Welcome to the This is Me Challenge!

Welcome to the TIMC! 

 

This blog is my personal history brain child--something I came up with trying to get my parents to record their personal histories for me.  I started off doing email questions, but then I figured there are probably plenty of people out there who also want to get their parents, grandparents or even their own personal histories recorded.  So I decided to start this little blog in an effort to help anyone who wanted to get their stories recorded before they got forgotten!

After 3 years of diligently doing the challenges and recording many facets and facts of my life, I found that I no longer had the time needed to keep going on...plus so much was already covered that I couldn't really think of many more questions.  I decided to call it quits on the new challenges, but I've left the blog up for any newcomers.

Here's a quick explanation of the different things you can find on the blog:

If you would like to do the challenges as I gave them out, I'd suggest starting with the Challenge Link List.  It has all of the questions written out, plus a link to the original post so you can see what I and my team members came up with to give you ideas!  Some of the challenges are different questions than the norm.   There are also 10 bonus questions as well!

If you are itching to record your history in a timeline/subject format, check out the Personal History in Depth page that goes through all the questions you could use to record an in-depth personal history.  You can also use the list for interview questions when visiting an elderly relative.  Get out the voice recorder and ask away!

If you have children, you can start recording their histories with some ideas found on the Personal Histories for Kids page.  Lots of fun ideas there to remember some of those special milestones!

The idea of this blog was that not everyone likes to record their stories in the same way.  Some like to write, others are comfortable with video, and still others are into scrapbooking.  There are many more ways to record your story.  Check out some of them and maybe get an idea for how you'd like to record your story on the Ideas for Completing the Challenges page.

If you like just short, simple and sweet questions, check out Fast Fact Fridays!  They were five little questions I gave out on Fridays for those who just wanted to record their lives in quick and simple ways.  At the end, I started using questions from the personal history in depth to help people get their histories recorded quickly if they wanted to. 

And last but not least, if you find you are loving these challenges, share the blog with your friends who may also like a fun way to record their stories! 

Thanks for stopping by!  And enjoy recording your history!  -Emily

Challenge # 63—So Much Alike

Today’s challenge is kind of a fun one that I’d never really given much thought about recording before.  One day I was thinking about how I’m more like my dad than my mom, and I wondered which of their parents that my parents were more like.  I of course thought, “That would be a fun thing to record…I will make it a challenge!”  So…

Who in your family are you most like?

It can be one of your parents, a grandparent, a sibling, a cousins, etc.  Just pick someone who has similar traits, mannerisms and/or looks as you.  Of course, you can choose more than one person. 

This would be a fun challenge for kids to do, or do as a family activity.  I know two of my boys are similar in personalities—more so than my twins, and that would be fun to record.  You could also choose a person whom you want to record about and have him/her do the same for you, then put them together!

If you are adopted, you could do a fun twist on this by recording which traits, mannerisms or habits of your parents/family members you’ve picked up on, even though you don’t have the same genetics.  If you know your birth parents, you could tie back into the things that are similar, even though you weren’t raised by them.  Oh, the possibilities!

Here are some ideas to help get you started:  (I wish I would’ve come up with this list before I did mine, because there are a few things I didn’t think about recording!)

Physical features—hair color, skin tone, same eyes/nose/chin/etc., long or short legs or torso, small or big feet, etc.
Mannerisms—cocking your head, making a certain face, something you do while listening, etc.
Traits—being able to do things like rolling your tongue, flexibility, athleticism, skills, smart, etc.
Other—personality, kind hearted, shy/outgoing, a natural leader, good listener, organized, volunteer, hobbies, interests, etc.

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What I did:

I decided to just make a quick digital scrapbook page of some of the things my dad and I have in common.  I wish I would’ve had a picture of the two of us together, but I can’t even remember the last time we had one taken.  It’s on my to-do list now!  I think I may do another version of this challenge too—my littlest sister and I look alike, but we are nothing alike in personalities.  I want to record about how she is my “twin” as far as looks go though.

