The first step is admitting you have a problem.

Hi, my name is Diane and I had a problem! I was completely addicted to Shutterfly. It all started back in December when we got the kids picture taken with Santa and I got a $10.00 gift card to Shutterfly. I went to their website to see what I could make and decided to create a photo book for my mom. I sorted through the thousands of pictures from our massive road trip and organized them into a 32 page book. I was so excited to give it to her for Christmas! She loved it! I loved it so much that I decided to start making my blog into books. I started with 2011 and working on that book completely consumed me. I was staying up until 2:00 AM every night, skipping the gym, letting Riley watch WAY too much TV and pretty much neglecting all household duties. I knew it was bad when I was annoyed that I had to stop to use the bathroom! When my first book came in the mail it all seemed worth it, I had a whole year of our lives neatly organized into a book. Not only did it include all of my favorite pictures, it had all the commentary from my blog. We finally had a family scrap book! After finishing my second book I realized that although this was a good thing, I needed to do it in moderation! So now I'm working on the rest (I want one for every year starting with 2005, which is going to take a while!) at a much slower pace. Here is the main reason my blog has been so neglected this year:

5x7 Folded Card

Birthday Lime Birthday Card

Team up: Design your photo Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

5x7 Folded Card

White Border 5x7 folded card

Shutterfly custom Valentines Day and Mother's Day cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

The birthday cake.

My brother isn't really a cake person and doesn't care if he gets one on his birthday. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted his answer "I don't want a cake" was completely unacceptable to his five year old nephew. Tyler insisted Clif tell him what kind of cake he wanted, so Clif jokingly told him he wanted a Ninja Turtle cake. Tyler couldn't wait to go to the store and get what we needed for the cake. He 'whispered' the plans for the cake to everyone at lunch (with Clif in the room). After baking and icing the cake I put Tyler in charge of making the turtles. As you can see he took his job very seriously...





Tyler's masterpiece!



Leading Clif into the kitchen to his 'surprise' cake!

SURPRISE!



Singing to their uncle.

Old people need help blowing out their candles!

Tyler explaining which turtle is which.

Happy Birthday Clif!

My big brother turned 33 today! So glad we could be here to celebrate with him! We love you Clif!

5x7 Folded Card

Birthday Sketch Birthday Card

Click here to browse Shutterfly's modern graduation invitations.

View the entire collection of cards.

Tough Mudder

Back in June I got an invitation on facebook to join a group that was forming to run a race called Tough Mudder. I use to love playing in the mud as a kid and I've always been pretty athletic, so it didn't take me long to decide to sign up. I never thought Matt would agree to sign up with me, but to my utter shock he did! Matt hates to run. He is the only person I know who was on the track team all 4 years in high school and never ran in a single race (he was a field events kind of guy). So when he said yes to running a 12 mile obstacle course with me I was pleasantly surprised. That's right I said a 12 mile obstacle course that included wading through freezing cold water, scaling 12 foot high walls, climbing over more hay bails than I could count, jumping off a 15 foot high platform, getting shocked by 10,000 volts and running, wading and crawling through tons of mud. There were 28 obstacles throughout the course. By the time we crossed the finish line I was dirty, bruised, and blistered on both feet, but the sense of accomplishment I felt was overwhelming. I love that Matt and I did this together! Call us crazy, but we're already planning on doing it again next year!







This was the second obstacle called the Chernobyl Jacuzzi. They dumped 100 bags of ice in every 30 minutes, yeah it was cold! The board in the middle forced you to go all the way under.

That's me in the black getting out!

Matt and I are next to the tall guy in the orange shirt. We just got done swimming under those black barrels behind us.







We got to run through these tires...

...and climb up and over this cargo net...

...and across this cargo net...

...and pull ourselves across this rope...

...and crawl under this net through the mud...

...and crawl under this barb wire.

Did I mention there was some mud?

Matt made it all the way across the monkey bars, I didn't!









This obstacle showed up twice on the course.

I did make it all the way across the wobbly balance beam!



Electro shock therapy was the last obstacle of the race. See those yellow wires? They were all live!



The obstacle I was most proud to get through was called Mount Everest, copy and paste the following to see pictures! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150592404079848.479452.793659847&type=1