A Family Affair

Some of you might have noticed it has been a while since the last post. Truth is I haven’t had a whole lot of spare time since I started at SAFECO and I wanted to give this post its full dues. Last weekend was a busy but special time. Saturday was our cousin Rebecca’s wedding and now we can formally say Anthony is part of the family. Of course he already felt like family from day one and I can’t say enough about how happy it makes Shannon and me. They are truly a great couple, so much so that when we are hanging out with them I always feel a little sad that we don’t spend more time together. Whoa… got a little sentimental there. Anyways mayonnaise, with the wedding and all, we had the family staying with us. Shannon’s Mom & Dad, and also Jason & Hope. Some people might shy away from a weekend with the in-laws but I like it. I like it for many reasons of which I don’t have the time, space, or enough people’s interest to talk about. I will say one cool thing about hanging around Shannon’s family is that I get all the goods about Shannon from back in the awkward days, even if Shannon tells me a particular story, her family’s version with the extra embellishment is much better beef and cheddar. (Also a little shameless plug: for those of you how are into fútbol you need to check out Jason Maxwell’s View from the Couch.

So on to the barbecue. Sunday was quite a family experience. Pretty much all of Shannon’s family was there and I’m glad everyone could make it out, we all had a busy weekend. Even the groom stopped by and dropped off the left over beer from the wedding the night before. The father of the bride, Uncle Mike, who always sends me a sincere apology when he can’t make it to the barbecue (please don’t worry beef curry) was there along with Aunt Louie. Aunt Jean, Uncle Don and Grandpa Bob, the Antoncichs and of course Kathy, Gared and Deirdre brought little Maeve. Parties like this remind me of my childhood because there were always multiple generations at them, I know Auntie Wendy would agree with me on that one. By the way Shannon told me last night she doesn’t know what people from Hawaii put in potato salad but every time she has potato salad made by a Hawaiian it’s always the best.

We went with burgers this time, I did some hand made patties which included my secret ingredient. I don’t think it mattered much though because I pretty much overcooked each burger. It takes a lot of concentration to work the grill and I usually would rather spend time with all the guests. The biggest props were given to the portabella mushroom burgers that we marinated then grilled and also Shannon’s berry crumb bars were gone before any of the other food was. All the food that everyone brought was excellent. We have been really lucky to eat great left-overs this week. Mahalo to all the family and friends, you’re really what made last Sunday a winner winner barbecue dinner.

PS Shannon is gone this weekend so I’m not sending out an evite this week but as always I’d love to have you over so give me a buzz or post a comment if you want to stop by.