Lindsay Ross Blog

moms who have been there

I have an amazing mom. I also have a lot of amazing mother figures in my life. My own mother, as well as a lot of other mothers around me have all had a huge impact on who I have become. I look up to them. I respect them. And I have no shame saying “Hellllllp me. I have no idea what I’m doing. How should I handle this or this or this?”

While I think following your own mom intuition and doing what you think is best for your kids, because our kids are ours for a reason, I also take all the advice I can get from other moms. Not everything will work for me and my family, but I’m open to listening to anything.

Recently I emailed several moms I know. More “seasoned” mothers and I asked them a series of questions simply because I thought it would be interesting to hear what they said and knew their answers would inspire me (and hopefully others) in one way or another. They were candid, honest, and vulnerable and I SO appreciate their willingness to participate.

Here’s what they had to say:

1. What is one thing you’re glad you did as a parent?

**Gave responsibility

**I don’t believe in shielding kids from hard things in this world. Like addiction. Or financial trouble. Or that parents fight sometimes. I don’t think you need to tell kids every last detail in difficult situations or on tough topics. But they need to know that life is hard. Everyone struggles. And we ALL need help.

**Involved in all my kids activities. Lots of play and vacation time.

**Only one TV in our home! It was in the family room on the main floor of the house. our slogan was “7 or 11”, the public TV stations. This was before the iPhones, tablets, etc. where children now have access to television. This policy helped to foster the love of reading for our family.

**I’m glad I spoiled my kids and gave into them. I’m glad I tried to give them whatever they wanted.

**I am glad I had ALL six of my children. Outside of Utah six is considered a large family and with that size as opposed to one, two or three kids, come more emotional, financial, physical and spiritual demands. But those things are far offset by the joy of now having six wonderful adult eternal friends to love, be proud of, interact with and enjoy.

**Read a lot to my children.

**Vacations with my children. When they grow up you only have memories. I don’t regret any of the money we have spent on travel. We have been lucky to go all over with our kids. When we get together now we love to talk about what we did when we went here or how much fun this places was. It’s also a great time to talk to your kids if you are in the car for hours.

**Stayed consistent as I tried to live gospel principles which helped me to stay strong as a loving disciplinarian. I involved my kids in making the rules and in coming up with accountability and then being consistent in enforcing the rules.

2. What is one thing you’d do differently as a parent?

**Not yell and not clean an already clean house

**I wish I would have taught my kids the value of work and budgeting earlier in their lives.

**Don’t fret over the little things. There are enough “big things” that are important, so don’t worry about the small things.

**I would do much better at getting my kids to earn things. Appreciate what they have. Know how to do hard work even if they hate it. Give them responsibility and then praise them for honoring that responsibility. Even if it’s something as simple as household chores.

**Worry less and enjoy more.

**I would definitely be more chill and not get so uptight about stupid things. I think as a young mom I tried to compete and compare myself to what other mom’s thought I should be doing. We judge each other too much. I’d let my kids have ice cream and donuts for breakfast if they want. Who cares, other than the mom next door….right?

**I wouldn’t saddle my girls with my body image issues. I wish I had simply loved myself for what I was and I wish that I had passed that on to my daughters–not this obsession with weight and image. I hate that I did that. I hate that I still do it. I hate that I judge others by this and I see my daughter’s judge themselves by that criteria.

**I’d spend more time outdoors with them.

**Not get so upset over small things that don’t matter in the long run. I now ask myself “will this matter in 5 or 10 years?” Take the opportunity to teach instead of react.

**I would take some mini vacations with my husband and find someone to take care of the children. With my husband’s profession and church callings, we didn’t leave town much without the children.

3. What is the BEST advice someone else gave you about parenting?

**To trust my own mothering instincts, particularly where my childrens’ health is concerned.

**Best advice: each kid is different. Rules are rules. But kids are different. And how you deal with one kid isn’t necessarily right for another. Know your kids!

**Home is a training camp, not a resort hotel!

**Play with your kids no matter how old they are.

**My dad called me one day and asked how I was doing. I said, “These kids are driving me crazy.” He replied “short drive”. (His advice was to be more chill)

**Remember that kids are more important than the house.

**Don’t worry what other people thing about your parenting because they probably are not thinking about you at all. They are too worried everyone is judging their parenting. you know what is best for your child.

**Choose your battles

**Teach your children how to work, the value of work, and that any work is honorable. Other than my love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the most important thing my parents taught me was how to work and how to find joy in work. I tried hard to pass that same philosophy on to my children.