Supplies: Template—Jessica Sprague.  Papers—Persnickety Prints.  Border—LivE.  Fonts—My Own Topher, CK Carolyn, CK Higgins Handprint.

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Now go record what you have in common with someone you love! 

Challenge #62—We Need a Hero

First off—I’m sorry that I totally spaced the Fast Fact Friday.  Again.  I’m trying to do better, but seem to only be getting worse at it.  I even have a reminder on my phone.  Life is just crazy and busy. 

On to the new challenge: 

Who is your hero?  Why?

You can focus on one person who has done something (or a lot of things) that you admire.  You can talk about a few different people who have inspired you to become better.  You can make a list of many people and the ways they inspire you.  It’s totally up to you.  

Think of close friends, family, community or religious leaders, or even someone you don’t know personally, but admire because of their exemplary life.  Think of people who’ve been heroes in different ways—someone in the military, someone who speaks of peace and serenity, or someone who has beat all the odds.  Keep it simple or make it elaborate—however you want to record it, it’s your story! 

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What Laura did:

Laura made a simple layout showcasing four people she views as her heroes.

Supplies - cardstock - Club Scrap; patterned paper - unknown; letters - AC Thickers; journaling spot and embellishment – Jillibean

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What I did:

I really wanted to just make a list of all the people who are my heroes, and tell a little bit why…then I found this cute paper and happened to have a picture that I could use and ended up making a real scrapbook page.  I have gone mostly digital, but still really love “getting my hands dirty”, so it was fun to do something simple with my hands instead of my finger on the mouse.  

Supplies: Paper: Die Cuts with a View.  Letter stickers: SEI.  Washi tape: unknown. 

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Now I challenge you to record about your hero too!

Challenge #53—The Best Job Ever!

Today’s challenge is all about your favorite job…it doesn’t have to be your current job, your first job, or even your highest paid job!

What was/is your favorite job?  (Or who was your favorite boss?)

You can have more than one favorite if you can’t decide on only one.  As part of your documenting, think about some of your duties you enjoyed, the people you worked with, or what other aspects made it your favorite job.  If you’re going to focus on your favorite boss, tell why s/he was your favorite, and what qualities you admired about them, or why it was fun to work them.

Here’s a look at a few examples for you!

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What Laura did:

Supplies Used: Cardstock – Bazzill; Patterned Paper – Scenic Route; Chipboard – Scenic Route; Ribbon – American Crafts; Title – Thickers by American Crafts

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What Allison did:

Coming soon…

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What I did:

I am a total slacker this week.  I had intended to make a scrapbook page, but between a million things on my to-do list, going out of town today and food poisoning, I am just not quite done with it  haven’t really started it yet.  Here’s the journaling I’m going to put with it.  (Which if I don’t ever get the scrapbooking page done, at least I have some words written down about it!)   It’s pretty long, and you so don’t even have to read it if you don’t want to!

For as long as I could remember, I wanted to be 3 things: a teacher, a photographer and a mom. 

When I was in preschool I got some flashcards with sight words to take home—and I taught my little sister how to read!  I had such good teachers throughout elementary school and quite a few in Jr. High and High School, and I wanted to be like all of them.

When I was looking at colleges, I looked at their Elementary Education programs, and chose the school with the best one in the state!  Thank goodness I got in! (It would’ve been so sad if I hadn’t!)   Throughout the course of my major classes, I had so many opportunities to go into classrooms and try my hand at teaching.  I felt comfortable and confident in my student teaching and couldn’t wait to find a real teaching job.  After 5 years of schooling, I graduated with a double major in Elementary and Early Childhood Education.

