Tag Archives: adversity

Hard Luck

With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner and the thoughts of good luck and fortune I thought today I would touch on the subject of hard luck because all of us have had those times we have felt sorry for ourselves thinking all the bad luck in the world comes our way. But as this poem […]

Realizing the Value of Time

“Lose an hour in the morning and you will spend all day looking for it.” -Richard Whatley SO TRUE! And today I’m guessing that is exactly how a lot of us felt. I know I did! It started when I woke up this morning and discovered I had completely FORGOTTEN it was going to be […]

Don’t wait for “someday” to make time for family

Tonight I attended the pre-funeral viewing for my Uncle Buzz who passed away last week (his funeral is tomorrow). Walking in the doors of the room where the viewing was taking place and seeing so many of my aunts and uncles and cousins and siblings and my parents all gathered together inside the room was […]

Saying Thank You to True Heroes

Friday night over this last weekend my husband and I were invited by our friend to attend the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo special dinner event where a gentleman named John Wayne Walding, who had spent 12 years in the U.S. Army, seven of which were spent in the 3rd Special Forces Group, would be […]

Never Think Nor Say “I Can’t”

Someone once told me that the moment you either think or say the words “I can’t” you’ve lost, so never to do it. Hearing that advice had a big impact on my life because I believed it and I tried to never allow myself to think or say it when it came to my business […]

A Lickin’ Does A Fellow Good

Saturday when we got home from our Hawaii trip we opened a knock at the door to find my mother-in-law and father-in-law who had driven down from Idaho to surprise us with a visit as they wanted to be here for my husband’s birthday tomorrow (Tuesday).  One of our favorite activities when our in-laws come […]

A Powerful Story About Peace On Earth

One of the most powerful and touching real-life Christmas stories is the story of the events that took place in December 1914, during World War I.  It was Christmas Eve and the German and British troops were out on the battlefield down in the trenches.  Then suddenly in the dark of night the British soldiers […]

The true essence of Christmas

The week of Christmas is upon us and my heart can’t help but think about the true essence of Christmas – to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he willingly made out of his infinite love for each one of us. It reminds me of a story I try to read each […]

How to Make the Right Decisions

Every now and then I will go back and read past blogs I have written on subjects that I am dealing with in my life that day. Tonight I read one of my blogs from back in 2012 that was exactly what I would have written to share tonight: Life is so full of decisions […]

What Makes A Winner?

“Years back when we lived in Boise, Idaho, a man … Bill Bowman, who was the wrestling coach at Boise State College, did his doctorate work, his dissertation, on what makes a winner. After interviewing over a thousand athletes and feeding all the information into the computer, he got his answer. Do you know what […]

She was really here and she really lived

Today I want to pay tribute to an amazing woman named Iris who happens to be my Aunt. Aunt Iris would have celebrated her 98th birthday this week, but sadly on Friday we got word that Iris had passed away. On the one hand I am incredibly sad to see Iris pass from this life because she was such a […]

Life Is A Gift

“Today before you think of saying an unkind word– think of someone who can’t speak. Before you complain about the taste of your food– think of someone who has nothing to eat. Before you complain about your husband or wife– think of someone who is crying out to God for a companion. Today before you […]

A Harrowing Experience and My Gratitude For Those Who Got Me Through It

Last week my family and I went down to Lake Powell for the week to host our kids and their college friends for a welcome home celebration trip for our daughter Ashley. We knew she had missed Lake Powell vacations tremendously while she had been serving her mission for 18 months so we made it […]

It’s what you see that matters

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see” – Henry David Thoreau You could take a group of people and have them all look at the very same situation and yet later if you asked each person what they saw they will likely describe having seen different things. That’s because everyone’s […]

Find that thing that brings you JOY!