**TEACH. It’s easier and faster to do it yourself but it’s a parents job to teach.

4. What is your parenting “mantra” (your basic philosophy about parenting)?

**Listen, listen, listen! Unconditional love!

**Teach and discipline your kids when they are young. Rules are an important part of raising children. They learn what is expected of them and it gives them guidance and happiness (even if they don’t think it gives them happiness) throughout their childhood ages. Be consistent and always set a good example.

**Have fun and play with your kids a ton. Especially when they are teens. Don’t freak out over small things.

**Get out of the way and let them fly and then encourage them to fly higher.

**The children I have been blessed with are a gift from their Heavenly Father and my role as a mother is as a steward, not a boss nor an owner. I therefore tried to involve Him as much as possible, particularly in times of uncertainty and trouble.

**Kids will rise to the level of the expectations set. Be careful to make sure the expectations are realistic and then go ahead and give the kids responsibilities. Kids like to feel they are a needed essential part of the family.

**I don’t really have a mantra. Just basically kids are people. Treat them as you would want to be treated. Age appropriate of course. no one wants to talked down to or disrespected. Even kids.

**Fake it til you make it. And, I would rather know what my child is doing and disagree than be kept in the dark. This has led to my kids being very open with me.

**Teach by example and love them unconditionally

**If I don’t teach, discipline, or let them know life isn’t fair, who will?

5. Give me one piece of advice for moms with young kids

**Children need to know that not everyone wins, not everyone gets picked, and not everyone loves them

**Hold your ground. Stick to the rules. Teach them early that they are a part of the family and need to contribute.

**I tried to enjoy each state of raising our family and 30 years later, I’m not too sad that it’s over, because I enjoyed it along the way and frankly, I’m tired.

**This too shall pass. Young kids are just hard. It’s just a trying and difficult time in life. I didn’t have a mom around to help me out and I could really have used a few hours every now and then to just be alone. I really admire the fathers along the course of a race that have the kids cheering on their moms (referring to an actual running race). I just want to stop and hug that man for giving his wife some time without the kids. Kudos to that dad. I think I could have been a better mom if I would have had some time for ME. Not in a selfish way.

**Be careful of precedents set and expectations. Teach them when they are little to contribute to the “work” of a family as well as the “play”. Teach them to appreciate things. Even things like food. And warm blankets. A family that cares. Big huge Christmas’ and birthdays when they’re little only get SUPER expensive when they are older. And some things are done as a family. Start that when they are little.

**Don’t worry so much about things. Put down the dishes, your phone, the book you are reading or whatever keeps you from playing with your kids–they will still be there later. Get down on the floor and play with them. Talk to them so they know they are the most important thing to you at that moment. When they grow up they will know you are there for them whenever they need someone.

**Having a regular and fairly frequent time set aside for escape from the children (and the husband, if needed) to do something that will rejuvenate and refresh and relieve the frenzied mom and help her to renew her quest for the joy in the journey. Also, stay realistic about how tidy your house should be when unexpected guests drop by.

**Read to your children, even when they can read to themselves. Start a book collection for them to keep and then pass on to their children. Our oldest daughter took her book collection, stored in an under-the-bed container, when she went off to college. She told me that it was her “security blanket”

**Hug them more, rock them more (even when they’re teenagers), lie down on the bed with them at night and talk, give more back rubs, hold hands, kiss them even in public, and hug them some more.

**Don’t fight their battles. Listen to them, come up with a plan, role play with them, talk about the consequences of their choices, be there to support them, but stay in the background. Let them learn how to face people. That is how they will be able to think for themselves and be able to problem solve when they are older.

6. Give me one piece of advice for moms with teens

**Be home after school when they come home. At night go from room to room to talk to the children and teens. Listen! I always waited up for the teens after their dates. The porch lights were on and other lights in the house, so the date always knew someone was waiting!

**You are not their friend. But it’s ok to be friends. I guess that means that it’s important to take an interest in what they are “in to”. To listen to the crazy things they do and say with friends. To not mock or overly criticize. But when it’s time to stand up and be the parent, then DO IT. Kids need to know that they are protected and watched out for. And that there are boundaries. Sometimes you have to call them out even when it’s uncomfortable for either or both of you.

**Trust until they prove to you that you can’t. Don’t make threats you’re not willing to follow through with. And if they take something they don’t pay for they will get diarrhea.

