We just finished staining our deck this past weekend, which is s o
e x c i t i n g. Remember those endless projects I mentioned? Well one
of them finally got done! There may have been actual cheering involved while we were staining the last couple posts.
We finished it just in time since we're having Tyler's family over for a cookout on Sunday (parents, siblings, & grandparents). His mom's birthday is today so we're all getting together to celebrate over the weekend. Word on the street is that she's pretty excited to have someone else throw a party for her, since she's always the one hosting. :)
Cooking and prepping for 12 is a lot different than the usual two of us, but we're getting some help with the food so it won't be too much work. Using the grill when you're cooking for a bigger group also makes it a little more manageable. And makes for hardly any clean up! We're having burgers + hotdogs and a few different sides. I'm still deciding on everything I want to have, but I know for sure we're going to use our grill basket and cook up a bunch of different veggies. We got ours from Target, but this one is pretty similar. It's so good and super easy! I ordered a galvanized tub to put drinks in for a couple reasons - 1.) we don't actually own a cooler and 2.) it's so much prettier (and cheaper) than a cooler. I love this one from Pottery Barn, but ended up getting one from Amazon for half the price!
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I was also volunteered to make my mother-in-law's cake. Which is totally fine; however, she requested a carrot cake with homemade cream cheese frosting, using her "favorite recipe". Eek. I've never made a cake from scratch before. I always stick to the boxed cake mixes (because they're delicious and easy), so it should be interesting to say the least! I'm going to pick up a box of carrot cake mix and some frosting, just in case. I'll take it as a compliment that she trusts me to make it & hope for the best! Luckily, my in-laws love food, and they're not picky eaters. ;)
I also wanted to have another dessert, preferably one that required minimal prep time because it sounds like I'll have my hands full with other things. I knew I'd have to get ice cream anyway to go with the cake, so I thought a make-your-own sundae bar would be a great idea. We're going to have 3 different kinds of ice cream and a bunch of different toppings. Here's what Tyler & I have come up with so far:
Ice cream flavors:
Chocolate
Coffee
Vanilla
Toppings:
Whipped cream
Hot fudge
Caramel sauce
m&ms
Chocolate + peanut butter chips
Reeses Pieces
Gummy bears
Mini marshmallows
Crushed Heath Bars
Crushed Oreos
Walnuts
Strawberries
Chocolate + rainbow sprinkles
We may need to narrow it down a bit. Good thing is when it comes to sundae toppings, a little goes a long way. I'm going to set out all of the toppings and just let everyone go to town! Knowing the company, I'm pretty confident this will be well received.
In addition to (lots) of eating, we'll also probably end up playing some games outside - wiffle bar, can jam, basketball, etc. One of the number one things we were looking for when we bought our house was a decent sized yard. While ours definitely needs some TLC, we love that we have it and think it has some potential. It's also nice to have when you have a family of outdoor game/sports lovers over.
We finished it just in time since we're having Tyler's family over for a cookout on Sunday (parents, siblings, & grandparents). His mom's birthday is today so we're all getting together to celebrate over the weekend. Word on the street is that she's pretty excited to have someone else throw a party for her, since she's always the one hosting. :)
Cooking and prepping for 12 is a lot different than the usual two of us, but we're getting some help with the food so it won't be too much work. Using the grill when you're cooking for a bigger group also makes it a little more manageable. And makes for hardly any clean up! We're having burgers + hotdogs and a few different sides. I'm still deciding on everything I want to have, but I know for sure we're going to use our grill basket and cook up a bunch of different veggies. We got ours from Target, but this one is pretty similar. It's so good and super easy! I ordered a galvanized tub to put drinks in for a couple reasons - 1.) we don't actually own a cooler and 2.) it's so much prettier (and cheaper) than a cooler. I love this one from Pottery Barn, but ended up getting one from Amazon for half the price!
{source}
I was also volunteered to make my mother-in-law's cake. Which is totally fine; however, she requested a carrot cake with homemade cream cheese frosting, using her "favorite recipe". Eek. I've never made a cake from scratch before. I always stick to the boxed cake mixes (because they're delicious and easy), so it should be interesting to say the least! I'm going to pick up a box of carrot cake mix and some frosting, just in case. I'll take it as a compliment that she trusts me to make it & hope for the best! Luckily, my in-laws love food, and they're not picky eaters. ;)
I also wanted to have another dessert, preferably one that required minimal prep time because it sounds like I'll have my hands full with other things. I knew I'd have to get ice cream anyway to go with the cake, so I thought a make-your-own sundae bar would be a great idea. We're going to have 3 different kinds of ice cream and a bunch of different toppings. Here's what Tyler & I have come up with so far:
Ice cream flavors:
Chocolate
Coffee
Vanilla
Toppings:
Whipped cream
Hot fudge
Caramel sauce
m&ms
Chocolate + peanut butter chips
Reeses Pieces
Gummy bears
Mini marshmallows
Crushed Heath Bars
Crushed Oreos
Walnuts
Strawberries
Chocolate + rainbow sprinkles
We may need to narrow it down a bit. Good thing is when it comes to sundae toppings, a little goes a long way. I'm going to set out all of the toppings and just let everyone go to town! Knowing the company, I'm pretty confident this will be well received.
In addition to (lots) of eating, we'll also probably end up playing some games outside - wiffle bar, can jam, basketball, etc. One of the number one things we were looking for when we bought our house was a decent sized yard. While ours definitely needs some TLC, we love that we have it and think it has some potential. It's also nice to have when you have a family of outdoor game/sports lovers over.
It's going to be a very busy couple of days grocery shopping, baking & cleaning! I'm already looking forward to a relaxing afternoon at my parents house on Monday. ;) Three day weekends are the best!
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