Caitlin & Sam's Wedding

Last week was the week! Caitlin and Sam tied the knot and my entire family and I are so happy and excited for them. The day was absolutely beautiful, it was warm, sunny, and pretty much the most perfect day to have a wedding.  They got married in the Salt Lake LDS Temple and their reception was at the Grand Hall at The Gateway.  Caitlin and Sam's wedding was simple, elegant, and had an ethereal/antique flare.    

PicBoxPro Fireplace Mantel Update

This post is sponsored by PicBoxPro where I received free product in exchange for a review.  All opinions are 100% mine.

I was really excited that we got our first official family pictures taken this last fall by the talented o get our  McKell Morgan because I knew this time was going to be different.  I was going to get them printed and replace all of our old family pictures with the new ones.  If money wasn't an issue, I would have loved to get a nice canvas print of our family and put it above our fireplace mantel to make a big statement.  After investigating and comparison shopping a 30X30 canvas print was going to cost me up to $110 at Costco!  Well, I needed to feed my family this month, so that wasn't going to work.  I'm happy to announce that I found a more cost effective way of getting that big statement canvas print of my family, say hello to PicBoxPro. 

PicBoxPro is not your ordinary online wrapped canvas print ordering store.  They're a small and local business who calls Provo, Utah their home.  I'm all about supporting small businesses. PicBoxPro was born to make creating and ordering amazing canvas prints as easy and painless as possible. Traditionally high quality gallery wrapped canvas prints have been too expensive. They're changing that. Their passion is creating masterpieces that are affordable to everyone.

What sets PicBoxPro apart is their quality, attention to small details, and their awesome customer service.  Ordering your wrapped canvas was easy. They have a built in program in their website where you select your photos, select your canvas size, and you can move, edit, add text and graphics to totally customized your wrapped canvas.  You can preview your purchase before you add it to your cart, which made it really helpful because I made several changes to my pictures.  

After I placed my order, I received a phone call from PicBoxPro.  They told me that during my ordering process, I didn't move the picture high enough on the canvas, so the very top part of the canvas where it folds over, was showing white.  I didn't catch that during the ordering process, so they called to let me know, and asked if I wanted them to fix it!  I was so touched that they would call me to double check.  

When I received my canvas it was two days after I ordered it, now that's what I call fast service! I opened it up, and fell in love.  It looked great, the colors were vibrant, and the canvas was thick.  I turned it over and saw that my canvas had a black dust cover, installed sawtooth hanger, and felt bumpers!  It was all ready to be hung.  Get this, the same 30 X 30 size print I was eyeing at Costco, cost $20 cheaper at PicBoxPro AND Costco didn't include all of the extras in the back like PicBoxPro does!    

I love how my 30 X 30 wrapped canvas makes that big statement I wanted to make in our family room.   

One helpful tip when creating your wrapped canvas.  I found certain sizes didn't work well with horizontal pictures.  I was wanting to order the 21 X 36 size wrapped canvas and I had to zoom in the picture a lot to get the picture to fit and cover on all of the sides.  If I didn't zoom in, then the wrapped sides would be shown white because the picture wasn't wide enough to cover the sides.  I hope this makes sense.  After playing around, I found the 30 X 30 size was going to fit my horizontal picture a lot more comfortably.  Rule of thumb, make sure to play around with the different canvas sizes, some might be better for vertical or horizontal pictures.

Grits Births A Southern Belle!

We're so happy and thrilled to announce that our sister Melanie, aka "Grits" had her first baby early Sunday morning.  After a very long labor we're happy to say that mommy and baby are doing well!  The babe of Birmingham doesn't have a name quite yet.  We'll keep you posted when the decision is made.  Sending our love and good vibes to Andrew and Melanie in Alabama.  Isn't she beautiful?!  She has red fuzz on her head!

7 Tips to Beautiful Family Pictures

There's a lot that goes into family photos: picking out outfits, making sure hair and makeup look good, finding a photographer, and that all family members are in happy spirits.  Making sure all of these things are in order can cause a lot of stress and this stress can show up in your photos.  Then whenever you look at those photos hanging on your wall you're reminded of how crappy and stressful that experience was.  Ugh.

