Hooray!!

WELCOME to the new and improved 71toes!

I’m SO excited to unveil this new blog look! It took a day longer than we thought, but here we are, still with some things to tweak here and there but so excited to be live! It will be a work in progress for a little while, so bear with us and please let me know if you spot something that needs to be fixed.

When I say “we” I really am using that liberally because really, my brother Josh took on this Herculean project and worked so hard on all the codes and themes and logos and mumbo-jumbo that feels like it’s a whole different language to me. I wish I had a picture I could really honor him with…I’m sure he’d LOVE a little photoshoot. Ha! But here’s one that can do the trick for now:

Because really, nothing says “thank you for taking my blog to the next level” like a picture of you both when you were little with cucumber glasses on. We probably should really get an updated picture of the two of us. But boy, I am SO grateful for that brother of mine!

Anyway, let’s take a little look around this new blog.

Be sure to check out the all-new menu, and please send over suggestions if there’s more or less you want to see. I’d love to hear what you think.

There’s an all-new travel section which I’m excited about because it’s complete with pictures…just click on “travel”…

And within that section you can choose a specific place to find the posts from there.

I got lazy in labeling things for a while so I’m working on adding things to all these sections to keep them up to date…

There’s a “good books” section that I KNOW I’m missing lots of books on…let me know if you think of any in particular that I’m leaving out…

And probably what I’m most excited about is the recipe section. I’m always searching for the recipes so this will make it so much easier.

I know I’m missing lots from there as well…remember, work in progress.

Obviously I can’t link to everything…and it would be annoying if I could, right? So that little “search” box on the top right is going to be the best tool.

You can type in anything on there…from “Dave” to “house projects” and all those posts will come up like magic. (Ok, I know that little box was on the old blog too, but this for some reason seems so much easier!)

This “category” selection thing on the right sidebar is going to help too.

That’s just a small little introduction, but there you go!

Welcome!

xoxo,

Shawni

34 Comments

  1. I’ve been wanting to look something up recently and so I keep hitting refresh – hoping it would be updated. IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Just glancing through the parenting section, I can tell it’s already going to be my favorite!! I’m pretty sure if I could physically wear the “pages” down, they’d eventually be threadbare. Now that I’ve found what I was looking for, I need to peel myself away. Congrats on a job well done – to you AND Josh!

      1. Congratulations! This is wonderful!! I was a bit worried on the weekend into Monday…yikes..no blog yet. Glad everything was saved and A-OK. Love how easy it will be to search for things, like recipes, travel and…mothering teens (Ha!). PS…I see Zillow ads for homes on the sidebar.

  2. It looks so good! I love the picture menu on Travel.
    The onyl issue I can see so far is when I go over the menu sections, some at the bottom open up new menus but they are so long I can’t see the last items… and scrolling doesn’t work. Hope it helps!

      1. I, too, am having a difficult time with the drop down menus either being too long for my screen or too wide for my screen…..and they’ll just get longer as more content is added.

        One suggestion is to create landing pages for each of the topics, which I’m sure is A LOT OF WORK but it would make navigating much easier.

        I love the photo header and am so grateful for your blog and all the work you and Josh have done.

  3. I LOVE that the first advertisement I see on your new site is for KY Lubricant! It’s a new day at 71 Toes. Already looked up the bday cake recipe. Thanks!

      1. Hi Shawni! New blog looks great! For what it is worth, I say keep the ads – you work hard on this content. Also, FYI: which ad a reader sees is based on the reader’s computer algorithm, not yours. Which is why I see an ad for “Skate Canada” (I live in Canada). So if you are seeing KY Lubricant, Jenny Also, that’s on you ๐Ÿ˜‰

      2. I see ads for Beddy’s — and I love Beddy’s, such a fantastic and beautiful product!

        New blog looks great, kudos to you both!

  4. I have been greatly anticipating this update since you announced it! I am on here almost every day looking up sage parenting advice, books, and more, falling in love with you and your family and even spotting people I know in pictures. (My younger brother used to date Rebekah Johnson, now Griffin.) The church makes the world feel smaller. I am in the beginning stages of parenting (7 yr old, 5 yr old, 2 yr old, 6 month old) and it is good to be reminded that through all the craziness and mistakes we make kids can survive and thrive! Thanks for all you do and share.

  5. I love your new blog ๐Ÿ’™ my only suggestion would be in the faith section to change the wording to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ๐Ÿ˜Š

  6. I love it and I’m super excited about this new format. Congrats and I’ve loved following your family (your kids are the same ages as mine!) all these years.

  7. Am so thrilled you are back. I am trying to place this into my Feedly reader but am only coming up with the old site.
    Any suggestions? I didnโ€™t want to get premium ( pay) for my reader, do you think I can secure this someother way? Is there a way to have it come to my In box in my g-mail account? I just am so inspired by your words and love your photography.

    1. Hey Cindy! Try taking the word “blogspot” out of your bookmark and I think it should work. Lots of people have old bookmarks with the “blogspot” still in the link and it’s now just simply 71toes.com. Let me know if that works!

  8. I was going to suggest A Man called Ove as a great book, but I see it’s already in your list! I’ve just finished it and LOVED it! In a way it reminds me of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – another wonderful book! In case you haven’t heard, Tom Hanks is producing and starring in a new film version of A Man called Ove, due out in 2020!

    1. Oh yes, I know I have a post about Eleanor Oliphant somewhere on here as well…I need to link that one too. And I didn’t know about the movie coming, excited!

  9. Long time reader here, and so excited to be able to comment for the first time (had to sign in through accounts I don’t have in the past)! Thank you Shawni, for allowing us to share in your family’s trials and triumphs. We have five children as well, and I have related to your IWAN feelings many times! ๐Ÿ™‚ Wishing you a fantastic new school year, and looking forward to exploring the new blog – and trying more of your recipes, now so easy to find, thank you! โค

  10. Felicitari!! And I love the cucumber glasses! Lol. Hilarious! Te pup! Keep up the amazing work! My favorite blog of all time!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *