Happy Monday!  Here at my house we are finally back in school after three weeks off.  Don't get me wrong, our break was pretty great!  Lots of sleeping in, time to relax and read.  We baked some cookies, built some Lego sets, hung out with family, entertained friends, and even went to Universal Studios to the "Wizarding World of Harry Potter."  I tried Butterbeer for the first time and loved it!  But now the kids are back at school and the hubby has been back for the past week.  I'm not gonna lie, getting back into my routine feels pretty good!

So today I want to write about something I believe is very important: Printing your photos.  Printing your photos is a way to preserve your memories.  Raise your hand if you never print your photos.  I bet most of you have them "living" either in your computer or your phone.  The pictures in your frames or on your walls were taken when your oldest child was about two.  Sound familiar?  I hear this a LOT!  Well, today I'm going to tell you a few reasons why you should be printing your photos and preserving your memories.

1|  Printing makes your memories tangible.   

In today's digital age I feel like a lot of things are no longer tangible.  Remember when you used to write notes in school?  Or had a pen pal?  Those letters were tangible.  Now we have email, Facebook, FaceTime, texting, etc.  Remember the feel and the smell of books?  If not, go to Barnes & Noble (before they shut down like the rest of the bookstores), and breathe in that book smell.  Seriously, there is nothing like it!  Now we read on our Kindles, iPads, phones, etc.  And then there are your photos.  I bet they are on your phone or computer.  Sure, you share pictures on Instagram and Facebook, but do you ever print them out?  Every so often, when I go home to my parents' house, my mom and I end up at the end of the hall, pulling out album after album of photos.  My mom has always been so good about printing her photos and putting them in albums.  When I used to visit my grandparents I would spend hours in the hallway looking at the hundreds of photos that were in collage frames.  These printed photos are a huge part of my childhood (and adult) memories.  We go through them together and tell the stories that were attached to them.  Now my children join in on the fun. Together we recall the past, laughing over hairstyles, clothes, silly faces.  These memories are tangible.  And in this digital era, they are going away.

2|  Keep your memories safe.  

Are your photos safe online, in your phone, on your computer?  What if all of the photos you've taken since your kids were babies were only digital and one day your computer crashed?  Everything is gone.  If you didn't print any of those photos you are out of luck.  I don't know about you but I would be devastated if that happened.  So let's say that something bad DOES happen and you lose all of your photos.  You might think, but they are on Facebook at least.  Right?  Yes, that might be true, but the quality has been compromised.  Sure, you can still access those and print them, but they will not look as good as they should.  I'm a stickler for high quality, high resolution.  Printing would avoid this.

3| Memories are meant to be shared.

 Isn't it fun to share?  By printing and displaying your photos you get to share them with family and friends who come to visit.  I love putting my kids' cute faces on my walls, in frames, in jewelry...wherever!  They are my kids and they are cute and I want to show them off!  Just one more reason to print!  I also love making albums.  My kids pull them out from time to time.  They love seeing pictures of themselves as babies and toddlers.  They will spend a good hour just pouring through our albums.  It is awesome!  It also makes my kids feel good knowing I want to share photos of them.  They feel proud and it gives them a warm fuzzy feeling.

4| How else will you embarrass your children when they are older?  

It is important to have some kind of black mail up your sleeve!  I have a few of those!  You know these photos the second they are taken.  You often say, "wow, she'll love THIS when she's older...hee her!"  Yup, this is one more good reason to have prints on hand!  They are great for bridal showers, bachelor parties, prom night!  You name it!  What is the point of having kids if you can't embarrass them every once in a while?  

5| Technology is constantly changing.  

And it changes fast!  Think about it.  When my daughter was born 11 years ago we used a VIDEO CAMERA.  And I saved photos on disks!  Seriously, my iMac doesn't even have a disk drive!  And think back before that...my parents' videos of me are on Super 8 film!  While our current technology seems pretty awesome, I'm sure it is bound to change.  So how will you access all of your digital stuff?  You don't know?  Neither do I.

Printed photos...framed, in albums, in collages, whatever, are a way to preserve and share your family's story.  Your memories.  Don't put it off.  Do it now before the task gets too overwhelming!  And if you do print them, send me a photo or two of your display.  I'd love to see what you do with YOUR memories!

As an incentive to print your photos, I am offering 40% all basic print orders of $20 or more through the month of January.  Simply use the promo code PRINT40 when ordering prints and the discount will be automatically calculated in your shopping cart!  The promo code will expire on January 31st so take advantage while you can!  

Go to your album now!  Client galleries are located here.

And in case you didn't get my point about the devastation of losing photos, just watch this fun little clip (click the image for video).

Video brought to you by Streaming Photography.