**Let them know they are NOT entitled!!

**I LOVED the teen years. Don’t stress over small things. Like hair for instance. In perspective, hair is nothing. My son went from looking like a white supremacist to looking like a character in a Japanese anime in one year. Ha. It’s hair!!! Something bigger is bound to be around the corner. **Make sure they know their mom loves them no matter what they do or how grouchy or inconsistent or weird they are.

**Let kids experience the consequences of their choices so that they can learn to make good choices early, while there is a safety net.

**Listen to the feelings you get. Your teen will go through many many things they need to talk about but may not know how to start. Ask them hard questions that you may not want to know the answers to but need to know. If you are approachable not only will your child come to you but so will their friends.

**Give them a grace period. Example: curfew is midnight–if you aren’t home by 12:10 you better have called me to tell me why.

**Your teens act how you treat them. If the teens are always told they are a pain, or that they think they know everything, or that they are disrespectful, etc. they will act like that. Teenagers get a bad rap–I loved my kids teenage years. They were some of the most fun years that we had together. Also, keep the communication lines open and don’t over-react if you don’t like what you hear.

**Two pieces: First, LISTEN. Don’t try to solve their problems. Let them learn to solve their problems while they’re talking it out. Keep asking questions that allow them to get to the solution. Secondly, be fun! Even if your kids tell you that you embarrass them, do it anyway. Hang with their friends. Hug their friends. Make their friends feel welcome in your home. Write cute notes on the outside of their lunch sacks for the world to see. Send notes and extra snacks in your kids’ lunches for their friends. Chaperone dances and parties.

7. What is your greatest strength as a mother?

**Our children tell me that it is patience and listening.

**From my daughter: You are very compassionate. You don’t judge us kids, you are ALWAYS there for us no matter what we did, what time it was. No matter what, love always motivates your decisions.

**My desire and my effort to be a good mom.

**I think my greatest strength as a mom is communicating with my kids. Whether it’s verbal or in action. They talk to me. They tell me stuff. But we can also just be quiet together. “Hang out” with no pressure. We have had to face some hard stuff and they know I’m there. We can talk. I will listen. What they say and how they feel matters to me. I am on their side.

**I can admit to my kids when I’m wrong, or when I have really blown it. I have had to tell them I’m sorry so many times. I have a tendency to over-react, then I calm down and realize they were right. I also love to laugh with them.

**I try to be a good example of what I preach…pray for help, listen to the spirit, be responsible with your commitments to others, help others, read for fun, go to bed early, etc., etc.

**The ability to be in the background. I didn’t try to be best friends with my kids friends. I did not join them when they were hanging out. I definitely knew all their friends and they knew me. They knew that I was a mom who was present in my kids life. It has been hard to stay in the background once my kids were married. I did it and have always been glad I kept my mouth shut. I feel like I have very strong independent kids because I am their mom, not their best friend (although sometimes I am that too).

**Communication. Always there to talk and help. My kids still love to hang with me.

**Allowing my children and me to not like each other and in some cases actually hate each other. These feelings have nothing to do with the love you share–it’s normal.

**Publicly acknowledging in front of my kids how amazing/smart/talented/kind/successful my children are. I know that people sometimes hate the parents that talk about how great their kids are but who cares? You care about your kids. I wanted my kids to hear me tell the world how proud I was to be their mother. Yes, they are human, but my kids are amazing!

8. What is one of your favorite traditions you did with your kids?

**having dinner–such great conversations

**Being home when they got home from school. We had most of our conversations in the kitchen whether it was eating freshly baked cookies, or while I was making dinner, or when I was trying to help someone with schoolwork. We had a lot of communication, planning of schedules, and laughing about everyone’s day.

**The Christmas pickle–Santa hides it and whoever finds it after all the presents have been opened gets an extra present. My married kids still want to be in on it.

**Annual trip. Every Christmas they get an envelope that announces where our family trip is that year.

**We have so many traditions for so many stupid reasons, but we love them. For instance, every December on small business Saturday we drive into Salt Lake and buy pastries and cookies from local bakeries. During the Super Bowl we play games instead of watching it. We still play Sardines.

**We travel with our kids. A lot. And we enjoy it. They are fun to be around. We enjoy each others company. It’s making memories. Another is I always make sure they are reading. Then we pass the books through the family. It helps bring up discussions. Things to talk or think about.

**Regular Sunday dinners together.

**For Christmas, I gave them a keepsake book to read (find books by word of mouth, other authors they have enjoyed, or books that you have read.). This tradition continues with our 30 grandchildren.