I was hired to teach Kindergarten, and I loved almost every minute of it!  I had such fun kids in my class, and an awesome mentoring teacher.  We also had a wonderful principal who was so willing to listen and work out problems with me.  I loved working with the children…seeing that moment when it just clicked and they grasped a concept was the biggest reward!  I also had the chance to help a lot of kids who didn’t get much love at home.  Some of their circumstances were less than ideal, so it was very fulfilling to help them the best I could. 

I only taught for two years, and quit when I had my first baby.  This is one of my current jobs, and my very favorite if I had to choose between the 3.  I love my boys so much, and can’t imagine life without them.  They bring so much joy and happiness into our home, and even with the messes they make, the trouble they get into, and the things they destroy, I still love them more than life itself!  I love watching them learn and grow.  I love playing with them and listening to their fun imaginations.  I love that they are a part of me, and love me for who I am!

And though I love my children dearly, I sometimes need a break from them.  And that’s where the photography comes in.  I have loved photography from the time I was in High School, and when I was in college, my parents got me a used SLR camera for a Christmas present one year.  I loved taking pictures!  When my oldest was born, I started taking “portraits” of him and loved how they turned out!  I did a mini portrait session of him each month of his first year.  I did this for my 2nd as well.  Then, when he was about a year old, I broke down and got my first DSLR.  From then on, I started taking pictures of my nieces and nephews as well as my kids, and it just kind of evolved into more people asking me to take their pictures.  A couple of years ago I took the plunge and started taking on clients.  It’s been so much fun to have a little break from the boys, and do something I love! 

So, in the end, I’ve fulfilled my dreams of the 3 things I really wanted to be when I grew up…and they are all jobs I have truly loved and call my favorites!

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Now I challenge you to record about your favorite jobs!

Challenge #44—Almost Famous

Today’s challenge is a fun one…it doesn’t really tell much of your character, but more of a fun experience you may have had!

Who is the most famous person you have met? 
(Or even just seen close up?)

If you are super-star studded and have met many famous people, you can make a list or tell stories.  If you have pictures, be sure to put them with it!  If you have only seen a few famous people, you can go into more detail and tell the story.  If you’ve never met anyone famous, but have seen someone up close, tell the circumstances of the incident.  And if you’ve never seen anyone somewhat famous, you can always tell about the most famous person you know—maybe a local celebrity or someone who is just as awesome as a famous person in your eyes!

And remember, that you don’t have to spend a lot of time on the challenges.  You can do them in as little as 5 minutes by doing a quick write-up, or take up to 3 hours making the perfect scrapbook page or writing a song about it!  It doesn’t matter how you record it!  You don’t even have to do it the same way every time.

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What Laura did:

The first famous person I ever met was someone I didn’t actually know was a famous person.  I was attending a concert with my mom (don’t remember who we saw).  I was definitely in grammar school, but don’t recall what grade I was in.  I sat down, and the person next to me introduced himself to me as Brendan Byrne.  He was the governor of NJ from 1974-1982.  When I was younger, I didn’t have any desire to learn about our past or present history, so I sadly have to say that I didn’t know anything about him.

The next famous person I met was when I was in NY City attending the musical “The Goodbye Girl” starring Martin Short and Bernadette Peters.  After the show, we went to the door of the studio where all the actors leave from.  We were lucky to have been standing right in the pathway of Martin Short.  I was able to get his autograph on the Playbill of the show.

At another show we saw in NY City (“Grease”) in 1994, Maureen McCormick (the Brady Bunch) starred in the show as Rizzo.  We again waited at the actor’s exit door at the end of the show and luckily was able to get her autograph as well.

And, back in 1999, I attended Country Music’s Fan Fair in Nashville, TN.  I was able to meet new and upcoming artists, as well as current popular singers.  I stood in line for over an hour to meet, have my picture taken, and get the group Lone Star’s autograph.  The entire few days I was in Nashville was one of the best events I have ever attended.  If you are a big country music fan, this is an event you should at least attend once in your life.

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What Rachel did:

Coming very soon…please check back to see her completed challenge!

