My Latest Journaling Projects

Last month, Ben and I started talking about some past memories and I ended up going into the basement to find some of my old journals. That sent me on a rabbit hole of going through all our journals and letters. It's been fun. 

While doing so, I realized that things like our letters and journals are a pain to look through. I decided to take this month and work on making them easy to access and look through (because then it feels more worth it to keep them). 

Here are some of the things I've been working on: 

Letters 

I've gotten a binder for each person and put our letters in sheet protectors so it's easy to flip through and read the letters. I've also tried to organize and order them (putting Ben's letters from his mission together, the letters to each other together, etc.). 

Social Media 

I've been working on downloading and saving certain things from social media that we want to keep and remember. It's been a little tricky with some things, but I'm glad to have them saved somewhere besides online. 

Pictures 

This is one of the biggest projects I've been working on. We have all our pictures organized and backed up well, but because they are all on the computer, they are not easy to access and look through. I've been working on putting them into picture books (I'm using Shutterfly) to help with that. I think the kids will especially love when I'm done with this. I'm keeping all the pictures backed up and organized the way they were before as well. 

Home Videos 

This is another really big project I've been working on. All our videos are in 5-30 second video clips, making it a pain to actually open them up and watch them. Right now, I'm editing them together into larger videos (5-10 minutes) to make it easy to sit down and watch them. Like with the pictures, I'm keeping all the individual clips as well. 

The Girls' Drawings 

I've recently gone through and taken pictures of all the drawings the girls have done. I am working on putting them together into picture books on Shutterfly for them. I plan to make one each year for them and give it to them on their birthday. I'll keep the digital copies so if they ever want to get rid of the books when they're older, they'll still have a copy of whatever drawings they want. 

Dance Videos 

I haven't started this yet, so I don't know if it's even possible, but I have a lot of old dance DVD's that I would love to get out and watch sometimes (especially with the girls), but because they are on a DVD of the entire performance, it doesn't ever feel worth the work. I would love to put the footage on the computer and save just the dances that I was in on the computer to make them easy to access. 

It's been really fun to read through journals and see old pictures and videos. I love remembering things. The letters have been my favorite--I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to write down their feelings of love and gratitude for me. I remember how I felt when they first gave me the letter and it still makes me feel loved and appreciated as I look back on them.