These next few posts are going to be back posts...Like I said before i have a lot of posting to do and so I am going to spread it out over the next few weeks to try and get some what caught up. Oh and yes there will be BBQ related posting and my first ever cook on a WSM !

At the end of July, as we often do, we headed to San Diego. Eli had been in San Diego for the last few weeks so it was time to pick her up and drop Sam off for her week of Grandma and Grandpa bonding time. Since we live so far away the girls really treasure the summers and the weeks they get to spend with their Grandparents.

Some may believe it takes a village to raise a child, well I've never really needed a village my family has always been there for us.

Anyway on to the pics!


This is how you travel, and yes even with the DVD, Nintendo and tons of books they still find time to get on each others nerves. :)


One of the things we like to do when we visit San Diego is to visit Grandmas classroom. The girls love to meet her students and get in on some reading time.

As a reward for the students in her class that have 100% homework for the entire year, Mom takes them up to Oakzanita for the day. The have breakfast in the lodge, participate in any activities the camp has planned for the day and SWIM!!

The girls all enjoyed the pool as well...

Everyone had lots and lots of fun!!

More to come...

Well hello all!

I've got a lot of catch up posting to do with a ton pics and family adventures to post including recent trips to Cali, end of school, funny things the girls have done you know all that family stuff.

I know I've been slacking but time just seems to get away from me. My dad always said the older you get the faster time flys and that might as well be gospel because that is exactly what happens. A month goes by and I look back and I have not blogged anything...I'll try to do better. No promises but I'll promise to try.

In my defense I may just actually be loosing my mind!!! Keep reading you will see why!

Krissy recently noted that I blog a lot about BBQ, and I am sure that is true. Its just something I enjoy doing at this time in my life. I enjoy BBQ and I need to practice so I can produce the best BBQ I can. Besides she never complains when its time to eat it. :)

So with that in mind I was recently asked If I would be willing to cook some pork for a mens activity at church. Well most people have never tasted what I consider to be "true" BBQ so I figured I'd cook a few pork butts (shoulders) and give them a taste to make sure it is what they are looking for. Besides we need to replenish our supply of frozen pork in the freezer.

Well the story is as follows...

Early morning, 3am, pork butt smoke on the UDS!!

This was to be my first attempt at using lump in my UDS. I was hoping for somewhat higher temps and a clean less ash cook. I had some new Kroger Lump that I had picked up at Frys for $4.99 a bag. I was excited to begin this next chapter in my quest for BBQ perfection.

As I got the lump going right away it started smelling really bad, it was poring out a black nasty looking smoke. After the smoke calmed down a bit the flames started shooting out and I noticed right away that were all kinds of weird colors...as I am siting there watching it I decided to take a pic because I was planning on doing a review of the Kroger Brand of lump. As I grab the camera the "lump" (or at least I thought it was the lump) exploded. It was so loud it woke Krissy up! I was like, I am going to die...death by lump!!!

At this point I'm telling my self no way am I using this JUNK in my UDS, its exploding the flames look like I'm burning copper and magnesium in some sort of metallurgical experiment, and the smell!!! The smell would knock over a full grown Yak! I'm thinking to my self I've found the WMDs!!! There are in the bags marked Kroger Lump!! By now I'm getting pretty pissed and mumbling some not nice things about Kroger and their "lump"!!

I decided to dump the starter into a kettle because there is no way I am going to cook anything I'm going to feed my family with this stuff. As I dump out the starter I see a flaming mass of something...what the heck is that?

As the flames died down I began to recognize the oh so familiar shape of...

Yep my razor phone!! How it ended up in the bottom of my charcoal starter at 3AM I still can not figure out!! Talk about feeling stupid, not only burning up my phone but also having no idea how it came to happen. Man I loved that phone!

After all the excitement died down and the cremated phone had been given a proper burial, I got back to the task at hand which was my first cook using lump on the UDS! The Kroger lump turned out to be great and my first lump experience, minus the phone incident turned out very well! I gave the sample to Rick and we will see if it is what he is looking for, if so I will be doing more butts in the near future...lets just hope my next phone can survive the cook.

Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

When the Monsoons come to Arizona, at least our part of Arizona, you just can not get away from the MUD!!!

Sorry about the noise...some of us were working! :)~

The trail...


The View...

The crew...

The Result...

Up Early to get the food going...one brisket, 2 pork butts and 4 racks of beef ribs all need to be cooked. Thats A.M.!

Fired up the UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker)...I think its more of a cooker than a smoker but if you were to search UDC on the web you would not find much. Search for UDS and the world is yours. LOL

Here it is cooking away later that morning...about 6 or 7 am if i remember correctly. Running at 240-250 degrees for a nice low and slow cook.

We also fired about the off set Hondo about 10 am to do the beef ribs. They take much less time than the brisket and butts. 5-6 hours as compared to 12-16.

When all was said and done we had some very good food!

Hog Apple Beans that were a MAJOR hit!!

The pulled pork.

Our first brisket. We did the entire packer. Here is the flat ready to go. Looks like someone can't wait.

The point made into burnt ends.

The beef ribs turned out very good! Al thought they were great and since he bought them thats all that matters! :)

After we ate we sat around and played games until the fireworks started...no pics of the fire works, by that time I was way tired and forgot. :(

It was a good 4th with food, family and friends.

The Prescott area offers so many wonderful places to see and things to do. Watson lake is located in Prescott and only about 15 minutes from our home. The lake and rock formations are absolutely gorgeous. Toss in some perfect weather, the family and a small red canoe and you have one AWESOME day.

Samantha moves on to the first grade. She is very excited and can not wait to get back to school.

Samantha and her kindergarten teacher.

Also Eli turns 11! She had a slumber party with a few of her friends from school.

We had some ice cream cupcakes that were just delicious!

The girls got all made up, danced, sang, talked and played Dance, Dance revolutions all night long...(No photos I was asleep.)

Everyone had a great time, even if they didn't get much sleep!