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What I did:

I have never really met anyone famous, so I didn’t want to spend the time making a scrapbook page about it.  Instead I just wrote about a few close encounters.

I feel lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to attend so many Jazz basketball games.  Not that we’ve ever paid for any…salesmen trying to butter up Quinn and get him to buy their products are always the ones who have paid.   We get pretty good seats every time too.  We’ve been as close as the 5th row and probably around the 30th row as the furthest away, plus we’ve been able to be in a suite 4 or 5 times.  It’s pretty awesome—one perk that I definitely don’t mind at all!

Because we’ve been to so many games, I’ve been able to see quite a few famous ballers up close.  (Anyone who’s played for the Jazz in the last 10 years and lots of all-stars from other teams, plus some retired Jazz men who’ve come to games.)  I’d have to try really hard to make a list of who I’ve seen.

But, I do have a few close encounters with some famous players.

The first was really close—when I was like 12 or 13, Karl Malone was doing a promo for a local bank and I stood in line with my family for an hour to get his autograph on a poster.  It was close, but I don’t even remember him looking up at me, which I can see why with thousands of autographs to sign in a few hours time.

The second one was not too long ago.  We’d gone to Rumbi’s for dinner in Draper and when I got to the front of the line, I noticed ex-Jazz Man Thurl Bailey waiting for his food.  Inside I was seriously jumping up and down to be so close to him, but in reality I was scared to even give him a smile.  I completely ignored him (sheesh, what is wrong with me?), but what I really wanted to do was go talk to him about the last Jazz game and what he’d said about it.  (He’s a commentator for the games on TV now.)

The third close encounter was a few years ago.  Quinn had an awards banquet breakfast at the Grand America Hotel (the fanciest hotel in Salt Lake).  As we were walking down the hall, I noticed a really tall man in a suit walking down the hall from us.  He looked over at us just before he turned down another hallway.  I’m sure he was laughing at the startled look on my face when I said to Quinn, “That’s Shaq!”  (He was in town for a game against the Jazz.) Quinn, being the ever-cool man that he is, just smiled and nodded his head at Shaq while I was just bursting and giggling inside.  I had really wished then too that I’d had the guts to just go up to him and get a picture or an autograph or something. 

Yes, I get all star-struck.  Maybe someday I’ll actually get a real picture too…

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Now I challenge you to record about your famous encounter(s)…or lack thereof!

A fun personal history game for family reunions!

This last weekend I had a family reunion at my house (with my parents and siblings).  I was thinking it would be fun to come up with a fun way to get them to record some things about when they were little and share them with everyone.  So, here’s what I did:  (And hopefully this is not too confusing.)

I wrote at the top of the paper, “When you were a kid…”.  Then I listed 10 things each person had to answer.  I gave the papers to each person and told them fill them out and not to show their answers to anyone.  



When everyone had filled out their forms, I went through all of them, and wrote down one person’s answer for each question, and put their name next to it.   I made sure that everyone had at least one thing on there.



Next it was time for guessing.  I gave everyone an answer sheet to fill out.  I know this is kind of confusing, so here’s a detail of what I did—question #1 was “What was your favorite TV show?”  and #2 was “What was one crazy/funny/silly thing you did?”.  When it was time for everyone to answer, I said, “This person’s favorite TV show was ‘Saved By the Bell’.  Then everyone wrote who they thought it was.  Next, I said, “This person gargle the ABC’s in a school talent show”.  Then everyone wrote who they thought did that, and so on.

When all the questions were given, I asked who they thought #1 was, told them who it was, and asked who got it right.  Then I read everyone’s answers for #1, so we could all hear what everyone’s favorite TV show was.  (And to hear all the funny, crazy and dumb things we did as kids!  I found out that my mom got a speeding ticket just after she turned 16, and had lied about where she was going, so then she had to tell her mom about why she was where she was when she got the ticket!  My brother was at a sleepover, and he and his friends toilet papered our house and got caught by our neighbor!   My husband threw a snowball at the neighbor’s window and broke it!)


