Allen's Housewarming BBQ

I told you the weekend wasn't over yet.. it's been so great getting to spend time with all my "boys"...

Sunday afternoon Allen had his first BBQ at his new home in Clairemont... we were lucky as it never rained while we were there..... Jerry had helped him build a patio over the past several weeks so everyone got to enjoy the fruits of their labor..

His yard has these wonderful banana trees and I couldn't believe the actual bananas growing... hope he makes some time to bake some banana bread one of these days!

It was a little chilly for the jacuzzi so we'll save that for another time... but isn't his yard gorgeous??

Allen purchased his home in July.. it's just perfect for him.. the ideal "bachelor pad" if you will... Three bedroom (his Master bedroom, his office and his art room), one bath, open kitchen and living room.

He's decorated the inside with much of his ceramics... what a great expression of who he is...

Here's the Banners, my sister Claire with her "boys"... Noah, Caleb and husband Geoff....

Bill, Jerry's cousin, and his wife Donna...

Their daughter Alyssa

And their son Adam (who turned 21 this week) !!!

Here's Larry, Jerry's other cousin, and Jerry's sister Janet....

Allen cooked up some of his favorites... BBQ chicken and ribs... yum!

 

We celebrated a couple of birthdays too... Caleb had turned 18 in September and Adam turned 21 this past week... woo hoo.... two big celebrations! I brought some chocolate cake and apple pie...

Here they are "blowing out the candles".. well sort of...

 

Again, like his Dad, Allen loves to build and create.... so his newest adventure he has built a pizza oven in his back yard...  so in that sense he's much like his dad.... thinks of it and builds it... amazing! So after eating chicken and ribs and baked beans and taco salad... plus chocolate cake and apple pie... Allen proceeds to make a pizza to test out the oven... it still needs some cosmetic construction.. but it works!

Here he is showing Noah and Caleb how it works..

you know teenagers are always ready for pizza!

First back to the kitchen to make the pizza dough ... not sure why he didn't also become a chef as he loves it.... here's the series of pictures... notice he  "tosses it in the air" .... so I'm trying to get this picture in a series...  when the pizza unexpectedly flies in the wrong direction, but Allen manages to save it.... and I barely got the photo... notice he's in the far left edge.. with the pizza still in the air... and look at that expression on his face... guess ya had to be there, but I was just cracking up....

Now to the offer where Noah assists...

 

 Voila! It's done in about ten minutes... so out it comes...

Like Chicken Little... who will help me eat this pizza?  .... Noah!

and Caleb...

Also some of Allen's co-workers came ... Ellen who teaches Art History and Drawing & Painting, as well as Nicole who teachers Jewelry. So along with Allen think we had the entire Fine Arts department from El Cajon High School there!

Nicole (and Jeff) just in time for cake and pizza!

and Ellen savors the last bite...

So that wasn't enough... so Allen bakes another and now

he has an audience standing around waiting for it to be done!

We all had a great time.. and now Allen has leftover pizza, cake and chicken to take to work tomorrow.... I'm sure the stories will spread quickly and I'm sure he'll soon be asking the school to build a new pizza oven for the kids too!

Happy New House Allen... we love you and

are so proud of you and your accomplishments!

Keep up the awesome work!