SO to avoid all of that, here are some tips I've found to be really helpful for my family and hopefully they'll be helpful to your family as well:

Holiday Gift Idea: DIY Genealogy Fan Wall Art

Getting a gift for parents, grandparents, or any loved ones for birthdays, anniversaries, and for the holidays can be really hard.  You want to give them a priceless gift that is something they're going to cherish and not throw away in six month, right?   I have the perfect and priceless gift idea for your loved one.  How about giving the gift of family by creating your very own stylish genealogy chart or fan where you can display, proudly, your family and heritage!

Thanksgiving Tablescape Roundup

I have always wanted to host a Thanksgiving dinner in my own place, and so I decided a while ago that 2013 was the year!  It's not like I'll be 9 months pregnant and still working. Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking, but alas, I am still excited!

I've been searching the web high and low for some Thanksgiving tablescape ideas.  I want something simple and easy to clean up.  But, something that looks nice!  And since I don't want to be standing over the sink washing my china with my newly formed swollen cankles, I am looking at paper good options as well!  Who says Thanksgiving can't be casual and chic?!

Here are a few ideas I have stumbled across that I thought might give you some last minute inspiration. Remember, Thanksgiving is about reminding ourselves of our blessings from God, the people we love, and of course the food!  Tablescapes are not that important, so keep it simple.

Family Pictures from McKell Morgan Photography

McKay, Amelia, and I a couple weeks ago got our pictures taken by the lovely McKell from McKell Morgan Photography.  McKell and I went to high school together so we've known each other for years.

McKell is a gifted photographer, she self taught herself on how to use the camera and is known for her newborn and family sessions.   She is my favorite photographer I've ever used.  She knows how to capture people where their personalities cam come through. She's all about capturing moments in families.  One reason why I really love her is because she exudes this calmness and chill vibe that really rubs onto you, and therefore making our photo session a lot less stressful.  If you live in Utah and need an exceptional photographer who is so great to work with, affordable, and has great style and taste, check out her photography on her site McKell Morgan Photography.

Here's some of my favorites from the session:

McKell also did Amelia's newborn pictures.  The most awesome part about her newborn sessions is she comes to your house and takes the pictures there!  We did them in our bedroom and in the backyard.  This was extremely convenient instead of having to drag all of my crap to a studio with a two week newborn.  Check out my favorites from her newborn pictures.

Thanks McKell for making us all look so beautiful!  Looking through these newborn pictures is making me kind of baby hungry.  Check out McKell's portfolio, services, and contact information on her site.

A Holiday Gift Guide For Your Bearded Beau

We are currently in the midst of my favorite holiday season. Turkey and pumpkin pie are great, but I'm not referring to Thanksgiving nor am I talking about Christmas (I know that we can and should celebrate Christ all year round, but that doesn't mean that I should be forced to listen to such musical atrocities as "Santa Baby" and "Christmas Shoes" before October has ended). I speak not of these holidays, but rather of a whimsical period known as No-Shave November or Novembeard. This is by far the best thing the calendar has to offer.  Okay that's a bit of an exaggeration, but really, when it is done right, facial hair can be pretty awesome and downright impressive.

Whether your significant other enjoys a clean shave, a little bit of stubbly, or a full Grizzly Adams, here is a list of gifts that will be sure to tickle his fancy.

Road Tripping with Grits

Hello folks!  The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of travel for me, and I am happy to be back at home sleeping in my own bed, with my husband and my puppyhead Dex.

After visiting home, and having a beautiful shower, I hopped back on a plane to Alabama.  I got in Monday afternoon, saw Mumford and Sons play Monday evening, worked Tuesday, and left again Wednesday for a fun road trip to visit our friends in Gainesville, FL!

Since I am a southern transplant, I want to share with you what I found unique about our trip down to Florida.  It seems the south is full of quirky new things and it's always fun to discover them!

We took a few pit stops along the way to Gainesville.  First, we stopped in Dothan, the location of the first Del Taco in Alabama!  Andrew's favorite restaurant is Del Taco (dream big honey), and since there are none where we live, this was quite the treat for him.  Embarrassingly enough, we actually stopped at Del Taco several times on our trip so Andrew could get his fix.

Andrew enjoying his "Green Burrito"

"Grits" Comes into Town

Hello!  I hope you all had a great weekend!  I sure did!  My sister Melanie, aka "Grits" came into town this week from Alabama!  I love it when sister comes into town. I love being able to spend everyday with her doing something fun, chatting, and taking it easy.  Normally we talk a lot on the phone or Skype with each other.  It was really good to see her and her little pregnant belly.

