Tag Archives: birthday

What 50 Years Have Taught Me

Tomorrow I’m turning 50 years old and knowing that has caused me to be introspective about a few of the things those 50 years have taught me: *They’ve taught me that happiness comes when we put God first, family second, and everything else third. *They’ve taught me that excelling in the things of righteousness is […]

Hang Out With People Who Add To Your Fun Jar

If you are wondering what today’s opening title means I can explain it best by sharing an experience I had with my daughter back when she was still a teenager.  One day after she’d gotten home from high school I was asking her how she was dealing with a negative situations she’d had to face […]

The Greatest Gift A Father Can Give His Daughter

The most influential man in my life turned 82 years old over the weekend. That man is my Father, Gerald Rees.  He is my rock, my exemplar, my advisor, my hero, and my friend. He taught me that that I am capable of doing anything I set my mind to if I am willing to […]

While You Are Growing Up, They Are Growing Old

Today I was really bummed out because it was my Mother’s 78th birthday and we couldn’t be with her even though she lives only fifteen minutes away.  With the quarantine we could only stand on her front porch singing Happy Birthday to her through the glass and then leave a cake an balloons on her […]

Best Birthday Present In The World!

Tonight I came home to find my children had come together to write a blog post for my birthday present – best birthday present in the world! Here it is: To the Woman who Does it All, Happy Birthday! Often our mom dedicates a special blog to each of us on our birthdays, and we […]

Remember when you were a kid and you thought being an adult would be fun?

Remember when you were a kid and you thought being an adult would be fun?  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA LOL That quote literally made me laugh out loud when I read it because it’s so hysterically yet painfully true!  As little kids we couldn’t wait to grow up…to be old enough to “do whatever we want”, and stay […]

Those Who Inspire Us To Greatness

Nothing serves as better motivation than seeing others you admire doing great things. I was blessed to grow up in a home with a Mother and Father who both did great things on a regular basis. My Mother had ten children and was a devoted full-time Mom who had one of the hardest jobs in […]

The Hardest Thing To Do

The hardest thing is watching someone you love suffering and there is literally nothing you can do to make it better…its especially hard when it’s your little 17 month old grandbaby. As I sit here at the hospital again tonight surrounded by my family as we watch the doctors and nurses working on baby Flynn […]

Cut Them Some Slack, They Grew Up In A World Without Google

I’m just going to put it out there – the thought of having to teach an old person technology is absolutely terrifying. That’s why when my father, who is nearly 79 years old, needed his new iphone setup I was going to have my work cut out for me. My father is an incredibly intelligent […]

Sharing a little about one of my Heroes

21 years ago today I gave birth to the most amazing little girl in the world. Ashley made her entrance in the world in the same epic fashion as she has done everything else since she was born – she came out bottom first! That made for an amazingly difficult labor and delivery for me, […]

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 […]

There Are No Mistakes – Only Discoveries

Those of you who read yesterday’s blog post learned that my 20 year old daughter Ashley’s birthday present to me this week was to write a few blog posts that I could use in order to give me a few nights off on my birthday week to enjoy myself. This post she wrote below is […]

Opportunities come when we actively seek to do good

First, I want to take the quick opportunity to say “Thank You!” to all those who sent birthday wishes my way. I can’t think of a better birthday gift then words of kindness from others and I received that today in spades 🙂 I also want to share with you an amazing birthday gift I received today […]

Growing Old Is Mandatory but Growing Up is Optional

In a few hours I will be turning 45 years old. 45 sounds SO OLD!!! To put in perspective how many years ago I was born – the internet wouldn’t be invented for 20 more years! And it would be 27 years before Google was launched!! Yikes…that sounds SO OLD!!! I’ve seen things change a lot in […]

Successful Mothers (and Happy Mother’s Day!)

