How do my friends and family know I have written about my project.

Your weblog will have an RSS feed your family or friends can subscribe to.
You could also email them. Email your friends saying they can see it at www.ourfamilyprojects.com/your_weblog_title.

When I upload a photo it takes forever.

This depends on the size of your photo and your connection speed.
A photo with a size under 150Kb should be easier to move, right click on the photos file and click properties to find its size.
To find tutorials on how to reduce your photos size try searching with keywords like microsoft paint photo resize.