Family Reunion Photo Booth

What would summer be without an family reunion to attend? Last weekend we had a family reunion on my mother's side that was a three day event full of catching up with extended family, playing a competitive game of "Minute to Win it", a photo booth and lots of kids running around.

Eric won us a gift card for winning the Minute to Win It challenges (he's very competitive). Way to go honey!

I was in charge of the putting together the photo booth. I really wasn't sure what to do for a family reunion type crowd. In the end I went with making some fun props I downloaded from a website called Oh Happy Day. She has lots of cute printables! Then I did a free standing back drop using PVC pipes.

*A little note on this...I never knew PVC pipes were so cheap! You can buy one that is 10 feet long for under $2! I will definitely be experimenting more with this stuff in some other future projects.*

Anyway, then I just pinned a plain white sheet over it and hung a banner that I already had. It turned out super cute and everyone were great sports about it.

Beside when we all go out to Ely for Arts in the Park, this is one of the last times in awhile my whole family will be together before my sister and her family move to Oregon and my brother and his family move to California.

It's always fun to be with family!

Summer Fun = Blog Neglect

So my crazy summer and overwhelming "to-do" list is in full swing which has led to a little bit of neglect to the blog. I have been crafting, cleaning and studying like a maniac while at the same time having fun with family.

The latest family fun was over the 4th of July. My parents and little brother came in and stayed with us for the holiday weekend. Since we had already broke the tradition of going out to Ely for the 4th of July we decided to stick with that theme and some other new things to celebrate the holiday as well.

Instead of the traditional BBQ with all the trimmings we decided to try a southern dish we got from one of Eric's aunts who served a mission in New Orleans. I like to think of it as a Shrimp and Sausage Boil but it's official name is Frogmore Stew. Try to overlook the fact that the name sounds kind of unappetizing and give it a try! This dish is as casual as it gets, but super tasty at the same time and it's fun to do with a group of people.

Frogmore Stew

red potatoes - cut in half

polska kielbasa sausage - cut in about 2 inch lengths

corn on the cob- broken in half

uncooked shrimp- with shells on and de-veined

Tony Chachere's Famous Creole Seasoning

Styrofoam cooler

*The amount of each thing just depends on how many people you are feeding and how much of each thing would want.

First get the biggest pot you can find and boil the potatoes until they are almost soft. Then add your corn and boil for a couple of minutes and then add your sausage and shrimp. Continue to boil just until the scrimp turns pink (this is really fast...it takes less then 3 minutes). Once the shrimp is cooked, drain that water and then start layering the stew in the styrofoam cooler. Over each layer sprinkle the creole seasoning. The more you add the spicier the dish is. Then let it set in the cooler with the lid on for no more than 15 minutes. Dump everything out on some newspaper and dig in with your fingers with a roll of paper towels near by and enjoy!

After this yummy dinner we dropped Livy off with some friends and headed down to Provo for the Stadium of Fire! In summary, it was such a fun way to celebrate the free country that we live in and honor those who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom.

Mia loved watching the sky divers they had, the dancers and after taking a couple rounds to warm up to them she in the end loved the fireworks too! And I of course loved Kelly Clarkson :)



Awhile back we were talking with someone about how we use to go to all the BYU football games and it came out that I never had a "Cougar Tail" aka a 2 ft long maple doughnut so obviously it was necessary to have one this time around. Can I just say...DELICIOUS!

It was a great 4th of July weekend for the Caldwell's!

These Summer Nights

Last week we all went outside to enjoy the perfect summer evening. Living in West Jordan it seems to always be super windy here enough so where it's not enjoyable to be outside not to mention the really hot weather we've been experiencing. So when we noticed that there was hardly even a breeze and the temperature was just right it was worth keeping Mia up a little past her bedtime to all get out to get some fresh air and stretch our legs.

Mia was very excited to get outside and run around. With Eric being gone the whole last week we didn't get out much so she was very antsy. She always keeps us laughing and smiling while at the same time making us want to rip our hair out sometimes in frustration. It's funny how toddler can do that :)

Livy is growing so fast too! She already doesn't seem like my little newborn anymore. These cute little smiles of her's just melt my heart. I love my sweet baby!

Can we just take a moment and admire these cute new boat shoes I got in the mail a few weeks ago. I found these online at Famous Footware for a great price. So much to Eric's dismay I couldn't help but order them.

This week we are getting ready to host the 4th of July with my parents and little brother and lets not forget going to Stadium of Fire.  We will be listening to some Kelly this week to prepare! We've also got some other fun activities and meals planned so stay tuned for pictures of the celebrations! 

Hope everyone has a great Independence Day!

Summer Activties

Last week I decided it was time to start getting out and doing some fun summer activities for Mia which also meant starting to go out with both of the girls by myself, something I had rarely had done yet. 

