Why do I do this...

I have been blogging since October 2006. Wow! That is really quite a long time. I started out doing it for fun. The Mandile's started one and it looked like a good idea. And you know what it has been fun. I have really enjoyed keeping in touch with family members, keeping in touch with current friends and getting reconnect with old friends. Over the the years of blogging my reason for doing this has changed. Here are my reasons for having a blog and staying current with it:

-To stay connected with my family.

I feel like my family is close. We make the effort to see each other and stay friends. I know for sure that Bode's favorite people are his cousins and his Grandparents. That being said we don't get to see each other at often as I would like. Our lives are busy and we live all over this state. I wish it was free to travel then it would be easier to see everyone. But I feel like having a blog lets me keep up with my nieces and nephews. (PS we just found out my brother and his wife are having another boy! Wooo Whoo!) So that when we see them they are not little strangers. I also thoroughly enjoy my mom's blog. Every time I read it I can hear how she would say things. I love that even though she doesn't feel like she has anything to say, she does it anyway. I asked my mom if she would do "journal jar" entries. She chooses a topic and then has to write about it. Most of the topics are questions about childhood, you know stories and things like that. I also asked if she would get my dad to do it too. I am so glad they are doing it. It puts down all those fun stories from their childhood so that when they are gone we still have them.

- To keep a journal of my family.

This is probably the most important to me. I love that for the past 3 years I have been diligent about blogging for my family. I have so many little stories written down on here for them. So many pictures and moments that I would probably otherwise would have forgotten. I have weekly entries of their little lives. Bode loves to sit down with me and look at all his pictures of when he was little. I know I am not doing a great job of saying how much this means to me. I am bad at sitting down and writing in a journal. I never even attempted a baby book for my kids. I knew that it would just sit there. But I feel like this blog has definitely been more than a baby book would have been. I can go back and find the exact day Bode started walking and it has video to go with it. Or the morning after Laine slept through the night for the first time. Plus I get to write down all the fun things Bode says to me now. I am glad that I do this because it will be so worth it to have when my kids are all grown.

-To stay connected with new and old friends.

Staying connected with people other than my family has been fun. I have come across old friends that moved away when I was little. Old high school friends and college friends. I am horrible at friendship. I get so involved with my own world I forget to stay current with people. Sorry about that. But blogging has made it possible for me to stay connected with people. I have also found it fun to make new friendships through the blogging world. Thanks to all my blog friends! I enjoy all your blogs!

-For me.

Not going to lie here. I really like to do this. I know I spend to much time doing it some days but I enjoy writing posts about my children and our lives. I feel like it is a positive outlet for me. I have been able to express views that I would have otherwise not been able to have the courage to say.

- Oh yes and by the way have you read this?

I saw this article in the Ensign the month and laughed out loud. The church is always so on top of things going on in the world. It really made me think about this blog. I feel like I keep a positive spin on my blog. I have a great life. We have our trials and struggles just like the rest of the world but for the most part I feel like my life is great. I have two beautiful children, a loving husband, clothes on my back and a roof over my head. Plus I don't think the Internet is the place to air your dirty laundry. But I don't think I have taken the opportunity to share my testimony on here. So I have decided that I need to integrate my beliefs on here a bit more. This is a family history so along with all our humours stories and pictures I need to let my family know that I believe in and have a testimony of the Gospel, the restoration and of Jesus Christ. I am going to try to have posts about what I have been studying and the insights that I have to go with it.

Ok there are my reason for blogging.

Why do you people blog?