100th Post! And a Little About Blogging

I can't believe it was almost one year ago that we started this journey of blogging.  This post is number 100 and we thought as a way to celebrate it we would answer some frequently asked questions that we have gotten since we began.  So in case you were wondering...

Q: Why do you blog?  
A: There are several reasons that we blog, so we may have to answer this as a list.
1. I am terrible at scrap booking.  I am one of those people that buy the books, paper, stickers, and store them in a closet somewhere.  After never even starting our wedding scrap book and then having a baby, we knew something had to change.  Blogging is a way for us to remember special events, moments, and times.
2. We also like to share these special times with family and friends.  We realized that not everyone
on FB, Twitter, and Instagram want to see/hear about everything that our family does.  Creating a blog and just putting it out there for those that are interested is a way to share without going overboard on social networks (although those of you that follow me on Insta know that I sometimes like to over share). ;)
3. It keeps our family accountable.  Life gets busy and sometimes it is easy to forget to document the good times.  Having a blog gives us motivation to take our camera with us to most places we go and make a note of what we did.

Q: What camera do you use?
A: After much research, we decided the Canon EOS Rebel T3 would best fit our needs.

Q: What other blogs do you follow?
A: I have been a long time blog follower.  And I actually have a pretty extensive list of blogs that I
follow.  However, one of my favorite bloggers that inspired me to become a family blogger is Naomi from Love Taza.   

Q: How do I start my own blog?
A: Since we began this journey we have been privileged to encourage others to start chronicling their journey.  Our best advice is to be yourself.  Do not blog about something you are not passionate about.  Follow some various blogs for awhile to find your inspiration.  There are so many types of blogs out there, just to name a few...cooking, fashion, travel, dining, etc.  An easy way to find and follow blogs is to use Bloglovin' (you can follow us there, too).  Once you find out the kind of blog you want to create, think of a name.  Since our blog was about our family we wanted to use our name in it.  Pick a name that people can easily remember, so it will be easy for them to search for.  Then, the next step would be to find a blogging platform.  A few popular ones are Blogger, Wordpress, and Tumblr.  Next, create your blog and begin writing.  I must say writing has never been my strongest suit, hence the reason most posts are only a paragraph long. :)  However, the writing is important.  You may want to have an "editor" read through each post before publishing.  Matt reads each post for me to make sure I didn't miss anything, used correct grammar, etc.  Also, take pictures.  People love pictures, so post pictures on your blog.  Last, there is no need to post when you do not have anything to blog about.  When we first started I had the grand idea that I would post 5 times per week (believe it or not, there are bloggers that do).  I realized quickly that it would not be feasible for us to do.  Plus, you have to actually live life to be able to blog about it.  Just post when you can...and don't worry if you miss a week or two.  We hope these tips are helpful.  Disclaimer: we are by no means expert bloggers, these are just tips which we have learned from experience.

We want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you that read our blog.  All of the comments, emails, and kind words have been very encouraging to us.  We enjoy sharing a little bit of our lives with you!