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I’ve been trying to determine what kind of year 2014 has been for us, and overall I’d say it’s just been kind of weird.

The thing that sticks out most in my mind is our medical mishaps. Kate had tests, tests, and more tests, but never really received a diagnosis. Andy finally got treatment for the back problems he was having, and while we were not thrilled to hear he has an autoimmune form of arthritis, the medication he was put on has improved his life tremendously. I was diagnosed with a big tongue, which led to me getting braces. And then there was that thing with my ovaries a couple weeks ago.

Yeah, I’d say “Weird” pretty much sums it up.

Honestly, I have a hard time remembering the rest of the year.

But, thanks to the wonderful world of technology, Facebook told me it’s been a great year… and in many ways, it was right!

I read a lot of books and saw a few movies. The kids turned 6 and 10 and had a blast on the swim team. We vacationed in Nashville and Northern Michigan, and celebrated my brother-in-law’s wedding in Chicago. Spreadsheet Thanksgiving was a success, and Santa was good to them.

We are all happy and healthy and together. I would say that makes 2014 pretty great.

Here’s to an even better (and maybe slightly less weird) 2015!

Our family has been enjoying DISH for a while now, and I have to say that it’s the best television service we’ve ever had. There are SO MANY features on it, especially on the Hopper DVR, that we haven’t even used them all!

This week they’ve rolled out new software with three new features that I want to share with you.

First, Watch From the Beginning.

This might be the best thing that’s happened to televisions since the remote control. The name pretty much says it all – you can watch a show from the beginning, even if you turned the tv on when the show was halfway over.

Game changer.

Secondly, Binge-Watching Made Easier.

Now, I am not the binge watcher in our household, but there are a couple of them who live with me. Not naming any names, but they rhyme with Handy and Late. Hopper’s new feature will make their habits even easier, because now when they finish watching a DVR’d or on-demand episode, a pop up screen will show four subsequent episodes in the series that are available. “Just one more…”

Finally, Closed Captioning can now be turned on with the touch of a button.

CC is generally hidden somewhere in the settings menu, making it a challenge to remember how to turn it off and on. Now, all we have to do is press the green button on our Hopper remote.

For more information on DISH and Hopper, visit them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter!

Managing my mess of digital pictures is a source of anxiety for me. I’ve written about it before… asked for advice and gotten great suggestions… but I’ve yet to put anything into place. I have pictures all over – multiple places in the cloud, facebook, my phone, Andy’s phone, various computers. I never know where to find the picture I’m looking for.

It’s a mess, and it stresses me out.

Enter Kwilt.

Kwilt is the first mobile app to automatically create a personal and complete live digital photo stream by gathering users’ digital images from Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Google+, Google Drive, Dropbox, DLNA Certified® servers, iPhones and iPads. Kwilt reconnects users with their personal photos – often scattered across the web – by bringing them together in one beautifully designed hyper-fast streaming media platform.

Kwilt connects to Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Google+, Google Drive, Dropbox, DLNA Certified servers, and iPhones/iPads. It streams all your pictures into one place, and puts them in a – very lovely – sequence chronologically, by location, or by theme.

You can also make custom albums and share them on social media. You can even display them on your television using Airplay, Chromecase, Roku, LG or Panasonic. And, you can hide pictures you don’t want to show up, which is handy – I take pictures of lists and papers and things that I wouldn’t want to see in a Kwilt!

After connecting all my accounts to Kwilt and seeing my pictures pop up in a beautiful, organized display, I sent an email to the Kwilt team that said “This app is what I’ve been waiting for my entire life!”

See for yourself – download it here.

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This post was written in partnership with Kwilt and TheMotherhood.com, but, as always, opinions are my own.