BKYD Life

Gather. Create. Grow.

Backyard Party

5 Tips for Capturing Backyard Fun

Summer is backyard gathering season. Are you ready to capture those memories?

Whether you are hosting or enjoying someone else’s backyard, you will want to remember this time. Photos help us to remember, not only events, but the emotions that go along with the gathering. I am not a photographer (but we will be talking with one soon, look for that interview early next month), but here are 5 tips I have learned.

Tip #1

The best camera to use is the one in your hand. So many of us keep our smart phone with us at all times, so use it to document the moment.

I don’t recommend this lightly. I am a firm believer that when we are gathering together, phones should be put away so everyone can stay present in the moment. Being present while gathering is all about making connections and forging bonds in relationships. That can’t happen when even one person at a family gathering has their nose in their phone.

That said, even simple gatherings or a day of fun in the yard is worth documenting.

Tip 2

Mix up candid and posed photos. If every photo is posed then they don’t tell the whole story of the event. You want your photo gallery to be rich in diversity. Take some posed, but get creative and take some less expected photos.

Candid photos take some practice. Getting someone in the air as they jump into the pool can be difficult, but so worth it. Keep clicking and you will get some good ones. That’s the genius of digital, it’s easy to delete the bad photos.

Tip 3

The photographer doesn’t need to be an adult. It can be fun to see what the kids focus on when they get to take photos. Let everyone have a turn at taking a few photos. This, again, will increase the diversity of your photo gallery.

Tip 4

You don’t need a big event to grab the camera. It can just be a day with you and the kids in the backyard playing, maybe swimming in the pool.

I know I love the photos I have of my own children when it was just the 3 of us playing in the pool. They were such hams, jumping in the pool over and over. It gave me plenty of time to practice my skill of capturing them in mid-air. Those photos are just as precious to me as the professional shots of the 4 of us posing for the camera.

Tip 5

Those photos you just took are great, but will be better categorized and put in an album. It can be either a physical album or digital. But doing it as soon as possible after your take the photos is best.

You will want to note the people in the photos, in case there is some extended family or friends. Doing it 20 years later makes it tough to remember every name with every face.

You can share albums and use them to look back on past traditions. I love looking at photos of my grandparents, long gone, but so happy at family gatherings.

I hope these tips help you enjoy your backyard fun, over and over again.

Friday 5

The month of May sure did fly and it’s time for another Friday 5. Today, I would like to share with you 5 Instagram accounts that have inspired me to gather, create and grow in my backyard. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Living with Landyn

Landyn has great style and uses her backyard daily. She has a pool, pool house, a garden and chickens at her home in Nashville. She shares helpful tips and ideas for adding potted plants to your patio decor, not to mention the meals she and her husband create on their many grills and outdoor cooking spaces.

Here is the link to her website and here is the link to her Instagram.

Danielle Walker

Danielle shares her journey of health and healing through food. She gives us a glimpse of her family and their home in Northern California. Danielle is the author of several cookbooks that I thoroughly enjoy. They include recipes that can feed several and some are grill friendly. As a matter of fact, I am making a meal from her Eat What You Love cookbook tonight. We really enjoy the Grilled Shrimp Summer Harvest Salad with Basil Vinaigrette, if you have the cookbook it can be found on page 155.

Here is the link to her website and here is the link to her Instagram.

Wendy Bellissimo

Wendy is a designer of home, baby and pet products. If you don’t have something in your home now, you may be ordering or looking for her designs in stores near you. She lives in a gorgeous home on a California hillside with her husband, four beautiful daughters and several sweet dogs (and I think she might have a cat or 2). She shares her backyard frequently on her IG stories and it looks like a great place to relax at the end of a long day.

Here is the link to her website and here is the link to her Instagram.

Brooke Giannetti

Brooke also lives in California. She, also a designer, and her architect husband, Steve Giannetti, have a small farm in the Ojai area. You can find inspiration for flower gardens, vegetable gardens and all sorts of farm animals on her feed. Brooke and her husband are the authors of 4 books that detail their journey on their farm as well as within the design and architectural world. After following their IG for awhile, I want to move to the country and get some mini-donkeys!

Here is the link to her website and here is the link to her Instagram.

Lylah Ledner

Lylah is local to my hometown of Phoenix, AZ. She and her husband have a sweet space of garden beds and goats. A few years ago, Lylah began using her garden beds to grow elements for natural skin care products. She uses the goats milk for yummy caramels that I love to include in Christmas packages every year. Lylah is also fantastic at building community and uses the space at her small farm for events and farm dinners among the garden beds. My husband and I recently attended one and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening, meeting new people, drinking wonderful wine and devouring an incredible meal.

Here is the link to her website and here is the link to her Instagram.

So that’s my Friday 5 for today. Please feel free to reach through email and let me know if you have any ideas for future Friday 5’s. have a fabulous and safe weekend!

