Uncle Sam, hold on to your hats.

Karl & I had such a fun weekend! Since we found out about South Korea, we have been trying to do extra fun things and not do much sitting around {because Karl would prefer not to- he gets bored really quickly}. SO during the week I've been researching all the free, fun, & unusual activities going on around the state for the weekend! We are definitely doing a lot of driving, but certainly having tons of fun exploring and this weekend was no exception. We had tons of options for fun Fourth activities but we decided to check out the State Farmers Market in Columbia on Saturday with some shopping and a date night, Pawleys Island near Myrtle Beach on Sunday for a day of sand+sun+surf, & Lake Wateree yesterday to celebrate the fourth! It was a blast and made me realize how lucky we are to live in a place where we can be on the ocean one day and a lake the next without more than an hour and a halfs drive

Sunday at the beach was fun and so relaxing, with the exception of losing my hair barrette and modesty to a massive wave in the Atlantic.  Sorry 'bout that children on the beach, you'll understand when you're older.  The drive to Myrtle Beach really isn't that bad, and it's even shorter to Charleston- Karl & I should make it more often- the beaches are BEAUTIFUL with the most wonderfully soft sand and nice warm water!

Pretending like it looks like I have arms and my hair is a little more calm

 hoping he comes across my barrette...

Sunday while we were gone at the beach, I had dinner cooking in the crock pot- it was spicy chicken ranch sandwiches- all uhmerican.  That's one of our favorites here at The Burton household and it's super easy.  I thought I had posted this recipe before but I can't find it, so here it is {again?}.

-2-3 chicken breasts in the crock pot with a packet of Hidden Valley Dry Ranch and 2/3 of a bottle of hot wing sauce and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until fork-tender.

-Remove chicken from the crock pot, shred with forks, return to the crock pot, and stir- adding in 2T of butter

-Serve on toasted hamburger buns or hoagie rolls with ranch + avacado + whatever sounds good to you!

I also whipped up this bad boy the night before and iced+topped it when we got home from our full day- delish!

-Bake a roll of sugar cookie dough on a jelly pan (I lined the pan with wax paper just to be safe) according to package and let cookie cool

-Top with: 1 package of cream cheese {softened} mixed with 1/2 cup sugar and 1T vanilla annnd whatever fruit your little heart desires!- TA-DAH!

Overnight on Sunday I slow-cooked food for Monday at the lake- sweetened pulled pork for tacos, another of our favorites.  I've posted the recipe before- here. We reheated the pork + heated other taco toppings and tortillas on our camping stove that Karl's parents gave us for Christmas- it was so fun!  Definitely a better alternative to dragging our grill out to the lake and making hotdogs or hamburgers, in my humble opinion.  The lake was really fun!  It's a small area that provides access and a little man-made sand area for military only.  There are nice restrooms, pavilions, and tons of picnic tables.  They had a great band out there and an awesome fireworks show- it was perfect and only about 45 minutes away from our house!  Oh and I can't not mention the people watching- I was in heaven.  All the back tats you could imagine + an embarrassing amount of smoking & drinking + american flag bikinis rampant + southern drawls that were past charming.  More cheetos than I knew could be stocked in one state.  I imagine pray it is much classier out there on a regular/not holiday weekend... 

So thankful for Karl's servant heart and service to the grand 'ol USA & to everyone who has served, is serving, and will serve!  Praising God for how He reigns in this country
Hannah K.C. Burton