**Traveling and reading. Take your kids places. See the world. Let your children see how the rest of the world lives. When we were younger and before we could afford to travel the world, we invited exchange students into our home. Also, read and read and read. WE often read the books before we would go to the movies. Instead of Christmas pajamas or Christmas ornaments for the kids, we gave a Christmas book on every Christmas Eve.

9. What is your favorite thing about being a parent?

**They always turn to me when they need help. They always need their mom. I love that my kids need me.

**I think the whole process of being a parent is amazing. Being responsible for this life. Realizing the amount of love you can have for someone else. All the sacrifices you make on their behalf: time, money, sleep, opportunities, SANITY and loving them for it. How weird is that? I love watching them learn and grow and struggle and be proud of themselves. It’s crazy how happy you can be FOR them and how sad you can be WITH them. It’s awesome on occasions that they realize parents aren’t stupid. That we may actually know a thing or two because we were once actually kids. Just the whole process is something I wouldn’t give up for anything. Change a few things, maybe. Give it up….NEVER.

**Ending up with them all being my best friends

**It’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. I LOVE being a mom and LOVE being a grandma even more! I love the noise and even the mess of having all my children around me.

**That my children are my friends, they give me advice, and help me throughout my life as I try to continue to help them. And the very best thing now about being a parents it that they have given me wonderful grandchildren to enjoy.

**Being around long enough to see my children reach adulthood and have children of their own, and to watch them experience the joys and challenges of parenthood, and to see them being such good parents.

**Having my children turn into my friends.

**Watching my kids learn and grow and realize they can do anything they set their mind to with hard work and dedication.

**The pride I feel in my children’s accomplishments. Their successes were so much more rewarding to me than my own successes were.

**I always have a friend. My daughter had a rough senior year with friends. Every Friday and Saturday we would hang out together. We had quite the bond. My kids are my best friends. I love the relationship I have with my adult children.

**The joy that comes in their successes, and the lessons and learning they glean as they face challenges.

Lots of good “pearls of wisdom” as my dad would say. And definitely some things I’ve taken to heart.

One last bit of parenting wisdom I love from a book I am currently reading, For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards by Jen Hatmaker (oh my word I love Jen Hatmaker–she’s laugh out loud hilarious and her outlook on the world, and life, and parenting, and God is spot on):

“A good parent prepares the child for the path, not the path for the child. We can still demonstrate gentle and attached parenting without raising children who melt on a warm day.”

And with that I say, parent on my people. Love those little people. Love those big people. Trust your intuition. Don’t fret over the small stuff. And don’t forget to take time to be you.

[Suggestion–have your OWN mom answer these questions. I guilt my mom into participating in all of my “fun projects” and I love reading her answers the most. She’s wise, but it’s also super interesting to see her perspective on parenting. You’ll probably benefit from hearing what your own moms have to say.]

Back to life.

Back to reality.

We just got home from a trip to Hawaii with our four kids. I have plans to share some of the things we did and some traveling with kids tips I’ve picked up over the years (and some we learned during this trip) coming soon. I did not adapt well to the 3 hour time-change. My four year old and I were the only ones who seemed to struggle. We were spent by early evening and up before the sun each day.

Now that we’re back, said four year old is crazy sick (story for the upcoming post) and we’re in trip recovery mode.

Thought I’d leave one quick photo from the trip. We spent a morning at Pearl Harbor. I majored in History at BYU and though I’m not a big museum person, this was a site I really wanted my kids to see. I remember going there when I was young with my family and this is the 4th time I’ve been back. It’s sacred ground.

While we were waiting for our tour to start, it started to rain (warm Hawaii rain is one of my most favorite things). It lasted for about 10 minutes (as it does in Hawaii) and the sky started to clear and out came the most perfect double rainbow I’ve ever seen. All around, it was an unreal morning.

More photos and travel tip ideas to come. Time to finish making Valentine’s boxes. Be near, Jesus.

Five books you don’t want to miss

I’m what some people might call a book junkie. I like books. A lot. I read. A lot. I think many people have their “thing.” That thing they’re willing to spend money on (over and over and over). For some people it’s shoes, or hoodies, or kitchen gadgets, or tech-stuff. For me, it’s books. Yes, I know I can get them for “free” at the library (we won’t go into late fees for over-due library books–my library books are never free), but I just like to buy them. Have them for my own. I have no explanation why but I imagine there are a few of you out there who know exactly what I mean.

I’m not being dramatic when I say reading books changes my life. Words have power. Books have power. And I’m a better person from the books I read.

