TEXT ALONE: Testimonies, speeches, church talks, stories, and personal essays.

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Theresa Lambert
5 years ago
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WHAT IS A BLOG? Originally termed a web log, a web-based, on-going journal published on the internet is now known as a blog. Each entry is known as a post.

A blog can be a completely private diary (read by no-one but you), or accessible only to whomever the author specifically chooses, or open to anyone on the web.

Use your blog to reflect on life with a sentimental quality. Use text alone, or photos with captions, explanations, and journaling. You may also post video clips on your blog.

PHOTOS AND JOURNALING COMBINED: Daily Life: 1st day of school Family dinner All dressed up for church Tickle and giggle sessions Lost tooth Family pet Jumping on the trampoline Cute things the kids

Vacations/Travels: Weekend jaunts or two-week trips Extended stays o Our family recently moved from Utah to Boston for one year.

1 WHAT IS A BLOG? Originally termed a web log, a web-based, on-going journal published on the internet is now known as a blog. Each entry is known as a post. A blog is simple to set up, easy to use, and free. A blog can be a completely private diary (read by no-one but you), or accessible only to whomever the author specifically chooses, or open to anyone on the web. A blog can highlight anything you choose and is a wonderful way to use technology to create the ultimate record of your family story. WHAT IS A BLOG ABOUT? Anything you choose. Use your blog to reflect on life with a sentimental quality. Use text alone, or photos with captions, explanations, and journaling. You may also post video clips on your blog. The following are some ideas for your content. TEXT ALONE: Testimonies, speeches, church talks, stories, and personal essays. PHOTOS AND JOURNALING COMBINED: Daily Life: 1st day of school Family dinner All dressed up for church Tickle and giggle sessions Lost tooth Family pet Jumping on the trampoline Cute things the kids say and do Births and deaths Celebrations: Birthdays and anniversaries Graduations and award ceremonies Baby blessings and baptisms Farewells and homecomings Holiday happenings Family reunions Vacations/Travels: Weekend jaunts or two-week trips Extended stays o Our family recently moved from Utah to Boston for one year. I kept a separate blog for that long vacation and printed it in a separate book. If you travel frequently you may want to consider having a travel blog and a separate family blog. Activities: Sporting events Musical recitals and dramatic productions Proms and homecoming events Important Reminders: ** Remember that, while you ll normally choose your happiest, most memorable moments to record, it is more authentic to also include trials and adversities. For instance, the hospital stay of an ill child deserves highlighting, as does the faith required to see you through the hardship. Although using your blog as a forum to complain about life is in no way encouraged, documenting your journey through the obstacles and the strengths gained by doing so, certainly is. ** Always avoid posting material on your blog that could be sensitive or offensive to other people. This includes words and photos. For example, it may be common knowledge in your family that Uncle Soand-So is an alcoholic, but it s not appropriate to post. By the same token, photos that are cute now (like a child picking his nose), will embarrass him later. ** If you are maintaining your blog as a way to record your family s story, make sure it is password protected (you can do this when you set up your blog) so that only family and friends can view it. Then, be sure to use specific dates, names, and places to provide an accurate and thorough written history. ** Be wary of unwarranted attention; blog stalking is possible. If your blog is open to public viewing, avoid using last names at the very least, or give nicknames to the people you blog about and leave out personal details about locations, schools, streets, etc..

2 WHY BLOG? 1. To Connect Your Family 2. To Present & Share Your Lifestyle with Friends & Loved Ones 3. To Create Virtual and/or Printed Family & Personal Stories WHY BLOGGING CREATES COLORFUL FAMILY CONNECTIONS? 1. Family experiences are accessible for grown up children who live away from home. 2. The family story remains virtual indefinitely. 3. A missionary s (or missionary couple s) experiences are recorded for loved ones to share. 4. The geographical gap is closed for loved ones. 5. An invitation is extended to others (family and friends) to be involved in your life. 6. The Gospel in action can be shared through your blog 7. Printed copies are easily made for a few or many people, at any time from now to the distant future. 8. The account of your life is put in the hands and hearts of family members. WHO CAN BLOG? Anyone from a teenager to a greatgrandma can run a blog. It is not age specific, just dependent on desire. Blogs can be maintained and updated by a single person or by a group of people. WHO BLOGGING CONNECTS? Those living both near and far from you. Those who you haven t seen in a while, and those you see every day. This could include: Extended Family (grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc) Children (college students, wayward children) Missionaries Those serving in the military (spouse, children) Divorced/Step families Non-LDS family members Family members who are confined (hospitalized, rest home, imprisoned) WHEN TO BLOG? Whenever works for you. The most important thing is consistency. It can be daily, weekly (Sundays work well), or monthly. HOW TO BLOG You will Need: Access to a computer and the Internet Some content for your blog Willingness to keep up your blog How to Set-Up a Blog: You can sign up and set up a free blog at (click on the orange button that says Create a Blog ). Follow Blogger s easy step-by-step process to create your blog. It will prompt you from beginning to end and requires almost no technical know-how. Once you sign up at Blogger, you will have a gallery of ready-made templates to choose from. With these, you can pick a color scheme and layout for your blog. You can choose to add personal information to your profile if you desire. Decide whether you want your blog to be private or public. Do you want any Internet visitor to be able to read your blog, or do you just want your friends and family to be able to read it? Blogger offers the ability to password-protect your published posts so only those who you approve of can view what you ve written. After you ve set up your blog, write a few posts to test it out, and make any adjustments to the layout or style that you see fit. At first, it may seem difficult to decide what to write, but once you get into a routine of blogging, you will find it simpler and satisfying. your friends and family your blog website address (you will choose this during set up) and invite 2

HOW TO BLOG CONT. them to visit your blog. The website address is known as a url and will look something like this http://www.yourblogaddress.blogspot. com.

