Tag Archives: blessed

Most Inspiring Quote…Maybe Ever!

I came across a quote today that seriously has to be one of the most inspiring quotes I have ever read. “Believe in yourself. Believe in your capacity to do great and good things. Believe that no mountain is so high that you cannot climb it. Believe that no storm is so great that you […]

One Chapter Ends And Another Begins

Last week I shared five blogs that each gave clips from different emails we had received from our daughter during her 18 month mission. I hope you all enjoyed hearing the life lessons she shared in those emails. Today was the final event of her 18 month journey – she gave a homecoming talk at […]

Lessons on Surviving, Turning Trials into Trails, and Choosing Happiness (Part 5 of 5)

Today is the part 5 of a 5 part blog series I have been sharing all week this week. Throughout this week I have shared snippets of emails that my daughter Ashley sent home while she was serving her 18 month mission. For those who have followed along all week this week I am hoping […]

Lessons on Study, Selfishness, Repentance, and Never Looking Back (Part 4 of 5)

We have come to month fourteen of the eighteen months of lessons learned along the journey. I hope you are all enjoying reading these email snippets from Ashley’s emails. The life lessons she shares as she learns them was so valuable to me and I hope it proves to be valuable to all of you […]

Lessons on Love and Charity (Part 3 of 5)

Today was one of the happiest days of my life!!  My daughter Ashley is HOME!!!! Yep, after 18 months of doing service as a missionary she is finally back home with us and I am beyond words with happiness. This enitre week I have been sharing snippets of emails I received from my daughter Ashley while she was out serving her […]

Lessons on Character, Change, Hardships and Blessings (Part 2 of 5)

Today is a continuation of yesterday’s blog sharing some favorite snippets of my daughter Ashley’s emails she has sent home over the course of her 18 month mission with the valuable life lesons she was learning along the way – these lessons are such relevant lessons for all of our lives and I hope you […]

Incredible Life Lessons Along an 18 month journey (Part 1 of 5)

This week is one of my happiest weeks EVER as my daughter Ashley is coming home from her mission Tuesday! In last Thurssday’s email I explained just how much I have loved getting Ashley’s weekly emails she’s been sending home over the last 18 months because they share the cool life lessons she has been learning along the […]

Feeling Like A Little Kid On Christmas Morning!

Going into this weekend I feel just like a little kid on Christmas morning! I have waited 18 months for my daughter Ashley to finish serving her LDS Mission so she could come back home to me…and next week she is finally coming home!!!   YAYYYYYYY!!! I literally cannot describe how excited I am. It’s impossible to describe […]

Avoid Blessing Blockers. Surround Yourself With People of Integrity.

When we surround ourselves with people of Integrity our lives are always made better. And by that same token, when we associate with people who lack integrity our lives will always be made worse. I refer to people who lack integrity as Blessing Blockers. Throughout my career I have had the blessing of associating with many great people of integrity. […]

The best thing in life isn’t things

The best thing in life isn’t things…its family. Family is a pretty amazing thing. First and foremost it is made up of our own immediate family, then our extended family, and then our friends that we love as family. Last week was a wonderful week. My own family was able to host several other families […]

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave (Happy Fourth of July!)

In 1776, after the Second Continental Congress adopted the Lee Resolution that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent,” John Adams wrote the following to his wife: “You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure […]

Dads. Our First Love and our Forever Heroes.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers out there! How do we even begin to pay tribute to all the men out there who grew up to be amazing Dads?! I have come to learn that any man can make a baby, but it takes a true man to raise a child. A Dad isn’t defined […]

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 […]

The Importance Of Having Balance In Our Lives (Forbes Article)

I have always had an incredible drive to work hard.   When I am at work I genuinely work my tail off.  I am motivated and driven and focused on getting a tremendous amount done, and all of that is positive, but my problem lies in that I often don’t know how to put things down […]

HOORAY FOR HOLIDAYS! Happy Memorial Day to All!

So let’s just say it – HOLIDAYS ARE AWESOME! Right?!  I mean what could be better than getting a day off from life when everyone else is taking a day off too! I LOVE HOLIDAYS!  And I love that we had the entire day today to be with the people we love. This Memorial Day […]

We Do Not Forget

I have to say that there is something especially great about the Memorial Day Holiday weekend. For one thing it signifies the start of the Summer season and I don’t know about all of you, but I am SO READY for summer! I feel like it has been an especially cold and rainy Spring this […]

There are two ways to live your life

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”  -Albert Einstein There is so much truth to that. When we look for miracles in life we can find them everywhere. Some miracles manifest as a mere “coincidence” when […]

The Perfect Way To Spend A Day

Today was AWESOME! First of all it was Mother’s Day! And as the Mother of two of my own and one daughter-in-law, I want to say that I love being a Mom! It’s the most amazing blessing ever, but let’s admit it, sometimes it can feel like all the effort and sacrifice goes unnoticed. So […]

This feels like a great week to be HAPPY!

The desire to be happy. It’s a desire shared universally. It is one thing in life we all have in common – the desire for happiness. Some people wait for happiness to find them, only to learn that this kind of happiness is temporary and it goes as quickly as it comes. Other people have […]

Some days you just have to create your own sunshine

I woke up this morning so excited to go out into the warm spring sunshine…I put on my short sleeved shirt and sandals, and I opened my door to find ridiculously cold wind and rain! NOOOOOO!!!…. Back inside I went to change my sandals for winter shoes and put on my warmest sweater. I was […]

Take the time to admire their uniqueness

“Once a wise old botany teacher was speaking to a group of young and eager students. He gave them an assignment to go out by the side of some lonely road and find a small, unnoticed flower. He asked them to study the flower for a long time. “Get a magnifying glass and study the […]

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 […]

The Things We’ll Remember

If you were asked what you did on any given day three weeks ago would you be able to remember without going back and checking your calendar first? Or what about a day two weeks ago? More than likely the answer is no. But what if you were asked where you went on your last […]

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 […]

Delicious Ambiguity

Certainty…it’s something we all long for because we want that feeling of security, but the fact is that none of us can ever really get it because life is, and always will be, full of uncertainty. That’s why the key to being at ease in life is to learn to embrace uncertainty. So how do […]

An Adventure In The Land Down Under

I never thought I would visit the land down under, but my husband and I have just completed an amazing adventure there traveling with a great group of people from the BYU Founders Board that I serve on. Our adventure started with an incredibly long flight from Salt Lake to Sydney Australia. That was for […]

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, […]

The Perfect Way To Start Off This Week of Christmas!

Two of my favorite Christmas movies of all time are “It’s a Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart, and “Mr. Krueger’s Christmas” which also stars Jimmy Stewart. Mr. Krueger’s Christmas first aired on December 21, 1980 – 35 years ago to the day tomorrow! I was only 9 years old when I saw it for the […]

Purchasing Analysis Paralysis Disorder, The Struggle is Real!

I don’t know about all of you but I personally have been stressing out over trying to find the perfect gifts to give for Christmas this year. I take giving gifts seriously because I want my gifts to reflect how much I love people. I want them to be personal and thoughtful. So when the […]