Facebook, Twitter, Flutter and Er.

So I finally decided to try the hype that is Twitter. And it's Stupid. Maybe they should rename it to Waste-of-timer, or This-is-a-popularity-test-all-over-again-and-yes-you-are-back-in-high-school-er. Or maybe just this-is-stupid-er. Anyway, it could be useful, if you want to spend your entire day receiving pointless updates from friends, families, celebrities and strangers. They can be sent straight to your cell phone as a text even. I thought this might be kind of fun for 2 reasons - No. 1: I am cool - Ashton Kutcher sends his personal updates to my phone! Not really, I ask for it, so Twitter texts it to me. I don't know Ashton, he doesn't know me, and he never will. He doesn't receive my updates, yet technically I could claim to know him, right? No. And that was all just to get a point across. If you check me out on Twitter (ebtweet) you will see that I am only following four people - and I'm about to delete Jimmy Fallon. I mean, I might go through withdrawal from his messages at 7am every morning (the funniest joke on late night was:, or leaving this city, thanks for the party; or endorsements for himself - Watch my show!) I thought it might be funny to follow him - maybe he would crack me up all day long with his wit and humor. Guess he isn't that funny - he has writers who have the wit and humor - he just has to deliver it, which is a talent indeed, but not if you are trying to text a joke. It just doesn't translate well. Sorry, Jimmy.

I do, however, follow Chris Diggins (please note the other two people I follow are Alida and Aurelia, they just never update anymore.) (And I will get to number 2 in a minute.) He does not overload my page with a new update every five minutes, nor does he do it @ 7 in the morning. And he has a good sense of humor. On the other hand, all three of these people are also my "friends" on Facebook, so I get their updates there as well. I thought the cool thing about Twitter was that the updates of the people I follow could be sent to my cell phone as a text (that's number 2, btw) - but guess what? You can do the same thing with Facebook - but Facebook will also notify you if they comment on your wall, posts or updates, add photos, video or whatever else you can do on Facebook. So why would I need twitter? Plus, Facebook allows 160 characters, while Twitter only allows 140. Where did they come up with these numbers anyway? But to one-up both Facebook and Twitter, some more college drop-outs started yet another waste of time: Flutter. Their theory is that people don't have enough time to type 140 characters, nor do they have time to read hundreds of updates at 140 characters apiece (they don't have time because they already wasted it writing notes and taking quizzes on....you guessed it: Facebook!) so they only allow 26 characters. How did they come up with that number? I don't have anything to say worth saying (usually, or nothing that is worth wasting my time on, I mean, why would I click the internet icon, wait for it to load the page, login to my account, wait for it to load, just so I could say something phenomenal like "I cant believe its raining" and yes I had to leave out all punctuation marks on that one) in 26 characters to justify the time I just wasted entering that I can't believe its raining (especially if I was living in Seattle ;).

So even though Aurelia and I are not technically college drop-outs (that seems to be the sole requirement for this job) we have decided that since we don't have the time for Facebook (160), Twitter (140) or Flutter (26), we are going to start our own social networking log and call it Er (2). Yes, that is right. We named it Er for the two characters you are allowed, or the fact that you might have to be taken to the Emergency Room for trying to manage four different networking sites and/or because you have hurt yourself out of frustration due to the fact that you can say soooo much in just 2 characters (or from racking your brain trying to beat out the popular guy with the most followers by saying something more profound than his last update.) And yes, we expect you to take 15 seconds out of every hour to login into your account at Er so that you can update a status at 2 characters long. Everyone has a second or two to spare, right? My personal first update is going to be yo (that's my favorite and can mean all sorts of different things - like "yo, get out of my face," or "yo, what up?" or "yo, homey don't play that." Think of the endless possibilities!

That is my analysis of Twitter. Thank you and please take the survey to let us know if you thought this article was helpful.

Easter.....and a little bit of love!

It was a cold and miserable Easter Sunday. I sent the family off to church; Easter Sunday + Stake Conference = :(. Imagine my surprise when they came back home 20 minutes later! Brent couldn't find any parking, so he just came home instead. I don't blame him! We went over to Grandpa's for dinner (and Easter Baskets.) Blake got more Legos, which he loved, and Maxwell got more Cars, which he also loved! I am a bad Easter Bunny - I shouldn't spoil the children, but I take every opportunity I can (Holidays, some of which are made-up) to get the boys new toys! Anyway, after all their cool new gifts, I tried to encourage them to decorate Easter eggs with us. I am still learning, obviously. They had no interest, but I did get Blake to decorate one:


Maxwell just wanted to eat his jelly beans:

But Charles got into it.

