Smoke a little smoke!



This is the 3rd year we have attended and the first year we have kept Piper overnight with us. My parents had a wedding so we didn't want to ask them to watch her and she is getting easier and more fun to take places like this where she can run around and play with other kids.

 

Basically the guys who are smoking meat go down Friday night we all hang out, the adults take a boat ride to The Port (the tiki bar/restaurant) at Lake Panorama and the kids stay back and hang out. This was the first year we have done this also. Steve was by himself last year on this Friday night and the girls and I came down Saturday morning! So the girls stayed at the house with cousin Ella, Sam and Ava and about 5 other boys, they were a little nervous about us leaving but they did great and Ella was able to get Piper to sleep!

Saturday morning we got up about 8:30, most of the boys men guys had started their smokers and got their meat on the night before so they spend most of the day tending to their smokers, adjusting the heat, saucing up, seasoning, tasting and doing ALOT of smack talking!

Many times Piper is a loner, she hangs out with the adults and does her own thing. Most of the kids were much older than her so she was mama's girl for a lot of the day, which was fine until she insisted on taking pictures. I didn't mind at the beginning but 200 pictures later (most of nothing!) it was time for her to stop...she did get some good ones though!

Like this one of Uncle Matt!....who desperately needs a hair cut!

Presley has never been comfortable enough in the water to jump off the dock or swim. She always wants to but has never been brave enough to just do it!.........She did it!

She did it and then she was off....swimming, jumping and having fun with cousin Ava and all the other kids! It was SO awesome to watch her! (and it still makes me nervous to watch her!)

swam out to the lily-pad over and over again and had a blast!

Another picture courtesy of Piper :)

Then she started posing for me! :) LOVE THIS GIRL!

She convinced cousin Jordan to take out his boat, she LOVES Jordan's boat!

The weather was supposed to be HOT and it was, but we were lucky enough to have a cloud overcast most of the day which helped the heat!

Cousin Sam, typical boy!

Loving on the flamingos!

and then riding the flamingos?!

The trophy!

One of the guys preparing their ribs. Yum!

The boxes lined up for the entries.

Picture courtesy of Piper.

Some of the guys preparing and getting their entries ready.

Steve slicing his winning brisket!

Halligan with his 2nd place ribs!

The boxes are delivered to the judges, they don't know which box belongs to which person. They rate on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best and then the ratings are added up! There were 12 total entries and Steve's 3 entries came in 5th, 4th and 1st place! :) He was a very happy camper!

Getting hugs from the girls!

All of the meat was great! So good and so fun to get to try so many different things! It's so fun to have an event/get together like this! Thanks Jason and Christie for planning and hosting!
The bean bag competition got started, I was out first round! Boo! Guess I need more practice!

The girls got a little carried away with the mud....but they were having fun and it's SUMMER! So why not?! :)

We hung out the rest of the night, more bean bags, more beers, fireworks. I went to bed early b/c I haven't been feeling good most of the week and had basically lost my voice. So I was a party pooper but at least I was able to get Piper to bed by 9 and Presley by 10:30.

We slept in until almost 10 Sunday morning, got up, ate breakfast, hung out and then headed home. We were all tired and didn't do much on Sunday but unpack, clean, laundry and get ready for another week ahead! Then went to Sarah and Kyle's for dinner and to chat for a couple hours! Thanks for having us over!