I used to think I’d never adapt to reading on my phone (or Kindle, or iPad). I like the feel of a book in my hands, the smell of pages from a new book. But truth be told, I’m a HUGE fan of the Kindle app on my phone. And have found myself purchasing books through Amazon delivered straight to my Kindle as my go-to book solution for a few reasons. One, I get the book immediately. Amazon prime is great and all, but it doesn’t beat immediate. Two, the Kindle version of a book is generally a few dollars cheaper (and every now and then you can score great deals and find $1.99 versions of Kindle books). And three, you can highlight in the Kindle app and then go to the amazon website and just pull up the parts of the book you highlighted (probably my favorite reason for going Kindle–I highlight. A lot).

Enough about Kindle. Let’s get on to some books. One of my favorite quotes from Glennon Doyle Melton: “Reading is my inhale. Writing is my exhale.” I couldn’t agree more. And “Reading makes you smarter.” I don’t know who said that, but I know without a doubt it’s true.

And let’s not forget good old Dr. Seuss.

That Dr. Seuss knows his stuff. And I’m all about going places. Travel all day every day please.

Today I just wanted to share some of the books I’ve read (and loved) recently and a few quotes I picked out while reading some of them. It’s a random assortment of reading material, but that’s kinda how I roll. Randomly. {You can see my list of 13 books that will inspire better, more meaningful lives HERE.}

1. Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle.

It’s safe to say this is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE books. It’s one of those “everyone should have to read this” kind of books. Gregory is a man who devotes his time to helping young boys get out of gangs. Incredible story. Incredible compassion. Incredible example. Oh my word I love this book. Definitely one not-to-miss.

“We must “trust in the slow work of God.” Ours is a God who waits. Who are we not to? It takes what it takes for the great turnaround. Wait for it.”

“We have grown accustomed to think that loving as God does is hard. We think it’s about moral strain and obligation. We presume it requires a spiritual muscularity of which we are not capable, a layering of burden on top of sacrifice, with a side order of guilt. (But it was love, after all, that made the cross salvific, not the sheer torture of it.)”

“How do you work with the poor?” She answered, “You don’t. You share your life with the poor.” It’s as basic as crying together. It is about “casting your lot” before it ever becomes about “changing their lot.”

2. Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life by Eric Grietens

I feel like I high-lighted nearly this entire book. A former navy-seal giving his friend (struggling with addiction) advice about life and resilience. This books is full of so much wisdom and straight up good life counsel. So so good.

“Everyone has a place where they encounter fear, where they struggle, suffer, and face hardship. We all have battles to fight. And it’s often in those battles that we are most alive: it’s on the frontlines of our lives that we earn wisdom, create joy, forge friendships, discover happiness, find love, and do purposeful work. If you want to win any meaningful kind of victory, you’ll have to fight for it.”

“We build resilience in our lives, we come to see that pain is not something to be eliminated so that we can have joy, any more than fear is something to be eliminated so that we can have courage. Courage overcomes, but does not replace, fear. Joy overcomes, but does not replace, pain.”

3. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

This is a historical fiction book so I didn’t highlight much, but this book was one of those can’t put it down, stay up WAY too late reading it kind of books. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book I enjoyed this much. I got really attached to the characters and cried at the end (I never cry in books. Ever). This is my “recommend to everyone” book right now.

4. 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker

If you haven’t read something by Jen Hatmaker, you’re missing out. She’s a brilliant writer, but she’s also hilarious! I’m on a slow-the-heck-down and GET RID of excess kick lately (like, I want to get rid of eeeerything) so I really enjoyed this one. I’m working my way through all of Jen Hatmaker’s books. She’s worth paying attention to.

“It gets fuzzy once you spend time with people below your rung. I started seeing my stuff with fresh eyes, realizing we had everything. I mean everything. We’ve never missed a meal or even skimped on one.
I was so blinded I didn’t even know we were rich.”

“I’m going to bed tonight grateful for warmth, an advantage so expected it barely registers. May my privileges continue to drive me downward to my brothers and sisters without. Greater yet, I’m tired of calling the suffering “brothers and sisters” when I’d never allow my biological siblings to suffer likewise. That’s just hypocrisy veiled in altruism. I won’t defile my blessings by imagining that I deserve them. Until every human receives the dignity I casually enjoy, I pray my heart aches with tension and my belly rumbles for injustice.”

