Monthly Archives: November 2013

Twas the Night of Thanksgiving

T’was the night of Thanksgiving, But I just couldn’t sleep. I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep. The leftovers beckoned, The dark meat and white. But I fought the temptation, With all of my might. Tossing and turning, with anticipation. The thought of a snack became infatuation. So I raced to the kitchen, Flung […]

“Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.” -W.J. Cameron

And there is no better week to take the action of giving thanks and showing gratitude than Thanksgiving week.  This is the perfect week to extend a helping hand to someone in need.  And we can always find someone out there who is in greater need than we are.  It’s so easy to get sucked […]

Perspective and Gratitude

Several years ago my family and I were down visiting the small town of Bicknell, Utah with our dear friends.  We went to a church meeting down in Bicknell back then and a very humble young man got up and gave a talk on perspective and gratitude that was awesome.  In his talk he shared […]

Some Days I Forget

So much to do, and not nearly enough hours in the day to do it. I get so frustrated when I work my guts out all day only to come to the end of the day feeling like I have barely scratched the surface of what I needed to get done.  When that happens day […]

What an Incredible Day!

What a day today was!  I started my day at 5:00am this morning so I could get downtown for an early morning meeting with President Wheelwright, the President of BYU Hawaii.  He and I had a wonderful talk about the Entrepreneurship activities going on at his University in Hawaii.  They are doing some really incredible […]

Work Hard–Play Harder

For new readers to my blog – every so often my 17 year old daughter Ashley will write a blog to share with my readers.  Over the years her blogs end up being everyone’s favorites and I am certain this one will be no different, so enjoy today’s blog written by Ashley.  ~Amy —————— Work […]

The Key to a Good Marriage is Finding Someone With a Good Heart

Relationships are a tricky thing.  Men and women are so drastically different in so many ways that it is a serious miracle that we actually end up together in many ways.  We communicate differently, we show love differently, we have different expectations, we have different emotional responses…we are just plain different. And is if our […]

The Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit is Coming!

The Leonardo in Salt Lake City has been selected by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) to display the largest collection of scrolls and artifacts ever to tour outside of Israel.  Only 10 cities will have the honor of being selected to host this exhibition – and Salt Lake City has been selected as the 5th […]

The Ones Who Do

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.   The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.   You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. […]

Sharing Treasures

Today I was invited to attend a luncheon with Ann Romney, Mitt Romney’s wife (former governor and Presidential candidate).  Ann recently released a cookbook called “The Romney Family Table: Sharing Home-Cooked Recipes and Favorite Traditions,” and she has been traveling across the country to share stories about her new book.  She was incredibly warm and […]

The Festival of Lights

Tonight my husband and I were invited to go to the Governor’s mansion to celebrate Diwali.  Diwali is a five day Hindu festival known as the Festival of Lights and it is one of the biggest holidays of the year in India.  This festival is as important to Hindus as Christmas is to Christians.   During […]

The Healing Power of Human Connection

Today started out rough.  I had to deal with a situation related to someone from the past that I once considered to be a friend, but who turned out to be an incredibly dishonest person who did a lot of horrible things that caused a lot of damage to a lot of people. Not exactly […]

Robert Redford and Respect for Nature

Saturday night my husband and I were invited to an event honoring Robert Redford.  The event was called:   “The Governor’s Salute to Robert Redford: A Utah Tribute to an American Icon.” The event kicked off with a group of Native American Indians performing a ceremonial dance in their full attire.  It was incredible!  It was […]

Never be afraid to fall apart

“Never be afraid to fall apart because it is an opportunity to rebuild yourself the way you wish you had been all along.” – Rae Smith Ya know every now and then you just have to have that momentary break down…that day when you break down and cry…when you fall apart just a little bit…it […]

Life is Complicated Enough. Keep Your Software Simple. (Forbes Article)

The most impactful lesson we learned as a software development company was this: In the world of software systems, less can be a whole heck of a lot more, and more can often lead to a heck of a lot less. This point can best be illustrated by a personal example: While serving as the […]

Before You Do

“Before you act, listen. Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try.”                                       -Ernest Hemingway I love the message of that quote.  It’s such a […]

Embrace Uncertainty

Security is something we all long for.  Security in our job.  Security in our financial state.  Security in our relationships.  We look for security in certainty – in knowing what to expect each day, in knowing what our tomorrow will look like, in knowing what future we are securing for ourselves. But if you really […]

Why?

This past week my cousin returned from a 20 month stint working in Afghanistan to come home to his beautiful family that lives on the east coast.  His wife and their nine children had been anticipating his return with such excitement.  I noticed his wife posted a darling message on her Facebook page last week […]