It was a hit, to say the least!  Even the kids (as in my kids) were enchanted by listening to all the funny stories of things their parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents did when they were kids!   Most people got 4 or 5 right, but my dad got 9 right, and my brother got 2 right.  I gave a 1st place prize and a booby prize out. 

Here are the questions I used: What was your favorite TV show?  What was one silly, crazy, or funny thing you did?  Who was your hero?  What was your favorite toy?  What was your favorite outside activity?  What was your favorite food?  What was your favorite candy bar?  What was your favorite chore?  What was your least favorite chore?  What was one bad mistake you made? 

More questions I thought about (or that my family suggested) using for next time:  What was your favorite color?  Who was one of your best friends?  What was your favorite book?  Where was your favorite family vacation?  What was the most painful thing you did?  What was your most embarrassing moment?  What was your favorite pet?  Who was your favorite teacher?  What did you like to do in the summer/fall/winter/spring?  What did you want to be when you grew up? 

Suggestions: 
*Do this with the adults only, at least if they are kid questions.   You could do a variance on it with the children and do favorites now.  (It will just be very dated if you do things like movies and there are more than 2 generations involved.)
*Have one question (or more) per person—otherwise not everyone will get to have their name on the list.  If you are having a large reunion with more than 3 generations, just have the oldest generation (or two) answer the questions and have everyone guess. 
*It’s okay to have more than one person with the same answer on a question—it just makes more guesses available.

Bonus Challenge #2--Ode to Men

Since today is Father’s Day, I thought I’d throw a bonus challenge in today:

Who are the most influential men in your life?

Record who they are and why! (And it doesn’t have to be someone who is a dad either. It could be a neighbor, a teacher, a leader, a friend.)

Challenge #9--Once upon a time…

No, this isn’t a fairy tale challenge! But close…enough.

This week’s challenge: Make a timeline of your life!

This does sound hard, but in fact, it is quite easy! Think of the most important dates of your life and just put them in order! I recommend starting with the dates you know in your head already (even if it’s just a year): birth date, HS/college graduation, wedding, children, etc. Start with the big things—the things that really have made an impact on your life! Next, fill in with the smaller things: moving, jobs, religious ordinances, etc. Obviously, the older you are, the more you will have to fill in!

You can type this in a document, make a scrapbook page of it, scan some pictures and turn them into a slideshow with music and dates on them, or write it in a blog.

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What I did: I opened up a new Word document and did my timeline vertically as opposed to horizontally in the picture (which I just totally made up for the sake of having something visual on this post). I started with the dates that I knew by heart, even if it was just the month and year. Then I filled in the smaller things that I thought might be important. I saved it in my “This is Me Challenges” folder. I wanted to do it this way, because I can add to it as I go. (Hopefully that will be a long time!)

I am not posting a picture of what I really did, due to the sensitive, personal nature of it. (And I recommend that you don’t publish it on your public blog if that’s how you’re completing your challenges.) Here is a basic look at what mine looks like:

(Date): Born in (City, State)

(Date): Moved from (address to address)

(Date): Started High School

(Date): Graduated from ________High School

(Date): Graduated from _______ University

(Date): Got married to __________ in ___________

(Date): Bought 1st house in _________

(Date): Had first child

(Date): Moved to _______

etc.

Now, I challenge you to make a timeline of your life! You might be surprised at how fun it is to see all that you’ve done in your life in one little place!

P.S. I am just wondering if anyone is doing these challenges. There’s a little spot down at the bottom of each challenge to mark if you are going to take the challenge. Then when you finish the challenge, mark the other box. Getting feedback will help me know that what I’m doing is helping you! Thanks!

Bonus Challenge #1--Ode to Women

If you need a bonus challenge this week, here's one for you: "Who are the most influential women in your life, and why?"
(Because Sunday was Mother's Day, I hope this one is easy to do!)