Simple Cookout for Busy Lives

Life gets busy! Sometimes we just have to STOP and say enough is enough, and celebrate the little moments with friends and family. This Simple Cookout for Busy Lives can be put together in about an hour.

Life somehow always seems to get in the way. With Fall right around the corner, the holidays not too far off, and the kids back in school already, our lives became super busy, almost over night.

The seasons of our lives change too. I think back to the not so long ago (it seems) time when my boys were all toddlers and I struggled with the busy lives we had with active little ones – feeding, changing diapers, changing clothes, doctor appointments, keeping the house picked, keeping the boys out of mischief, the list goes on and on.

Fast forward to today, with our oldest son working a full time job, our middle son away at College (he’s a senior, yay!) and our youngest son a senior in High School (how did that happen?)

And our lives have not slowed down. I always thought that once the boys could dress and feed themselves, it would be less busy. I was wrong.

So what do we do about our busy lives?

How do we slow down?

Sometimes it’s just not that easy.

Recently we decided to “crash our lives” and surprise the boys.

We have had some momentous occasions lately and it was time to stop what we were doing and celebrate. Casey, our youngest, just started work at his first job, plus he was elected treasurer of his school’s business club. Andrew has been working a lot lately and was recently promoted.

So we had some pretty exciting things to celebrate. What better way than to surprise them with a fun cookout and family time.

Up first – the Grilled Pork Chops. Now I have to admit, my boys are hamburger or steak lovers. But remember, we were surprising them, so pork chops it was. We shared with you our Grilled Barbecue Bacon Pork Chops and the Grilled Stuffed Pork Chops, but this time we decided to grill them with a little seasoning.

The result? The boys loved them!

We also decided to serve some other food that would surprise them, because after all, this was a surprise celebration.

The rest of the menu was – corn on the cob, Jalapeno Poppers with Bacon, Sweet & Spicy Beans, Trail Mix, Chips, Slab Apple Pie for dessert and their favorite drinks, which I rarely buy.

And we couldn’t just eat and run. I wanted the boys to have fun too, so we got the Cornhole Toss Game out.

We didn’t have long, because well…the boys had to go to work, but we had fun, we laughed, and the boys were definitely surprised.

Sometimes when life gets too busy, you have to stop – and “crash it.”

Looking for Pork Recipes? You must try these Grilled Barbecue Bacon Pork Chops…or these

Grilled Stuffed Pork Chops.

The Grill Crashers over at PorkBeInspired.com are changing the way you think about grilling with their flavor-filled grillfest. They have added saucy salsa to ribeye pork chops, a basil-garlic rub, wrapped bacon (who doesn’t LOVE bacon?) around New York Pork Chops and more.

Whether you are surprising your family, or hosting a backyard barbecue for friends and neighbors, or maybe crashing the beach like Donald Faison did, surprise everyone with one of these flavorful pork chops.

• Saucy Salsa Ribeye Bone-in Pork Chops
• Sugar & Spice New York Pork Chops
• Pina Colada Ribeye Bone-In Pork Chops
• Basil-Garlic Porterhouse Pork Chops
• Bacon BBQ New York Pork Chops