Dream Recall Trouble

Hi. I'm only starting the process to have lucid dreams and am trying to gain dream recall. However, all the methods I've tried to wake up during my dreams have failed. When I repeat "I will wake up during and completely remember my dreams" to myself every time a different thaught pops into my head before I go to sleep I don't fall asleep for a really long time. While I'm repeating this to myself I can feel myself drifting in and out of sleep and I have little mini dreams. I remember one where I knew I was having a "mini-dream" and I was concentrating on not waking up and controling what was happening in the dream at the same time. I don't know weather these "mini-dreams" count as REM dreams or not. Anyway, It feels like repeating that phrase is keeping me up. And once I feel like I'm too it's too late and I'm too tired to keep repeating the phrase, I let myself fall asleep. I remember waking up about an hour after I fell asleep last time I tried this, looking at the clock, trying to remember if I had any dreams, but then falling back asleep. When I wake up in the morning at my usual wake-up time I don't remember any of my dreams and I'm either very tired or I sleep for another 4 hours or so. One other time I tried setting my alarm for 4 hours after I would fall asleep, but I slept through it for about 2 hours, and when I woke up I looked at the clock, tried to remember if I had any dreams, and, again, fell back asleep.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Also, does anyone think that my "mini-dreams" are actual REM dreams or not?