In the previous post, I posted a picture of our family getting ready to go on the float trip-- well, thanks to a professional photographer who is making way too much money, here are pictures of us on the Clark Fork River in Montana.

Isn't summer a great time of year? We wait all winter long for it to come and then it goes by so fast!! Now that the end of summer is near, it is the season (in my family) for family reunions. YEAH!!

Bryan and I spent the weekend in Seeley Lake, Montana at a reunion for my mom's side of the family. Below is a picture of most of our immediate family (those that could come), getting ready to go river rafting.

Tuesday night we had a ward dutch oven cook off. It was a blast!

As you all know, I love to cook and Dutch Oven is a favorite! I found this great recipe for a BBQ Beef Brisket that I just knew would win. I mean, really, after marinading the meat for hours and putting it on low heat for 5 hours, how could I really fail?

A couple of days before the cook off, the bishop asked me if I would help him in the cook off. He had a couple of dutch ovens that were still in the box and he wanted to learn how to use them. Being the very nice person I am, I sent him a grocery list of what he would need and told him I would help him once he got up the canyon.

So, being the anal cook that I am... I took 1/2 day off work and started my meat so that I could be sure it would be done. Bryan and I went up the canyon after Bryan got off and put the meat on the briquets up there so the meat would continue cooking.

Once the bishop got up there, we got his chicken cooking and things were rolling. Right as his chicken was cooked, they asked for the cooks to bring their food to the pavillion. We still needed to sauce up the chicken. Imagine my surprise as I opened up the grocery bag and were the ingredients I had ordered in it? No, he found some of the items asked for and substituted as well. So, we started mixing and tasting and mixing and tasting.

By the time everything was said and done, guess who won the cook off??? Yep, the bishop. Congrats to him! He is definitely a dutch oven prodigy. Some things just come naturally to us Idaho people. Not only did he win, but he gave me a GREAT new dutch oven recipe... wahoo!!!

Check my recipe site later for Bishop's Dutch Oven Chicken.

This is the procrastinated blog to update you from the 4th. Things were crazy and fun with Bryan's parents here. The one thing I realized that I was a total slacker on, was taking pictures, so, I don't have any of them. *Sorry*

For the 4th, we went to breakfast at One Man Band (love that place) and then came home and worked in the yard before our big BBQ. It was nice to get some stuff done out there and Bryan's dad is a very good motivator. --- ok, really, I just feel guilty when he is out there working on my yard and I am not helping. We had a bunch of friends over for our BBQ and ended the night singing karaoke and watching the fireworks that we could see from our yard. (We only caught about every 3rd one, but it worked.)

On Saturday, we went fishing at Scofield Reservoir. It was a great day! The sky was overcast, so it wasn't horridly hot. We didn't end up catching any fish, but every one of us came home with a sunburn, even though we hadn't seen the sun all day. Go figure that.

Bryan's parents flew home on Sunday. It was great to have them here.

On Tuesday, our Webelos did a service project for Sis. Rawlinson in our ward. They cleaned the outside of her windows and did a great job!

This is Alex and Nelson with Sis. Rawlinson. These guys ROCK!!!

Happy 4th and 3 day weekend to all of you!!! I hope that you have some fun plans to stay out of the heat.

As for Bryan and I, his parents are flying in tonight and will be here til Sunday. We have a BBQ and fishing adventure planned, I will post the results next week.

Ta, ta til then!