Heres an easy way to make the life of your sims longer, or shorter! First click on the 
large button on the tool bar on the bottom left hand side, then click on options. On one
of the tags in the options you'll find the sims life spand button. You can change the life
spand of your sims. Make it short and sweet or Long and Epic. The only down fall is that 
the other sims that you have no control of will not age for a long time or short time like
your sims. So if you want to age with your friends its best to just set the sims life spand 
to normal.