The new plan.

Hello everyone.  

I sort of made a resolution that I would like to try and improve on. (that sounds very resolute, doesn't it?)

I think my life has become too technologized.  Yuck.  

It's nice to have resources like blogs and facebook to stay in touch with people, but I think it just keeps relationships suspended in a weird place in the cyberspace void.  Do you know what I mean?  Like with facebook, I get jazzed when an old friend finds me, but then all I ever do with it is spend 2 minutes looking at her page and go, "oh how wonderful, she's married and has a sweet little baby and looks very happy" and maybe take the time to send a message is personal and touching.  Something like this, "Hey, how are you?  Looks like things are going great!"  

Do you do that, too?  It's like since I know I have an avenue to contact friends now, I just keep it at that but never really even cultivate anything.  Or any real friendship.  Something more than reading what Twilight character someone is most like.

Same with blogs.  It's nice to see what our friends and family are up to, but most of the blogs that I check out, I hardly ever talk to these friends.  Why is that?  Like my dear friend Mary.  I adore Mary.  Seriously.  We were roommates at BYU and I think we knew when we first met that it was friend-love at first sight.  But I have yet to email her back (it's been like 3 weeks), haven't talked to her on the phone in like 2 years (probably more), and haven't seen her in who knows how long.  6 years?  

Lame.  

I would like to make a strange comparison.  You know how nowadays girls and guys "hang out" all the time and boys don't really have to make a huge effort for female companionship?  In the singles' world there is always some ward function, some party that some girl is throwing, some easy way to see a girl and chat her up that he doesn't have to work very hard for her attention.  It used to be that he would put in the effort.  

I think our modern friendships have become like that.  It's so easy to just click on a blog or facebook page and see in a matter of seconds how my friends are.  So easy, in fact, that I rarely make the effort to go past that point.  All of our blogging and facebooking (and for some of you...twittering.  Oh, heaven help us.) maintains our friendships, at best, but doesn't cultivate them.  I don't think our easy access leads to us enriching our friendships.  We just keep them nice and visible on a shelf (or our bookmarks folder), where we can see them...and leave it at that.

You know?

So, back to the resolution.  I want my life to be more about doing instead of watching.  

I want to spend less time on my blog and on friend's blogs and more time calling/emailing/sending thank-you's and birthday cards.  I want to spend less time looking at creative things that other's have done and more time being creative myself.  (I think that's the catch-22 of the creative blog world.  Inspiration is right at your fingertips, so easy to come by, that there's just too much of it.  I think we've all become inspiration paralyzed.  Looking too much and doing too little.)  I want to spend less time engaged in technology and more time engaged with people.  I want to make some real changes.  

Right about now you're thinking, "but how will I survive without Emily's fascinating thoughts about her hair?"  Okay, not really.  You're thinking about how you'll miss seeing the kiddos.  Let's be real, that's all you're here for.  Right?  

Well, I plan to post once a week, probably each Monday morning, with pictures of the family.  A weekly update of what's going on around here.  

The rest of this blog, my thoughts on life, will go in a journal.  Something real and tangible, something that doesn't plug in.  Something that may mean something to my sweet little kiddos someday.  

Here's the wrap-up for this week:

I've been organizing the boys' room, trying to make it work better as the dormitory/playroom that it is.  Reid loved the part when I organized his toys and rediscovered all kinds of silly little toys.  
The babies mid-diaper change.  Oh, update on the babies.  They are sleeping through the night!  We're talking 9 hours between the last evening feeding and the first morning feeding!  Woo-hoo!  Something magical happened when they turned 4 months old. (With the help of "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"  I definitely recommend it.)  What good babies.
Reid being cute.
The bishop's family in our ward is the coolest family.  Remember how she came over one day and scrubbed my bathroom floors?  Well on Friday she called to say that she was taking her kids to the zoo in Santa Barbara and wanted to know if Reid would like to come.  I said yes for him and when I got off the phone I asked him if he wanted to go to the zoo.  He didn't say anything but just RAN back to his room and RAN right back carrying his sweatshirt and then stood at the front door.  I took it as a yes.  He had a great time and I just love their family.  
My sweet boys.  (from L to R: Reid, Alec, Dane)
The babies playing, growing, learning, and just being plain ol' cute.  Dane on left and Alec on right.
Is there anything cuter than a baby in a white onesie?  How about two babies in white onesies?

So that's the new plan.  You'll get the next installment of "My Three Sons" next week.

In the meantime, I plan on reducing the noise out there in that world wide web, and consuming less of that noise myself.  Today I hope to grind some wheat to make bread and try making some graham crackers (sans trans fat or HFCS!) and tonight we're having Thai peanut chicken with broccoli and rice for dinner.  While the babes sleep I'm going to clean up the craft corner in our office so that tomorrow I can get out the sewing machine and sew something.

"One thing I know for certain: the time we have here goes by far too quickly. Don’t waste any more time sitting on the bench watching life pass you by."  

one of my favorites, from here