Dutching some ovens, competition style!

Every year in March (the 3rd weekend) it always booked out. It is something to expect. It is the Worlds dutch oven competition. (read about the past 2 years HERE and HERE) This year was a little different. Not only did Will and Jen compete but they were competing against my mom (and her partner) and a 3rd team of their son and my older sister Aimee. This was the first year that they have had a 3 generation competition in the finals. Chad was also the youngest competitor at the age of 17. The rules are that you have to be 18 to compete. Since chad is months shy of being 18 they agreed to let him compete as long as his partner was over the age of 18. His original partner had something come up and he was about to lose his place in the semi-finals when my sister willingly stepped up to help him out (never cooking in a dutch over herself!) It was a first for both and we were glad to hear that they made it to the finals on Saturday! They also have to have many helpers to have this event go down so my dad and my other nephew, Cam were one of the many to help. It is like a family event... soon we are going to take over the world! wink wink. Here are the teams:

Teams #1 (Placed 4th in the finals):
Main - Bacon Pork Loin
Bread - Orange Cranberry Nut
Dessert - Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Team 2 (placed 5th in finals)
Main - Prime Rib
Bread - Citrus Twist bread (YUMMMMMMMMY!!!! take my word for it, I wont share!)
Dessert - Red velvet cheesecake

Team 3 (took 11th in finals)
Main - beef tenderloin
Bread - Cheese steak bread
Dessert - Peach mango craisin pie


Here are the rest of the pics, the tense breaking moments!

3 Generations!

I wanna know who's bright idea it was put put them all in a row, next to each other, with family rivalry!

Everything has to be done in a dutch oven - including something as small as melting butter!

Cameron - getting the coals ready for all of those dutch ovens!


Measure twice, cut once!

Island Park

Yesterday we spent the day supports my family at the outdoor expo for the Worlds Dutch Oven Championship. I will get to that in another post here in the next week when I have pictures. While we were there we took some time to walk around and see all the booths. We even bought some cinnamon almonds and cashews (they are good but they are SOOOOO easy to make at home. Click HERE for the recipe I use). Alot of the booths were booths for far away trips. Not the kind you think of sitting out the beach. The kind where are are aiming the gun at some animal and using them for food (or a trophy mount, whatever floats your boat). There were a few other things there (Bear world, catch and release fishing, dog diving, etc.), we ran across a booth for Island park. I have awesome memories of that place and long to go there often. The only problem is: It is a long drive for a Friday-Sunday trip.

I was only 12 when my grandmother died. I was only a few months when my grandfather died (on my dad's side). My grandmother lived in a completely different state and with being the youngest of 8 children, it was very difficult for my parents to take us to go see her: Gas, food, packing all of us up, not to mention where would we stay to fit 10+ people? I love my grandma Stella. She was the best grandma I could ask for. I was devastated when she passed away. Island park is the place that i have the majority of the memories of her. We only got to see her once a year and it was always at our family reunion in Island park. My grandfather built a cabin there with my father. When my grandfather passed away the cabin went to my dad. Having a new born baby (that was me!), 7 other children and living 6 1/2 hours away my dad thought it would be impossible to take care of it properly. With much regret (now) my dad sold the cabin but every year we still went to island park. This is what I remember of it:
The best memory was heading to mack's Inn lodge. We would always go into the lodge and get candy and other goodies. We would also get tube rentals, my parents (usually my dad) would drive us up the river and drop us off. We would float down the river past the lodge and go under the bridge. We knew when we saw that bridge the adventure was over. My dad would be waiting on the bridge for us, waiting to pick us up and take us back to camp. We would do it all over the next day, and the next until it was time to pack up camp and make the long drive home. In 1989 the Lodge burnt down but the memories still remain the same, only instead of seeing the lodge, we saw the remains of the lodge: a brick fire place was the only thing that remained standing in that fire. Here is what Island park looks like now:

I have never been there during the winter but I hear it is amazing. All the pictures of the lake is the lake that we actually stayed by every time we went.

My dad had the opportunity to go back a year an a half ago to see the cabin he built with his own hands. The people who bought it from them still own it. They not only kept the original structure but they added on to it since then. My mom described my dad "like a kid in the candy store" when he saw the place. The couple was even kind enough to invite them in and in return they got information about the original structure they have been wondering about all these years straight from one of the two people who help build it.

I am hoping very soon that I will be able to take Bryce back to the place that has stolen my heart so many years ago....

Devil Princess????

A few weeks ago, my friend Beckah asked me to help her out with a fun photo shoot. We had a blast. I was very excited to be able to help her out. It was very much out of my element but anyone who knows me, knows I like a challenge. I know these were posted on facebook but since I am in facebook-aholics-annonymous I thought I would post them here. My brother even said on facebook that I was a princess... ok ok - he was wondering if I turned into the devil princess. BUT a princess no less. Thanks Beckah for the amazing photos! If you would like more info you can contact her here.

Here are my favorites:




Here are the rest: