This post is sponsored by Kodak Digitizing Box

One of my earliest and most memorable pre-holiday blog posts had nothing to do with decorating. Nor was it a carefully curated selection of perfectly styled or edited images like you’d expect to find on any popular Instagram account today.

Instead, it was just random candid photos taken in our home the evening we were trying to vacuum a dead rodent we thought might be in a heat vent in our dark messy undecorated hallway. Old school blogging at its finest!

It was also just 48 hours before we would host a Thanksgiving dinner at our house, because a bit of chaos around the holidays from kids or dogs or house projects has always been how we roll. Some things never change.

It was a wild scene, but it was exactly what our hallway looked like that very moment.

My just-turned-seven year old son Luke had underwear on his head. It was his usual attire. I don’t even know when the last time was that he ran down this hallway wearing underwear on his head (the next best thing to having a Spiderman mask). A year later we moved out of this house in Portland and moved up to Washington.

My, how time flies! 

Flash forward a decade. That little guy who wore the underwear mask is now a handsome eighteen year old in his last year of high school here in Seattle. In June I’ll snap another memorable photo of him, this time with a tasseled cap on his head as someone hands him a diploma. A few minutes later, I mean a few months later, we’ll drop him off at college. We’ll take a family photo together and then his dad and I will drive off campus as new empty nesters. We’ll probably snap a selfie in the car for that momentous occasion, too.

We take those photos for ourselves and for future generations.

Our family has saved so many photos and videos that may not be considered Instagram-worthy today by anyone else, but they still mean the world to us. They tell part of our story, so being able to preserve those family tales means everything to us, too.

As endless as those wild and messy days felt when we still had children wearing underwear on their heads and dead giraffes falling down staircases….those moments were quite precious and fleeting. I’m glad we have real-life images like the giraffe scene to remember our days exactly as they were. Gloriously chaotic and unedited. No filter, better backdrop or more beautifully re-created scene would have made those moments more meaningful to me now.

While some of our family memories were placed in frames, albums and scrapbooks, others wound up in a dusty box in the garage or a bin in the attic. You or your parents probably have albums or boxes of old family photos somewhere, too. You might even have boxes full of videos or cassettes with a story to tell, silenced because you have no way to hear them!

The safest and most practical way to organize, save, share and enjoy your videos and photos, as well as to keep them protected for future generations is to have them converted to digital format.

Whether you need to go through albums or boxes or you just want to gift the opportunity to someone else to digitally preserve their memories, the KODAK Digitizing Box makes it so easy!

Every year we’ve saved more of our videos and images digitally! It’s a really simple process. You just gather the film, slides, photos, cassettes or videos and place a tracking sticker on each. Then fill your KODAK Digitizing Box with any of the 19 types of media available for conversion to digital (you can mix and match!). This includes VHS tapes, Reel to Reel audio tape, Super 8 Film, 35mm slides and photo prints, etc.

Then let KODAK do their magic! KODAK combines the trusted experience of the past, with the technology of today, to make digitally preserving your past easy and safe. In a modern version of Kodak’s yellow envelopes, each KODAK Digitizing Box includes simple, step-by-step instructions, safety barcodes for every item, a pre-paid return shipping label, and access to a personal concierge to answer any questions.

I feel more confident knowing that the service includes state-of-the-art tracking, barcoding, and personalized updates because you know exactly what is happening every step of the way. A few weeks later you get your originals back plus a link to your digital images, as well as a thumb drive, cloud files, or DVDs.

What better gift could you give your family?

Get started preserving your past today! Plus, for a limited time, KODAK Digitizing Box is offering my readers 30% off your first order to use for yourself or gift to someone else with code INSPIRED!

Sponsored by KODAK Digitizing Box