the best of Silver Lining 2015

At the end of the year, I love looking back on all my posts for the year, and seeing how they did. You'd think after all these years of blogging, I'd have basically everything figured out (ha), but I still surprise myself sometimes with what does well and what doesn't.

So here we go! My most popular posts in 2015.

RECIPES

sweet and salty white chocolate popcorn
soft and chewy cowboy cookies - currently craving!
easy party cheese ball - we substituted almonds and chives for Thanksgiving and it was a hit!
peppermint cake batter muddy buddies

ARIZONA ADVENTURES

lots and lots of pool days
the splash pad
Scottsdale walking chocolate tour
desert botanical gardens
when I proposed to the riparian preserve

TIPS AND TRICKS

how to get a genuine smile from your toddler for the camera
5 shots to take when photographing absolutely anything
how to write a pitch email that gets results
the hard truth about why nobody's reading your blog - and how to fix it
how to make Facebook your number one referral site - without paying for ads!

DIY and CRAFTS

using a potato stamp to make cute gift bags
make your own professional-looking photo backdrops
tissue paper stained glass - I didn't love how my photos turned out for this post, but it has 80k views and counting, so I guess someone liked it!
art in a bag for babies and toddlers
diy Instagram magnets - we get so many compliments on these

PERSONAL ESSAYS

a real-life messy true type of love story
I'm the one who knows you best - an essay on motherhood
on not getting what you want
a love letter to my old city - so many great things happened here
on moving to Arizona

FAMILY

The Emery family State of the Union // 1 and 2
our family pictures 2015
meet the man behind the blog - so much goodness here
when Jason decided to move out
an anniversary post - I love the last paragraph
glimpses of Claire lately

Sometimes I think about quitting this blog. But then, when I go back through my year and collect posts like this, I think - hey, I actually really like my blog. All the work that goes into a blog is worth it when I get to capture and preserve memories of our family like this.

*Linking up with the 2015 Blogger Year in Review.*

Enjoy!

And if you have a Best Of 2015 post, leave the link here. 

I'd love to read it!