12 Ways To Help You Record Your Life This Year

(This was originally posted on the regular TIMC, but I thought I would post it on here as well for anyone who doesn’t read both blogs.)

This year, I thought I would help you all start the new year off by sharing a compilation of ways to help you document your new year!  





 I know lots of people who say they will record what goes on later (honey, are you reading this?) but I know that time dims memories.  How many times have you read something that you wrote down just a few months or years earlier, and you smile because you totally forgot?  Well, I hope this year, you will make a resolution to do better at recording your life!

You can use these ideas for personal or family history.  These are not my ideas (except one), so I’ve included the links for you to click on if you wish to see more!  These are not in any specific order, just in the order I found them.  Ready?  Here we go!

#1:  Perpetual Journal.  You just write the day on top of the card, and every year you write a bit about what you did that day, then start over the next year on the same cards.  I found this here on the Design Sponge blog. 
I’m going to do this with my family starting in a few days, and I’m so excited for the years to come…and what fun it will be to see what we did that same day on the previous year(s).   I didn’t cut my cards in half, and I want to make or find a fun little container for it still.  (I will have to post it on here when I get it all done.) A fun ready option would be to buy those index cards that are already bound together.  There won’t be 365 cards, but you could have 3 or 4 sets.  Another idea I had was to buy the 4x6 index cards and put them in the 6 spot page protectors, but that would require a little extra work in taking out and putting in, but it would also protect from dirty hands and make for easier viewing.

#2:  A Journal Jar.  One of our Team Members, Robin, made a whole jar where you pull out one question a day and write the answer. 
This is great for someone who has a bit more time and wants to record things from the past.  Robin has even typed up 366 questions (go here) that you can get via email for just $5, and print them out.  Write or type up your answers!

#3:  The One Line A Day—A Five Year Memory Book.   If you are short on time and want something all in one place that is easily portable, this looks like a wonderful option! 
The days are already there, and you just write a bit a day!  The journal is $16.95 + shipping.  Check it out here.


#4:  Project Life. I’m sure most of you have heard about Becky Higgins’ amazing brain child, Project Life.  If you haven’t, basically you take a picture each day and do a bit of journaling.  I’ve done this for 3 years now, and I love that it really showcases the regular things you do each and every day…basically, life! Becky says, “Take a picture on each of the 365 days this year. Some pictures will illustrate bigger moments and some shots will be routine stuff in your life. It all adds up to paint the full picture of your life right now.”  (Don’t know what you would take a picture of everyday?  Check out Becky’s list here.)
There is the physical version, the digital goodies to make a digital version, or you can even do it through a photo book.  Check out the details here!

#5:  3-A-Day.  This one is actually my own idea…I have written in my journal faithfully for almost everyday since I was 10, but I went through a period of time when life was “boring” (aka, I had 4 kids and stayed at home all day long feeding said children and changing diapers) and I felt I didn’t have much to write about, nor the time.  So, I decided I would just jot down 3 things that happened that day, and they had to be positive, even if it was a positive spin on something bad that happened.  Now, I don’t feel like I have to do this everyday, so if I have a day where I want to write, I can!  I found a few pages from my journal that doesn’t give away too much, and this is what it looks like.


#6:  Peaks, Pits, Praises & Prayers.  It’s similar to what I do…this is where you write something good that happened, something bad, a praise to God, and a prayer that you have about something in your life or for someone else. 
This is something that you wouldn’t have to do on an everyday basis, but it would be fun to do on a weekly or monthly basis if that is more keen to your style and time available.  You can see how Deana did it here.


#7:  Year in Review Jar.  (This is an idea from Pinterest without a good link…sigh…this is why Pinterest etiquette is GOOD!)  This one had a picture, and I’m posting it on here, though I don’t know who to give the credit to.  (If you know, please let me know and I will put it on here!)
For this one, you have an empty jar and when something happens you want to remember, write it down.  Then at the end of the year, go through and read them all!  I thought this one would be fun to do as a family!  You could write down things kids say, good news, bad news, funny things that anyone does, etc.

#8:  365 Things I’m Grateful For Journal.  Simple and easy…just write down one thing that you are grateful for everyday!  I’ve seen these all over Pinterest, and I’m sure you have too!  They range from super scrapbook-y types to a simple store-bought journal.  I did find one journal by Monika Wright that I really loved here.  Plus you can link through to her store and buy your own journal just for this. 

