All this and sunshine too

I'm in the Oakland airport waiting for my flight to arrive so I can join Ben and Karin in Utah and be a part of their wedding photos. I'm just watching, I won't literally be in the photos. I'm so excited to see them and so excited that Karin will be coming home with me. I know she'll miss Ben tremendously, so perhaps it's a little selfish of me to want this special time with her. I can't believe how blessed I am sometimes. I have 6 weeks of JOY, laughter, and fun to look forward to.

As I was sitting here, Tom called to tell me he'd won his heat of the 400. He was so excited it made me laugh out loud and shout woohoo! Who cares! Honestly the days aren't long enough to enjoy all my blessings. Not that he won- just that he is so excited.

I absolutely love being a wife and mother! No other husband on earth would let me leave him while he provides for the family, watches two more days of trackmeet, three baseball games, and fixes dinner for Prom. How lucky am I? Thanks Matt.

Ivenever blogged on my phone, hope this works.

Life Goes On

I can't believe it's already been a month since Karin called us with news of her engagement. I didn't want to write anything before she did so I waited, but then all of a sudden a month has gone by and I still haven't written about it. So, YES we are excited for her. We love her fiance Ben, and know that she has chosen well. I am having fun putting wedding plans together and will just love the memories of this time. She may be coming home for a few weeks before the wedding and I will love having her here to help me and visit with me. She is a wonderful and fun daughter. Just check out her blog to see for yourself.

In the meantime, life goes on. I haven't blogged much because I've been spending a lot of time with diamonds and we're not talking gems. Here are a few of the things our family did in March and the first of April.

Matt & Emily finishing up the winter carrots.

I love the next series of pictures that Matt took. A baseball pitch is as beautiful as an ballerina's arabesque to me.







Thomas passed off 8 lollipop math quizes this month and won some writing awards too.

I love that as soon as Scott finishes his baseball game, he hustles over to watch Doug. These pictures make me tear up. Scott is a wonderful big brother and Doug's biggest fan.



There is nothing like an Easter Egg Hunt...


or a trip to the beach. Throw in a few baseball games and we're set.
















Last night Doug performed with other young musicians at the Gallo Center for the Arts. He played a McDowell piano solo. This is his teacher Dr. Stephen Thomas.

Book Review: Outliers

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
An outlier is someone who falls outside the normal range in a bell-shaped curve. In this book, Gladwell discusses those who are above normal in terms of success. The basic premise of the book is that while we like to believe that successful people often rise from rags to riches in a self-made man individualistic way, the truth is far from it. He suggests that a combination of several factors actually leads to the success of any person.

Those factors include:
*Timing - perhaps the year or month of birth
*Opportunity or lack of it,this either gives you your big break or makes you look elsewhere and you end up with a big break because you are different
*Hard work including a minimum of 10,000 hours spent on the talent or occupation-whatever it is that makes you successful.
*Threshold level - meaning you have to be smart enough or talented enough to succeed. You don't have to be the smartest, just smart enough.
*Cultivated concern - parents or others who help you discover or provide the opportunities
*Culture - which affects how you react and behave in daily life.

Gladwell looks at a variety of successful people and delineates all the factors that have gone into their success. He talks about everything from Canadian hockey players to Bill Gates.

It does seem possible that he has drawn out only the facts in the stories of these peoples lives that support his premise. But I do think that there really is something to the combination of several factors making someone successful.

One factor that is left out would be the idea of pre-destination or foreordination. If you choose to believe that God has placed you on Earth at a specific time and place then the combination of factors in everyone's life is perhaps how they are supposed to be and perhaps our view of "success" is very relative.


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Book Review: Emma

Emma by Jane Austen


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I would like to say that I hate this book, because I almost do. Here is what drives me crazy.
~ I can't stand the high society of this world. I want to scream at these people, don't you have anything better to do than "take a turn about the garden" or "plan the next ball"? How about a little work or at least a little purpose in life.
~Emma drives me crazy with her matchmaking plans, and the necessity of not marrying below yourself. I hate her judgements of other people, especially hardworking, talented, girls who don't have trust fund.
~But what drives me really crazy, is that I get into the story, I want to find out what happens and I can't put it down. I'm sure I have it all figured out and I just have to see if I'm right.
~ And what I really hate is that while I don't consider myself high society and think I'm thus better....I have all the same shortcomings - jealousy, gossiping, pride, judgement of others. Ooooo I'd love to hate this book - but can't.

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Book Review: Swiss Family Robinson

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann D. Wyss


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
The only thing that kept me reading was a commitment to Book Club. This is one case where the movie is much better than the book. Where was the plot? The climax? The denouement? I suppose that if I had read this with Thomas who likes to play "building a fort" and loves animals then I would have enjoyed seeing his excitement.....well, his interest. But I won't recommend this to others.

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