Fundraiser Tournament

Ok, I know that I promised that I was going to be more diligent about posting new blogs on here but life has not slowed down enough to give me time.
On September 9th we (myself, Stacie, Meredith and Beth) had a washer tournament fundraiser at our house in the greenbelt. For those of you not familiar with this game, it is like horseshoes but you use 1” washers and try to pitch them into a hole in the ground. Simple enough……. We had a great turnout and some really awesome prizes for the winners, but I am getting ahead of myself.
Started on the red beans Friday night and let them cook all day Saturday. Had never made that quantity of red beans before and I ended up firing up my high pressure burner in the backyard to get the water to a quick boil!
We had a “set-up” party on Saturday afternoon to get prepared for the fundraiser. Kyle (Meredith’s husband) and I were in charge of making the washer pits in the greenbelt and the girls took care of the Costco and grocery store trip. Kyle and I got the pits made, set up the floodlights in the trees and did some damage to a keg of beer. The girls came back loaded down with groceries and we had to get creative to fit it all in the fridge. We worked on blanketing the house and neighborhood with Team in Training posters and banners that were donated by out local chapter and even hung one up over the washer lanes.
Woke up at 3am Sunday morning to start my smoker and get the brisket on. I had never smoked a brisket before but I was up to the challenge. Took naps till 8 or so waking up every 40 min to check the firebox and temps on the smoker. Stacie and I picked up some large tables donated for use at the fundraiser and got them moved into the backyard. Beth showed up with the donated keg (which was already iced down) and we moved it to the back to let it settle for a while. Brisket came off the smoker a little ahead of schedule but I held it in the oven till the party started.
The tournament got underway at 4pm amid a great deal of laughter and good-natured ribbing. Food and drinks were flowing well during the games and even after the tournament ended there was plenty to graze on. Some grand prize for the tournament were a football autographed by UT head coach Mack Brown, massage gift certificates, and a gift certificate to one of Austin’s fine dining establishments. In the end we had enough door-prizes to make everyone happy!
The guests slowly trickled out, floodlights were turned on to light the washer lanes and we had a couple more games just for the fun of it. In the end, everyone had a great time; we had some good laughs, good food and good drinks all while raising money for a very worthy cause.
I will post some pictures when I get a chance.
Scooter and Stacie!