Snappin and Shootin...

... photos that is!  it's been a busy and trying few months around here including busy times at work, my father's passing and a vacation or two but the one thing that held true (other than still having a great family and an amazing group of friends) is that i find a lot of stability in taking photos of our life and times.  and yes, once i get caught up i'll share some photos of those times, i promise!  my memory isn't great and taking photos helps me remember what we've done and brings back the emotions of the day, in reality the photos help the times last a bit longer...

Shutterfly is a big part of how i make sure the memories get out of my camera and off of my laptop so i can share them with everyone.  i'm horribly addicted to photo books, prints, photo gifts and the like.  i've talked before about how i make a calendar every year for my mom & grandma of the year's photos, and photographs are my favorite way to decorate my walls.  my first experiece with Shutterfly was when my cousin's wife put together a photobook filled with my late grandmother's recipes, stories and pictures of the family cooking together.  since then i've made several books for friends weddings, my niece's 6th grade graduation and my vacations.  it's amazing how easy, fun and exciting creating the books has been and i recently got an email from them announcing something even more fun!
the Shutterfly Long Live Summer photo contest has started and there's still time to enter!  It started ten days ago but they have a different category for the contest every week and you can enter every single week.  the remaining week's categories are :

Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun
Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities
Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations

and the best part?  every single entry gets an instant prize!!!  there will be a few weekly featured photos on their facebook fan page (which gets you a copy of the new Lonely Planet travel photography book and a $500 Shutterfly giftcard) and the grand prize is a trip to the Bahamas with a professional family photo shoot... how cool is that!

so, what are you waiting for? go grab your camera or search through your memory cards to find a great photo you've taken of some fun at the beach or the pool or even the back yard sprinkler.  upload your pic to their facebook fan page and give it a great caption, it's that easy!

this is a post sponsored by Shutterfly and written by me!