When gathering images for your photo book, be sure to include screenshots from text messages, web pages, boarding passes, and ticket stubs. Sounds like a strange idea, right? Allow me to explain.

A few years ago, my family planned an Icelandic adventure to see the northern lights. We did the research, studied the Rick Steves book, booked the tours and went on our merry way. Despite extensive planning, however, I missed an important piece of the puzzle: the northern lights aren't visible every night (embarrassing).

After understanding the slim chances of actually seeing the northern lights, my sister and I started obsessively checking the cloud cover and Aurora forecast. One of us refreshed the page every 15 minutes (at least).

Long story short, on our final evening in Iceland, the weather cooperated, and I snapped a screenshot of the webpage I refreshed at least 243 times in four days.

This was the forecast on the night we saw the northern lights and lost our minds:

I also captured a text message from our tour guide Asi, after he confirmed our tour was a go!

These screenshots bring back such a happy wave of memories. Sure, we took pictures of the lights, but the text messages and Aurora forecast perfectly capture our anticipation and excitement.

Next time you curate photos for your book, add in some screenshots (or emails). In 30 years, I'm sure it'll be fun to remember "texting" and "email," too.