Scrapbooking

Every now and then, I get into scrapbooking. I started one in 2004 when we got married, and added to it gradually. I also made some pages with whatever older pictures I had. It was new to me and I tried to be creative in telling our story. This one is probably my least favorite (even though I really love some of the pictures) since I think (and hope!) I've improved since then. Here are some pages I made for our 2004-2007 scrapbook (they are kinda random in order):

Miscellaneous stuff:




The dogs somehow managed to pull just 2 pages out of my scrapbook and chew on them...




Our 2 yr anniv trip to Williamsburg--so cool that we decided to move here and actually did!





Birds & Dogs:




Then of course, I really had a reason to take pictures and scrapbook when we had Lucas last year. Here's his so far (I haven't updated it since he was about 2 months!!):

Starting to get stretched lol

This was my game night page, I was pregnant throughout all of em pretty much!

This was bowling night just before I had Lucas..I was so swollen!

This was when my sister Sarah and her daughter Raquel came to visit--she's so adorable.

And this is one of my favorite pages-the baby shower
And finally, he is born!:







I felt bad for not having anything started for Olivia so I did a few pages for hers recently:

When you start scrapbooking, you start saving little tidbits from here and there...on the left the "baby" piece and the little ribbon circle were taken from a giftbag.

I don't care that these pictures are a little graphic.--believe me they were cropped from the originals lol

I had to put a page together of all the ultrasounds I had---that's another reason to scrapbook--to be able to tell the difference between your babies!

yup--those are her princess toes lol


and then I started the huge task of making one for our trip last year. Some people think it's a dumb hobby or say "i don't have time for that kind of thing," but you really should! Pictures are so important to me. Memories are important to preserve. And who knows what will happen if you leave them in a box, or on a computer that can be lost forever. And just having them in a regular photo album doesn't tell a story; there are so many details that I won't remember about our trip if I don't have pictures and a little sidenote to explain it. I am not very good at it (my sister Sarah is) but even if the page isn't as neat as planned, when it's all put together I always appreciate the work put into it and am excited to show family and friends. I am excited to have these to pass down to L + O when they are older. This trip was so fun too. I feel very fortunate to have been able to do such a thing. Never again will it just be the 3 of us like that, but hopefully future trips will be just as fun and memorable, however many Hodge's we have in-tow! Here are some I have been working on--haven't even gotten to CA yet!:

The start of our trip!--I was so excited to use this 'travel' page.:)

Lexington, KY the first night

On the road again

Night 2- in Kansas City, MO

Visiting John's cousin Lori in Loveland, CO--i made that tree all by myself lol

And driving through CO and UT--pictures look like postcards, no?

Anyway, I hope this was interesting for somebody, and I hope to maybe encourage more people to start this hobby! Think about it, if you have to grab a few things to escape a hazard in your home, it'd be easier to grab these books then grab your computer tower! Yeah, i guess that's dramatic lol.