Kansas City Style Pork Ribs

Months ago, Ian put in a request for his birthday. He wanted ribs! I've never made ribs before... I've never been the biggest fan of gnawing meat off a bone. Plus they look disgusting in the grocery store... But I decided to make a BBQ out of it.

I had no idea how ribs were even cooked. So I went to foodnetwork.com and found a recipe for Kansas City Style Pork Ribs. Sure... it sounded good to me, so that was what we used. After they had been in the oven for a few hours, Ian and my dad did their grill magic with them.
They turned out really, really good. And like I said before, I'm not the biggest fan. We got the ribs from Sam's Club. They ended up having lots of meat on them, which was great. To go with our ribs we had: Baked Beans, Sweet Potatoes, Rolls, Watermelon, and Homemade Root Beer. Our classic barbecue was delicious!
I made Ian a Red Velvet cake.
I tried to find the recipe I used 3 years ago for his birthday when we were engaged, but I couldn't.
The cake was ok... It was a new recipe and a new cake pan, so it didn't quite turn out how I hoped, but what can ya do...
Ian's presents had a theme this year: Outdoor cooking! I got him a camp chef of his very own! I have the hardest time coming up with gift ideas for him. So when Cal Ranch had a sale on Camp Chefs... I jumped on it. Ok, my mom actually helped me out, by getting the present and storing it at her house. I was just happy I had his present figured out a month before his birthday and not the night before...
He also got a dutch oven cover, lid lifter, and briquette chimney. We are set to go camping this summer with things that make it so much more enjoyable!
I also surprised him by having his parents come up from Utah. My dad almost ruined the surprise when they pulled in, but Ian didn't catch on... It was a fun day with friends and family!

Ian had a great time with my dad taking the corvette to a car show and going on a 4-wheeler ride. Thanks Dad, for hanging out with him while I went to a bridal shower.... Two years in a row I've had something else to attend on his birthday... Maybe next year I won't. Haha :)

If anyone wants the recipe:

Kansas City Style Pork Ribs

Rub -

2 c. Brown Sugar

1/2 c. Dry Mustard

1 T. Smokey Paprika

1 T. Cayenne

1 T. Garlic Powder

1 T. Onion Powder

1 T. Salt

2 T. Black Pepper

Apply rub an hour before baking. Cover in foil and bake in oven at 250 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. Grill 8 minutes on each side basting with BBQ sauce.

Really simple and really delicious!

Camping at Warm River

We went camping at Warm River with Stephanie and Francisco last weekend. We got up there a little later than planned... Ian had a little light left to get our new tent set up. It was a bit more complex than either of us thought it would be. It was a bit lopsided, but we had a covered place to sleep the night! Our new 8 person tent is so big, we had plenty of room to sleep, even though it wasn't set up quite right. As it got later and later, we got more and more hungry. So we left the tent and made dinner. Stephanie and Francisco helped put our new colman lantern together by flashlight. That was fun... We finally ate dinner and went to bed.

I didn't sleep so well... We have pads and lots of bedding, but the ground gets so much harder every time we go camping! It was about 5 am and I finally fell back asleep after laying awake in pain for a long time. I was sleeping so good, then the camphost drove through in his little pink golf cart. It was a very loud little golf cart... So by 6 am, Ian and I decided to get up.

We made us some hot chocolate in our new tea pot while we waited for the others to get up. We borrowed my dad's camp chef to cook on. It was so nice!

Breakfast was a bit interesting... The potatoes were forgotten, so Ian and Francisco ran to Ashton to get some. They got back and we started up the camp chef... or tried to atleast. We could not get it started. None of us could figure out why it wouldn't work, especially because it had earlier that morning. We thought the propane tank must have been out... So Ian and Francisco went back to Ashton to fill it. It was only $6.00 to fill! Haha, it wasn't out. I guess it got bumped and flipped some switch. None of us know that handy little secret. Breakfast was a bit delayed, but really good.
Haha, Franchesca is ready to go fishing!

Even though I didn't really know what I was doing, our dutch oven dinner turned out so good!
Our tent needed fixed!... The rain fly was flapping in the wind so bad! I couldn't take it anymore. We had to take everything out and set it up right. I'm so glad we did because it rained all night. Hard!
Ian wasn't having too much luck fishing. It really sucked because everyone around us was catching fish left and right... His face is completely posed here! I told him to look mad. Haha. The only way to see Ian mad is to stick him in a car behind someone driving slow...

We left my fishing pole at home because I haven't got my license yet. Nobody told us it was free fishing day! Dang it :( Oh well, I will have to go with him again!
Here's what Ian caught! This tangled little mess that took Ian 30 min to get. It had ice in it... Poor Ian... I'm sure he will eventually catch a real fish soon :)
We had a good time though. We are excited to go again soon!

Kaylee's Birthday

My beautiful little sister is now 16!

Oh my gosh... she was such a cute little kid! It's so weird for me to see her grow up. I remember her when she was still so little. I guess I haven't lived with her in years, and don't see her everyday, so it is just weird to see her get older. She's my baby sister!

What girl doesn't want clothes...
And things that smell good...And a new phone! That's all she really wanted.
She's the baby.. she gets what she wants :) I didn't get my first phone until after I graduated High School. It was a pretty little brick too...
Happy Birthday Kaylee! We love you!

Memorial Day

We went up to the cabin and through Yellowstone for Memorial Day this year. It was fun going there with Marthe! There was still quite a bit of snow...
And it was snowing most of the day.
It was rather cold!
Here we are waiting for Old Faithful to go off.

We walked around alot of the geysers. There were lots of cool colors, but lots of steam, so we couldn't see them very good.
These ripples were pretty awesome. Ian and I didn't go walk around these geysers the last time we were in Yellowstone for my Birthday.


Lots and lots of warm steam in the misty, cold air. It was odd... Kinda hurt our eyes.
We didn't really see too many animals. A few buffalo here and there.

Canyon is one of my favorite places in Yellowstone. I love that waterfall!
It was pretty funny when we thought there was an animal sighting with cars stopped on the side of the road... Nope, Asians taking pictures of the many feet of snow up around Mammoth. We laughed pretty hard :)

Graduation

Brooke graduated High School! Three down, only one more to go.



Of course we went to Gringos for Graduation dinner. We go to Gringos for every celebration. 9 of us smashed int a booth... that was a little interesting. Definately memorable!
We were so smushed, Ian had to hold some of his food because there was no more room on the table. It was pretty funny!
I thought it would be fun to throw in some pictures from my Graduation. Wow, 7 years ago... Haha!