one except the wedding photographer thought to snap a picture. We'll have to wait to see those cute photos. I am glad to be back home with my baby and looking forward to relaxing with friends Brooks and Brandi the rest of the weekend. We'll have to teach them how to play Quiddler...