Back in 2011, as a Christmas gift, my son Dalton who was a freshman in college at the time, decided to write a blog for me one night so I could take a night off from writing. It was posted back when my blog was only for my employees so none of you got to […]

We are responsible for what is inside of us

The Analogy of the Orange If you squeeze an orange you will get orange juice. It doesn’t matter who squeezes it, where or when this is done, or what kind of implement is used. If you squeeze an orange, what comes out is orange juice. The same holds true for each of us. When the […]

Because That’s Who You Are

“She’s banged up, mentally and emotionally. Literally and metaphorically. But every day she walks outside with a smile on her face because that’s who she is.” I cannot tell you how much that quote has inspired me during times in my life that I have been struggling. Part of the reason I love it is […]

Thank heaven for Guardian Angels

Today when my weekly email arrived from my daughter Ashley who is out serving a mission the subject line “I GOT HIT BY A CAR”. My heart dropped! I opened the email to find that she had been riding her bike with her companion and as she crossed the road an elderly man was entering […]

Things happen around us, but it’s what happens within us that matters most

My daughter-in-law came across a story I hadn’t heard before. When I first saw the title of the story I almost didn’t read it because I couldn’t imagine how a story with that title would be interesting, but I am really glad I decided to keep reading because the message it conveys is just plain […]

The Parable of the Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they […]

Some days you just need to go to the “Pooh Tent”

I’m sure everyone reading the title of today’s blog has to be wondering what the heck I could possibly mean when I say that some days you just need to go to the Pooh tent?  I’ll explain: Years ago I shared in a blog how when my children were young and they were acting badly […]

Make Pearls from Sand

The Oyster Story There once was an oyster whose story I tell, Who found that some sand had got into his shell. It was only a grain, but it gave him great pain. For oysters have feelings although they’re so plain. Now, did he berate the harsh working of fate Which had brought him to […]

Will That Help Me Get Better?

Today I had the opportunity to interview someone about their professional and personal journey as an entrepreneur. Having the chance to hear other people’s stories is such a blessing because you can learn from their life lessons without having to go through the actual experiences yourself. It happened that the entrepreneur I interviewed today has […]

If you want truth then go to the source

“A lot of problems in the world would disappear if people talk to each other instead of about each other.” All of us have made the mistake of believing gossip to be true at one time or another. I know there was a time many years ago when I myselft got sucked into believing gossip […]

Be careful with your words

“Be careful with your words. Once they are said, they can only be forgiven, not forgotten.” Lashing out, saying things in anger, yelling, name calling, demeaning, putting someone down…all of these things create wounds that are far slower to heal than a physical wound and they leave emotional scars behind that never quite go away. […]

It could be that a small miracle is at play

At the end of last week I was invited by my friend Spencer Eccles to attend an Economic Conference out at Stanford University with a small group going out together. It was a fantastic event and I was so grateful I was able to attend it because I learned a tremendous amount and I met […]

Don’t be so quick to forget

My daughter Ashley who is still out serving her mission shared a story from a talk she attended on her mission that has such a simple, yet powerful message, that I had to share it with all of you. She was attending a meeting where a leader was speaking and in the letter Ashley is […]

Profit From Failure

You probably read today’s title and wondered how it is possible for anyone to profit from failure. It is success we profit from, is it not?  The profits from success may be far more obvious to everyone, but I would submit that we can profit just as greatly from failure if we choose to. My […]

Some days you gotta just push through it

Yesterday morning when I woke up I could tell I was starting to feel a little sick but I had so much going on yesterday that I tried to ignore it and I was able to get through hosting my son’s big event at our house Sunday night. Then I woke up this morning and […]

Olympic Gold Medalist Nikki Stone Interviews On Sticking Your Neck Out

This morning I was asked by Olympic Gold Medalist Nikki Stone to come and do a live interview with her for a segment on the TV Show “Good Things Utah” on ABC4Utah television. During this segment Nikki interviews successful business people who learned to “stuck their neck out”, a premise based on Nikki’s bestselling book “When Turtles Fly: […]