For more than ten years of my life I’ve been writing a daily blog, yet these last eleven days I haven’t been able to bring myself to write about what’s been going on because writing about it makes it real and I don’t want it to be real… When my father-in-law first called to let […]
You don’t wake up in the morning expecting that a tree will come crashing into your house that day…and then it does…yep….that’s literally what happened today… My husband was in the house when he heard a chainsaw outside. He went out to see what was going on and found out our next door neighbor had […]
One day my husband and I were walking along a riverbank when I looked over and saw an awesome Wish Flower. I used to see them all the time when I was a little girl living in Puyallup, Washington. They were all over our backyard and as kids we would go out and pick the […]
I was just finishing up a business meeting when my husband called yesterday to tell me he needed to get to the emergency room. Now anyone who knows my husband Rollin can understand why hearing those words over the phone shook me – My husband grew up on a dairy farm and he is stubborn […]
My husband had to be rushed to the hospital this evening (he’s having severe stomach pain) so my daughter Ashley agreed to cover tonight’s blog post for me. Not gonna sugar coat it, it’s been a rough night…but I’m grateful for the doctors and nursing who are working hard to figure out what’s wrong. Here’s […]
Last Friday I was humbled to receive the Leadership in Business Award from the YWCA for my business accomplishments and the work I do championing women and girls through my foundation (the IPOP Foundation). They put on a beautiful event of around 1,200 attendees Friday and I told them it was the sweetest way to […]
It was nine days ago and my husband and I had just arrived down to our houseboat on Lake Powell to prepare things for the group of families we would be hosting for the upcoming week. I began unloading groceries as my husband climbed down into the hull of the boat to check our tanks […]
I decided to post tonight’s blog early today because I want to make sure everyone is aware that because today 7/11 it is FREE SLURPEE DAY at 7-Eleven. But to get your free Slurpee but you’ve got to get in there by 7pm today so I wanted to post today’s blog in plenty of time […]
This Sunday is Father’s Day and the subject of fathers is one that is incredibly near and dear to my heart today for several reasons. One of those reasons is that my father-in-law is struggling still. He had his surgery last week but the nerve and muscle pain down his leg still hasn’t let up […]
The hardest thing is watching someone you love suffering and there is literally nothing you can do to make it better…its especially hard when it’s your little 17 month old grandbaby. As I sit here at the hospital again tonight surrounded by my family as we watch the doctors and nurses working on baby Flynn […]
Last night after I finished judging a business plan competition down at Utah Valley University my family and I met up at a restaurant to take my Father and Mother-in-law, who had traveled down from Idaho to visit us for the night, out to dinner. We were excited to see them as my father-in-law was […]
Several months ago the day after we’d spent time together as a family (with my two kids and their spouses and our grandbaby) my husband said, “I think we are going to be grandparents again.” “Of course we will be” I replied with certainty given all the incentives I’ve thrown out to bribe my children […]
Have you ever had a daydream about doing something really incredible? But then you quickly dismiss it because you are almost afraid to admit to wanting it because people might think you were nuts for wanting something that may appear so out of reach? We’ve all been there… But here’s the thing – what’s would […]
When my children were young we would lay down on our backs on the trampoline outside in our backyard and we would all three look up at the sky together and play a game we called “Sky Castles”. In our game we would take turns building our pretend sky castles by saying what we saw […]
I have never been able to plan ahead early enough to get family photos taken and printed out, gather updated addresses for everyone, and then send the photos out to everyone with a nice letter. Yet I love it when I receive other people’s cards because it’s so fun to see their families grow and […]
As we head into this week of Thanksgiving I felt it might be an appropriate time for me to share what I’m most thankful for: My Faith. I am thankful for my faith in God. My faith and love for my Heavenly Father is at the very core of who I am and it helps […]
As I’m sitting on my flight back from the Dominican Republic (where I was speaking at a Business Ethics & Integrity Conference), I can’t help but think about how excited I am to just be headed home for the holidays. This past year I’ve traveled to Palm Springs California, Chicago, Simi Valley California, London, Washington […]
The more life experience you gain the more you come to understand that love isn’t quite like what’s portrayed in your typical Nicholas Sparks movie. This last week my husband and I spent the week hosting a group of 28 people on our houseboat down at Lake Powell. During the trip one night we sat […]
Today was awesome! Our dear friends John Wayne Walding and his wife Amy Walding and their four fabulous children came over to spend a day in our home with us before they leave to go back to their home in Texas. We first met the Walding’s when John Wayne came to give a keynote talk […]
Nothing bonds a family like traveling in an RV without air-conditioning in 105 degree heat…At least I suppose one could call it bonding the family together when all of us were so sweaty hot that our bodies were literally sticking to the sofa seats of the RV as we made our long drive back from […]
Today was an absolutely amazing Fourth of July! From having my entire family with me all day, to having our friends John Wayne Walding (a true American Hero you can read about at www.johnwaynewalding.com) and his wife Amy Walding and their four kids with us, to meeting George Washington, to going to Stadium of Fire […]
Fortnite. I had heard there was a lot of hype about the video game, but I had never actually seen or played this game…until this weekend… My family traveled down in our RV to Bryce Canyon Utah (where our daughter-in-law is from) to support her family as they welcomed back her brother who was returning […]
“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 […]
Often when everyone is heads down working on things at our house someone in our family will randomly call out “DANCE BREAK” and everyone immediately stops whatever they are doing, stands up, and starts dancing in place for five seconds to our own beatboxing sounds – then everyone quickly sits right back down and keeps […]
I’m a firm believer in competing against our own best selves over trying to compete with other people. That being said, I am all about having fun friendly competitions once in awhile because they are just a great way to motivate yourself. Growing up as a middle child in a family with ten children it […]
I can hardly believe that 2017 is almost over. This past year has held some of the happiest moments of life, and truth be told, it has also held many of the saddest moments of my life. Without a doubt it is a year I will be happy to have come to a close as […]
Can you believe there are only 48 days until Christmas??!! It’s just so exciting! So because it takes so much work to decorate the house for Christmas and put op our 13 foot tall Christmas tree we decided that from now on we are going to enjoy those decorations as long as possible, which is […]
When my two children were young they started calling me “Mama Bear” because they knew their Mama would fight fiercely to protect her two little cubs. That’s because we protect what we value most, and my kids have always been what I value most. Becoming a parent is one of the most surreal experiences in […]
Today was the baby blessing of my grandson Flynn Dalton Anderson. When I saw him in his little white outfit I was amazed at how much he looked exactly like his father, my son Dalton. I remember my son Dalton’s blessing day as if it was just yesterday. I remember getting him into his cute […]
Early last Friday morning my cell phone rang. It was my son Dalton letting me know that his wife Alexis was in labor and they were heading to the hospital. I jumped out of bed feeling a mixture of joy, excitement, disbelief, and wondering if this was really going to be day we welcomed our […]
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