Tag Archives: smile

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 […]

Has Anyone Told You Yet Today That You Are Amazing!

Has anyone told you yet today just how absolutely, positively, incredibly, amazing you are?  If not then let me be the first one!  You are amazing!  Absolutely, positively, incredibly, amazing! Doesn’t it feel good to know that someone else thinks you’re amazing? It’s an awesome feeling, right? “In life, you will realize there is a […]

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 […]

What Legacy Will You Leave Behind?

Four years ago, October 16th of 2010, I received a phone call telling me that one of my very best friends, Steve Gasser, had died suddenly while participating in a bike race down in St. George, Utah.  I was at Disneyland when I answered that call and I literally crumbled to the ground when I […]

Children are Happy Because

“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 […]

You Can’t Be Sad When You Are Holding a Cupcake

I am thoroughly convinced that you can’t be sad when you are holding a cupcake or a bowl of ice cream.  It is impossible to do.  And that is why I highly suggest that anyone having a hard day go out and get either a cupcake or a bowl of ice cream and then you […]

“Just go right along and you’ll start happening to”

Welcome back!  I hope all of you had an amazing Labor Day Holiday!  So mine was awesome, mainly because my two children came home from college for the weekend to spend it with me and that was pure heaven!  Oh my goodness how I value every second I get with them now.  Saying goodbye to […]

Happiness is a CHOICE

“Happiness is a choice”. That is the saying that my daughter has on a sign on the dashboard of her car that she looks at every time she gets in her car to go anywhere.  When I asked her the other day if she had a favorite saying that was her motto of sorts in […]

Nursing a Hole in My Heart

Today was brutal. Today I moved my baby girl down to her college dorm and tonight is the first night of her being gone from home.  Even though I will get to go see her tomorrow for the Orientation meetings on campus, it doesn’t change the fact that after today things will never quite be […]

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 […]

How to Tell if Someone is Lying to You

A few years ago there was a show on TV called Lie To Me.  It was a show about a human lie detector who used people’s words, expressions, and micro-expressions to detect lies.  I was in love with the show because it was fascinating to me to learn how you could detect lies in people’s […]

Better Than Exercise, and Far More Fun!

I hate to exercise. I really do.  I admit fully and openly.  I realize it is good for us and I realize it is necessary, but I definitely don’t enjoy it.  Not even a little bit. So when I find out that there is an alternative to exercise that has the same effect, only better, […]

A Good Life

“A good life is when you assume nothing, do more, need less, smile often, dream big, laugh a lot, and realize how blessed you are.”  – Anonymous Is it really that simple to have a good life?  In many ways I actually believe it is.  I really think that so much of our level of […]

It’ll Grow Back

When my son Dalton was a little boy, for some reason he could not grow bangs.  His hair would grow on top and on the sides and in the back, but not in the front.  For the first few years of his life I kept him in little baseball caps to disguise the fact that […]

Sometimes you just have to…

“Sometimes you just have to close your eyes, count to ten, take a deep breath, remind yourself that you wouldn’t look good in prison stripes and just smile and walk away.”  – Unknown Unfortunately we have all been in situations where someone misled us or let us down, and frankly it sucks.  It is hard […]

It’s a Daily Effort

Becoming the person you want to become is a daily effort and one that extends a lifetime.  It’s not as though one day you wake up and go “I’ve arrived! I am now the perfect person.  My work here is done.”  And if you do wake up thinking that you have a whole other set […]

Smile, Happy Looks Good on You

“WAKE UP EVERY MORNING WITH THE THOUGHT THAT SOMETHING WONDERFUL IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN?” What a great idea!  I think I am going to write on my mirror “something wonderful is about to happen” so when I wake up to get ready it’s the first thought I see.  What a great way to get your […]

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 […]

“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 […]

The Grumblers and the Busy Beings

There are two types of people in this world, and it’s not those who like Neil Diamond and those who don’t for you “What About Bob” fans. No, I am referring to those who Grumble and those who are Busy Being. If you haven`t heard of the “Grumblers” and the “Busy Beings” before, let me […]

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 […]

The Cash in the Corner – the Power of Thought

All of us have days we struggle.  Most of us have days when we just don’t feel as happy as we would like to feel.  We get anxious or stressed or discouraged some days.  There is a treatment method that Psychiatrists use to help people who are struggling with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and a […]

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 […]

Happiness is Contagious!

A research study at Harvard Medical found that, in fact, happiness is contagious. It suggests that happiness is influenced not only by the people you know, but by the people they know. The study showed that happiness spreads through social networks, sort of like a virus, meaning that your happiness could influence the happiness of […]

“That’s the way the cookie crumbles”

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…

“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 […]

Things Work Out

Things Work Out                                                   -By Edgar A. Guest  Because it rains when we wish it wouldn’t, Because men do what they often shouldn’t, Because crops fail, and plans go wrong Some of us grumble all day long. But somehow, in spite of the care and doubt, It seems at last that things work out.   […]

A light that radiates from within

Today I went to Utah State University in Logan, Utah to speak to the students at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.  The students were lively and engaged and incredibly sweet.  I love spending time with them because their energy and optimism is truly contagious.  And I have to give huge props to USU […]