BBQ on Memorial Day

Tai and I held a Memorial Day bbq this year. It was my first bbq that included more than two families. In fact, I think we had close to 8 families in attendance, and with every family contributing at least once child...well, we were busy! It was so exciting to have so many friends from church come to our bbq!

I had received McCormicks GrillMates from Crowdtap and wanted to give everyone the opportunity to try them, so I set up a table where people could choose from marinades, spices, rubs, and bbq sauce for their meat. Oh, did I mention it was a bring-your-own-meat party? We're so not in a position to buy steaks and chicken for everyone, luckily our church friends were so understanding and brought not only their own meat, but also sides and desserts to share! We had a huge feast and a lot of fun.

The favorites of the party were definately the Molasses Bacon seasoning and the Bourbon Brown Sugar BBQ sauce. In fact, just tonight I mixed the Molasses Bacon seasoning with panko bread crumbs (about half and half), dipped chicken tenderloins in egg, then the panko mixture, and cooked at 450 degrees for 18 minutes. It made super crunchy and taste chicken strips! And yes, I dipped them in the bourbon brown sugar bbq sauce. Not to be a walking commercial, but I'm sort of in love with the bbq sauce. Move over Sweet Baby Rays! 

Aubrey and her friend playing in the sandbox. They had such a good time and got along really well. I think we need a playdate with these two! And yes, I'm such a good mom that I forgot sunscreen. She had blisters on her shoulders that night!

Josy teaching Aubrey how to use a baseball bat. :)

So here I thought I was being all creative and brought strawberry and blueberry fruit salad with whipped cream, and someone totally one-uped me and brought angel food cake to be topped with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. How can I beat cake?! It was super yummy, too. Tai made cupcakes and used little Americana toppers from the Dollar Spot at Target. We love Target. We had such festive desserts!

Here's Karen and Joe Spencer. Karen lives in Tai's apartment complex and she had a ton of fun toys for the kids to play with (i.e. all the sand stuff Aubrey was hoarding). Fun fact (or small world)...I knew Joe during my freshman year at college. He was friends with my roommate and we hung out quite a bit. Who knew we'd move to Albuquerque and within a few blocks of him?!

Jeremiah pretending to be a better bbq-er than me. We all know I'm queen of the grill (right???) but he did a great job managing everyone's steaks, pork chops, hamburgers, chicken, and hot dogs. And it was nice that he did that while I chatted up everyone who came!

Aubrey eating a cookie. I'm 90% sure she did not eat lunch. Just cookies and cupcakes. I'm not even sure that was her cookie. She's a finders-keepers sort of girl.

See the chicken on a stick? That's ours :) Apparently I didn't thaw chicken breasts, I thawed chicken tenders...so in order to keep them from falling through the grates I put them on skewers. And Zach teased me endlessly about how ghetto I was. I thought any food on a stick was more fun!

There's Hayden! He was off playing soccer with some of the other kids and I saw him maybe a total of 5 seconds..just long enough to take a picture and prove he was there.

Danielle and her mini-me daughter getting soda. I love Danielle's hair color. I want it!

The Taylor's brought a bubble machine that had the kids super excited.

The Mannings were smart and ate in the shade. It was in the high 80s on Memorial Day. I'll bet their girls didn't get burned and blistered like Aubrey!

Josy showing us her black (literally) hot dog her dad grilled for her. He tried to get her to eat it by telling her it was chocolate!

Tai and Kristen with their babies. And bubbles.

More grill masters...except Zach (in the grey)...remember the "chocolate" hot dog?!

Forget my earlier comment that Aubrey ate only cookies and cupcakes. Here she is eating the strawberries and blueberries and shunning everything else. She has priorities.

And here's my other child that made a brief appearance in between soccer games.

Tai and I were so impressed with our dollar store decorations and plates. And then there's Aubrey's random My Little Pony to the right.

Tai even found blankets for everyone to sit on and picnic with!

We had such a blast at our barbeque. I got to know more people from our church and eat some delicious food. I've added new spices and bbq sauce to my pantry. The kids got to play with new friends. The weather was perfect. The whole barbeque went really well!