Phew!

The barbecue is officially over. and it went wonderfully. Guests started showing up shortly after 2:00 and by 3:00, the party was underway.

For appetizers/noshes we had:
-Homemade salsa (come back soon for the recipe!)
-Store bought spicy salsa
-Mexican bean dip, courtesy of our friends, Shaun and Michelle
-Nachos
-Chips
-Spinach and artichoke dip
-Bacon cheddar puffs
-Vegetable platter with carrots, peppers, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers (which I used a cookie cutter in the shape of a star/flower to cut up-so cute!)
-Guacamole, thanks to Leah


For the "real food" we had:
-3 racks of ribs, all marinated in different flavors (Ryan is a grilling machine)
-Steak tips
-Hamburgers and hot dogs with all the fixings
-3-4 types of chicken wings (Like I said, Ryan is the grill master around our house)
-Potato salad
-Cole slaw
-Fruit salad with strawberries, blueberries, watermelon (again, used the cookie cutter!), cantaloupe
-Spinach salad with roasted peanuts, avocado, purple cabbage and homemade salad dressing, courtesy of my mother
-Macaroni salad made by Ryan's mother

For dessert type items:
-My grandmothers infamous chocolate chip cookies (they are seriously THE.BEST.CHOCOLATE.CHIP COOKIES, and please don't ask for the recipe...it took me nearly 26 years before my grandmother would officially give me the recipe and the condition was that I wouldn't give it away to anyone)
-Yummies (basically an oatmeal pastry with fruit preserves, I'll post that recipe sometime soon)
-Cookies and pastries from Emily
-Chocolate triffle made by my mother
-Tirimisu cake for Ryan's birthday
-Butter cream vanilla cake for my mothers birthday
-Brownies, made by Alana


-Drinks:
-Jello shots in the shape of little watermelons
-Mocha pudding shots, made by Kristen (she creates all different flavors and the are ridiculously good)
-Soda, diet soda, water, etc.
-Bottle of Pinot Grigio
-Bottle of Riesling


Drinks were generally bring your own.

I think that was all of the food that we served. We had some left overs and have been eating away at them for the past week. I am determined not to have to go food shopping (except for milk, and other perishable items) for the next two weeks.

I was so busy running in and out of the house and keeping all the food going but the day turned out wonderful. The weather report earlier in the week wasn't looking so good-we kept seeing reports for rain. Not like drizzle rain, like downpour rain. We lucked out and the rain was mostly gone by Saturday. Although it wasn't beautiful sunny weather, the rain held off and guests were comfortable enough to stay outside.

This was also the first time that our families were meeting. Ryan's parents and sisters and my parents, grandmother,  and siblings. It was a nerve racking experience but went just fine. Phew.
By early evening, the families had left and we were surrounded by our friends. I seriously love parties with all the close friends, where everyone just hangs out. I wasn't really good about taking any pictures but someone took this picture, and I absolutely love it. Just a bunch of people hanging out, waiting for more ribs to come off the grill. I love how you can see into the house through the big windows and see all the beams.




All in all, it was a great great party. Once everyone left, by 11:00 or so, Ryan and I stayed up to clean up. We were mostly done within an hour and after all the dishes were put away, the bottles were picked up, and the floors were mopped, we were exhausted.