With my love and compassion for the homeless (and less fortunate) these next two are my FAVORITE:

“It’s almost like Jesus meant what He said. When you’re desperate, usually the best news you can receive is food, water, shelter. These provisions communicate God’s presence infinitely more than a tract or Christian performance in the local park. They convey, “God loves you so dearly, He sent people to your rescue.”

“I guess that’s why “love people” is the second command next to “love God.” And since God’s reputation is hopelessly linked to His followers’ behavior, I suspect He wouldn’t be stuck with His current rap if we spent our time loving others and stocking their cabinets.”

5. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Not to be mistaken with that other Gray book, this is another historical fiction novel that I loved. It’s a story about Lithuanians who were forcibly relocated when Russia took over during WWII. Again I got really attached to the characters and found it super interesting to learn about a part of history I’d never heard about (and I was a history major in college).

Books. They’ll change your life. I can promise you that! And these are five you definitely don’t want to miss.

Any books you’ve read recently you’d like to share? I’m always looking for good book recommendations!

*this post contains affiliate links*

Tips for staying current with your photo documenting.

I’ve never stayed current taking photos and getting them printed from year to year. Truth is, I’ve never tried. Last year I really started to focus on being more intentional about the type of photos I take and getting them printed and into albums so we can actually SEE the photos and relive the emotions of the memories.

I think about this quote all the time: “When you have a printed picture, it forces you to slow down and have an emotional experience with that memory.” (Check out this video of the “dreadlock dad” who scrapbooks–love it)

This is the first year I’m planning to stay current month-t0-month and come December 31st, I’ll have a fully completed album for the year. So far, so good. I’m current right now and can already say how much I love this approach. I thought I’d share some of my tips with you to help YOU make an effort to take the right kind of photos, print them, and stay current with your photo album this year (we’ll talk about past years a little later in this post).

Here’s the approach:

**I’m using the Project Life App to make my album pages. If you’ve been around here for a while, you already know my love for the App. If you’ve never heard of the App, check out this post and this post to see how easy it is to use. This will be my ticket to staying current this year. It’s SO easy to use and I can do it ANYwhere, ANYtime. No stuff. No fluff.

**I’m documenting week-to-week and doing one spread (so two pages) per week. If we do something special, there’s a holiday/birthday, or we go on vacation (please please let there be lots of that this year), there will be more than one spread for that week. This is totally flexible, but generally speaking, one spread per week is adequate to cover what happened without being overwhelming and including more than needs to be included (aka, people eventually want to gauge their eyes out looking at it if there’s too much).

Here are the spreads I’ve done since the year started:

I probably won’t include a “Week 1, week 2, week 3…” card in each spread but in some of them I will. (Those cards are from the 2016 Project 52 kit in the Project Life App

**Each Sunday night, I sort through the photos I’ve taken that week, pick the ones I want to put in the spread, and create the spreads on the Project Life App. This process takes a total of about 20 minutes. 20 minutes per week and by the end of the year, I’ll have a completed album. The key is setting aside the time each week to just DO IT. Pick a day and hold yourself to doing it that day. If you have a hard time getting motivated to DO things you know you really want done, read this post. It helps me SO much to stay motivated to get things done (ANY things).

**The HUGE advantage to doing a spread each week is the journaling. It’s obviously easier to remember what went on that week if you journal about it that week. As I’m playing catch-up on previous years, journaling is much harder because my memory is terrible and I usually can’t remember many details or specifics about what we did or what went on. I’m grateful I at least have a ton of photos to help us remember, but journaling definitely helps document some of the things the camera can’t capture. And if you checked out those posts I mentioned earlier about the app, you can use Siri to do your journaling which saves a TON of time rather than trying to type on itty bitty keys with your thumbs.

This year I’m also attempting a Project 365 where I take at least one photo each day for the entire year. This seemed really daunting to me last year, but I decided to give it a go this year and it honestly has been super easy so far. I generally take at least one photo a day anyway without thinking about it.

**I’m using the Collect Photo App to keep track of my photo a day (I just pick one out of however many I took that day). I add a little text at the bottom of the photo for some journaling and save them in the Calendar. It looks like this:

At the end of the year, I’ll put these photos into a Project Life App spread, print them, and slip them into the front of the Album for the year. This is a sample of what that will look like when I get those into the spreads. Only each photo will have some journaling below it…I think it will be cool to see the entire year at a glance with a photo a day.

