Dr Mischel's Experiment

My last semester of school, I took a class from Kerry Patterson, the author of Crucial Conversations and Influencer. In studying his book "Influencer" we learned about a social science experiment done by Walter Mischel years ago at Stanford University. He took children into a room and gave them a marshmallow and told them that if they ate it, that was ok, but if they could wait, they could have a second marshmallow. He followed these children for over 80 years and discovered that the children who could delay gratification "matured into adults who were seen as more socially competent, self-assertive, dependable and capable of dealing with frustrations; and they scored an average of 210 points higher on their SATs than people who gulped down the one marshmallow" (pg 116).

My sister and I decided to do this experiment on her children and my brother's children. While the boys all waited, the girls did not. And the videos were highly entertaining. We decided to use chocolate however because the kids had recently been eating marshmallows and we wanted it to be something special.

Two of my nephew's sat pretty patiently for the whole 5 minutes. These videos are edited for time sensitivity, and to edit out all of the nose picking.

My 5 year old nephew listened to his music the whole time. There is this one moment where he just got this horrible look on his face. I couldn't figure out if he had electrocuted himself or what.

Then the girls were just too funny to watch, they tried very hard but just couldn't wait. Of course I'm not sure it was a very fair competition between the boys and the girls since we all know it's much more difficult for girls to withstand chocolate. :) The one on the right ate the chocolate in the first minute and then stayed under the blanket for the next four minutes.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, there is a mirror on the left.... that's why they keep looking over there.

Gym, motivation, and a new book

I'm sure many of you noticed on April Fools' Day that there were several online pranks. For example: Google changed their name to Topeka, since Topeka, KS changed their name to Google, and Starbucks introduced a 128 oz coffee cup. Well on April 1st, I also got an email from Amazon informing me that I could pre-order a new Stephenie Meyer book called, "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner." I thought, "this has GOT to be a joke." So I did what any Stephenie Meyer fan would do, and I ordered it! I assumed I'd get some sort of "ha ha we tricked you" page. All I got was a receipt page letting me know my order had gone through. Well today I was NOT motivated in any way to go to the gym and it was way too hot outside to go running and I was pleasantly surprised when I opened a package addressed to me only to find a new book for me. I was then good and went to the gym, just so I could read my new book.

My favorite part about Stephenie's book is the fact that $1 of each book purchased will go to the American Red Cross, don't you think that's a little ironic that she's donating money for a vampire book to an organization that also collects blood?

Also, you can just read the book for free here, Stephanie Meyer wrote it as a "gift to her fans"

A Coast to Coast Weekend

This past week was a little crazy, and a little all over the place.

From Provo to Connecticut, to Denver, to San Diego and back to Provo. When I look at my past week I spent approximately 14 hours on an airplane, 4 hours waiting in airports, and 10 hours driving to and from airports. I realize there are a lot of people out there who travel a lot for work and this was nothing. But to someone who has been cooped up in Provo for the last 2 years, it was quite the eventful week.

California here I come!

Yesterday I went with Christina and her students on a field trip to the Wildlife Exhibition in Parker, CO it was pretty awesome. Then she took me to the airport where I flew to San Diego. Did I mention how much I love San Diego? I realized as I was flying here that I've actually been to this city 4 times in the past year. After I got my rental car I drove to my hotel and dropped of my stuff. Here's my beautiful King bed that I can't wait to sleep in tonight.

After I settled in, I called my 96 year old grandmother to ask what she was doing. She told me all about the premiere of America's Got Talent, and her plans to watch it. I then said, "do you mind if I come watch it with you?" to which she said, "are you in San Diego?" I didn't want to get my grandmother's hopes up in case my plane flew in late, so I decided to tell her at the last minute. We enjoyed chatting, eating strawberry shortcakes, and watching the show together. Now I'm back, and I figure I'd better get ready for my interviews tomorrow. Then I'll fly back to Utah where I'm even more excited to sleep in my very own bed again.

Memorial Day Weekend

It's officially been decided that it's much better to get together when the weather is warm. Christmas is fun and all, but it's cold outside and it takes too much effort to get all of my nieces and nephews ready to play in the snow. Memorial Day was perfect, we hung out outside, inside, at the park, it really was just fabulous!

This year I ran my 5th Bolder Boulder. My dear running partner however, Katie, decided to have a baby 4 weeks before the race, so this year my favorite sister filled in as my partner in crime. I was proud of her for finishing without much training time.

The rest of our weekend was a blast. There is a swing in the field behind my parents' house that we walked to nearly each day, my nieces and nephews loved to go to it.

Then we also went to Tiny Town in Morrison, CO where they have little houses. It was so much fun, and the kids loved it. There was a little train that we rode around the tiny town, and a fabulous playground. It's so amazing to me how I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much by myself, but when you have kids with you, they help you realize how cool small things really are. Some of these pictures came because my 3 year old niece kept saying, "ooohhh.... get a picture of that one!" thank goodness for digital cameras. :)