#9:  A “Currently” Journal.  I thought this was a really fun idea, and I’m totally doing this one this next year!  You have a random list of things or topics and record once a month what you are currently doing/wanting/liking at that time.  Then you compile it at the end of the year and have a cute little album of your life!  It doesn’t have to be scrapbooked…it could just be written or typed up. 
Check out Paula Gilarde’s blog here to see this in more detail. 


#10:  25-Day Photo Challenge.  This is a wonderful alternative or addition to Project Life.  Photographer Katie Evans came up with this wonderful list of ways you can document your life right now in just 25 photos.  You could do them all in one day or one week if you don’t want to do just one a day.  This looks so fun, plus it can help you improve your photography skills!


#11:  Fast Fact Friday.  Of course I couldn’t make this list and not include what we do here on this blog!  The 2nd and 4th Fridays of every month (minus December) we have what is called “Fast Fact Friday”.  It’s just 5 questions that you can answer as quickly or as in-depth as you would like.  If you do every F.F.F. this year, you will have approximately 130 facts and/or stories recorded about you and your life by the end of the year! 




#12:  This Is Me Challenges.  Yes, the whole point of this blog is to help you record about you…because sometimes we forget to do that.  The weeks that there aren’t Fast Fact Fridays, there will be a challenge question to help get your mind going about something that you can record about.  Plus, there are always ideas from Team Members and sometimes there are freebies to help you out!  We hope you’ll join us in writing your story!


Well, there you have it!  Which idea(s) are you going to do this year to get your history written?  I’d also love to hear about any other ideas that you may have, so feel free to leave a comment/link about something that you do that others may benefit from!

Happy New Year, and remember to have fun recording your life!

Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas

This December, we won’t be doing any regular challenges here on the TIMC—LDS.  We’re going to just do one challenge, and I’d love it if we could get lots of you involved! 

I’m calling it
“Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas”. 

Here’s how you can help and get involved:

1.  Think of one thing you do with your family to help you remember Christ during this busy season.

2.  Record it in your own way.  (Write it down, video it, scrapbook it, etc.)

3.  Email me (emils24(at)gmail(dot)com), or leave a comment here with your recorded challenge.

4.  Check back on the blog at least once a week during December to see how other families focus on Christ, and be inspired by the ideas of others, and maybe even try a few of them out!

5.  Spread the word to your family and friends, so they can benefit from this too!

I will link all of the future posts about it right here, so you can just check here if you’d like!

So, who’s in?

Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas

This December, we won’t be doing any regular challenges here on the TIMC—LDS.  We’re going to just do one challenge, and I’d love it if we could get lots of you involved!  

I’m calling it “Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas”.  

Here’s how you can help and get involved:

1.  Think of one thing you do with your family to help you remember Christ during this busy season.

2.  Record it in your own way.  (Write it down, take pictures, video it, scrapbook it, etc.)

3.  Email me (emils24(at)gmail(dot)com), or leave a comment here with 
your recorded challenge.

4.  Check back on the blog at least once a week during December to see how other families focus on Christ, and be inspired by the ideas of others, and maybe even try a few of them out!

5.  Spread the word to your family and friends, so they can benefit from this too!

I will link all of the future posts about it right here, so you can just check here if you’d like!

So, who’s in?

Gifts to Jesus

We did something Monday night for FHE that turned out so well, I thought I’d share it with you! 

In Church on Sunday, a sister in our Ward talked about how her dad wrapped a box up at Christmas time, and whenever the kids did something Christ-like, they would write it on a paper and put it into the present for Jesus. 

Well, I thought this sounded fabulous, and decided to make it a new Christmas tradition in our home!

I found a box that already had a small opening in the bottom, taped up the top, wrapped it really pretty, then cut the paper where the small opening was.  Then I wrote “To Jesus” on the top, and taped a pass-along card that has baby Jesus on it.  (I couldn’t find a small picture of Jesus, and my kids are always snatching the cards at Church.) 

I also cut 3 or 4 blank pieces of paper into rectangles (2 1/2 inches by 4 1/4), put them along with a couple of pens into a small can I had.  I tied a big red bow on it for fun.

 To start the lesson, I had my two older boys read the quote by President Monson that says, “What will you and I give for Christmas this year?  Let us in our lives give to our Lord and Savior the gift of gratitude by living his teachings and following in His footsteps.” (I printed off the free quote found on Becky Higgins’ blog—go about half way down the page and look on the right side bar for it.)

