Tag Archives: children

Do Parents Have Favorite Children?

I have two children, a 24 year old son and a 21 year old daughter. They are the best of friends until it comes to one particular argument that they have been having for the last 19 years since they were both old enough to debate it….who is Mom’s favorite child? And regardless of how […]

If parenthood came with a GPS it would mostly just say: RECALCULATING

The other day my son Dalton, whose wife is expecting their first child in August, called me sounding a little stressed and said something to the effect of, “Mom I just realized that I am going to have a kid here soon  that’s going to be with me forever and that I need to parent! […]

“Life doesn’t come with a manual, it comes with a Mother”

“When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in […]

The Countdown to WONDER WOMAN has begun! Why You Too Should Be Excited About That.

Look I am not even going to try and hide my excitement here – and anyone that knows me well won’t be surprised when I say that I am SO EXCITED for the Wonder Woman movie premier! So excited, in fact, that me and my friend Jacki (who I became immediate BFF’s with when we […]

They may be myths but they are still a lot of fun

Myths, old wives tales, superstitions, legends…they are all kinds of fun to read about even if they turn out not to be true. We are 20 weeks in to the 40 weeks it will take to have our very first grandchild come into this world. Since the moment we found out our daughter-in-law was pregnant […]

Everything Can Change In A Single Second

Saturday morning I awoke to a phone call alerting me that my son Dalton and his pregnant wife Alexis had been in a car accident on the freeway. Getting that phone call was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I rushed to the Hospital Emergency Room where I spent the rest of […]

You Were Born To Stand Out

“Stop trying to fit in when you were born to stand out.” – unknown I believe that every person born on this earth is born with special God-given talents and that it is our job to then discover those talents by trying all kinds of different things and as we discover our gifts we should […]

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 […]

What one successful entrepreneur said was the most important advice he could give me as I began my entrepreneurial journey

Yesterday afternoon someone I love dearly passed away.  He was Marion D. Woods to others, but he was Uncle Buzz to me and Buzz Woods to his good friends. He had been fighting cancer but unfortunately his body wasn’t able to fight it any longer and he passed away surrounded by his wife and children. […]

Letting The Men In On A Secret About Women

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us and for those men out there with a significant other in your life this is your friendly reminder to do something special for that love in your life! Because you do NOT want to be that guy who finds himself at the drug store last minute picking from the […]

LIKE A BOSS

“After a while I looked in the mirror and realized…wow after all those hurts, scars, and bruises, after all of those trials, I really made it through. I did it. I survived that which was supposed to kill me. So I straightened my crown…and walked away like a boss.” I don’t even have words that […]

It’s not the What or the Where – It’s the Who

There is little better in life than spending time with the people we love. And this year we were especially lucky because we had an extended Christmas holiday break off from the kids colleges – they had an extra week off this year because of the way the holiday dates fell so they were off […]

Our direction is set by the little day-to-day choices we make

“The course of our lives is not determined by great, awesome decisions. Our direction is set by the little day-to-day choices which chart the track on which we run.” – Gordon B. Hinckley Everyone who knows me knows that I am all about setting goals and moving in the direction of those goals. So when […]

A Look Back At 2016 and celebrating 9 years of bliss

2016 is almost over. As I look back at some of the milestones that have happened this past year I think about the trip my husband and I took to New Zealand and Australia, I think about my daughter Ashley coming home after completing an 18 month service mission for the LDS Church, I think […]

Find something new to get excited about!

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! I was able to celebrate Christmas several times last week – we celebrated mid-week with my son and his wife and my daughter in an early Christmas celebration since my son and his wife were heading to spend the actual holiday with her family this year, then my […]

Don’t miss a single moment of joy

Tis the Days Before Christmas Tis the days before Christmas, we’re all going nuts; With so much to do, there’s no ifs, ands or buts. Buy presents, hang tree lights, pop cards in the mail, Send gift packs, thread popcorn, find turkeys on sale. Decorations need stringing up all through the house. And you haven’t a […]

It is better to give

Throughout this month I will try to share some of my favorite Christmas stories and poems that inspire me.  This story below is one I heard when I was growing up and I still remember the way it struck me as I heard it. It has a great message that inspires you to want to […]

True Wealth Lies In The Good You Do – Meet The Wealthiest Man In The World

As an Angel Investor and a Mentor I spend much of my day helping entrepreneurs in their pursuit of wealth by helping them to grow their companies. But today I was reminded of exactly what true wealth looks like. For more than 25 years he has been buying Christmas presents for children he may never […]

Tis the Season To Make Life Magical

I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving Holiday weekend filled with good food and great moments with your loved ones.  And hopefully all of you are finding it easier to fit into your jeans today a little easier than I am…truth be told, I may have taken eating leftover pie a bit too far this […]

Love Them All The Way To The End

I love the holiday season – I love the decorations and the holiday goodies and that extra feeling of love in the air. And I especially love Hallmark Christmas Movies!!! For those who don’t know what I am talking about, the Hallmark channel on TV puts out a bunch of original Christmas movies every year […]

Combatting Your Day After Sugar Rush

“That awkward moment when you’re wondering who at all the candy, and you realize…you did.” Trick-or-treating and the loads of candy we all gathered may have seemed like a great idea in the moment..and it tastes amazing when we eat it!…But once we’ve downed handfuls of that sugary goodness it begins flowing through our digestive […]

You are never too old to put on a costume for Halloween!

I am a HUGE fan of Halloween. First off, we all get free candy and who doesn’t love candy?! And second, we all get to put on a costume for a day and pretend to be something or someone else – it’s an escape from our everyday routine lives when we can get creative and […]

“The essence of honesty and integrity is not the words you use, it’s the message you convey.”

Honesty. It’s something that has always been of extreme importance to me in life. Perhaps being raised by a father who was in the FBI and who valued absolute honesty without exception had something to do with that, but I know that I was raised to value honesty and integrity above all else. I tried […]

The Link Between Traditions and Happiness

This weekend marked the beginning of my family’s holiday season traditions beginning. Each year in October my parents and siblings and their families who are in the area all come together and we go to a place called Rowley’s Red Barn where we start by enjoying their homemade donuts and apple cider for breakfast and […]

Labor Day: A holiday to celebrate how hard you work!

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you had an awesome holiday today. For those who are wondering what Labor Day is about, don’t feel bad…I myself have celebrated Labor Day holiday my entire life but never really thought about why we had the holiday or what the holiday was about. I always just thought of […]

Learning the Hard Way

The older we get the more we realize how much better life is if we are just willing to learn things the easy way – like by listening to those who have been there and done it and who have the experience to give us advice on avoiding pitfalls we will face. In the early […]

Be In Their Lives Today

“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.”   Oh, how I love that quote. And it is such a great reminder for all of us that have the blessing of being a parent. I remember throughout the growing up years of my children when they would ask me […]

You’re Never Too Old To Wish Upon A Star

This week I have been sharing life lessons I learned during my family trip through the Mediterranean on the Disney Magic cruise ship where we visited Spain, Italy, France, and Monaco. To wrap up my posts for this week I will share the biggest life lesson I gleaned from my trip – “Where there is […]

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 […]