Tag Archives: gift

Life is Good when you keep things in Perspective

When life gets difficult or troublesome the best thing we can do is to step back and put things into proper perspective.  You can’t get hyper-focused on what is going wrong in the moment or it will feel like your entire world is crashing down whenever something difficult happens.  I like to think of it […]

Life’s Milestones

Milestones are something we all have in common with one another.  There are several milestones that are the exact same for all of us, like birthdays.  Then there are milestones that are the same for the majority of us, such as:  graduating from high school, falling in love for the first time, getting our heart […]

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”

Life is ever changing, and sometimes it is hard to let go of the past we loved in order to make room for the future ahead.  We hold on to things tightly, dreading the thought of letting things go that we cherish so deeply.  But what we have to recognize is that as much as […]

Quit Waiting!

“People wait all week for Friday, all year for summer, all life for happiness.” Waiting…I am so not good at waiting…it kills me.  I have been really working on patience, but I am like a little kid on Christmas Eve trying to go to sleep when it comes to waiting for things…I am ridiculously impatient […]

Only 58 Days til Christmas..Say WHAT!?!

Can you believe it?  We actually start the month of November this Saturday!  It is insane how fast time has gone since the warm days of summer and sunshine. I am amazed how fast the fall has come and is now going this year.  Even daylight savings will come to an end this weekend and […]

The Best Part of Life is When Your Family Becomes Your Best Friend

There is very little in life that we value more than a true friend.  And if you are truly lucky in life, you get to have the privilege of having that true friend also be a member of your own family. This afternoon some things happened that made for a really tough day emotionally. Toward […]

Sometimes you just gotta cross your fingers and pray

This afternoon my daughter called me from college to tell me she was coming home to spend the weekend with us.  I was super excited until she said “Yeah, and Dad is taking us repelling tonight”.  WHAT?!  Repelling??  That thing where you dangle from the edge of a cliff with nothing but a clip attaching […]

Redefine Failure (Forbes Article)

Fear of failure is said to be the greatest barrier to one’s success, which makes total sense given that our fear of failure is what stops us from making attempts in the first place. Yet, can anyone blame us for fearing failure? Just think about it, from the first moment we are born we begin […]

The Friends We Choose

“If you find yourself racing through life, slow down long enough to take along some good friends.”  – L. Tom Perry This last week I was reminded of how blessed I am to have amazing friends in my life.  My husband and I were able to spend last week with a group of 15 friends […]

You were born with the ability to change someone’s life

“You were born with the ability to change someone’s life. Don’t ever waste it.” We often hear that we must help ourselves before we can help someone else, and to some extent I believe that to be true.  But I also find it to be true that one of the best ways to help ourselves […]

Give An Irrevocable Gift To The Next Generation

“Education is our greatest opportunity to give an irrevocable gift to the next generation.” – Ernie Fletcher Teaching our children is our most important we work we do in life.  When my children were young I was focused on teaching them good values and morals. Then as they grew older I focused on teaching them […]

You Can’t Start the Next Chapter of your Life if You Keep Re-Reading the Last One

Moving Forward. That is a concept I have been taught since I was young.  Whenever I went to my father or my Grandfather for advice in life they would always tell me, “Just keep moving forward.” It was the solution to almost every problem I would take to them, and over time I began to […]

Next Time You Think of Beautiful Things, Don’t Forget To Count Yourself In

Tonight I am taking my daughter and her friends to a One Direction concert (Don’t judge me 🙂  ).  A year ago when their concert tour was announced, she literally begged me to take her and her friends to the concert.  She made the typical promises of “it’s the last gift you ever have to […]

Making Memories

“We didn’t realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun.” This summer has been such a special time for me. I have been able to have so much fun with my children and the memories we will walk away from this summer with will be with me forever.  The most interesting […]

Do Something Worthwhile with the Life We Have Been Given

I heard a news story today about someone who was been killed in a car accident. It made me stop and think a lot about how fragile life is. The person in that car woke up thinking that today would be a day like any other day, with absolutely no idea that today would be […]

“Every New Beginning Comes From Some Others Beginnings End.”

