Tag Archives: lds church

Standing Among Giants

Last week I flew to Washington DC to meet with Charles Koch.  My husband and I have been blessed to get to know Charles and Liz Koch over the last several years and they are an inspiration to us because Charles and Liz spend their time finding ways to help others to excel and they’ve […]

An Exemplary Life. Proof That One Man Can Change The World.

Tomorrow morning is the funeral of one of my heroes. My first interactions with Thomas S. Monson (whom I will refer to from now on as President Monson out of respect as at the time of his passing he was serving in the positon of the President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ […]

You Can Be Glad

I shared in my Friday blog how this past weekend was one of my favorite times of year because I get to hear incredible speakers share amazingly inspiring messages in a streaming broadcast that goes worldwide. If you didn’t have the chance to watch the live broadcast you can still access each talk in video […]

The Best Way I Know Of To Help Focus Yourself On What Matters Most

Every six months I get so excited for because there is a semi-annual General Conference that is broadcast on the internet and across the world in many languages, and during this two day conference there are always some of the most motivational and inspirational talks given that I have ever heard. Honestly this conference ends […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Heroes will always outshine the villains. Addressing today’s tragedy in Belgium.

Waking up this morning to the horrific news of the bombings in Belgium was heartbreaking. Hearing that three of the people injured were from Utah (one from my same town) and were missionaries for the LDS Church serving in Belgium was even more devastating. As a mother of a daughter who is currently away serving […]

Determination, Work, and A Whole Lot of Courage

As those of you who follow my blog know, I try to write each day about something I learned during each day I am writing. So being that it is Super Bowl Sunday, I decided to write a lesson that comes to mind as I am sitting watching the game with my family (okay let’s […]

The Largest Event of Its Kind In The World – The Global Family History Event RootsTech Has Begun!

Today RootsTech, the largest family history and genealogy conference in the world, kicked off with over 23,000 registered attendees gathering from all over the world to Salt Lake City, Utah.  Attendees are from all 50 states in the United States and over 40 other countries. All of these people have come together to hear keynote […]

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 […]

Bust Out Those Holiday Traditions!

Last week was a rough one. I was down sick the entire week and then Friday I had to haul myself out of bed and get down to Bryce Canyon Utah to attend the Open House for my son and his new bride. I made it through the evening and then crashed again, sick as […]

Imagine The Perfect Day

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a Perfect Day? Well last Friday I found out for myself and it was A-MAZ-ING! Friday morning my son Dalton was married to his sweetheart Alexis in the Draper, Utah LDS Temple. My own father, Dalton’s grandfather, was the one who performed the wedding […]

“We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.”

“We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.” – Max DePree Change is hard because it stretches us. It pulls us out of our comfort zone. It forces us to come out of the known and head into the unknown, and that is always a little unnerving. But the fact […]

See How Far You’ve Come

It was exactly three years ago today that I signed the final papers to sell my company. As I look back over the last three years I am blown away at how much has happened since then. I transitioned out of my old company, I launched REES Capital (my angel investment firm), got our charity […]

Opportunity Is About To Knock So Get Ready To Open Your Door (Forbes Article)

It has been said that the key to success is being ready to act when opportunity comes knocking at your door. Well hopefully you are ready, because opportunity is about to start knocking with a billion dollar vengeance! This particular opportunity starts with one word – Genealogy. Now before you tune out, you should know […]

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 […]

What We Reflect to Others

“We Judge Ourselves by our Intentions Others Judge us based on our Behavior.” How true is that?  I think many of us tend to justify our actions by what our intensions were.  Even if in our hearts we know that our behavior was wrong.  It is a trap that is easy to fall into. But […]

Like a Little Kid On Christmas Eve with Some Advice to Adults

I feel like a five year old kid on Christmas Eve night!  I am so excited for tomorrow that I am jumping out of my skin!  MY SON COMES HOME TOMORROW!  After two LOOOONNNNGGGG years of only being able to write him once a week and only being able to talk to him on Christmas […]

To All Chief Inspiring Officers

Happy Mother’s Day!  I had to get that out there very first thing because there is nothing more important today than stating appreciation for all the Mother’s and future Mother’s and single Father’s playing the role of Mother.  THANK YOU!  For loving us, inspiring us, putting up with us, taking care of us, fixing our […]

One Person Can Change Your Life Forever

21 years ago today I lay in a hospital room giving birth to a 9 pound 7 ounce beautiful baby boy.  It was my very first child. I was only 21 years myself when I gave birth that day, and now today, 21 years later, it is my son’s 21st birthday.  Crazy. I remember the […]

Filling Up Your Inspiration Tank

When my children were young I used to teach them the principle of filling up their gas tanks – our bodies and minds are like a car that is always running.  In order to run we need gas in our tank.  Even when the car is in idle and not driving forward it needs gas […]

At All Times, In All Places…Live By Example

Today I was able to see a video someone had taken of my 20 year old son who is out serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The LDS Church).  It did my heart good to see his amazing smile as he was talking to families throughout the Jackson, […]

An Ending and a New Beginning

For the last four years I have had the privilege of teaching an amazing group of young women every Sunday at church and then attending weekly fun activity nights with them on Wednesday evenings.  Four years ago I was assigned to teach the 14 and 15 year old girls in a class and then after […]

The Healing Power of Human Connection

Today started out rough.  I had to deal with a situation related to someone from the past that I once considered to be a friend, but who turned out to be an incredibly dishonest person who did a lot of horrible things that caused a lot of damage to a lot of people. Not exactly […]

Fill Up Your Inspiration Tank!

This weekend I spent, and this is no joke, 10 hours over the course of two days watching inspirational and motivational talks.  These talks were broadcast as part of a General Conference that is done by the LDS Church every six months.  I look forward to Conference weekend every October and every April because it […]

The Happiest Place On Earth

And no, I am not talking about Disneyland.  I am talking about Lake Powell…that is the happiest place on earth in my opinion!  I was blessed to be able to spend the entire week there last week with my family and several of our dear friends.  We spent the week wakeboarding and surfing (oh, and […]