Long Overdue: October Snow Storm & Surprise Birthday Party

Long Overdue: The heading for posts I should have posted a long time ago, but either forgot to write, never downloaded photos, or just ran out of time. There will be several of these to come in the next few weeks.

Denny is Kevin's dad, and his birthday is in November.  This past year, we decided to throw him a surprise 60th birthday party to celebrate.  Thinking November was a little later and might tempt bad weather, we decided on the last weekend in October. Well, if we had only known that Saturday would be the only accumulating snow we would get all year, I assure you, we would have rescheduled.  But - invitations had been sent, the pig (yes, I said pig), had been delivered, and SIL and I had spent countless hours baking, cooking, formatting, and shopping.

We roasted a pig all day on a giant spit delivered via a very nice man.  He probably thought we were crazy roasting a pig when it was supposed to snow, but hello - have you met us?! I should probably mention that BIL and Kev were most involved in the actual roasting, and the ladies were just there to do everything else.

The games part of the invitation went a bit out the window with the addition of 8 inches of snow, but much later in the evening there was a rowdy version of "Minute to Win It"!

Specifics: we had around a 50lb pig, and we invited about 50 people.  We also had a large assortment of side dishes, including the following overly large list:

Doing our best to maximize all counter/table space with the addition of your traditional picnic supplies (plates, napkins, foil pans, chafing dishes, buckets, pots, cups, and the like)

Appetizer

• Bacon wrapped pineapple
• Creole deviled eggs
• Drunken dogs
• Sweet/sour meatballs
• Chips with salsa/guacamole
• Peanuts

Main Feature

• Grilled chicken
• Pork
• Potato Soup Bar
• Green & red onions, bacon, various cheeses, broccoli, others?

Sides

• Potato salad
• Calico beans
• Broccoli salad
• Mac & cheese
• Baked apples

Miscellaneous (sides, etc.)

• Traditional cole slaw
• Fancy cole slaw (red cabbage/carrot/pecan)
• Pickels
• Jalapeno
• Onions
• Various homemade barbecue sauces
• Rolls
• Cake in a Jar

It was a once in a lifetime type of party, or with the addition of the snow, I hope a once in a lifetime event.  I guess we'll see what happens the next time someone turns 60!