“Successful Mothers are not the ones that have never struggled, they are the ones that never give up, despite the struggles.” This weekend we will be celebrating Mother’s Day. It’s a time we all take a moment to think about all the things our Mothers do for us in life. It’s also a time when […]

Amazing blessings, tender mercies, little miracles…

I had the coolest experience last Sunday night and I just couldn’t help but share it. So the story started on the Friday before. My son Dalton called to let me know that he and his wife wanted to come over to our house for Sunday dinner. I, of course, was thrilled because as an […]

The Traits I Admire Most

Today I have been thinking a lot about the character traits that I admire most in people. I sat down to make a list of traits I see in a person I very much look up to in my life and here was the list that came to mind: Integrity – does the right thing, […]

One Year Older, But Hopefully Wiser Too!

Happy Birthday to me! Okay, let’s get real…at my age birthdays are no longer quite the same feeling of happy that they were when you were a kid trying to grow up too fast. The older we get the more they tend to turn into a reminder that your sexy is a little less sexier […]

Some People, Good People, And Extraordinary People

“Some people see the glass half empty. Good people see the glass half full. But extraordinary people are just grateful for the glass!”  That quote came today in the weekly email letter I get from my daughter Ashley on her mission and I loved it so much I had to share it with everyone. What […]

Time is Precious. Waste it Wisely.

“The greatest gift you can give someone is your time. Because when you give your time you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back.” Reading that quote made me feel a little better today because I have been racking my brain all day to try and figure out the […]

Take a trip down memory lane

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” One of my goals for this year was to get all my photos that were taken “pre-digital” on old-school printed photos, and scan them in so I could have digital copies of all of them. […]

“Love your Parents. We are so busy growing up, we often forget they are also growing old.”

Life the past few months has been a reminder that I am growing older, especially facing an empty nest.  However, in all my focus to deal with seeing my own children grow older I have honestly lost sight of the fact that my own parents are also growing old… My parents stopped by the other […]

Growing Old is Inevitable, Growing Up is Optional

Today was (is) my birthday.  Yep, I am growing older, which is inevitable for all of us. But, I have decided that growing up….well that is optional 🙂  … For my birthday my kids and their friends are spending the weekend with my husband and I and nothing is better for making you feel younger […]

Just Remember Life Goes On

“You have to take the good with the bad, smile when you’re sad, love what you’ve got and remember what you had. Always forgive but never forget, learn from your mistakes but never regret, people change, things go wrong, just remember life goes on…” Tonight as I was FaceTiming with each of my kids I […]

The Joy In Simple Things

“Once she stopped rushing through life, she was amazed how much more life she had time for.” Tonight was a good friend’s birthday so we had a small group over to celebrate.  Nothing elaborate, just bbq, swimming in the pool, a lot of laughter, playing fun games, and of course dancing…in our family it isn’t […]

One Person Can Change Your Life Forever

21 years ago today I lay in a hospital room giving birth to a 9 pound 7 ounce beautiful baby boy.  It was my very first child. I was only 21 years myself when I gave birth that day, and now today, 21 years later, it is my son’s 21st birthday.  Crazy. I remember the […]

Making a House a Home

We did it!  We actually spent our very first night in our new house.  We are still surrounded by boxes and papers to unpack and put away, and there is still a punch list of “to be finished or fixed items”, but we have officially begun living in our new house. So I have to […]

Sometimes we don’t need advice, we just need someone to listen…and other things men need to know about women

There are a lot of differences between men and women – it is those differences that make us fall in love with each other and it is those same differences that often cause us to drive each other crazy sometimes.  Even when both people in a relationship are good people, relationships are still going to […]

“Why fit in when you were born to STAND OUT!” -Dr Seuss

Too much time and energy in life gets spent trying to fit in…trying to be seen as “normal”.  I personally think that normal is pretty boring.   After all, why be normal when you can be exceptional?!   When something simply “fits in” it is too easy to blend in, to go completely unnoticed.  But when something […]

Kindness on Purpose Day

Today I heard about one of the coolest ideas ever so I couldn’t help but share it with all of you. In 2012, a woman decided that for her birthday, rather than having anyone give her gifts, she instead challenged all her friends to perform a random act of kindness for someone else on her […]