We did some fun things, we went to the cute Oh Sweet Sadie Boutique, saw Austenland, ate a lot of baklavas and gyros at the Salt Lake City Greek Festival, toured my town's local Garden Show, and Caitlin and I hosted Melanie a baby shower with all of our family and friends.  Melanie is doing a really cute mermaid theme nursery, so Caitlin and I thought we would host a mermaid theme shower and it turned out really cute.  We had it at my parents backyard.  Check out some of the pictures from this week.

Caitlin riding her bicycle with Maizie.

Angel Food Cake with Strawberry Whipped Cream Frosting Recipe

This weekend, we celebrated a milestone in our lives.  Amelia had her first birthday and we had both sides of the families come over to our house to celebrate this special day with us.  We were surrounded by those we love, good food, and it was the perfect weather for a party.  It was a reminiscent day for me.  I remember a year ago how scared, excited, anxious, and ready I felt to do the whole labor thing.  I've been dreaming of this moment my entire life to meet, hold, and love this little baby.  A year has gone by so fast.

It's a tradition on my dad's side of family to make this a particular cake for birthdays.  I remember seeing pictures of my 92 year old grandma and my dad eating this cake for their birthday as children.  I grew up eating this cake too.  I wanted to keep the tradition alive for Amelia's birthday.  

This cake is a perfect dessert for a birthday or any kind celebration because it's light and not heavy, it's easy to make, and is absolutely delicious. If a cake recipe has been passed down for multiple generations, you know it's that good. 

Alabama the Beautiful!

I've been looking so forward to our trip to Alabama and there were many reasons. First, I haven't seen Melanie and Andrew since Christmas.  Second, I've never been to the Deep South and was really excited to be eating, seeing, and doing what the southern folk do.  I enjoy going off the beaten path when it comes to trips.  I love seeing and experiencing different cultures.  Third, Alabama is a random place to go on a vacation. You don't hear many people say, "I'm going on my summer vacation to the deep south of Alabama where it's nasty humid."  Fourth, my entire family was coming, the more the people the more cray cray and fun it was going to be.  Fifth, this was a major trip for us.  We don't fly very often and this was Amelia's first airplane experience.  McKay and I were both anxious and downright terrified.

Our first day in Alabama we had to eat at the IHOP of the South, the Waffle House!  They're on every corner, they're cheap, fast, and are known for their waffles.  I ordered the pecan waffles with cheese grits, bacon, toast, and scrambled eggs and it was pretty dang good.  This meal was definitely not my healthiest.

My family are big Diet Coke fans, so my mom saved up all of her Coke Reward Points and was able to get all of us into the World of Coke for FREE in Atlanta!  This was fun, we got to see the history of Coke and the best part was we got to try different drinks from around the world.  My favorite were some of the South American drinks like Inca Kola.  The worst was The Beverly.  I don't understand how the Brits like the taste of carbonated bitter garbage.  We drank until we were sick.

We visited the iconic The Varsity in Atlanta.  It's the world's largest drive in.  Meh, the food was not the highlight of Atlanta, but at $7.25, it wasn't that bad.      

Nearby we saw there was a very old and historic Oakland Cemetery .  There were a couple famous people buried here and its the site for the 3,000 unidentified confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. Walking around and seeing such beautiful gravestones was so such a treat but also very sobering.  It made me think how precious each of those lives were and how each of those men and women buried there had a life, family, passions, and a story.  Sometimes I wondered, what was their story?  We saw Margaret Mitchell Marsh, the author of Gone with the Wind resting place.

The next day we drove the four hours to Gulf Shores, Alabama.  On the way there we stopped at this place called Uncle Mick's Cajun Cafe in the small town of Prattsville (15 minutes west of Montgomery).  This cafeteria style place had very southern and Cajun cooking going on.  The owner who also served the food could tell we were first timers so he had us try a taste of his recommendations.  I ended up getting the dirty rice, with alligator gumbo and crawfish etouffee.  It was a fun place and a great way to experience a taste of the bayou!  Also, their pecan pie was really good.  

In Gulf Shores the sand is white as sugar and the water is warm as bath water.  We were lucky enough to rent a place RIGHT ON THE BEACH!  I would recommend this!  It made it super convenient with kids and babies. It was fun to see beach goers fish for sharks.  We saw a couple 3-5 ft sharks being cast onto the beach.  Kind of crazy!  Some of the family got stung by jellies.  Good thing we had kind beach neighbors who had this numbing liquid so we didn't have to pee on anyone.  I was really happy to see the beaches restored back to where they were like before the BP oil spill of 2010.