When a happy time of life comes to an end it is hard, plain and simple.  Tomorrow I will be attending my daughter Ashley’s High School Graduation. It is a major life event for a young person.  Ashley had an amazing High School experience. She was surrounded by good friends and she chose to be […]

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 […]

Being kind is a scientifically proven way to improve your spirits

Being kind is a scientifically proven way to improve your spirits – kindness is a natural antidepressant. So if you want to feel instantly better about yourself and change any negative feelings to positive ones, all you need to do is be kind to another human being. In a scientific study they found that when […]

It’s a Miracle!

I can hardly believe the day has actually come….we get to move in to our new house this weekend!  YIPEE!!  After an insane amount of hard work, stress, craziness, disappointment, frustration and every other emotion you can imagine, we have finally come to the point after a very long year and a half that our […]

Making Money While Making The World A Better Place (Forbes Article)

Making money while making the world a better place – what could possibly be better than that? That is exactly the goal of impact investors. James Lee Sorenson, successful entrepreneur and philanthropist, calls it the “double bottom line,” and achieving that double bottom line is something he is incredibly passionate about. Impact investing is “doing […]

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

“Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.  Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”  -Ronald Daw I believe in magic…I believe we actually make our own magic by the way we think, the dreams we dream, […]

Our Brazilian Adventure

Every year the BYU Founders Board gathers together from different parts of the country to meet in a location for a week-long adventure.  Last year we went to the Dominican Republic.  This year we went to Brazil to embark on a cruise that left from Sao Paulo, Brazil.   For the last week my husband and […]

The “I’ll be happy when” trap

I’ll be happy when ____ happens. I’ll be happy when I have ______.  I’ll be happy when _____ loves me.  I’ll be happy when I look like _____. The “I’ll be happy when” trap is one of the easiest to fall into. I know because I have fallen into myself far too many times.  For […]

My name is (fill in blank), and I am a workaholic

My name is Amy and without a doubt, I am a workaholic.  There, I said it.  I admit it fully.  I have a problem and I am taking the first step toward recovery, which they say is to admit it.  Step one down, only eleven more steps to go :)…. I finally discovered I had […]

Mirror, Mirror on the wall…You’re GORGEOUS!

On the wall of my friends office hung a princess mirror.  It wasn’t just any princess mirror, it was a Disney princess mirror that talked to you when you looked into the mirror, stating things like “that color looks lovely on you” and “you are so pretty”. It had to be my FAVORITE mirror ever! […]

Creative Group Date Ideas

With Valentines Day almost upon us I decided to search for creative Group Date Ideas that would help spurn my creativity as I attempt to plan a fun Valentine weekend. I came across multiple websites such as  www.niftydateideas.com and several others that had great date ideas.  I pulled my favorites from several of the sites to share in today’s blog.  Hopefully these will […]

Valentine Date Ideas To Help You Plan Ahead (hint hint)

Here are some fun date ideas to help you plan ahead for the holiday weekend of LOVE!  And a yummy recipe for a super easy dessert you can make.  Valentine’s Date Night Ideas The Cozy Concert: Check out local venues and find what up-and-coming concerts or bands are playing. Nothing sends love waves out like […]

“To my children, their children, their children, and theirs’…”

That is the inscription on the back cover of my Grandmother’s life history book.   My grandmother passed away back in November of 2007.  She was one of my dearest friends.  And I am forever grateful that she left behind her written life history for me and for my children, and their children, and so on.  […]

“Sometimes when things are falling apart, they may actually be falling into place.”

Earlier this week I shared some thoughts on failure and how it is often our failures that end up leading us to the path of success in our lives.  It reminded me of one of my favorite stories that perfectly illustrates the title quote from today’s blog:  “Sometimes when things are falling apart, they may […]

I Wish You A Merry Christmas!

We made it!  It is finally upon us – Christmas Eve followed by Christmas Day.  My favorite holiday of the entire year.  I am so excited for tomorrow.  I even stayed up late wrapping every gift tonight so that tomorrow I can enjoy my time with my family without stressing over the mounds of gifts […]