Tag Archives: dad

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 […]

Begin With The End In Mind

“Begin with the end in mind.” That was the advice my father gave to my nephew and his bride when he officiated their wedding ceremony this weekend.  Their marriage sealing took place in the Draper Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints where their marriage could be sealed for time and all […]

One Man Asks Why Women Speak in “Woman Code”

“Men say that women should come with instructions…What’s the point of that? Have you actually ever seen a man read the instructions?” I walked into our kitchen today to find my husband, my son, and my father all laughing out loud and knowingly shaking their heads as they listened to this short little video clip […]

The Importance of Fathers

This weekend we celebrate Father’s Day. I have such tender feelings about Fathers and the importance they play in our own lives and in the lives of their children.   I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my Father in my life. He has been my rock. He gives me advice, is a fantastic […]

Choices And Consequences

Life is full of choices. Some are easy choices and some are hard, but the upside of choices is they are always ours to make and no one can ever take that away from us. However, the downside to choices is that while we get to make them, we don’t get to choose what consequences […]

You are more than enough. You. Are. Amazing.

The following article was written about Mom’s but the truth is that we have all been there before, both Moms and Dads. We’ve all had those moments when we feel we aren’t good enough to handle everything life is throwing at us as parents. But this article reminds us that we actually are: “To the […]

Making Your Day Proactive Rather Than Reactive

I grew up with a father who would start every day with a 3×5 index card in his shirt pocket that held a list of everything he planned to get done that day, and throughout his day he would cross off each item from that 3×5 card as he completed it.  My Dad was absolutely […]

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! […]

Bring on the BBQs, the pool parties, and bust out those flip flops!

I LOVE JULY! The month of July is literally one of my very favorite times of the year.  The weather is amazing, the BBQs are fired up, the swimming pool is open, summer vacation is in full force, there are fireworks galore, we watch fun parades, our families get together, there’s rodeos and picnics and […]

The Importance of Dads

“A daughter needs a Dad to be the standard against she will judge all men.” I was blessed with a Dad who set the bar unbelievably high as to what to expect from the men in my life. And it was his example that led me to choose an amazing man for my husband and […]

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 […]

The Biggest Secret I’ve Ever Had To Keep

Keeping exciting news a secret is not something I enjoy. When I buy someone a gift it’s all I can do not to tell them the moment I buy it. It makes keeping Christmas presents a surprise incredibly difficult. But today I am proud of myself because for the last two months I have been […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Get Ready For Father’s Day – a public service reminder

Sunday it will be Father’s Day and so as a public service I thought it would be good for me to remind everyone who has a Father themselves, as well as any Wives who have a Husband of children to GET ON TOP OF IT PEOPLE!! Don’t forget to prepare something to honor those Fathers!!! […]

Integrity Isn’t Situational

I recently have been dealing with a situation where I became aware that someone has been doing things under false pretenses in an attempt to get personal gain. When I brought these activities to light to those in authority to rectify the situation the person in charge seemed resistant to confront it. He agreed that […]

There Is Only Black and White, Not Any Shades Of Grey

When I was young I used to get frustrated that my Father always saw everything as black and white – there was never any grey as far as he was concerned. As a little kid I would always try to explain to him why the grey sometimes existed and without fail I would end up […]

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 […]

Don’t Shy Away From Hard Work

I was raised to believe in the value of hard work. I don’t know if hard work came naturally to me or if it was a learned trait by watching my parents work their tails off. All I know is that being a slacker was never even a temptation for me. I always took personal […]

Unplug and Make Time For Friends and Family

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”   –C.S. Lewis Last week was a great experience. My husband and I took both our sets of parents as well as several other couples we are friends with along with our son Dalton and […]

Enduring Love of a Father (Happy Father’s Day)

Father’s Day holds an incredibly special place in my heart each year. Not only because I was blessed with an amazing Father of my own and an equally amazing Father-in-law, but also because I have been blessed with an incredible husband who came into my life 7 1/2 years ago and became the Father to my two children. […]

Go To Bed and Get A Good Night’s Sleep, Tomorrow Will Be Better

Today was a long, busy, stressful day, and it was a Monday which always feels a little more stressful than the rest of the days of the week for some reason…perhaps that’s because we put everything out of our minds in order to enjoy our weekends and then Monday morning we are forced to deal […]

“To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honors.”

We grow up looking at our parents as the strongest people in our world. They handle everything, they take care of everything, and they can do everything.  Then you grow up and as you grow older, unfortunately so do they. Then one day you wake up and realize that your parents can no longer handle […]

“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 […]

“Any man can be a Father, but it takes a special person to be a Dad”

I want to start this week by paying a special tribute to all of the great dad’s out there.  Like the title said, any man can be a father, but it truly does take a special person to be a dad. I have learned that lesson firsthand in my own life with my children – […]

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 […]

Words of Wisdom from the young and the old

Today was straight up exhausting.  We moved for 13 straight hours without taking even a five minute break.  It was nuts!  And the sad part is that we barely made a dent in all that needs to be moved still.  I have to remind myself every day that the mountains of stuff we still need […]

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 […]