We then talked about what that meant in little kid terms, “What IS the best thing YOU can give for Christmas?, “What is the gift of gratitude?”,  “What are some of the things that Jesus taught us?”, “What are some things we can give to Jesus this year for Christmas?”. 

After we talked about what the quote meant, I showed the kids the present I had made, explained what we were going to be doing, and then showed them the can and they loved the idea!!!  We made the rule that we can fill out a paper for something you did for someone else, or if someone does something for you.

A few days later, we are hearing a lot of, “Mom, I did_____, can I fill out a paper?”, or “_____ did ______ for me, can I write that down?”.  Even my 2 year old twins love doing this!  When I see them do something nice for someone, I tell them thank you and say that we should write it and give it to Jesus.  They run to the box and love to put their paper in! 

It’s even helping me too…today when I got stuck in line at the store with a new cashier who was going SLOW, I decided I’d be patient instead of getting all annoyed that I got in the slow line.  And yes, I wrote that down and gave it to Jesus! 

I’m seriously loving this, and so excited to make it a yearly tradition.  I’m planning on doing something with the papers—either keeping them and putting them in something, taking pictures of them, or at least typing up our gifts to Christ.  I think it will be so fun to look back on our gifts to Jesus Christ!

Bonus Challenge #4—A Day In The Life…

I love it when I come across ideas for recording life that just resonate with me.  I saw a video on Becky Higgins’ blog, submitted by one of her readers.  The reader, Kris, made the commitment to do a video recording of snippets of her entire day, then set it to music.

WOW!  What a wonderful idea, and so with that I’m going to issue the same challenge to you to record snippets of one day of your life.  You can set it to music like Kris did, or you can just put the pieces together! 

Check out Kris’ fun video here!  Then go make one of your own!  (I’m making mine tomorrow, and will have it up for you to see sometime…depends on how long it takes to put it together!)

Challenge #11—Count Your Many Blessings

Since it’s the beginning of November, the month of Thanksgiving in the US, I thought this week’s challenge could be all about remembering your blessings. 

What are your many blessings?

There are hundreds of ways to do this challenge.  Make a gratitude journal and record the things you are grateful for each day.  Similar to that is that you can write in your regular journal each day and record seeing the hand of God in your life (Bonus Challenge #1).  Take on the gratitude challenge (Bonus Challenge #3).  Make a tree and add leaves of blessings throughout the month, or do it with a turkey and feathers.  Have your family write their blessings on a poster board or large piece of paper (see here).  Write your blessings on slips of paper, put them in a box and read them as a family on Thanksgiving.  Make a scrapbook layout showcasing your top blessings.  Post one of your blessings each day on your blog or Facebook/Twitter.  And there are tons more of ideas floating all around cyber-space right now!

A number of years ago, for Family Home Evening, my husband and I set a timer for 5 minutes and wrote the whole time all the blessings we could think of.  At first we wrote things down quickly, like family, a home, the Gospel, etc.  Then we both started to slow down.  We really had to start thinking about the little blessings in life that we don’t normally think about. 

When the timer went off, we shared our lists with each other (our oldest was only a baby at the time so he didn’t have much to add).  We complied the list into 100 things that we were grateful for and named it “Our Top 100 Blessings”.   Yes, there are some things that I was more grateful for than my husband and vice-versa, but it’s fun to see other’s favorite blessings on there too! 

I typed it up, organized it in alphabetical order and printed it off.  We still have it hanging up today on our hallway bulletin board. 

This is a closer look—I had to patch it together so it looks like it’s 3 papers, but it’s really just one.  You just couldn’t read it unless I did this.   Also, you can see the wear and tear on it, but that’s what makes it special!

Last year around this time we had our then 5 and 4 year olds help us make a new list.  (We had to add in things like toys.)  It’s always a good reminder for our family to see it—it helps us remember what really is important in life and that we truly are very blessed! 

Now I challenge you to record your blessings!

Bonus Challenge #3—Gratitude

I came across an awesome challenge for the month of November—a gratitude challenge!  How awesome is this? 

Crystal Wilkerson is doing a gratitude challenge, with prompts everyday to help you remember to be grateful!

I am going to be taking the challenge, and I hope you will be too!  As part of the challenge, you can download the 30 designed quotes for $5—all of which will be going to the Norton family.  Check out the story here, and please take the challenge with me!