Preserving memories

I have started a blog post in my head several times. Several times. There are so many amazing and beautiful moments to share when you have a 2-year-old and a 3-month-old. I imagine the blog title, the opening sentences, the pictures I will include. I do the same thing with my facebook status. Throughout my days, I will often think "that would make a really good facebook status" or "that's the perfect way to start my next blog post." And well, you can see how far that gets!




While I regret that I haven't done a good job keeping up with you all, we have been attempting to keep good notes and document some of our special moments in photographs. And most importantly, I would hope that we are really, truly doing a good job just BEING. Not doing anything spectacular necessarily, but changing lots of diapers, spending lots of time encouraging Shiloh to use the potty, playing, playing, playing, cooking and eating, smiling, laughing, and attempting to be patient!

And I promise I'll do a good update soon, along with what is becoming the annual tradition of our Christmas letter: blog version.  We're busy preserving and making memories and preparing to share a few special ones with you. I recently finished our first large photo book through Shutterfly titled The Family Trip 2008. Making photo books is my new favorite hobby! It is much less time consuming for me than scrapbooking (especially since I am a perfectionist) and much more involved than regular photo albums (since I can journal along with the pictures). I have found myself becoming friends with the Shutterfly website, if that is possible! And I think Shutterfly is friends with me too! Not only do they help me preserve our family memories in fun and meaningful ways, Shutterfly is great at giving discounts and things such as 50 free holiday cards just for good referrals!

Shutterfly has so many great photo cards to choose from, it can be a hard choice. Our favorite cards to use are the Christmas photo cards which you can find at http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards . We have used those cards for the past 3 years from Shutterfly and have been extremely happy with the options, quality, and timeliness. It is funny to think that the first year we made our Shutterfly cards they featured pictures of our dog and cat! My dad predicted correctly that as soon as we had our first baby, we would no longer be featuring the pets on our cards! He was correct, as the next year we featured brand new Baby Shiloh in her enormous stocking! Last year we were able to find the perfect card that allowed us to share several pictures of Shiloh as well as a family shot. We will be excited to send out this year's card with photos taken by our friend Erin featuring Big Girl Shiloh and Baby Avdon! We discovered that Shutterfly has charity Christmas cards this year too that donate 10% of the sales to the charity you choose. Check those out here http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/support-a-cause  . We love to see that Shutterfly is supporting Heifer International. What a great program to help people become self-sufficient by providing them with the farm animals they need! And while we've never financially taken the plunge, I absolutely adore the the Christmas cards from Shutterfly http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards


You'll have to wait and see what card ends up in your mailbox. Some things must be saved for the mail, even though technology is great. And if you haven't yet decided how to share some holiday cheer, I'd highly recommend checking out Shutterfly. But be careful, you might fall in love with their many options and the knack they have at helping you preserve memories!!