Tag Archives: parents

Invest in your relationships.

Ever since my daughter Ashley left on her mission I am constantly being told by people how my daughter Ashley sent them a birthday card in the mail, or how Ashley sent them a sweet letter about a special occasion in their life, or how Ashley sent them a random card just to say she […]

A Child Who Treats Their Parents With Respect Is An Employee Any Boss Would Be Thrilled To Hire (Forbes Article)

As a child I was taught the importance of respect – we were taught showing respect for other people, showing respect for other’s cultures, showing respect for people’s position of authority, showing respect for a venue, showing respect for an event, etc. This principle was emphasized greatly in my home and it is something I […]

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 […]

Those Words A Parent Never Expected to Hear

As those of you who follow my blog know, my son Dalton recently got engaged to his sweetheart and we are now in full blown wedding preparation mode. Because they want a short engagement it is like wedding planning central at our house with invitation selections, picking colors for the reception, figuring out venues, booking […]

“Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect.”

“Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect.” This last week was a truly momentous week in my life. My son Dalton proposed marriage to his girlfriend and she said YES! In the weeks leading up to the proposal my son and I spent a ton of time planning out […]

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 […]

“Sometimes you’ll never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”

“Sometimes you’ll never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” My husband’s older brother and his family came to visit us today. They started reminiscing about their growing up memories together and the friends they’d had along the way. My husband shared with his brother that a few weeks ago one […]

“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 […]

In The Famous Words From Disney’s Frozen “Let it Go”

There are just three short days until we celebrate Christmas! This weekend was fantastic. Our kids came home from college and we went to an awesome Christmas concert by pianist Kurt Bestor. During the concert he brought out a children’s choir and one little girl sang the famous song “Let it Go” from the Disney […]

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

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 […]

Stop and Thank the People Who Make A Difference in our Lives

On this week that we celebrate Thanksgiving, I cannot think of a better way to honor this holiday than to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives. When I stop and really think about all the people who have made a difference in my life I am overwhelmed with how […]

“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 […]

Get Candy, Get Candy, Get Candy

Okay so I have to start today’s blog by taking a moment to recognize my favorite candy, Candy Corn, because for those of you who failed to remember, today was National Candy Corn Day!  How cool is it that my favorite candy has its very own holiday to recognize it!  Yes I love me some […]

“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 […]

“I’m Grateful For All The Things My Parents Didn’t Do For Me”

Tonight I received a phone call from one of my dearest friends who is out of the country right now traveling.  He said he was thinking about me and my husband today because he realized I was probably saddened with my kids leaving off to college and he just wanted me to know he was […]

A few words of advice for kids leaving home to college for the first time

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 […]

Family Fun Ideas

It’s hard these days to come up with fun ideas of things you can do together with your family that are inexpensive, fun, and get everyone involved at every age in the family.  A few years ago I started to make a list of ideas for things to do with family by gathering ideas from […]

“I want all the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible”

“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stifled.  I want all the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible.”   – Mohandas K. Gandhi I absolutely enjoy learning about other cultures.  I love learning about different traditions people […]

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 […]

I Hope We’ll Be That Cute When We’re 80!

Tonight my mother and father-in-law arrived to stay with us for a few days.  They came down from their farm in Idaho to visit us so they could come to see their son (my husband) tomorrow night when he will be singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.  […]

“Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.” -W.J. Cameron

And there is no better week to take the action of giving thanks and showing gratitude than Thanksgiving week.  This is the perfect week to extend a helping hand to someone in need.  And we can always find someone out there who is in greater need than we are.  It’s so easy to get sucked […]

Get Candy, Get Candy, Get Candy!

Happy Halloween Everyone!  I love seeing all the cute little kids in their fun Halloween costumes on Halloween going door to door in search of candy.  And according to a news report I saw on TV this morning those cute little kids should be hiding their candy stashes when they get home tonight – they […]

“Ahhhh, now I get it”

Do you ever have those moments when life’s deepest lessons suddenly click and you say to yourself “Ahhhh, now I get it!”    The older I get the more I seem to have those “Ahhhh…” moments where things I have struggled for years to understand suddenly become completely clear and I think to myself “Dang I […]