**Although I use my phone camera (I have an iPhone 6 plus–someone will ask) for a lot of my daily photo documenting, I also use my dSLR (I have a Canon 5d Mark II–someone will ask) as much as I can as well because the photos are better. Each Sunday, I load whatever photos I’ve taken with my dSLR onto my computer, pick whichever ones I want to include in that weeks spread, put those photos into Dropbox, and then I can access those photos straight through the App (you can see how to access them on the video in the post mentioned earlier). So not ALL the photos in these spreads are coming from a camera phone. Some will be coming from the dSLR as well.

**I delete as I go. Meaning–if I take a bad photo, I delete it right then. Or, on Sundays when I sift through the photos, I delete any I don’t need as well. I’m pretty liberal on my deleting. I don’t need 10 photos of the same-ish thing. This frees up space on my phone and computer and helps with the overwhelm of sifting through waaaaaay too many photos.

**This year I’m really focusing on documenting what our every day lives look like. What we do from day-to-day. What our daily family life is like. What the kids do each day…. I’m pretty passionate about this kind of documenting and you can read ALL about that and learn a ton more with the Every Day Photos Guide here.

**I do my best to take the best photos I can. These ten photo tips for your phone will make a HUGE difference in improving the photos you take with your phone. Some of those tips will also improve the photos you take with a dSLR as well. They’re worth reading.

**Despite my best efforts, some photos still need a little editing (usually because there’s not enough light and the photos need to be brightened). My favorite app for editing photos in the phone is PicTapGo. You can read about some of my favorite Photo Apps for your phone here. I honestly do as little photo editing as possible. I don’t enjoy it so I don’t like to spend much time there. And truth be told, filters usually make photos look worse (in my opinion). But often photos could use a little “lightening up”. You can also edit your photos straight in the Project Life app which I love. This is often all they need. Just brighten a little, and add a little contrast and it can make a big difference to how they look when they’re printed.

**I use just ONE Project Life kit per year. This makes the process much simpler. I also stick with Design A for many of my layouts. I use other layouts if I have a lot of photos I want to add on one particular page. But I try to really simplify how many layout templates I use. Less choices is better for me.

**I’ll be printing these pages as 12×12. I tried the 8×8 but they’re just too small for my taste. This is totally personal preference. I use the 8×8 for recipe pages from the App (super love this way to save all my recipes), but for the family photo books, I’m sticking with 12×12 for now. You can print straight through the App, OR, buy print credits from Persnickety Prints when they do a sale twice a year! The print quality is excellent either way and the price is exceptional (you can’t even get 12×12’s from Costco for this cheap–and they are professional quality prints)

I also found this post from Becky Higgins incredibly helpful with tons of tips for staying current with family photo albums (and tips for catching up with past ones). She’s been a scrapbooker since she came out of the womb and she knows what she’s talking about. It’s a long post, but it’s full of a ton of really practical tips to help simplify this whole process.

A quick bit about past years and trying to “catch up”. I’m using both the physical Project Life system AND the app to catch up with past years. If I already have photos printed, I’m using the physical system. If I don’t have photos printed (they’re all digital on the computer), I’m sorting through those photos on my computer, being very selective about the ones I want to use (600ish per year–some years I have close to 15,000 photos in a year so I really have to narrow these down), putting them in Dropbox, and using the App to catch up on past years. I’m partial to the app because I can do it anywhere and I don’t have to get any “stuff” out. So instead of getting on Facebook or other things I may otherwise do while killing time here and there, I’ll get on the app and do a few spreads for past years. The key to this is organizing the photos into monthly folders in Dropbox. Otherwise it’s hard to remember which photos you’ve used and which ones you haven’t.

**My advice for people just starting–pick something you LOVE and start with an album for that. When I first started, I did an album just of Lake Powell trips we’ve taken. I love Lake Powell. So it was fun to print those photos off and create an album (this was before the app was around). Then decide what you want to do next…Year-t0-year, different vacations, holidays….totally up to you.

I also recommend starting where you are. So instead of fretting about how far behind you are, just START NOW and do this year. And as you get the hang of it, and learn what works and doesn’t work for you, you can slowly start printing photos (or putting them in the app) from past years and working on getting those in albums. Or, you can get your kids to help you. This is by far one of my favorite gifts to give my kids and it takes some of the pressure off me to get photo books printed for each of them.

**YOU CAN DO THIS. If I can do it, YOU can do it. I promise. You just have to have a strong enough “WHY”. Why are you doing it?? Really, stop and come up with an answer for this. Take time to figure out your why (good advice for ANYthing you do in life). If your answer really truly matters to you, you’ll find a way to get this done. You just have to PLAN time to do it, and stay consistent. It’s hard-ish. It takes work. I won’t lie about that. But anything worth doing is hard. And it’s also worth it.

