There are so many parts of memory keeping that you can always catch up on.

You can assemble photo books later.
You can organize your photos someday.
You can even create a video archive years down the road.

But there are a few memories that can only be captured in the moment.

And once they pass… they’re gone.

Because I spend an embarrassing amount of time thinking about documenting family memories (truly… probably too much time lol), I’ve realized there are a few things I wish I had done differently with my older kids.

Things that felt small at the time but now feel really meaningful.

I thought it might be fun to share some of my memory keeping regrets.

Maybe we can commiserate together.
Or if you're earlier in your memory keeping journey, maybe you can capture these moments in ways I wish I had.

My Biggest Memory Keeping Regret

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of our most meaningful religious traditions is something called a Baby Blessing.

When our babies are a few months old, they are blessed in front of our congregation and officially given their name. During the blessing, their father gives a prayer asking God to bless their life in specific ways.

Each blessing is unique and personal.

When my first three babies were blessed, I wrote down notes afterward and saved them in our Photo Book Archive.

Those little notes are still incredibly special. Our girls love hearing what was said during their blessings.

But recently our son was blessed—and this time I did something different.

What I Did Differently This Time

For my son’s blessing, I audio recorded the entire blessing.

Later that day, I sat down and transcribed the blessing word for word. I’ll be including the full transcription in our 2026–2027 family archive.

And even though the content is very similar to what I wrote down for my girls…

Having the exact words feels so much more meaningful.

It captures the moment just don’t.

Which is why I now feel a little sad that I don’t have the full blessings recorded for my girls.

A Tiny Memory Keeping Tip

If your family has special traditions—religious or otherwise—consider recording them when they happen.

A quick audio recording on your phone can preserve something that might otherwise be forgotten.

Some memories can be recreated later.

But some can only be captured in the moment.

And those are the ones I’m trying to be better about holding onto.