You can work on a post but then publish it later by saving it with the Save Now button. This will save it as a draft in a draft folder. You can change the date of a post.

3 HOW TO BLOG CONT. them to visit your blog. The website address is known as a url and will look something like this com. Writing Tips: Get into a routine of blogging. Make it part of your day (or week or month). Soon, you will notice things and think, Hey, I ll blog this. You can work on a post but then publish it later by saving it with the Save Now button. This will save it as a draft in a draft folder. You can change the date of a post. For example, if you didn t have time to blog about a birthday party, and want to add it in after you have published other posts, then write about the birthday party and post it in chronological order by pressing Post Options and then entering the post date you desire. How to Print Your Blog in Book Form The site can easily turn your blog into a book. Blurb actually slurps your blog onto their site and then you just re-arrange the pages how you want them. (There are other websites that do the same thing. Google Search the words Print Blog and do your own comparison.) HOW BLOGS CAN CREATE COLORFUL FAMILY CONNECTIONS Below are some specific types of at Easter time, the anniversary of greatgreat-grandpa joining the Church, or blogs that you can create to keep your family connected. Depending every month around Fast Sunday. on the purpose, you may have several authors contribute to one blog, month the entire extended family 3. Monday Madness. Once per or just one author keep the blog. has the same FHE lesson, sings the Personal Family Blog same songs, and enjoys the same This is contributed to by only one treat. Rotate the leader who designates the lesson and details. person (or different people in the same immediate family, like your Family Recipe Blog children), but other family members and friends can read it. Ideas contribute to the very same blog. Members of an extended family all for content are listed above in the 1. Everyone makes the same meal What Is a Blog About section. on the same night and rates them. 2. Everyone shares their favorite new or old recipe. 3. Anyone can share family heirloom recipes. Missionary Blog 1. Kept by the missionary himself (ONLY if allowed, and on P Day of course). Extended Family Blog 2. Kept by missionary s mom for Members of an extended family, friends and family to see. who may live close or far from 3. Kept by senior missionaries for one another, all contribute to the everyone to see. same blog. Ideas for content are Ancestor Highlights listed above in the What Is a Blog Everyone in the family contributes, but it can be about living or About section. Faraway Family Home deceased family. Evening Blog 1. Someone interviews grandpa Members of an extended family all each week and posts the stories. contribute to the very same FHE blog. 2. Important events (births, marriages, baptisms) are documented. 1. Have a contest. For example, at Christmas time, have a gingerbread house making or snowman 3. Genealogical information is kept with photos. building contest no matter where 4. Handed-down in the world you are and post your family stories are pictures of the results and grandpa kept. picks the winner. 2. Testimony bearing. Everyone posts individual testimonies. This could be 3

SAMPLE BLOG POST Wednesday, January 21, 2009

We either need a smaller tent or a bigger

4 SAMPLE BLOG POST Wednesday, January 21, 2009 Camping in the Winter Due to the long holiday weekend our family decided to go camping last Friday night. We either need a smaller tent or a bigger family room. I ll take one of each, please. We went fishing. I caught me a big one. 4

Or inside the tent next to the gas fireplace.

5 Not a happy camper. He was feeling a little under the weather. Another reason we were glad we got such a great camping spot. A story by the campfire. Or inside the tent next to the gas fireplace. Either way, the story s still good. A movie under the stars. Or under the tent which is under the roof which is under the stars. Either way, the movie s still good. 5

SAMPLE BLOG POST Sunday, March 22, 2009 Top o the Mornin to Ya Sadie stayed home from school on Monday and Tuesday with what we thought was the stomach flu (ends up it was Strep).

Fun mom was lurking about this week, so I grabbed some green food coloring and squirt it into the soup. The second the green drops began dispersing into the soup I knew I had made a HUGE mistake!

6 SAMPLE BLOG POST Sunday, March 22, 2009 Top o the Mornin to Ya Sadie stayed home from school on Monday and Tuesday with what we thought was the stomach flu (ends up it was Strep). On Tuesday she asked if I could make her homemade chicken noodle soup. I agreed, but just before I was about to serve the soup I remembered that it was St. Patty s Day. Fun mom was lurking about this week, so I grabbed some green food coloring and squirt it into the soup. The second the green drops began dispersing into the soup I knew I had made a HUGE mistake! But there was no undoing what I had done. Just take a gander at what I had just done: And if you know my Sadie, you know she is one of the world s pickiest eaters. I had to make a plan and I had to make it fast! She hadn t eaten anything all day. So here is a picture of my family at dinner: You can t tell from the picture, but all of the lights are out. Just before I called them down to dinner I quickly turned out all of the lights so they could not see what they were eating (or at least the color of what they were eating). Why are the lights out? they asked. 6

7 Oh just an old St. Patty s Day tradition of eating in the dark, I replied. (I figured this probably wasn t lying. There had to be plenty o evenings during the potato famine when the Irish ate in the dark because they were too poor to buy candles.) It was still light outside, though, so a little bit of light was shining through the blinds. I happened to snap a picture right when Sadie s eyes adjusted to the dark. Look at her looking at her disgusting green chicken noodle soup (even Travis and I preferred the lights out): Poor girl. Sick from a bacteria and from looking at her mom s homemade soup. 7

Personal History (for Adults)

Personal History (for Adults) YOUR STORY... It is always fun to find out about our ancestors; who they were, where they were from, where they lived, etc. But it is even more fun to find out the day to day things about how they lived.