Family Yearbooks

With digital cameras, it's so easy to take pictures and forget about them. I have had a digital camera for almost 10 years and I can count the number of times I've actually printed pictures on one hand. It's just not something I think to do. And, when I do, it's overwhelming.

This year I decided to do something about it. I knew that if I didn't take stock of the photos I have on my computer now, I never would. I want our future kiddos to be able to flip through photos of Scott and me when we were young and dating. It was time to institute the Sayler Family Yearbook.

So, the daunting task began. I started by going back to 2008 when Scott and I met. We didn't actually take any pictures together that year since we met in December so I fast forwarded to 2009. I pulled all my favorite photos (candids and bigger events) into a folder on my hard drive. I did the same thing for 2010. Pulling the photos was the most time consuming part. But it was so so so entertaining!

I did some research to decide what photo book company I wanted to go with. After much debate, I chose MyPublisher. I'm very happy with the quality of their books and their pricing (they always have specials). The software to assemble your book is average; a little clunky but you can do some customizing which is nice.

I prefer a really clean look for photo books vs. backgrounds and lots of colored text. And, I like a photo wrapped cover. The book turned out amazing. I'm so happy with it!

Front cover

I created a "Highlights" page for each year - it also breaks up 2009 and 2010

A few photo spreads

I like pairing one big photo with a block of smaller ones

Grouping like pics together worked really well...these are all concerts

Priceless shots from our engagement on the beach

 The book is about 80 pages long and is about a half inch thick. Much easier to store than big three inch photo albums! I have the year listed on the front and on the spine and am planning to keep the same format each year. I've finished 2011 and am adding in 2012 pics. I think from 2013 on, I'll go with one book per year because I've noticed I'm taking a lot more pictures with our new camera. (A SONY NEX-5N in case you're in the market. We LOVE it!)

My goal is to build the book throughout the year so it isn't such a big task at the end of the year. We'll see how that goes for me!