Midland- Cave Spiders & Baptisms

Near the end of May we made a trip to Midland, TX to visit cousin Jim and his wife Quay for the Baptism of their son Michael Kyle. They asked me (Nicole) to be godmother which was very exciting. So we took off on a Thursday and made our way though Texas. On Friday we took a trip over the state line to New Mexico to visit Carlsbad Caverns. I had been there a long time ago probably when I was 10 years old with my family, but Philip had never been and I thought he’d like it and we’d see some scenery.

So we left Friday around 7am for the three hour drive to the caves. It’s a flat drive in Texas for the most part but towards the end you pick up on some rolling hills through the desert with the Guadalupe Mountains in the foreground as you approach the caves. Just before entering the park you drive through a town called Whites City. All there is , is a Shell Station, restaurant, general store and that’s about it. Then you enter the park and drive a corkscrew up and around the mountains for 7 miles until you reach the visitors center. We decided to take a tour in addition to the main public self-walking tour. Our ranger guide lead us to a part of the cave for only our group and gave us some lanterns to light the way. He would let us enter a room in the dark and talk about it. You could make out shapes in the darkness and feel the cool air, but when he turned on the lights the room illuminated into a whole new world entirely. Huge spaces and gorgeous delicate features were everywhere. At one point he had us sit down while he turned out all the lights including the lantern and told us to wave our hands in front of our faces. It was so dark you couldn’t even see your own hand, though your brain was sending signals to your eyes that could resemble a shadow of a hand passing back and forth in front of your face. He then took the opportunity to tell us of the giant cave spiders, worms and man eating bats residing in the very room we were sitting ;o)

After that we went on the main tour which is a 2km loop around a large room that showcases some the various formations. We then jumped in the car, snapped some photos in Philip’s city and headed back to Midland for the Baptism.

Day of the Baptism little Michael was in high spirits, laughing and babbling to everyone and hamming it up for the many paparazzi flash bulbs pointed his way. The ceremony was just us family and he received the sign of the cross on his forehead from the priest, his parents, and god parents (John Suchecki & Nicole.) When the water was poured over his head he didn’t even cry. I think he really liked it! We went back home for some celebratory cake which was enjoyed by all! It was a great trip all-in-all!

Memorial Day was The Bomb!

Memorial Day weekend was a weekend of some serious bar-b-que in our house and with my family. We had a bunch of friends to the house on Saturday where we had, bbq chicken, corn on the cob, short ribs, salad and THE BACON BOMB.

What’s that you say? ...‘What the heck is a bacon bomb?!’ Sounds exciting right? Sounds unhealthy right? Sounds yummy?

Well you’d be right all 3 times. It’s fairly easy to prepare and you need a team of 10 to eat it unless you have your own personal cardiologist on stand-buy because this should be a side and not a meal…but hey, do what you want you're grown… calories and fat never count on a holiday someone once told me. So below are step-by-step instructions on how to build your own Bacon Bomb….enjoy with caution. Shout out to Mr. West for introducing me to the concept!



STEP 1:
Assemble your ingredients:
2lbs thick cut bacon
Onion, 1 bell pepper, 4oz fresh mushrooms (or any veggie you want)
BBQ rub
BBQ Sauce
Shredded cheese
3lbs ground pork (I just couldn’t do it, so I used 2lbs and 1lb ground turkey)

STEP 2:
Slice your veggies up. You’ll only need a handful of diced onion, sliced bell pepper and half a container of fresh mushrooms sliced

STEP 3:
Lay your bacon out and weave it like a pie crust top going over, under. Use half the pack for strips going vertical and the other half horizontal. I think I needed about 8 slices each way and had one left over to cover a small gap on the log.

STEP 4:
On a separate cutting board lay out your 3lbs of pork and shape it into a 1 inch square. This is where I just couldn't do all pork...I felt bad so mine had 2 lbs of pork and 1 lb of ground turkey breakfast sausage. I really think you could do it all w/ turkey if you wanted to, by the time the bacon drips all over it...it will taste porky anyways!

STEP 5:
Top the square with a good sprinkling of BBQ rub then top with the veggies. Spoon or slather on about ¼- ½ cup BBQ sauce and top with a handful of shredded cheese.

STEP 6:
Now the tricky part, take the square of pork with all the toppings and starting from the end nearest you roll it up like a big jelly roll until it’s in one big log. It’s messy but make it work.

STEP 7:
Lift the pork log and place it on the woven bacon and roll the bacon around the loaf of meat. I had an extra piece of bacon that didn’t fit into the weave but I needed it to cover part of the exposed log so I used it here.

STEP 8:
Then you take the log and place it on the grill at about 250-275 and smoke it for 3 hours or until it reaches 160 inside. The last 15 minutes you can sprinkle some rub on the outside and brush it with a nice coat of BBQ sauce. (Don’t do this too early or the sauce will burn over the lengthy cooking time) Slice & enjoy! (with caution)

April Fishing

I forgot to post this and it’s from back in April but we went to Galveston for a day of fishing in Galveston with buddies Matt and Kevin. We didn’t catch much except for 1 little stingray but it was a really nice day at the beach and I’m looking forward to many more and perhaps a fish or two!

There really is a sting ray on the end of this fishing pole but you can't see it