Silas's First Thanksgiving!

First off, I really thought I would have this posted on Thanksgiving, which was yesterday, but as usual (these days) I am a little behind. To say I've had my hands full is an understatement. But better late than never.

We are in Park City, Utah visiting the grandparents for Thanksgiving. More on that later.  Before we left, I took some photos of Silas with some holiday themed decor to commemorate his first Thanksgiving. Since I insisted that Jeff buy me a new ($200 lens) for this camera that I still don't really know how to use after 4 years of owning it, I am really making an effort to put it to use. So here we go...

This is our first try. It was a nice, sunny, warm day so we took it outside. By the time I got all the gear outside, we only had a short window of opportunity for him to work it for the camera.

 Good, Lord, he is a cutie. If I do say so myself. 

Quickly, he loses steam....

This is where we lost him... And we have to take it to the house for a quick nap.

We did a 2nd round a few days later. This time we had to do it inside since the weather had started to turn a bit chilly. Here is what we came up with....

This is one of my favs, he is a happy little guy!

 Thanks for my Turkey Day shirt, Gram! Love you!

 Then Charlie wanted in on the photo shoot action!

Next up, Silas's adventures in Park City and Thanksgivukkah! A once in a lifetime event!

Since we have unplugged from Facebook, it is nice to have the time to work on organizing pictures. I'm really excited to be back to blogging. I hope you enjoy. You can subscribe to get new posts to your email ( just put in your email at the top) or bookmark the page and visit when you want a little Silas fix.

Farewell Facebook

When I hear people say this, I am always kind of shocked at first. Then a little jealous. For awhile now, it has seemed like being on Facebook was a necessary evil. Now, it just seems evil.

The last few weeks, it seems that every time I look at Facebook, it makes me really upset. So for many reasons, some listed below, I am no longer on Facebook. Well, I will be keeping my account so that I can manage my business pages and be part of private Facebook groups that I use for work.  But I will no longer have a friends list. Why?

#1. It just makes me feel bad! Every time I look at my Facebook feed, multiple people in my friends list have shared some disgusting, terrible story about child or animal abuse. Maybe I am still in a postpartum hormonal or simply sleep deprived/overly stressed state, from which I may never recover, but I just can't see that right now (or ever). If its not terrible things from the news, its something else. I hate to hear that my friends are having a difficult time with their children, spouses or parents. And while I know that people aren't (anywhere close to) 100% truthful in their posts, but I can't help but question myself when people brag about their newborn sleeping thru the night when Ive been up every 2 hours.  Or wondering why I wasn't invited to that party (that I didn't actually want to go to)? This too shall pass. Right?

#2. Are we really connected? In the early days of Facebook, it was great for business! I created a page for my business (that I will be keeping, although Im not sure it does any good) and it got me a ton of exposure. Now, it doesn't matter how much you post on your business page or how many likes you have, only a small percentage of people see your posts. Unless you pay to promote them and that doesn't even mean that they will be seen. Everyone's feed is so flooded with crap that they aren't even paying attention anymore. Time to move on.

And I can't tell you the number of friend requests I get and accept from people who I knew from high school. These people never actually talk to you. Recently I got an introduction thru Facebook to a professional contact that I had been trying to get connected with. Yay! Except she never saw the message that I sent her. Thankfully we connected via email, so all is well.

#3. The ultimate Time Waste. For the last 5 years or so, I have had Facebook and it has slowly become more consuming over that time. My husband, who lives in the corporate world and is banned from Facebook during the day, asks me why I can't just have it and not look at it. He also doesn't have a business to run. He can just have a Facebook account that he only checks monthly and not bother to look at it ever. Meanwhile, I am over here trying to keep a freelance business running and feeling like I always have to be connected. Its like a train wreck, I can't look away! Not that I want to see a train wreck...you know what I mean.

The truth is, that right now, in my current state of affairs, I do not have the time to waste. I want to be actually connected. I want to talk to friends and family. Even if it is via email or text or the occasional phone call or FaceTime/Skype. And I just don't have the time to feel bad. Even though I have the world's  cutest baby, a very handsome husband, super successful career that I love, great family, beautiful home, my health, great friends and so much more, Facebook makes me feel crappy. It didn't use to be this way, but now that it does more harm than good, I'm no longer interested.

So, for people who want to connect with my professionally, please find me at my website, or my Facebook biz page. For family/friends, I will be telling scrapbooking our life here on this blog and still posting on Instagram. I am also toying with the idea of making a Tumblr for Silas. You know, in all my spare time:)

If you care to keep up with us, on a personal level, you can subscribe to this blog and have new posts sent right to your email.  I would love to follow your blog/Instagram/Twitter, so let me know where you are and I will keep tabs.

Mwah! Oh, and its been awhile since Ive been here so I have loads of pictures and stories to share. More soon. xoxo Emily