Busy Weekend Last Week

We had a couple of big days last weekend. On Saturday, Teecee and I catered a branding out of a restored chuckwagon back in the hills. We precooked the brisket and warmed it up over the fire. We made the biscuits and potato salad the day before. The beans and peach cobbler were actually prepared over the open fire in dutch ovens. We even learned how to make "cowboy coffee." Maybe that will come in handy again.? My dad was our "fireman" in charge of starting the fires and making sure we had good coals. My Aunt Marlene and cousin, Valyn, were visiting from Utah, so they came with my mom to check on our progress. Brinlee came along as my personal assistant. :) I think that everyone liked the food because the people took seconds and take-home plates. We estimated the food pretty close except for the potato salad. There was a roaster pan full left, but it came in handy at a family BBQ on Monday. This was a unique opportunity for us to dutch oven cook, but I have to say it was a lot of work. Especially since we cooked the meat over the fire in the evenings during that week. It meant a lot of hours of cooking and cleanup. It was fun to include my dad though, and we were very thankful for his help and expertise.

Chuckwagon/Food Prep Area
You can see the two of the four fires in this one. They were setup with grates and places to hang the ovens.

The cooking crew

Four of these dutch ovens are peach cobblers and one is beans. Cleanup was quite a project.

Dad making the black as tar and twice as gritty coffee

Aunt Marlene and Valyn

This was Brinlee's perch for most of the day. That is her carseat in the chair with the bright blanket over it. She slept most of the time.

On Sunday, Brice blessed Brinlee at our ward. She wore the blessing dress that I made for Aubree out of the same material as my wedding dress. I thought she looked like a little angel in it. I think that half of the ward's sacrament meeting attendance was our family. We feel so blessed that we live close to family so that they can be a part of these special occasions. We missed those that couldn't come though.