Last week we took our children and grandchildren to go ride the Polar Express train for Christmas. As I was watching my daughter-in-law getting her two year old son and her four month old daughter ready to go it reminded me of how utterly exhausting it can be to a mother with small children. The […]
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 […]
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 […]
I am a person who appreciates honesty more than anything, and I believe that one can always deliver that honesty in a respectful way. I also believe that honesty is more than just being willing to speak words that are true, it is also recognizing that hidden truths are unspoken lies. If a person speaks […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
“The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.”- Master Qui-Gon Jin I remember growing up thinking that all adults were so intelligent. After all, they used really big words and they talked with such confidence on so many topics. But then I grew up and started figuring out that just because someone knew a […]
“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 […]
As we age we grow wiser from life experience, which is a good thing. But sometimes as we grow older we also become a little bit jaded…almost too realistic…we often lose that sense of wonder and excitement we had as a child, and that is a not such a good thing… Now that I am […]
I came across this today (no idea who wrote this but it is genius!) and decided it should be shared in honor of all the parents dealing with little children this holiday season: Dear Santa, I’ve been a good mom all year. I’ve fed, cleaned and cuddled my two children on demand, visited the doctor’s […]
I cannot believe that summer is coming to an end and fall is beginning. Our summer vacations have come to an end, most everyone’s kids are back to school at this point, and we all have to get back into our normal routines again. In some ways it’s sad to have summer playtime behind us […]
Here we are on August 3rd and I am suddenly aware of the fact that this is our last month of summer vacation before our kids go back to school again…And even though we can’t change the fact that summer vacay will be coming to an end in a few weeks for all our children […]
“If at first you don’t succeed, do it like your mother told you.” We all remember the famous mom advice we got as kids: Wear a coat, brush your teeth, look both ways before you cross the street, put on sunscreen, don’t take candy from strangers….. We would roll our eyes and grumble under our […]
I loved recess as a little kid. I loved being out on the field running around with the sun shining. Now that I am an adult I can look back and see that not only was recess a time for fun, it was also a teaching ground full of life lessons that would apply to […]
Do you remember how fun Valentine’s Day was when you were a kid? You would spend hours making your cute little cardboard mailbox out of the empty Quaker Oats container or an old shoe box. You would cover it with colored construction paper and then put cute heart stickers on it, and don’t forget the […]
Seriously, don’t you just LOVE December! It really is like the Friday of the months…the month you look forward to all year and you relish it, wishing it wouldn’t have to end. It just seems like we spend more time with family and friends just being HAPPY during December, and it is so nice! December […]
Welcome back everyone! I hope all of you had a fantastic Thanksgiving Holiday! I definitely loved the time with my family. The food was amazing, although I ate so much I am quite certain I won’t be able to fit into my clothes tomorrow…sadly…one thing I don’t love about the holidays is the aftermath that […]
Yes that time has come again – Thanksgiving weekend is upon us! I am SO EXCITED for the holiday time to spend with my family! My kids came home from college late last night for the rest of the week so I am super happy right now. There is nothing better in life then time […]
“Children are happy because they don’t have a file in their minds called, “All the Things That Could Go Wrong.” – Marianne Williamson That is SO TRUE! You don’t see little kids worried about what could go wrong! They are far too busy being focused on what they plan to accomplish. Kids create, they get […]
Today I had the BYU (Brigham Young University) Founders Board Meeting. The Founder’s Board consists of people from all over the country who travel in for the board meeting each year. The day started with me hosting the women’s luncheon at my home. We had about 60 women attend and we all had a fabulous […]
“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 […]
Today was an amazing day – we had planned to take our kids out to the Lake to go boating with their friends, everyone got their swimming suits on and we packed the boat with snacks and we drove 45 minutes to the lake and got the boat on the water only to have our […]
Last week my family and I went down to spend a glorious week at Lake Powell with a group of friends. We had a great trip, and although we all came home with colds…yet again…the trip was worth it. We had gone down to Powell a few days before our guests arrived because we wanted […]
First off you need to know that your parents are freaking out right now that their babies are leaving home for the first time. Know that this is a hard time for them so be patient and kind with your parents the next few weeks…they are not trying to hold you back…they just don’t want […]
Single parents carry an incredible burden. Only those who have been a single parent can truly understand just how heavy that burden is. For a period of ten years I was a single mother myself, trying to raise my two children who were around 2 and 5 years old when I got divorced. When I […]
Growing up in a family of ten kids led to some awesome memories. One memory in particular that I thought about today was the following story: We were sitting around our massive dinner table (it took a huge table to hold all 12 of us!). We were preparing to sing Happy Birthday to one of the […]
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, except for bears. Bears will kill you.” Some days you need a good quote like that to make you laugh. Today was one of those days for me and it’s amazing what a good quote, that you can relate to, can do to lift your spirits. I thought […]
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