**Last tip (that I got from Becky who got it from the great Stephen Covey): BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND. What do you want the end product to look like? Why are you doing it? Who is it for? What stories do you want to tell? What do you want your kids to know about your family life? What do you want your ancestors to know? What’s important to you day-to-day? Think about the END product and work your way back to the start. And then, START. This really helped me get a better vision of how I wanted to document our family through photos.

That’s probably enough info for one day. The thing I’d emphasize the most with all of this–just START. Start somewhere. Anywhere. Be more intentional about the type of photos you take and make an effort to get them off your phone/camera and into your home where your family can enjoy them. It’s SO worth it.

Questions? Comment below or as always, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]!!

What a start.

Wow. 2016 didn’t start the way I had anticipated and planned. Although I think the concept of New Years Eve and staying up until midnight to ring in a New Year is kinda weird, I do look forward to new years and the feeling of fresh starts.

Last year I started writing down my goals and found a lot of great resources to help me make, set, and keep better goals.

We spent New Years Eve in Laketown by Bear Lake in Utah. It was cold (-6 degrees at night) but beautiful and nice to get away from the house. We spent time with family and friends in a quaint little house filled with 6 adults and 11 kids under the age of 11. It was crazy-town.

When we got home, I had high hopes of working on my goals (narrowing them down and getting them on paper), continuing with my effort to de-clutter the entire house using the Kon Mari method, and work on some of the health and fitness goals I’m planning for this year.

And then I got strep throat. A day after feeling better from that (strep hurts–bad), I got a nasty stomach virus along with two of my kids. Since then, someone in our family has been sick for the last 17 days. Once I started feeling better, each member of the family worked their way through the bug and we’re still trying to fully recover.

Friday I went skiing with a friend to get out of the house and regroup after two very long weeks. After 5 or 6 runs down the mountain, I got crazy dizzy, light-headed and super nauseous. I ended up in the Lodge in a puddle of a mess and begged my friend to take a few more runs on her own (ski tickets are anything but cheap and we had been so excited for our day together–super frustrating). I slept on-and-off on a table in the lodge while she got herself stuck on the edge of the cliff and was lucky to make it down in one piece. By the time I made it home I was a mess.

After consulting with my dad (who is a doctor), it appears I possibly have an inner ear infection which makes you dizzy and nauseous anytime you move your head. It’s less than ideal. And quite frustrating after weeks of family illness.

But. I can’t put off all the things I want/need to do any longer. And being here, on the blog, is a high priority for me this year. I love this space and the opportunity it gives me to connect with all of you. So I’m holding my head really still and grateful for the medication that seems to be helping.

Onward and Upward. Sort of.

I thought I’d share the top 5 most popular posts from 2015 in case anyone missed some of these, starting with the 5th most popular and working our way down.

Number Five: How much do you weigh This is a series about how I lost all my baby weight after four kids. I’ll actually be re-visiting this series in the days to come so stay tuned.

Number Four: The Project Life App. A game changer. If you’ve been around long, you know my love for the Project Life App and how it’s helping me catch up and stay current with documenting our family through photos. Later this week I’ll be talking about how I’m documenting 2016 and how I’m catching up on previous years of photos.

Number Three: Ten Phone Photography Tips that will change everything about your photos. If you don’t have this free eBook yet, I think you’ll like it. Ten simple tips to help you make photos from your phone look better. Although I’ll always advocate for using better dSLR cameras when we can, more and more of us are documenting our daily lives with our phones. These ten tips can dramatically improve those photos.

Number Two: Books that inspire better more meaningful living. Every one of these books is worth reading. Some of my favorites of all time. You can also find more book suggestions in the “worth reading” tab in the menu bar above.

And the NUMBER ONE post from all of last year: How to help someone in need for ANY reason. This post took a ton of time and I had dozens of people help me and give me suggestions for this one. It’s one of the best posts I’ve ever put together and incredibly helpful. I refer to it often when trying to do things for other people. Tons of suggestions and ideas on things to DO and GIVE to people who are in need for whatever reason. Definitely worth checking out.

As always, THANK YOU for being here. For your support. For coming back over and over again to read the things I write. I am nothing but grateful. 2016 started out rough, but I’m planning on a lot of great things this year.

If this is your first time here, check out the about page and see what the intent of this blog is and stick around for awhile.