After asking around and looking online for some summer activities in the area we settled on trying out a free splash pad in Herriman. Splash pads are perfect when you have multiple kids to keep an eye on since they can still have fun in the water and you don't have to worry about them jumping in the deep end of a pool and drowning. (Mia is fearless when it comes to water and would do this in a heartbeat.) We went with some friends and for being a free splash pad it was a nice one and wasn't really as busy as I was expecting.

I also found a summer kids movies program select Megaplexs were doing in the area.

In the past Mia didn't do so great at sitting through a movie in the theaters, but that being several months ago I thought I'd give it another go since it would be a fun out and Livy would most likely sleep through the movies. We went and saw "Horton Hears A Who" last week and she did pretty good for the most part. We'll see how the rest go.

Other then that we still spend a lot of time at home, especially when Eric is away at work and I've been up a lot of the night with Livy. Mia is constantly finding ways to entertain us.

One day Mia decided it necessary to climb into her play kitchen. She spend the better of the morning there.

This is how I get Mia to sit still while I play with her hair. I tried curling it and it lasted for a whole of 5 minutes before she messed it all up and the curls fell out since her hair is so fine.

Mia is always finding different things to put on...this day it was a dirty shirt over her pajamas and her bike helmet.

This day was my glasses.

And this day was her so called "pretty princess hat".

And this is basically what Livy does when all of this is going on and she isn't sleeping.

Summer Project Announcement!

A few posts back I mentioned a big project I have been working on with my sister and sister-in-law. After reminiscing about the fair we did in Ely two years ago (post about it HERE) and having multiple chats about home decor projects we decided to come together one last time before we all live in different states and do the Arts in the Park fair in Ely this summer! This time around we are focusing just on home decor with a rustic feel that is very popular in the world of home decor right now.

It's been fun to work together again doing something we all love and creating things that others can enjoy as well. We still have a lot of work to do in the next month and a half before the fair, but wanted to take this time to get the word out and show some sneak peaks on the things we are working on.

So hop on over to our SHA Designs blog (http://shadesigns4u.blogspot.com) and stay updated on this crazy endeavor we've signed up for again after having a baby, having traveling husbands, as both Annelise and Sara prepare to move and all the other activities that summer brings.

Happy Father's Day!

As many others, I wanted to take today and dedicate this post to the amazing father my daughters are so lucky to call theirs...aka a bragging post.

I don't think words would do it justice to express the joy it gave me to see Eric hold our daughters for the first time in the hospital and see that amazed and loving look in his eyes. I also love seeing how excited Mia gets when her daddy comes home or when he plays with her and watching him rock Livy to sleep. I really picked the best of the best!

So thanks hun for constantly bending over backwards to make sure we're taken care of. Not by just going to work every week but coming home and taking care of the girls, getting up with them at night, cooking and cleaning, being so willing to watch the girls when I need a break, taking Mia on daddy-daughter dates voluntarily and letting me rant about how what a pill Mia was that day or letting me share all the cute things both Livy and Mia do because you've given me the greatest gift of getting to stay home and take care of them.

And of course, I am also very grateful for a wonderful father of my own. I will never forget when I got my heart broken by some guy for the first time and my dad bought me flowers and chocolate or being the first one to tell me it was ok to mourn over loosing my babies when I miscarried twins. There have been many other times like these where I have been truly touched from what my dad has done for me. He's being one of my biggest examples spiritually throughout my life and supporter. I love you dad!

So Happy Father's Day to these two amazing fathers and to all the other fatherly figures I've had throughout my life!

Oh the Places You'll Go

Last week Eric flew off to Virginia for work and I headed to Ely to stay with my parents while he was gone. This was the first time Eric had left for work since having Livy and I'm going to be totally honest in that I missed him...a LOT! Luckily my parent's house had a lot of distractions and people around to help out with the girls as well as the loneliness I would be feeling if I was at home by myself.

As Eric is starting to travel again we both are looking for ways to stay close and keep our relationship strong. A new thing we tried this last trip was sending each other at least 2 pictures a day about whatever is going on. I really liked it as it let me see a little bit of where Eric spends every other week and Eric gets to see what us girls are up to. So here was our week according to our Iphones! :)

Mia had fun playing outside as much as I would let her as well as with her cute cousin Addie and I had fun getting to spend some quality girl time with my sister before she deserts me and moves to Oregon at the end of the summer ;)

Also while I was in Ely my little brother graduated for 8th grade. It's kind of a big deal to go from 8th grade into high school in the small world of Ely, Nevada. They had a promotion ceremony which of course involved the full reading of Dr. Suess's "Oh the Places You'll Go". As luck would have it all of my sibling were home to go embarrass support Seth. We may have brought a whole box of poppers to shoot at Seth after the ceremony :) It was fun to all be together before everyone moves away and as much as Seth would deny this I know he was glad we were all there too! Way to get through the awkward years of middle school Seth!

It was a fun and helpful week in Ely with my family, but has been good to back in our own home with Eric and the girls!