Thanksgiving Table Scape

Thanksgiving is next week and it is my favorite holiday! My love language is Acts of Service (want to learn more about love languages ~ here’s a link). I love to serve my family and community. Feeding them a yummy and nourishing meal is my favorite way to serve them. I think I get that from my Italian grandmother ~ her first question when you walked into her house was, “are you hungry, can I get you something to eat?” My husband quickly learned to ALWAYS accept. Personally, I think that she helped me land the guy, but that’s another story for another day!

Later this week, I will share some recipes and ideas for the big meal. But for today, I wanted to share an idea for the table settings.

Thanksgiving Table

I choose to keep to muted colors with only a few orange pumpkins for a pop of color. I might not even go with them when all is said and done. This year has felt full of hard edges and I wanted to set a mood of comfort by keeping the decor soft, muted and cozy.

Table Cover and Candlesticks

I started with a linen table cloth that I folded in half and used as a runner then layered it with a gauzy scarf. Both I have had for years, sometimes you just need to try things you have in new ways. This set the stage or foundation of my table and definitely put that feeling of soft at the forefront of my table scape. Next I used some brass candle sticks I purchased from Target, I tried to find a link but they don’t seem to be available. I’m sure you can find similar ones at other retailers. The white pumpkin salt and pepper shakers are from World Market, but again there isn’t a link available. I wouldn’t copy this and my actual table my look a little different when the holiday finally arrives, the point to this post is to try new things in different ways, to inspire you to be creative and work outside the rules of traditional table settings.

Table Setting

For my table setting, I, again used what I have. The gold placemat was from a few years ago, purchased at Sur la Table. The filigree and gold elements of the placemat adds to the soft and muted emphasis of the theme I am trying to accomplish this year. Next I layered a wood charger, again from World Market (also from several years ago) along with my everyday dishes from Sur la Table, a simple linen napkin and my grandmothers silver.

Layering, thinking outside the box, using what I have, a nod to everyday and keeping tradition present through thoughts of my grandmother are my focus this holiday season. Those elements bring the theme of soft, cozy and comfortable alive. 2020 hasn’t been easy, everyone has had their own struggles this year. I like to focus on what we have in common and I do believe that is one thing that has been common for each of us ~ we have all struggled in our own way with our own difficulties this year.

Thankful

I hope you find the blessings and feel full of thanks this coming holiday. I know I will be focusing my attention on what truly matters ~ being grateful for family and the opportunity to take more memories with them!

And, lastly, I am grateful for you. It has been my pleasure and privilege to share my BKYD Life with you!

4th of July

I don’t know about you, but I have always loved the 4th of July! One summer, when I was in middle school, my parents decided we would go camping all across the country. The trip lasted most of the summer and we saw so many wonderful parts of our great county. The highlight of the trip was watching fireworks on the 4th of July in Washington, DC. We were able to sit on the back of the Capital Building (this was long before 9/11) and watched the fireworks lit up the National Mall.

I love fireworks and always associate them with our Independence Day celebration. Would it even be a July 4th celebration without them? We will soon find out due to the current pandemic, many fireworks shows have been or will be canceled this year in the name of social distancing.

Pandemic or not, we can still find ways to celebrate our countries birthday. I did a little internet surfing to find some ideas for myself and my family and thought I would share them with you.

Decorations and Crafts

Here are some ideas for decorations. Each are fairly simple, you might even have some of the items around the house. Get the kids involved ~ one thing I know for sure, kids love a good craft project.

Patriotic Wreath
Patriotic Banner
Parade Wands

Food and drink

Snacks and Appetizers

Fruit tray
Party dip
Mojito Fruit Salad

Main course

I don’t know about you, but 4th of July dinner will always be something cooked on the grill. Hamburgers and hot dogs are an easy solution, but you can get as creative as you want. Salmon on the grill is fabulous, so is chicken or even a nice steak. And, don’t forget your plant-based eating friends, veggies on the grill are enough to make everyone eat more vegetables!

Grilled vegetables
Grilled Salmon

And for something a little different…

Pizza on the Grill

Whose thirsty?

Many of the drinks I found online were adult beverages. The links I have provided are non-alcoholic, but you could always modify based on your preference. If you choose to spike these, please be careful and drink responsibly.

Patriotic juice
Good old fashioned Lemonade
Patriotic Punch

Dessert

Is it even a party without dessert? I could skip dinner and go straight to dessert, these look so good!

Red, white and blue cupcakes
American Flag Rice Krispy Treats
Red, white and blue Trifle

Games and Activities

I always like to keep it simple but fun, maybe have a prize for the winners. Make sure you can include both adults and children and remember that the point is just to have fun, no be too focused on competition (unless its an adult only party).

I won’t elaborate too much, I just want to give you some ideas and you can take it from there.

  • Relay races
  • Sack races
  • Swimming races
  • Belly flop compettion
  • Watermelon eating contest

And if you want more of an activity, how about tie dye? This shirt would be fun to make!

US Flag Tye Die T-shirt

And if we can’t end the night with fireworks, how about an outdoor movie? Do you have a wall of your house that will work? Maybe DIY a movie screen with some PVC and a white sheet.

Backyard movie time

Celebrate the 4th of July at home this year. It might not be filled with fireworks, but it can still be a memorable celebration. However, you choose to do it, be safe! Happy 4th of July to all.