The Magnolia Blossom Festival

And now, the long-awaited Magnolia Blossom Festival post. We traveled last weekend to Magnolia, Arkansas, to support Kasia's brother Cameron as he entered the 2008 World Championship Steak Cookoff. People from all over the country and even Canada come to participate in this competition. His team placed 6th overall last year, and was looking to take it all this year.

As the weekend progressed, we were impressed that we were taking part of the true small town American experience. Here's the proof:


First, we watched the annual Magnolia Blossom Festival Parade. Each Cookoff team participated in the parade. We had never been to a meat-themed parade before. We were quite impressed with the creativity of the floats. The prize for best float was $500, so you might say the steaks were high.

My favorite float was Beauty and the Beef.


Beauty (in the yellow dress).


Beef.


We loved the fact that the kids could just run around all day eating fun food and finding temporary friends. It truly was a little slice of Americana.

Observe the carnival-like atmosphere.


Maisy experimenting with a new look.


The children also learned life lessons, like don't eat food off the ground, especially if it's not your own.


The main event took place in the afternoon. Cameron and his crew cooked up more than 80 steaks, and the competition was ON!
By the way, Cameron is the extremely good-looking one with the darker hair.


Cameron's team incidentally ended up placing 6th again, out of 62 contestants this year. Pretty amazing--especially because this is only their second year entering this cook-off and most of the other contestants have been involved for many years. We tasted 7 or 8 different steaks, and our unbiased opinion was that Cameron's was the juiciest, most delicious steak we had ever had. Well done, Cameron!

We're ready to make the Magnolia Blossom festival a yearly tradition. Who's in for next year?

Final AIFL Standings

The final results are in! David Cook and Brian G are our champions! Both champions' seasons were filled with good choices, risks, and big rewards. Well done! For those of you who watched all year, what one performance do you think was the very best? Whatever performance gets the most votes will be posted on the site. Let us know what you think . . .

Until next year, AIFL Fans!

The Last Decision

Which David will it be? This last choice will determine your final ranking in the AIFL. This time you tell me who you think will WIN IT ALL tonight. Here's the final point breakdown:

500 points if you guess the correct David.

200 additional points if you had that David in your #8 spot FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. If you switched him in after the start of the competition, these points are not for you.

And you get the usual points from the spreadsheet, like we've done every week.

Good luck contestants! Oh, and all you AIFL haters out there, be happy, because this is our last week, then we'll get back to posting more "real blogs" for you.

Where are those Gustavesons?

I am typing this message from a Marriot Hotel computer in Texarkana, Texas. We are on our way to the Magnolia Blossom Festival in Magnolia, Arkansas!!

We are very excited to participate in the festival tomorrow. We will give you full details of the events upon our return.

The coolest thing we are going to do tomorrow is the World Championship Steak Cookoff. Kasia's brother Cameron is cooking in the contest, and we get to sample the steaks!! It's a hard job, but someone's got to do it. The Food Network is actually going to be shooting footage of Cameron as he prepares his steaks for the competition, and I (Brett) am going to try my hardest to get on camera. That's my goal.

So wish us luck tomorrow as we travel with our family of FIVE (ouch!) to the festival tomorrow.

New Standings--1 Week Left!

The new standings are out for AIFL, and with one week to go our champion is still not decided. A lot will depend on your pick next week. Stay tuned, more drama to come!

Who's In the Final?

Last time to vote for who's going to go home. 300 points if you guess right. So go ahead and tell me you think it's Syesha. Go ahead. Do you think it would really be that predictable? Go ahead, tell me you think it will be Syesha. I dare you!

Happy Mothers' Day!

To all the special mothers in our life, we want to wish you a happy Mothers' Day and tell you how much we love and appreciate you! To truly show how we feel, we enlisted the help of our wonderful singing siblings. It didn't seem too hard to get them to sing a verse of "I Often Go Walking." However, it ended up taking a little more effort than previously thought.



Take 1: Things went well until little sister tried to get too close.





Take 2: Enthusiasm was a bit low.





Take 3: This effort just wasn't going to cut it.





Take 4: 4th time's a charm!!






We wish all mothers, and especially Rena and Charlene, a wonderful Mothers' Day.

A New Leader!

For the first time, Chad S is not the leader of the AIFL. Sorry, Chad, you've been dethroned. Brian is the new top dog. Congrats!

And now, Jason Castro is off the hook and can go back to playing his guitar in the back yard and eating Cheetos. I like the guy, and have enjoyed his run on AI. It was definitely his time to go, however.

PS: How cool would it have been to have a D Cook/D Archuleta/M Johns Top 3?

Here is a mash up of my favorite J Castro performance, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a "duet" with the original singer of this version of the song, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

Gettin' Down to It

We're almost there. Do you think you know who's going home this week? ARE YOU SURE?

This week, just give me ONE NAME, the person who you think will be eliminated tomorrow night. Get it right, 250 points are yours. Get it wrong, you get nothin'. So, you've got a one-in-four chance of getting it right.

Who's it gonna be?

1 Year Anniversary

The blog is a year old! We're happy that we've been able to keep in touch with you and let you know what's going on in our lives. To celebrate the one year anniversary of The Good Life, here are our top five posts of the past year. Click and enjoy!

5. How We Met: May 6, 2007

A stunning narrative of our most interesting date, told from Brett's side and Kasia's side. Brett's side of the story is a bit more accurate. By the way, Brett is typing at the moment.


4. The Wildflower Project: May 22, 2007

Kasia takes us through the wonders of Texas wildflowers, with the kids in full modeling mode.

We have a tie for third place:

3. The Rest of the Story: March 9, 2008

The last part of the play-by-play narration of Alton's birth. Includes the first pictures of the little guy!

3. Sister Sympathy: July 19, 2007

Wilson's sick, so Maisy decides she is, too. Our funniest recorded dialogue on the blog.

2. AIFL: February 8, 2008

The post that got the song "I am your Brother" stuck in the heads of our friends around the nation. Do not revisit this post unless you want to get the song stuck in your cabeza permanently!

1. Blame it On the Elves: January 1, 2008

Trampoline mishaps have never been so hilarious. This one gives me a chuckle every time I see it. I still can't believe that happened.


So, I hope we can have more great years of posting our precious family moments. Who knows what will happen next? Stay tuned!