We went to the most unique and crazy restaurant called Lambert's just north of Gulf Shores.  They're known for their homemade baked rolls and servers throwing them at their customers.  Melanie got pegged in the head by one of these airborne rolls.   The roll guy comes out with a pan of hot and fresh rolls from the oven on a cart and walks around and throws rolls at starving customers.   They're also known for their pass arounds where servers walk around with large bowls of fried okra, beans, fried potatoes, macaroni, cooked cabbage, and a bunch of other random food and they'll serve it on your napkin.  My favorite was how they served drinks in 50 oz plastic convenience store mugs.  Talk about real casual dining.  It took over a hour to get a table and I can say that as I was waiting outside in the misting fans, I thought to myself, "this better be worth it."  I ordered the BBQ ribs and they were pretty good.  What makes this place worth the hour wait was the fun atmosphere and the throwing rolls.    

On the way back from Gulf Shores we stopped in Montgomery where we saw some of the historical sites of that town.  We saw the church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached and we took a tour of the First White House of the Confederacy.  

The next day we spent the day in Montgomery where we visited the Civil Rights Museum.  This was a really cool place but it made me really upset and sad that people were treated the way they were because of the color of their skin.  We learned about the history of segregation and how African Americans were hated, persecuted, bombed, and terrorized in their own city.  I really liked it how the museum portrayed how different the lives of blacks and whites were during that time.  How the mortality rate for blacks was half of whites. 

Right across the street is the famous 16th Street Baptist Church where four little girls were murdered when members of the Klu Klux Klan set off a bomb in the basement of the church.

For dinner we went to this place called Moe's BBQ in Vestavia Hills.  This was one of my favorites.  I was in the mood for a lighter meal because when you're on vacation you tend to eat so much more then you do at home!  So I ordered the smoked turkey breast salad that came with a slice of grilled cornbread.  McKay ordered a side of wings and they were my favorite out of anything I ate there!  I had a bite of the catfish sandwich and a pork ribs and both were delicious!

We went to the historic Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham.  This was such a fun place to see!  It was built in 1882 where it produced pig iron until 1971.  This place is haunted and it was kind of eerie and spooky as we walked through the tunnels, engine, furnace, and blower rooms.  I loved the industrial architecture of the place.  I kept on thinking how cool it would be to take some of the artifacts and put them in my house.  We saw a couple getting their wedding pictures taken here.  They hold concerts and weddings here too.  The best part about it, it's free! 

We went to this restaurant called Urban Cookhouse located in Homewood, Alabama.  SO good!  It was fresh, cheap, and really good.  I ordered the Down Home.

I was really sad to leave Melanie, Andrew, Dexter (their dog), and Alabama the beautiful.  Once we got home and I was able to sleep in my own bed, I realized how good to finally be home.  Thanks Melanie and Andrew for hosting six additional people in your home for an entire week.  You're great hostesses!

A Memorial Day to Remember

Memorial Day was a really special day.  It was my Dad's birthday and it was spent with family and remembering those we've lost and truly loved.  That morning we went to one of our favorite ma and pa breakfast place called Granny Annie's.  They have fried scones as big as your head and slathered with a half cup of rich and sweet honey butter, and yes I did eat one all by myself.  When you eat at Granny's you always leave wishing you brought your fat pants with you.     

After a large and mighty breakfast we visited my grandpa's grave site nearby.  Grandma hasn't been there since he died last July.  It's been emotionally overwhelming for her since my Grandpa died.  I'm glad she had enough courage to relive that sad day when she had to bury the love of her life for over 70 years.

While we visited we talked about our favorite memories of him and how he is dearly missed.  Amelia was born a month after he died.  That time was a really hard time for me because I've never had someone so close to me pass away.  I was hoping and praying that Grandpa would still be around to see his great granddaughter who is named after his mother.  What brings me great comfort was knowing Amelia got to spend some time with him before she was born.  

My little brother Cameron and my little Sister Caitlin. 

We visited my great grandma and grandpa Craig grave sites in Salt Lake.  Amelia is named after my great grandma Millie.  

I'm loving Caitlin's high waisted mom shorts she got in Germany.  

After visiting grave sites all day, it was time to relax and do what we do best, eat Craig style.

I hope you had a great Memorial Day.  What are some of your family traditions you do with your family on this day?  From now on I'm going to make it a tradition to visit my ancestors on Memorial Day.  When I die, I want someone to come visit me.