He decided to devote his decorating to the love of his life, Kelly. Here he is offering his heart to her (please note Morgan's fierce attention as his older brother shows him how to do it, hehe):

And here he is delicately placing his fragile (not really, since it's hard-boiled on the inside, lol!) heart/egg in the carton for safekeeping while it dries.

Blake LOOOOOOOVES Soccer!

After months of requesting that we let him play soccer (and a week or two of defiant "I don't want to play soccer, I only want to watch movies and play on the computer!") we signed him up and this was his first soccer practice/game! We are so excited (and relieved - I would hate for him to hate what we had to pay $55 for!) that he enjoyed it. By the time we left, he couldn't quit telling us how much he really loved soccer. And I have to admit that I loved watching him have so much fun (outside and active, no less!)

And I finally got a picture of Blake holding his little brudder!

Shout out to Anna Suh-wiiiiiiiing!

This one goes out to Anna - a great friend and truly wonderful person! I am so lucky to have met and gotten to know Anna over the past, what has it been? Two years? Maybe not even that long! I can't even remember how we became such good friends - it almost seems like one day I just woke up and realized that we had become close friends. She is one of the only people I would willingly cry in front of, and she probably knows way too much about me! I really appreciate the great example she has set for me - because she doesn't let her life's trials define who she is.















I also have to share this shout out with her husband - Spencer. He's awesome and I couldn't be more grateful for his willingness to help us out, and his friendship with Brent. And he and Anna together are just the cutest couple ever! I love shopping with her (I miss that Anna - let's get together some time!) and I love her yummy desserts (I miss those too, would you bring some over, please?)

Shout out to Elder Joe!

This one is for my brother Joseph:













GIUSEPPE, da barber, ees greata for "mash,"
He gotta da bigga, da blacka mustache,
Good clo'es an' good styla an' playnta good cash.

W'enevra Giuseppe ees walk on da street,
Da peopla dey talka, "how nobby! how neat!
How softa da handa, how smalla da feet."

He raisa hees hat an' he shaka hees curls,
An' smila weeth teetha so shiny like pearls;
O! many da heart of da seelly young girls
He gotta.
Yes, playnta he gotta—
But notta
Carlotta!

Giuseppe, da barber, he maka da eye,
An' lika da steam engine puffa an' sigh,
For catcha Carlotta w'en she ees go by.

Carlotta she walka weeth nose in da air,
An' look through Giuseppe weeth far-away stare,
As eef she no see dere ees som'body dere.

Giuseppe, da barber, he gotta da cash,
He gotta da clo'es an' da bigga mustache,
He gotta da seely young girls for da "mash,"
But notta—
You bat my life, notta—
Carlotta.
I gotta!





Thanks for all that you did, Joseph! Grandma told me a little about it, and it made me realize how very wrong I was about you. You are truly a patient, kind and good man. Miss you terribly,



Erin

p.s. don't worry - that's his sister!

And a shout out to Nicole

For being the world's greatest friend.

For letting me say whatever I want, whenever I want.

For laughing at my jokes.

For doing everything I ask of her (hehe.)

For being there, even when she doesn't know it.

Baby Jack (pics from Facebook)

These are the pictures I posted on Facebook:

More to come......when I find the time, lol!

Shout out to Laura

Ok, so this one is for my sister Laura:

First - she's altered a wedding dress (well, at least one that I've read about.) If you don't know what that takes, do me a favor and go try to alter one.

Second - change is tough. It always sounds easy, but you know it's another story. So I am totally impressed that she has changed her diet to fit her blood type. Especially the fish part. I read that book, and I am sorry, but I cannot, CANNOT, give up wheat. I love bread. And I am really not that big a fan of meat - especially red meat. And she is training for a marathon. I just keep telling myself after I'm done nursing, or when my children are older, or (you get the picture, right?) Go Laura!

Third - she has an artistic touch. Everything she does turns out great. If you've seen pictures on her blog - her house looks AH-mazing. And though I would never think to choose those colors - they are awesome - she has personality and it shows in her decorating. Also - she is great at photography.....have you seen the pics of Charles and Kelly?

Anyway, these are just a few of her talents, and I thought I should publicly point them out (let's face it - everyone needs that now and then!)